World Footy News

The 2011 AFL draft will take place this morning in Sydney.  With the GWS Giants having the ability to take what it considers the best talent in the draft early on, it is expected to be their later picks that Irishman Setanta o'hAilpin will be sweating on.

GWS coach Kevin Sheedy has admitted in the press over the past few weeks his own interest in giving him another chance, and if they can fit him in the salary cap are expected to draft o'hAilpin are likely to add him to their list.

Sheedy hopes to tap into the Irish community in Sydney but Setanta's Fijian heritage may be more relevant in the Western Sydney suburbs.

The audio below is an interview that Setanta did with SEN Radio in Melbourne last week.

This Sunday, the Manchester Mozzies Aussie Rules Club will host the Nathan Blakey Movember Cup. Named in honour of a former high flying Mozzie who tragically passed away last week, the Movember Cup will see teams from Sheffield, Wolverhampton and Leeds compete in a 4 team lightning cup tournament.

In conjunction with the Movember Foundation, members of all 4 teams have spent the last 3 weeks grooming and styling some killer Moustaches as part of the worldwide Movember movement, in which men give up their upper lip during the month of November to help raise much needed funds and awareness for men's health, particularly men's cancer.

The Wolverhampton Wolverines recently completed their debut AFL Britain Central & North West season, and although they had a tough year and didn't manage a win in the home and away season, they were successful in growing their very young playing list to more than 30 members, only one of whom is an Australian.

Towards the end of the season the Wolverines also became involved with a charity that had been set up locally; Balls To Cancer. The charity was established by Mark Bates, who has since worked tirelessly for the cause of raising funds and awareness to the dangers of male cancers, predominantly testicular and prostate cancer.

Around ten members of the squad completed a 5km fun run for the charity and a further four players had some shots taken for a calendar that the charity will be bringing out in time for 2012. It is hoped that 2012's West Midlands Charity Cup will be bigger and better than last year and that all proceeds will benefit Balls To Cancer.

It has taken 21 years – but the Osaka Dingoes have secured their first Japan AFL Premiership, overpowering the Eastern Hawks by 22 points.

The teams had met in Osaka in the regular season, with the Minor Premiers, the Dingoes running out winners 78 to 42 winners

The start of the Grand Final went Osaka's way. The Dingoes scored early in the First Quarter, courtesy of D. Moon, who ended up with six goals for the match. By Half Time their lead was 21 points, and the match looked over. In the Third Quarter, the Hawks managed to claw their way back into the game and at Three Quarter Time, Osaka's margin had been narrowed to 7 points, and momentum was with the Hawks. Osaka must have been given a rev-up at the final break, as they kept the Hawks scoreless in the final quarter, whilst adding two more goals to their tally.

A new footy club has been born in the town of Cergy-Pontoise in France. Located in the French department of Val d'Oise, about thirty miles north west of Paris, Les Coyotes de Cergy-Pontoise are awaiting you for training every Sunday at 10 am in Parc des Larris de Cergy.

Composed of a small group (for now), they hope the team will evolve, compete and reinforce the next season of the French league, which for its 2011-12 season will include 7 clubs: Paris, Strasbourg, Bordeaux, Perpignan, Toulouse, Aix-Marseille and Montpellier.

For more information, visit the official facebook page here.

Over the last 7 years Australian football's international growth has prospered from the active support of the AFL Game Development department overseen by David Matthews, with his title ultimately expanding to be General Manager of National and International Development.  Matthews has been genuinely enthusiastic about supporting the game beyond Australia and at the same time built an excellent reputation within the AFL.

Unfortunately Matthews has now moved on.  The AFL has made a huge investment in the new club GWS Giants and the sudden departure of their CEO was far from optimal, so the AFL posted Matthews to act in the role.  It has now been confirmed that he will move into that position for at least 12 months.

