World Footy News

Since the AFL introduced the International Scholarship List in 2006, the take up by AFL clubs has been relatively subdued. There have been issues with visas. There have been some encouraging performances at 2nd or 3rd tier levels. Today Fairfax has reported that St Kilda is looking “align its new player academy with European soccer clubs and also become the first club to harvest overseas talent on a major scale”.

One of the key areas of the current era of Australian Football internationally is the provision of recognisable talent pathways. The Pacific/Oceania region in particular has access to the South Pacific and Oceania representative squads but also have an advantage of close proximity to Australia. A key benefit is seen with the recent arrival in Queensland of two players from the Solomon Islands (SIAFL) to gain experience playing in Australian competition. Thankfully too, the level of footy in Queensland is of sufficient quality that the lads won’t have to acclimatise to a Melbourne footy season.

The following article is a press release provided by Job Vulita (SI AFL Development Officer)

The prospect of the first AFL home-and-away game played outside Australia could become a reality as early as next season, with St Kilda reportedly pushing to play up to four games a season in New Zealand.

The Saints on their website confirm this possibility “The St Kilda Football Club is in preliminary discussions with the AFL about the expansion of the game in New Zealand and the role the Saints may play. With the recent inclusion of AFL as a sanctioned sport in schools in New Zealand, the Saints would like to develop the game further through engagement with the community. The Saints also see an opportunity to build player talent pathways for local talent to play AFL and potentially play games for Premiership points in Wellington in the future. The Wellington Stadium, affectionately known to Kiwis as “The Cake Tin” is an excellent venue.

Having personally had the opportunity to be involved in all 3 pre-season games played in Wellington, firstly at the iconic Basin Reserve and followed by two matches at the Stadium I can only applaud this initiative and state that in all respects it is a wonderful surface and arena for AFL football. It is well and truly time for a truly meaningful game to be played in New Zealand. The opportunity for the Saints to play the legendary football thinker Kevin Sheedy’s Greater Western Sydney Giants on Anzac Day should excite both footy fanatics and interested observers equally.
 

The following media release was provided by AFL Samoa. The tournament was held on Saturday, 25th of Feb.

Last Saturday, AFL Samoa, held Samoa's first AFL tournament, the Motor 1 Aaron Edwards Cup. The event was sponsored by the Motor 1 group and Sa'Moana Resort.

The A team from Lepa-Lotofaga triumphed on the day. They played against Aleipata in a tightly contested grand final. The final score was Aleipata's 3 goals 2 points with a total of 18 points to Lepa/Lotofaga's 4 goals 3 points with a total of 27 points.

The Richmond Tigers Football Club has launched the Indian Tigers Supporter Group; an initiative to introduce Indians in Australia to footy whilst growing the club's supporter base.

The Indian Tigers Membership, which is free, entitles eligible applicants to:
-Entry to any three home games in Melbourne
-A personalised 2012 membership card, stickers and lanyard
-A unique inner sanctum experience at the Round 3 clash at the club, before the game at the MCG
-Personalised communication from the club
-Priority access to finals tickets in weeks 1-3 if Richmond is participating

The announcement further supports Richmond's commitment to the Indian community. Earlier in the week the club expressed a desire to play an exhibition match in India.

The annual Anzac match between the French national team and the "Aussie Spirit", a team drawn from Australian expats resident in Europe, is back on this April, with the event now in its fourth year.

The call has been put out for players to join the Aussie Spirit - the team will assemble on Friday 20th of April for a training session followed by an informal battlefield tour of the Somme region.

A pre-match dinner will be held with both teams together on the Friday night and the match will be played on Saturday 21st of April. Celebrations will continue through Sunday. For the rest of the week until the dawn service on Anzac Day, Wednesday 25th of April, the city will organise a few events.

More detailed information regarding the Anzac Cup weekend will be available in the coming weeks, but to signal your interest in being part of the Aussie Spirit, contact the organisers via alban.schieber AT gmail.com

At worldfootynews.com we make an effort not to make too much of the sometimes rabid Aussie Rules versus soccer versus Rugby League debate that so often rages in Australia, especially on sports forums.  But we do acknowledge that there is a battle for the hearts and minds of the sporting public.  So back in 2009 we took particular note of a scathing attack on footy by Clive Palmer, one of Australia's richest men and owner of the Gold Coast United soccer club.

