World Footy News

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.

The following is for a fundraiser in Ireland.

The Irish Banshees are playing in the AFL International Cup for the first time this August. This is also the first time the AFL have included a Women’s Division in the competition! It was only last year that the Banshees wailed their success, defeating Italy at the Euro Cup- can they add another international trophy to their cabinet? OF COURSE! Can they do the Irish nation proud? OF COURSE! Can they show the world that chicks really do have balls!? OF COURSE! ... And they know how to kick them too!

The Banshees have been fundraising for the trip like mad but they are still to reach their target, so they expect to see everyone come together and support their national Irish team at a Table Quiz event on Saturday 23rd July at the Woolshed in Dublin. First Bounce 8pm sharp.

Tickets are 10 euro each and 4 to a table. 

Please contact Leiha or any of the team for tickets!

Ph: 08 5734 1096

Help support the USA Revolution and USA Freedom and buy an Offiicial Supporter's T-Shirt! All proceeds go toward helping fund the teams for 2011 International Cup. Shirts are available in men's, women's and kids sizes.

Shirts are $25 and can be posted out to USA or Australia ($5 for one T-shirt or $11 for up to six T-shirts) They can also be collected free from your local USAFL club or from the teams in Sydney and Melbourne.

Orders must be placed by July 17. To order online, click here. Payments can be made by PayPal to freedom@usafl.com, or by cheque within the USA, made out to USA Freedom, and mailed to USAFL, 1500 7th Street #6J, Sacramento, CA 95814. The T-shirts will be shipped out on August 3.

If there are any problems or questions, please contact Amy Bishop at freedom@usafl.com

Donations to USA Revolution and USA Freedom can also be made by PayPal. Click here to visit their PayPal site.

Interesting interview with Collingwood's recruiting manager Derek Hine and how they look at the juinor carnivals and looking outside the usual recruiting sources. Gives a good indication of why it is so important for the World XVIII and South Pacific to be at the Under 16 Championships as part of the talent pathway.

With now just a matter of weeks to the start of the 2011 fourth instalment of the AFL International Cup, the build-up begins in earnest. Our previews commence with the reigning champions.

The 2008 winners and three time finalists are Papua New Guinea. After finishing runners up to Ireland in 2002, and then to New Zealand in 2005, finally a young new generation of talent took the title in 2008, with some help from a few stalwarts. Their fleet footed players were supplemented by a few slightly taller finds that could take a mark and in a pulsating come from behind win they knocked over the Kiwis in the 2008 Grand Final at the MCG. Some of the names have become reasonably familiar to followers of international footy. Whilst providing a fitting finale to the international career of veteran Overa Gibson, the 2008 tournament also launched at senior level players such as Stanis Susuve, John James, Emas Wartova, Donald Barry and Amua Pirika.

PNG is on an upward curve that is hard to match, and many of those stars return. But the Mozzies will not quite be at full strength so back-to-back Cups may not be the formality one might expect.