World Footy News

If anyone was doubting the perception that Ireland's men are a genuine Cup threat that was quickly put to bed in a savage first quarter against the improved Swedish Elks at the SCG Bus Loop ground in the 2pm slot on Game Day 3 (Wednesday 17th August).

Sweden are clearly better than their 2008 IC debut, with better structure, some very solid physiques and plenty of experience in international competition, such as the European Championships last year when they placed third.  Yet Ireland came out in the first quarter and blew them away, 6.2 (38) to no score.

And although that was the worst of it as the Swedes gathered their defences, Ireland never showed mercy, with a 4 goal to 1 second quarter making it clear there would be no comeback.

The 2011 International Cup is not only the first time the women have competed but for many of these teams it's the first or second time they've played international matches.  That making picking a winner difficult, and after Papua New Guinea thrashed the Australian Indigenous / Multicultural side we thought we'd found our tournament favourite.  Not so!  What a shock to have Canada's Northern Lights not only shine brighter than PNG's Flames but to completely eclipse them.

The match was in the 12pm timeslot as SCG Bus Loop - that's the oval by the bus loop outside the Sydney Cricket Ground, home to the AFL's Sydney Swans.

Canada burst out the blocks, kicking 2.3 to 0.0 in the first quarter, and we waited for PNG to respond.  They did and held Canada to 2 points in the second quarter, but still couldn't trouble the scoreboard.

Just two matches this afternoon. Scores will be updated every quarter throughout the day. We suggest you refresh your browser regularly to see the latest. Match reports will follow later in the day and into Friday.

One of the side issues that was always going to emerge at this International Cup is the pull of club versus country.  And in many instances this is also career versus country.

As the standard of international footy continues to improve we're seeing more and more players head to Australia to hone their skills.  This is great thing on many levels.  It improves the standard of world footy overall, it exposes Australia to the game's growth which will help Australians and their footy leagues/clubs be more supportive, and it also provides careers for budding international talent.

In fact it is reaching the point that to push into the upper echelons of International Cup success teams really need to have quite a few players in Australia getting the benefit of weekly footy at a very high standard.  But the drawback to all this is that when it comes to representing their country, will players skip games for their Aussie sides?

The top seed PNG Mosquitos and Tonga Tigers today battled it out at Holroyd in Sydney’s west (Gipps Rd Sporting Complex) in constant light rain making for cold and greasy conditions.  The large crowd of schoolchildren were thrilled by the PNG war dance and the Tongan Sipi Tau, and the turn out made the atmosphere all the better despite the inclement conditions.

Having already met in the seeding round (a quirk of the draw) it might have been thought that wet weather may have evened up the contest, bringing favourites PNG back to Tonga’s level somewhat,  but this was soon dispelled with PNG kicking 6 goals straight before being followed up with two points.  Tonga could only manage one point for the quarter.

It was Game Day 3 of the 4th International Cup and Great Britain headed to Bruce Purser Reserve, Rouse Hill in northwestern Sydney to take on the might of number two seed New Zealand.  The Kiwis were red hot favourites but after a great win over Canada the Bulldogs had ever right to attack this game with confidence.

It was a wet and cold day but the Kiwis came onto the field looking confident, and as the British Bulldogs lined up, the Hawks set up for the Haka. Though the Bulldogs stared back with unmoved faces, it appeared that the Haka may have had some effect on one side, as it all went New Zealand’s way. The Kiwis has superb aerial marking skills and the Bulldogs’ kicking game was playing straight into their hands. With the Bulldogs maybe still sore from their cracking win over Canada two days before, they were a little slow going into tackles and challenges, and the Hawks started to swoop all over them, kicking four goals and seven behinds before the siren sounded.
 

This was first game for the USA coming into the tournament, and a chance for the Australian Multicultural Indigenous team to show how much they’d come together and improved since their defeat by the PNG Flame. That match was widely interpreted as credit to the Flame, but now we would see with the AMI squad could match it with other international sides.

Both teams came out looking confident and sang out their national anthems proudly to the onlooking crowds. The first quarter however was a one way street for the USA Freedom. The AMI team were left looking down the barrel of a red white and blue gun as the Freedom came blasting in, kicking 5 goals before the siren sounded to relieve the Australians.  Immediately we knew not to count the Americans out of 2011 International Cup calculations.

Just the two games on Game Day 4.

Blacktown International Sportspark Sydney Oval 1

Women's Division

5pm Australia IM v Ireland,  7pm PNG v USA

The France Coqs have broken through for their first-ever 18-a-side international victory, defeating the East Timor Crocs by 109 points in the cold and wet at Blacktown International Sportspark today.

In a game which failed to reach great heights, the Coqs' relentless grind and better ability in the wet saw them grow a lead throughout the game, winning every quarter with captain Théis leading the way from the midfield.

The first quarter saw France start strongly, kicking two goals early in the match, before the Crocs kicked their first ever goal in IC-grade international footy. With neither team able to achieve any further majors before quarter time, both went into the first break with plenty of anticipation of a tough contest.

India took on China today at Holroyd Oval, Gipps Road Sports Complex, at 12pm on Wednesday 17th August.

In light rain the game started with India getting on the scoreboard first kicking 2.2 to China's 1.4 in the first quarter.  Both sides went hard at the ball, but India's small men were able to link up with chains of handball and come out in front.  Jay Himat (#7) and Vishnu Rishe (#17) were the goalkickers for the Tigers while Zhou Min (#10) scored China's only major, inaccurate kicking hurting their cause.  India's Rakesh Ghosh (#4) looked dangerous around the packs, while Ayush Gupta (#24) won many contests.  Keeping track of the players was proving hard with quite a few changes to jumper numbers for the Indian squad.

Update Wed 8pm AEST:  Good news as Indian player Merv Nathaniel has been given the all clear and left hospital after full brain and spinal scans.

Update Thursday: Chinese play Lu Hao was also injured and underwent surgery for a broken ankle.  There was also a suspected AC (Timor Leste) and a broken jaw (Tonga) earlier in the tournament - there will always be injuries and the players are going hard at it, but there seems to be an unlucky run at the moment.

As is becoming traditional at International Cups, the Australian Football League held an International Development Forum with the attending nations.  In 2008 there was some vision from the AFL and brainstorming sessions with the country representatives.  This time around the AFL revealed ambitious plans for the growth of the game.

worldfootynews.com was fortunate to again be invited to attend, and a review of the three hour forum follows, but the highlights included: 

• the possibility of international sides being included in the Foxtel Cup, a competition featuring Australia's top state league sides which is televised around Australia on pay TV service Foxtel
• a target of 250,000 international players within 10 years (up from approximately 60,000 now)
• the Australian rollout of AFL9s
• aiming to get more Australian sides to international tournaments to aid in promotion and development

Nauru went into this match strong favourites after dominating their group on Game Day 1. The extra years of experience and the match hardening of footy in country Victoria meaning that the polish of Nauru should hold sway over the enthusiastic fast developing Tongans. The Tongans have had some of their own local footy experience though in recent weeks with Campbelltown in the NSWAFL competition.

Perhaps surprisingly Tonga showed they've already improved in this competition, and pushed Nauru all the way.  Ultimately it was the superior marking power of the Chiefs that kept the Tigers at bay.  It was noticeable in the Tonga vs PNG match on the opening day that the Tongans tended to rush the ball in the air and find themselves running underneath it - a sign of inexperiences and over enthusiasm.  If they can improve in that area they will push all the middle ranked sides.

Full report has now been added below.