World Footy News

With the 2011 Euro Cup kicking off in Belfast this weekend, we present our third batch of team previews - this time profiling the Scottish, Swedish, Finnish and Icelandic sides.

The final draw includes 18 sides, with the teams from Poland, Portugal and Norway pulling out, but the Denmark Vikings having been added to the original list we received.

The full schedule can be found at the AFL Europe website.

Ed: We didn't receive word back from the Russian, Catalan or Spanish camps in time for inclusion in our Euro Cup previews, but we hope to have an update on their domestic progress in the near future.

The Arizona Cardinals have re-signed Ben Graham after cutting him at the NFL season's start. The former Geelong captain has been recalled due to injury to his replacement, Dave Zastudil. Zastudil remains on the roster though so Graham's return could be short lived.

Other former Aussie rules players in the NFL are Matt McBriar who continues his long career with the Dallas Cowboys (and hit a 68 yard punt this week) and Sav Rocca who has moved to the Washington Redskins for this season and may be having his best season so far.

Former Brisbane and Port Adelaide player Scott Harding has also recently debuted in college gridiron football for University of Hawaii as a wide receiver.

Ireland has named a preliminary 31 man squad for the upcoming Cormac McAnallen trophy squad.  The squad includes current AFL listed players Tommy Walsh, Michael Quinn, Chrissy McKaigue, Zach Touhy, Tadhg Kennelly and Pearse Hanley and former listed players Colm Begley and Brendan Murphy.  Martin Clake who has been linked to an AFL comeback with both Collingwood and Carlton was not available for selection.  A final 23 man squad will be named on October 23rd.

The Australian squad is expected to named after a meeting today to discuss who is avaialble from Saturday's Grand Final teams.  The Australian team will be coached by Rodney Eade who has just joined the Collingwood coaching staff and the team will train in Torquay near Geelong prior to the first match in Melbourne at Etihad Stadium.

WFN has updated its unofficial World Rankings after the recent 2011 AFL International Cup. With so many matches played (54) there was quite a bit of movement on the ladder, and 4 teams moved into full ranking status for the first time (Tonga, India, China and the Peace Team).

Ireland's unbeaten tournament was enough to push them up into 2nd, making them effectively the number 1 contender to Australia. Papua New Guinea, so often runner-up in the IC, slip down one spot to 3rd.

Tonga impressively debut in the top 10.

There are now 19 fully ranked sides and 6 provisionally ranked nations (yet to play 8 eligible games).

Read on for the full list.

The last week of September in Melbourne in particular saw most footy attention aimed squarely at the knee of Stevie J and the groin, or rather abductor, of Darren Jolly. In fairness, the partnering of the AFL and Federal Govt in launching a PNG AFL taskforce to expand Australian football in the region isn’t really core news for the regular AFL media.

During the week, with the gradual building up of expectation for the fortunes of Geelong and Collingwood at the ‘G on the first Saturday in October, it’s little wonder then that the simultaneous announcements of the AFL and MP the Hon Richard Marles failed to raise much of a profile.

The Volunteers, the Specialists, the Honchos, WFN and other Media…

The International Cup is a major logistical as well as football exercise. It featured several hundred players and officials playing at three main sites, Blacktown International Sportspark, at Royal Park and the MCG as well as one day of matches spread around Sydney. Local volunteers are crucial for a tournament with over 500 players and two weeks of matches. While the AFL provided organisational support – and, crucially, insurance for the international teams – the key people are the volunteers. It is a given that the players arrive with the support of coaches, managers and in some cases trainers, the international volunteers, but the local volunteers are equally important.

Thanks to Leiha Shrubsall for the bulk of this article.

Last year the first ever European women's international match took place at the Euro Cup: Ireland defeated Italy by 10 points. Now the AFL Finals are out the way, it is time again for the Euro Cup. This time Belfast is the city hosting the competition. Being the Banshees' first international home game, they want to win on home soil. The squad list is out, and the majority of the squad is made up of IC11 players and a few new players added.

‘We have just returned victorious from the biggest competition on the International stage, we know now where we sit on an International playing level and want to keep that level up. We've never met the Swiss team before so we don't know what they will throw at us but we'll be playing the Banshees’ brand of footy regardless.’
 

The Essendon Women’s Network has awarded Sydney Swans’ Lesley McGrath the Football Woman of the Year (FWOTY) Award for her long term contribution to the game and for being a female ambassador to the football community as Sydney Swans’ Finance manger.

On congratulating McGrath, Sydney Swans CEO Andrew Ireland said how she had worked tirelessly in various finance roles, mostly as the club’s Finance Manager, and was a much loved staff member and team mentor. From her commencement in 1986 during one of the club’s more turbulent times, she has worked for the Swans for 25 years, making her the longest serving female employee of any AFL club.

The FWOTY Award is an annual award recognising women in football who have made a significant contribution to the game. The 2011 award is the 14th year the award has been presented by the Essendon Women’s Network to a prominent woman in the world of football. The award is open to any woman in football regardless of club or profession, but the recipient must demonstrate seven criteria:

In the second set of previews for the 2011 Euro Cup, we profile the Austrian Avalanche, German Black Eagles and Italy Azzurri - as well as last year's gold medallists Croatia and the runners up Netherlands.

Can the Knights and the Dutchmen repeat their stellar performance this year, or will the hosts Ireland bring them back to Earth?

The Germans have seen lots of growth at home and won a few internationals this year - can they take the next step and stamp their mark as up-and-comers in European footy? The Italians impressed with their development in 2010, taking out 6th place despite being one of Europe's newer leagues.

The Austrians have had some setbacks domestically with the Vienna Kangaroos going into recess, but with the Styrian DownUnderDogs playing a season in the Croatian domestic league they too will be eager to show they're on the way up.

Rugby League's Auckland Warriors’ Shaun Johnson was nearly lost to AFL when he attracted the interest of scouts in 2006. Having been tagged as the next Benji Marshall he is obviously seen as a huge talent in the 13 a side game.

Now 21, the then 16 year old was playing Australian football for the NZ U 16 side at the Barassi Cup in Canberra. Not only did he play but he received the award as NZ’s best at the international tournament. After the carnival in Canberra, Johnson toured the set-up at the Sydney Swans, who had lost that year's AFL grand final to the West Coast by one point under coach Paul Roos.

With the 9-a-side 2011 Euro Cup hosted by the Australian Rules Football League of Ireland just around the corner, WFN spoke to the team managers for some background on the teams, their preparations and their ambitions for this year's tournament.

We're starting with the Irish Warriors, England Dragonslayers, Denmark Vikings, France Coqs and Cymru Red Dragons (Wales) - five sides whose respective leagues have recently mounted campaigns at the 2011 International Cup.

Whilst the English, French and Welsh sides will include a number of IC players, the Irish and Danes will bring completely new sides to the tournament.