World Footy News

Talented US college basketballer Alex Starling has been signed by the Sydney Swans after testing showed he had the athletic potential to make the switch to the AFL.

Starling, 22, is finishing college in Florida but will make several visits to Sydney this year to meet with Swans’ coaching staff and develop his football skills.

Former North Melbourne star Wayne Schwass says in the Herald Sun that New Zealand can develop into a strong AFL breeding ground and wants to see a match played across the Tasman for premiership points.

AFL New Zealand continues to push the league for a home-and-away match to be played in the country as early as next year, with Anzac Day suggested as a potential date.

Schwass who was born in New Zealand backed taking a game across the Tasman. "We are into Tasmania, the AFL are exploring China, and I understand that from a commercial point of view, but New Zealand is three hours across the ditch."

Shark TV have started the new year with a new show, Jacko's Challenge, where Adam "Jacko" Jack takes on a new competitor from the Glasgow Sharks each week in a 5 goal kicking challenge. This week John McIntyre, Sharks ruckman, took on Jacko in a very close contest.

Have a look and get ready for more exciting content soon.

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The English rugby league team Warrington Wolves this week continued the long tradition of football teams cross-training with other codes in the off season when they joined the Sydney Swans in Sydney for a skill and fitness session.

Canadian Mike Pyke can be seen in the background of the Fox Sports video below and looks like he might rightly be as comfortable with the Rugby League players as with the Swans or his former code of Rugby Union.

New Zealand-born Hawk Shane Savage will host eight players from AFLNZ after the Club’s open training session tomorrow at the Ricoh Centre, formerly Waverley Park.

Savage will have a light kick on the oval with his compatriots, who have been living in Melbourne to improve their football skills, before they return home to play in the New Zealand Hawks team pitted against an AIS-AFL Academy squad.

The AFL Great Britain National Conference was held on the 20th November 2011 in Birmingham.  On the agenda was a list of the key dates for 2012, a move to rename to AFL England and numerous items to drive development such the Brit Cup, juniors and a European tour by the AFL AIS Academy.  The following article is not formal minutes but give a bit of an insight into the many issues discussed by a body that covers a relatively large number of clubs and leagues.

The meeting started with key dates for the 2012 season. Key events to be considered included the Olympic Games which will be held in London from July 28th to August 11th, and the AFL Grand Final on September 29th. Next came important Australian Football events in Europe, including the AFL-AIS Academy’s European training camp on March 31st, the AIS Academy vs European Legion game on April 7th, the Brit Cup on July 7th, the AFL London Grand Final on August 4th  and the EU Cup on October 6th. Then the dates for other events such as an overseas GB Bulldogs game on August 25th and the Haggis Cup and ANZAC Cup on April 21st were finalised.
 

Stateside Footy presents a pair of Australian Rules Football matches, played on October 8, 2011 at the USAFL Nationals Tournament in Austin, TX. The first half of the show features Women's Footy as a combined team featuring the Boston Lady Demons (along with players from Baltimore-Washington and Columbus) plays a 2x20 Women's Footy match against the Minnesota Freeze Women's team.

The second half features a 2x20 Division 4 match between a mixed team featuring reserves from Boston, San Diego and Seattle taking on a mixed squad of players from Dallas, Austin and Portland.

The Southern Dragons, a footy club based mainly around Melbourne's Asian immigrant community, travelled to Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) on Saturday January 7th for a tour match against the Vietnam Swans, a club composed mainly of Australian expats living and working in Vietnam.

On this occasion, it was the Vietnamese from Australia who ran out decisive winners over the Australians from Vietnam, the final margin being 11.14 (80) to 5.6 (36) in favour of the Dragons.

The Dragons play in Melbourne's Southern Football League, where they this year claimed their first-ever senior flag by defeating Mount Waverley in the Division 3 Grand Final. Reflecting the club's depth, the reserves also made it to the decider, although they had to be content with being runners-up. (Herald Sun report here).

Approximately half of the Dragons' players are of Vietnamese descent, with the remainder including (among others) Camdodian, Chinese, Thai, Greek, New Zealand and Anglo Australians. One of their stalwarts is Jiaming Pi (aka JP), a native of China who came to Australia as a teenager and is well-known to the international footy crowd for leading the Chinese Red Demons at the last two International Cups. JP is currently a multicultural ambassador for the AFL, provided commentary in Mandarin for the crowd at the ''Shanghai Showdown'' between Melbourne and the Brisbane Lions in 2010, and maintains a blog dedicated to coverage of footy news for Chinese speakers.

Players from the Southern Dragons have trained with the Swans in Saigon, as members of the Swans have with the Dragons in Melbourne - "Damo" Judd from the Vietnam Swans even having played a match with them. In July 2010, four of the Southern Dragons joined the Swans and Vietnam Veterans at the MCG for a formal prematch function with the Sydney Swans, photos of which can be seen here.

The Burnaby Eagles celebrate winning the 2011 BC Footy grand final for footy in Vancouver in today's video.