When most codes argue that there is room for all and they just want a slice of the action, Palmer ridiculed attempts to establish an AFL club on the Gold Coast, despite a healthy and growing local competition.  Palmer stated in 2009 that "The biggest loser's going to be GC17 and Australian rules itself. I give them three years they'll be gone (by 2014)".  See Football codes continue to position themselves and Palmer sets the bar low for Gold Coast.

So we watched with interest to see whether his soccer club would indeed outperform the Aussie Rules club, and whether the AFL's efforts would succeed.

The soccer club, Gold Coast United, then set about seasons 2010/11 and 2011/12 recording average home crowds of a miniscule 3,900 and 3,400 per game, respectively.  In contrast, GC17, launched as the Gold Coast Suns, averaged around 18,000 per game (for matches at their new stadium in Carrara) in their debut 2011 season.  That's 4 or 5 AFL supporters for every one A League supporter.  Surely a demonstrative win for footy.

But Palmer was also at war with his side's fans, then their coach, and constantly with the FFA.  In terms of viability it seems the club only continued to exist due to his largesse, and now to complete the debacle they have had their licence terminated by the FFA.

A stunning tale of failure for the club whose owner predicted that the AFL would be the big loser on the Gold Coast.  Aussie Rules 1 - soccer nil.
 

Finally Alexander Clark, who has been up for the vote since Jacko's Challenge began, has got his shot at the champ.

With a new member to the commentary team and some new technology to assure viewers of correct decisions, Jacko's Challenge is continuing to grow.

Watch it here.

The next Jacko's Challenge will be back in a few weeks with other programs coming from Sharks T.V.

In its continuous effort to promote footy in France the CNFA is releasing a DVD explaining the basic skills of aussie rules. The DVD features Cyril Talon and Pall Finnsson demonstrating how to ruck or kick the footy.

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AFL New Zealand is attempting to increase the number of teams in schools, at the same time as the leading Australian clubs are starting to look across the Tasman for new talent.

"The Australian clubs originally looked to Ireland – because of the similarity to gaelic football – for their international talent but finally are seeing see the merits of searching closer to home [in New Zealand]," AFL NZ national youth coach James Terry said.

According to Terry, four New Zealand boys were signed up for AFL scholarships last year and nine Australian clubs had observers at a training camp and game in Wellington last month. So far there has not been a Wellingtonian signed to an AFL scholarship and they have also not had much of a presence in the national sides recently.

Terry agrees to the widely held belief of those with experience of NZ football that "The games we play here – rugby, soccer, league and basketball – produce the type of athletic kids the AFL clubs are after and it can be a pathway to a very lucrative career."

Australian Rules is pitched as a summer game in New Zealand, so it is seen as an adjunct to rugby, soccer and league, rather than a competitor.

Five Wellington secondary schools fielded teams in AFL competitions last year and Terry hopes a bigger number will be involved in the senior Hawks Cup, a schools tournament that will be staged in Wellington in March, with a North Island schools tournament scheduled in late March.

Wellington schoolboys have already made an impression in AFL with Kade Riddell (Hutt Valley), Hugo Phillips (Wellington College), Fletcher Barclay (Paraparaumu), Jordan Mueller (Hutt Valley), Craig Morgan (Hutt Valley), Josh Thompson (St Pat's Town) and Mitchell Purvis (HIBS) all selected for the New Zealand under-16 side.

In addition, Riddell, Phillips and Barclay are in the Oceania under-16 squad that will play in Sydney at Easter at the Australian U16 Championships.

For more, see Aussie Rules scouts at Wellington schools.

In early February Richmond Football Club CEO Brendon Gale spoke to Melbourne sports radio station SEN and without prompting took discussion down the path of playing an exhibition game in India. Not often do things move so quickly – that now, 3 weeks later we see reports of plans coming together for Richmond to ‘host’ Greater Western Sydney Giants in Mumbai perhaps as soon as February 2013.

It was reported last Friday in Fairfax press that Tadhg Kennelly’s new AFL ambassadorial role had upset the Irish GAA (Gaelic Athletic Association), following the hosting of an Australian (rules) Football recruiting ‘camp’ (combine) in Dublin.

The article suggested that the GAA had been uneasy about it and that the GAA bosses repudiated a claim that they had been informed. Stating that it had been reported in Ireland that the GAA bosses “denied receiving any formal notification of Kennelly's new role or the AFL's strategy on the recruitment of amateur Gaelic footballers”. Even if this is the case, the question really is how big a deal is it?