The loss for the international movement is lessened due to Game Development now featuring a dedicated international manager in Tony Woods, but it remains important that the top position be filled with someone keen to continue Matthews' good work.  We'll watch with interest to see who wins the job.

In the meantime many thanks to David Matthews for all his great work including his openness to interviews with this website and we wish him good luck in the new role.  And it will be very interesting to see if the GWS Giants embrace international development given its coach Kevin Sheedy is the most enthusiastic coach on this front and now they have the most internationally aware CEO.  Perhaps international football's loss will be international football's gain.

The Greater Western Sydney GIANTS have welcomed the announcement of the AFL’s radio broadcast partners for 2012-16.

Acting GIANTS Chief Executive David Matthews said the club was particularly delighted that ABC Radio had agreed to broadcast all of the GIANTS home and away matches into New South Wales during the period of the broadcast agreement.

Read on for more at the end of the article about ABC Radio Australia broadcasts. 

After an absence of a few years, there are signs that Australian rules football will again be played on an organised basis in Belgium. Long-time followers of footy in Europe will remember the Brussels Saints, who put some strong sides on the field around 2005-06 and had some success in tournament play (see Brussels Saints March into 2005 for some history). However, the Saints went into recess after only a few seasons, and since that time there hasn't been an active club in the country.

Local Bjorn de Bruyn and Aussie expat Brendan Stead are currently holding training sessions and hoping to create a club in the city of Antwerp, while another new group are kicking the footy in the capital city Brussels.

As Nic Naitanui and Israel Folau have become household names across Australia, eyes are swiftly turning to the Pacific as the next frontier for international AFL talent. Eddie Burton, the AFL’s Development Officer in Solomon Islands talks to a group of young players leading the charge of AFL in a country that just eight years ago was on the brink of collapse.

Former Geelong Football Club captain Ben Graham continues his NFL punting odyssey tour of the US this week, having signed on with the Detroit Lions.

Having punted in USAFL states of New York (Magpies), Arizona (Hawks) and Louisiana (Baton Rouge Tigers), Graham now finds himself in the footy-barren state of Michigan after the Lions sacked Robert Malone the fill in punter for the injured Ryan Donahue.

If Donahue does not come up from injury this week Graham will punt with his fourth NFL club.

This Saturday (Nov 19) sees an exhibition match with the Solomon Islands AFL National Select squad take on the Toll 'Barbarians' at the St. Josephs Tenaru School.

The day is titled "THE BIG MEAT PIE".

Festivities commence from 1pm, and first bounce is at 2pm.

Unfortunately, the Solomons AFL are not in a position to send a full squad to the South Pacific Cup tournament in December. They are endeavouring to raise funds from this event to send a few young boys over to represent the SIAFL in a combined side.

The day will include a BBQ and drinks, live music and a jumping castle among other activities. Interestingly, there will be a signed GWS guernsey up for auction.

Presently Eddie Burton is looking for a 2nd umpire for the day. Eddie can be contacted in the Solomons on +677 7579338.

The Canterbury Cobras went through their second successive undefeated campaign to claim back to back championships in the AFL New Zealand Senior NPC held at Wellington at Hutt Park.

The tournament featured great facilities and great weather and was well supported by the Wellington AFL organizing committee. Led by League President Mark Langdon and Secretary Margaret Lavery, their efforts were rewarded with a most enjoyable weekend.

NZ Championships in a major tournament year, whether previously the Arafura Cup or currently the International Cup, always see a host of new faces. The commitment to preparing for these major International tournaments means that many players cannot afford the tie, money or absence from their home commitments to again prepare for a tournament which involves further dedication to training and costs such as flights and accommodation, which are generally self-funded. This is of course are two edged sword in that of course you would wish for the best of the best to be at every tournament but this has never been the case. The obvious benefit is that a host of new players often get to represent their province for the first time, and this is always done with great pride.

There were a few firsts for the weekend with a twilight game introduced to provide travelling teams with flexibility in regards to arrival times.