World Footy News

worldfootynews.com recently reported on the transition of the AFL's National and International Development Manager, David Matthews, to CEO of the AFL's newest club, the Greater Western Sydney Giants.  That begged the question of who Matthews' replacement would be and whether Matthews and GWS coach Kevin Sheedy would actively pursue an international agenda.  We caught up with the new CEO to find out.

Firstly we were keen to know who would take on the role of Development Manager for the AFL and whether he would be as passionate about the international component as his predecessor.  Matthews was confident, having already worked with his repalcement.

"Andrew Dillon, whom is currently on the AFL Executive, has assumed responsibility for Development.  Andrew has been on the Executive for a number of years and has a genuine passion for, and understanding of, development. As a couple of examples of his International interest, he wrote the rules for the International Scholarship Scheme and helped to organise the match in Shanghai (attended also).  He will be a strong advocate and he, Tony Woods and I recently presented an upgraded international plan to the AFL Commission".
 

The AFL season is well and truly over, and with only a few exceptions including the upcoming Oceania U16 Championships and those few areas like the Northern Territory and NZ that play in the months outside the regular AFL season, there is not much on field footy activity. 

So we will take the opportunity over the next few weeks to post up some video footage mostly from 2011 that has surfaced onto sites such as Youtube, both from domestic international footy and from the International Cup.

To kick it off though we go back to 2010 to the AFL's National Under 16 Championships where the World XVIII and South Pacific teams were introduced to the footy development folks of Australia alongside a number of future AFL stars.

 

After plenty of media coverage in Ireland in the past week the AFL has officially appointed recently retired Sydney Swans player Tadhg Kennelly as an AFL Ambassador.

Tadhg will undertake a number of development roles. He will be an assistant coach and mentor for the AIS-AFL Academy level two squad under head coach Michael O’Loughlin and alongside other mentors/assistant coaches Brad Johnson, Matthew Lloyd and Glen Jakovich. He will also coach the Under 16 NSW/ACT team and will be an assistant coach for Under 18 NSW/ACT team in the NAB AFL Under 16 and Under 18 Championships.

With the third AFL Oceania Cup youth tournament set to start early next week - and perhaps to start the journey of some well down the AFL talent pathway - it is timely to remind ourselves of the tangible assistance we might able to provide even if we are far removed from the various outposts of footy.

In the audio interview below you can hear PNG's team manager Moses Kari speak to Radio Australia's Pius Bonjui about the PNG Binatangs preparation.  The team selection process has been interrupted by "social issues" in Lae.  Their team also sees the addition of three Solomon Islanders to their squad.  
 

The Binatangs are confident of going back to back this year.

 

The Western Bulldogs today launched the Western Front, the Bulldogs’ new membership campaign calling on Members and Fans to get behind the Red, White and Blue in 2012 and beyond.

Today’s launch, held at the iconic Sun Theatre in Yarraville, was centred around the release of an innovative short film that captures the emerging story of the West and its Team.

Stateside Footy presents two more Australian Rules Football matches, played on October 8-9, 2011 at the USAFL Nationals Tournament in Austin, TX. The first half of the show features the Boston Demons "A" team taking on the hometown Austin Crows in a 2x20 Footy match. The second half features a 2x20 Division 2 match between the Demons "A" team and the Chicago United club.

 

Sunday November 27th saw the very first staging of the 'Nathan Blakey Movember Cup' which pitted Central & North Western League rivals Sheffield, Manchester & Wolverhampton against the newly formed team from Leeds.

Named in honour of a former Mozzie and staged in conjunction with the Movember Foundation, the aim of the day was to raise money and awareness for Men's health as well as showcasing the great game of Aussie Rules.

As the season has well and truly ended, the participating teams saw the tournament as a good stepping stone for next years league, with each side fielding a lot of new players, with many experiencing the game for the first time. Wolves coach Ian Mitchell summed up the pre game feeling perfectly saying his lads were "really looking forward to the cup, it's for a very good cause".

This report courtesy of Jayden Hocking.

Back in August, WFN ran atwo part interview with Dylan Wolfgramm, who happened to be the first captain of the Fijian Youth side at the inaugral Oceania Cup tournament held in Fiji in December 2009. As pointed out, the Wolfgramm family is very prominent in footy in Fiji.  Now it's the turn of young Jack Wolfgramm, as he and his Junior Tribe team mates prepare for international competition starting next week.

 

December is now a key month on the International Footy calendar.  The reason is the now annual Youth AFL Oceania Cup.  The tournament kicked off in Fiji in 2009 with Tonga perhaps the surprise inaugural victor.  Last year PNG made their debut (after various circumstances conspired against an appearance in 2009) and were comfortable winners as Tonga played hosts. 

VWFL coaching legend Peta Searle has confirmed that she has been offered the assistant coaching position at VFL premier club Port Melbourne.

Searle was described as “ecstatic” following the announcement of the decision, and said her appointment to the role was a statement to the Australian Football world that women were just as capable of coaching in the top levels of the game. She added she was trying to be the best coach she could be, and was not thinking too much about the gender issue: everyone, male and female, had to earn their stripes and respect, and that she believed she had the knowledge and skills to coach men.