World Footy News

Bill Robert has his latest Stateside Footy Episode 14 now online. The Boston Demons host the New York Magpies in Lexington, MA. In the Keegan Heavey Memorial Game, dedicated to the memory of a recently deceased club member.

Bill Robert has his latest Stateside Footy Episodes 11-13 now online, and these episodes feature two Aussie Football matches: the first being Womens Footy and the inaugural home game of the Boston Lady Demons as they take on the New York Lady Magpies. The second match is a match between the New York and Boston men's reserves.

Youtube footage of the program can be seen below.

The spotlight of CHOGM has left Perth and the football focus shifts to the new year but the background behind the two teams that contested the recent CHOGM Cup deserves further attention.
 
Both teams are involved in Perth’s annual Harmony Cup. The WAFL is the instrument for football in WA and has entered into a relationship with WA Education that’s producing results for all stakeholders. The following is from WAFC Emerging Markets Manager, Paul Mugambwa, better know as a South Fremantle Bulldogs player.

In March 2010 the West Australian Football Commission (WAFC) formed a partnership with the Edmund Rice Centre to develop a multicultural football team that could develop participants skills and knowledge of AFL and eventually assist them joining local community clubs. 

Through this partnership the Edmund Rice Lions were formed and the team consisted of young men aged 14 to 23 from culturally and linguistically diverse (CaLD) backgrounds. The Lions were more than just a football team. While participants were able to develop their skills and knowledge of AFL they also developed leadership skills, team building, self confidence and a sense of belonging. In their first year the Lions trained 2-3 times per week and competed in more than 8 AFL matches over 5 months. Over the course of the 5 months the Lions had more the 75 participants with 30 regular players. At the end of the first year more than 10 players made the transition from the Lions team into local community clubs.

Several years ago AFL South Africa established their base at Senwes Park (formerly Sedgars Park) in Potchefstroom.  In summer it's used for cricket and in winter for Aussie Rules (or FootyWILD as it's known there), just like hundreds (maybe even thousands) of grounds across Australia.

But it still no doubt comes as a surprise to Australia's top cricketers when they find themselves looking at AFL merchanise when they arrive at Senwes Park for a tour match.  Brydon Coverdale wrote about the ground and the growth of Australian football in South Africa in a recent article for Cricinfo, which covers cricket around the world.

See Australian rules in South Africa.

The Leeds Minotaurs are England's newest footy club, having been formed by expat Australian student Rhys Long after an ad posted in Leeds' Walkabout Bar on AFL Grand Final day brought a barrage of interest from potential fans and players.

Since then, the Minotaurs but in a valiant effort in their debut match against neighbours Huddersfield Rams, and are planning to take part in a tournament with Manchester, Sheffield and Wolverhampton at the end of this month.

The HANZ-UP programme is a community based football programme organised between the Hawthorn Football Club and AFL New Zealand. The alliance allows Hawthorn to promote the game in New Zealand, whilst AFL New Zealand has the opportunity like no other international football organisation to engage the local juniors in a variety of football activities, including Auskick programmes, school competitions, and clinics with Hawks players.

The TV promos before the second International Rules Test at Carrara on the Gold Coast were about ‘intensity’, an Australian team needing to ‘settle the score’. They would do it by pressure, tackling and hitting harder, within the rules.

They also tagged key players, including Tadhg Kennelly who was tagged by Sydney Swans teammate Ben McGlynn.

That reality led to numerous spot fires in the third quarter with three Australians and two Irish yellow carded and off the bench for a time.

In fact, it was Irish skill which still trumped the Australians - better high marking! (as when Kieran Donaghy outmarked Ben Griggs near the Irish goal), astonishing evasive skills, lay-offs of the ball under pressure with the speed of the Harlem Globetrotters, and precise kicking.

Although the Irish did not race away in a scoreless first few minutes, they inched towards a slight lead at the time. Steven McDonnell, the highest scorer in the history of the series, kicked an Over (above the cross bar) from the boundary line in the last minute of the quarter, Ireland taking a 12-8 lead into the break.

As an Irish commentator said, the Irish were handling the tackle better than in the past, particularly important for players who normally play a non-tackling game. In contrast, from early in the game Australia’s Mitch Robinson looked like he was angling for a prize fight next year with Barry Hall.
 

The Scottish Australian Rules Football League has won the rights to host the 2012 EuroCup in Glasgow for the first time, narrowly winning the vote over a bid from Randers, Denmark.

The Scots have a record of hosting international tournaments, such as the long-running Haggis Cup, though this will be the biggest event on Scottish soil to date.

A statement from the AFL Europe read "Both Denmark and Scotland are to be commended for the quality of bids put forward, and we hope that it is a sign of the event going from strength to strength."

More information will appear on the AFL Europe website in the near future.

The end of October saw Welsh champions the Cardiff Panthers set off on their annual end of season tour. Previous tours have included visits to the Belfast Redbacks in 2009 and the Bordeaux Bombers in 2010. Having been crowned WARFL champions for the 3rd year running, the Panthers set off to the beautiful Italian city of Rome as they were courteously welcomed by the 2011 AFL Italia Grand Final runners up, the Roma Blues.

Most of the match day was spent taking in the glorious sights and sounds of Rome, including the Colosseum and Stadio Olympico, in 21C sunshine, and the night was still fine as the 8.30pm kick off arrived under the floodlights of the Roma Blues pitch.

The Blues were the first out of the blocks at the ball up and to the shock of many they almost completely shut out the Panthers in the first quarter, taking a 38-3 lead into the first break. The Panthers however have gone undefeated all season and their experience of playing high pressure games away from home came to the fore as they started to peg the Blues.

Eventually the stiff Rome resistance started to fail under the pressure and the Panthers started to move into the lead and out of sight and eventually they came away 100-71 winners. The fabled legendary levels of Italian hospitality with then put on display as the two teams ate, drank and very much danced the night away in the suburbs of Rome.

A quick trip to the Vatican with an unexpected sighting of Pope Benedict XVI followed the next day before the Panthers flew home to bring to an end what has been a truly remarkable season for the Cardiff club.

Ireland won the football, Australia narrowly won the niggle, but depite plenty of the latter there were no real fireworks.

After a fairly listless performance by Australia in the first International Rules test before a small crowd in Melbourne the main talking points going into the second match were whether the Aussies would lift their intensity in general but including at the man, whether they could regain some respect, whether anyone would turn up to watch, and whether the series has a future.

Certainly the intensity was there, with a match under their belts helping the Australians, many of whom were returning from holidays for the series.  Their skills with the round ball were improved, even managing to take a few good marks, although as always none of the high flying sort seen in the AFL.

For Ireland, who were reportedly banned by management from visiting the Gold Coast's beaches, it was all about winning game two to sweep the series, not just winning on aggregate.

New Zealand's only South Island club premiership has been run and won.  The Mid-Canterbury Eagles have won their inaugural Premiership in the Canterbury Australian Football League defeating reigning premiers Christchurch Bulldogs in a fantastic Grand Final.

Earlier in the day perennial champions the Eastern Blues took third place putting away the University Cougars in a great day for football in Christchurch.

The main game started at a frenetic pace, with players throwing themselves at the contest. It looked early that the Eagles were in control, but they wasted seveal gettable opportunities in front of goal, while the more accurate Bulldogs converted with their limted opportunities. At quarter time the Eagles led by 6-points, with only 2 goals on the scoreboard despite their domination around the ground.

For more see Eagles triumph to claim first CAFL trophy