World Footy News

[Note this draw has had several minor amendments by the AFL.  Latest version is July 27th.]

The AFL have released (assuming no unfortunate late withdrawals) the final copy of the 2011 AFL International Cup draw, for both the Men's and Women's competitions.

The main amendment is that the women's competition will now play 5 rounds (4 matches each) of qualifying matches (including back to back days on the first Wednesday and Thursday), which means each team plays the other once (the much dreamed of "even draw" that eludes the elite AFL competition). The top 2 ranked sides will then play off in the Grand Final, and there will be a 3rd/4th playoff whilst 5th will probably be glad for the day off.

You can download the full draw here or read on for an inline version (this will only be added some time on Friday).

AFL ‘Multicultural Round’ 17 celebrates the community engagement of Australian Football on a backdrop of the diverse cultures that make up Australia, as well as the many players from multicultural backgrounds in the AFL.

The highlight of Multucultural Round will be Sunday’s game at Etihad Stadium where North Melbourne will take on the Western Bulldogs. The day kicks off at 2:00 pm with an exhibition game at North Melbourne’s Aegis Park (Arden Street oval) between the Multicultural Academy and the Inidgenous Academy.

There are a number of ties between top level Rugby and top level Aussie rules. Coming up to the Rugby World Cup in NZ this year, former Hawthorn player Mick Byrne continues his long involvement with Rugby as a kicking/skills coach with with the All Blacks (and Japan). He has also had stints with the Wallabies as kicking and catching coach when they won the 1999 World Cup and he's also worked with the Brumbies (1998-2001), Springboks (2001-02), Scotland (2002-03) and Saracens prior to his appointment with the NZRU in 2005.

Rugby fans will also be very familiar with England fly half/inside centre Jonny Wilkinson and his elite place kicking and drop goal record. The video below where he answers fan questions reveals that he has connections with Geelong and is a Cats fan. He also has practiced with an Aussie rules footy for some time to hone his kicking skills.

The Irish Warriors are coming to the 2011 International Cup with what potentially could be the most battle-hardened IC squad in the competition's history.

There have been a number of Irishmen playing Australian rules football around the globe for many years, but the global financial crisis saw a spike in the number of Irish emigrants over the past year or two. A number of these have come to Australia, where some have made the transition from Gaelic football to the Australian indigenous code.

The ARFLI earlier this year announced that it was planning to bring around 15 players from Ireland, with the other half of the squad to be sourced from Irish expats living and playing footy in Australia. Whilst the final squad won't be made public until July 22nd, we've got a preview of some of the Irish who will be suiting up for the Warriors in August, including some familiar names such as Stynes, Heslin and Finn.

The NAB AFL Under 16 Championships Division Two are on in Sydney's western suburbs.  The two international sides were not part of Round 1 but had both wins in Round 2.  Today saw Round 3 at Bruce Purser Reserve and both the World XVIII and South Pacific suffered small losses.

The World XVIII went down to Queensland by 18 points in a close tussle.  Earlier in the day the South Pacific played the combined NSW/ACT squad, being defeated by 21 points.  The results show that their previous wins were no flukes and they deserve their spots at the Championships, but that they are probably still a little behind their Australian compatriots, given a slight age advantage to the international teams.

The two international sides head back to nearby Blacktown to end the tournament on Saturday, with a match against each other.  Queensland are undefeated and look set to win Division Two.

Pictured is exciting South Pacific player Brendan Beno from PNG.

NSW/ACT 12.6 (78)
South Pacific 8.9 (57)

Queensland 11.6 (72)
World 8.6 (54)

In addition to the USA teams’ main supporter T-shirt sale fundraiser, some of the teams with representatives in the national team are also hosting their own fundraisers to help send their teammates to Australia for IC11.

Baltimore-Washington Eagles and Lady Eagles are hosting a Lobster Bake Fundraiser at Phillips Seafood Headquarters, 1215 E. Fort Avenue, Baltimore, on the 23rd July from 17:30 to 20:30, straight after the Metro Grand Final. They will also have a raffle for Australian beer/wine and other prizes. The money raised will go to support BWE Revolution reps Brandon Bladau, Freedom reps Jake Moyer, Judith Stein, Eileen Geogheedan, Karen Stablein, and Revolution assistant coach Denis Ryan.

Results from the 2011 NAB AFL Under 16 Championships Round Two Division One matches played today at Blacktown International Sportspark Sydney.

Goals:

Vic Country: Willsmore 5, Impey 2, Pearson 2, Bourke 2, Tsitas, Mangan, Taylor, McCartney

Western Australia: Martin 2, Acres 2, Dawson, Garstone, Loo, Abbott, Jones

Best:

Vic Country: Tsitas, Dreher, Willsmore, Leslie, Miller, Taylor

Western Australia: Martin, Chatley, Grescos, Kennedy, Sheed

Stateside Footy presents a pair of Australian Rules Football matches, played on May 21, 2011 in Fort Washington, MD. The first half of the show features a 2x20 match between the New York Magpies and the Philadelphia Hawks. The second half includes the inaugural game of the Boston Lady Demons as they play a 2x20 Women's Footy match against the New York Lady Magpies. Stateside Footy is a cable access TV show produced at WCTV - Wilmington Community Television in Wilmington, MA. It features Aussie Rules Football as it is played in the U.S.A

Richmond Football Club have confirmed their young American born- Irish signing John Heslin will play for Ireland at the 2011 International Cup.  He is expected to be joined by a number of Irish expats playing footy in Australia with state league experience such as Conor Meredith who has spent previous years at the North Melbourne football club playing with their VFL affilliate Werribee.

“John’s commitments with his Gaelic team, Westmeath, are finished and he’s really looking forward to coming out to Australia again and representing Ireland in the International Cup,” said Richmond’s Recruiting Manager Francis Jackson. 

While he has never to our knowledge played Aussie rules in Ireland or anywhere else (other than a training stint at Richmond earlier in the year, and at Essendon the year before) he will be eligible under the International Cup rules to represent his country.

 

As already discussed on WFN, Samoa will not compete at this year’s International Cup. This is obviously hugely disappointing to the international football community, let alone the Samoans themselves after being a stalwart of international competition in the South Pacific since the Arafura Festivals in Darwin.

Behind their withdrawal lie a number of factors. These include most significantly the fact that the Samoans have not been able to develop any enduring local competition, that the AYAD Officer (Australian Youth Ambassadors for Development) who have previously done a lot of the on-ground development (Michael Roberts who is now at the Dandenong Stingrays in the TAC Cup) has not been replaced and therefore due to the lack of organisation funding streams could not be put in place, particularly given the massive tsunami that devastated the country in 2009.

The next round of matches for the World XVIII and South Pacific in the NAB AFL Under 16 Championships are as follows:

You can also read more about their first round here:  International teams in upset wins on the AFL website.

Pleasingly we can confirm that many of the truly international (still based outside of Australia) players selected did indeed play in the World team's win over the Northern Territory. Specifically, there were 8 internationals played: 3 Canadians, 2 South Africans, 1 from USA, 1 from Scotland and 1 from Ireland.