World Footy News

For the first time the nations competing at the 2011 AFL International Cup will have not just the Cup to win but also prize money.

Nominal Prize money has been introduced for the first time.  The AFL's Tony Woods explained, "While we recognise the amateur status of the tournament, the spirit of the International Cup and the motivation behind participants we are keen to provide a small token reward that can be used to assist in the development of the game on the team’s return to their country. Prize money will be awarded by way of a grant to the recipient countries for the 2012 season."

The breakdown is as follows: 

2011 sees the inaugural Women's International Cup in Australian Football. Unfortunately Italy appears to have unexpectedly decided they will not be attending, which has thrown some uncertainty into the schedule.

The AFL has said that given there is no women's International Cup history, rankings were random and drawn out of a hat.

Final teams for IC11 Women’s and rankings are:

1. PNG
2. Australia *
3. Canada
4. Ireland
5. USA

* Australian Indigenous/Multicultural team

The Australian Football League has released the draw and details of the 2011 AFL International Cup. The fourth Cup will feature 18 men's sides and 5 women's sides. Here we will focus on the man, and detail the women's schedule in a later article.

The men's competition will see the teams seeded from 1 to 18 and then sorted into 6 approximately even pools for a lightning tournament in the style of the 2011 NAB AFL Cup (pre-season). On the opening day the teams will play each of the other two members of their pool in games of 2 x 15 minute halves (10 min half-time break). The result will be 6 pools of 3 sorted teams. The top 2 from each will go through to Division 1 and the bottom side from each will form Division 2. Hence there will be 12 in Div 1 and 6 in Div 2.

The seedings are:

* Did not compete IC08

The AFL today announced the final list of 18 participating nations in the men's edition of the 4th International Cup in August 2011, and 5 nations in the inaugural women's division.

The countries that will participate in the men's carnival are; Canada, China, Denmark, East Timor, Fiji, France, Great Britain, India, Ireland, Japan, Nauru, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Peace Team (comprising of both Israeli and Palestinian players), Sweden, South Africa, Tonga and USA.

There are four men's teams making their International Cup debut; East Timor, Fiji, France, and Tonga. Not making the journey are Switzerland, who were still hoping to make their IC debut earlier this year, and IC08 participants Samoa and Finland.

For the first time five women’s teams will also participate; Canada, Ireland, Papua New Guinea, USA and a combined multicultural and Indigenous team.

Venues in Sydney’s Greater West will host matches from Saturday August 13 to Sunday August 21 and Melbourne’s Royal Park will host matches on Wednesday August 24 and Friday August 26.

Two International Cup matches will be played as AFL curtain-raisers; before Sydney Swans v St Kilda at ANZ Stadium on Sunday August 21 and the grand final match will be played prior to Hawthorn v Western Bulldogs at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Saturday August 27. Both AFL matches will feature a ‘Parade of Nations’ where all teams will be presented at halftime.

 In 2010 the World XVIII team featured one Irish player, Sean O’ Kennedy from Donegal. Ireland.  O'Kennedy perfomed well and had the chance to also train with the Collingwood Football Club in Melbounre. 

This year the lone Irish representative is Muiris Bartley who came to the attention of ARFLI Selectors through his progress with Coláiste an Phiarsaigh and the Leeside Lions. 

According to Corkman.ie "Muiris, has been involved with his local GAA club in juvenile, minor and U21 football until recently, where he showed tremendous promise until a cruciate injury left him sidelined until early this year.

He played in the early round of the U21 c'ship but opted out after that for his own reasons, he is certainly a player of great promise and with his high fielding abilities, he could quite easily make his mark in that code, wishing him all the best and hoping he will enjoy the experience and make the most of his opportunity."

The SANFL and AFL today announced a funding plan to see South Australian football through to 2014 when the financial picture is expected to brighten considerably with both the state's AFL clubs moving to Adelaide Oval.

Key features of the deal are:

• A grant to the Port Adelaide Football Club from the AFL of $1 million for each of the three years (2011, 2012 and 2013)
• A loan to the SA Football Commission from the AFL of $2 million per year for each of the three years (2011, 2012 and 2013) to be provided as grants to the Port Adelaide Football Club, representing a total grant to the club of $9 million over three years
• The AFL to provide a facility for the SA Football Commission to draw up to $1.5 million per year for three years (2011, 2012 and 2013)
• The SA Football Commission will provide a financial package valued at $1 million per year to the Adelaide Football Club over three years (2012, 2013 and 2014), representing a total contribution to the Crows of $3 million.

AFL CEO Andrew Demetriou explained that "Football in South Australia needs two strong clubs in Port Adelaide and the Adelaide Crows competing strongly on the national stage and the AFL competition wants both teams to have every chance to bring success to their supporters."

The NZ Hawks have named their team after their final training camp mid-June. The squad has many familiar faces to those who follow NZ footy with some of the faces already following the pathway from the U16's to the senior team.

WFN will provide the exact details of the squad as soon as they are available but for a snapshot see here.

We have learnt the sad news that Sean Wight passed away this morning at the age of 47. Scottish born Wight successfully made the transition from Gaelic football in Ireland to Aussie rules along with Jim Stynes at the Melbourne Football Club.

He was scouted by the Melbourne Football Club's Ron Barassi and Barry Richardson on a visit to Ireland in 1982.  Wight was brought to Australia in 1985 and played 150 games for the club before retiring in 1995.  His successful transition to become a top level backman has its legacy in the current day Irishmen playing with AFL clubs.

Our sympathies to his family. 

 Following is a statement from the Melbourne Football Club.

This year's edition of the World XVIII youth side has been released. The side of 14 to 18 year olds will compete in the NAB AFL Under 16 Championships Division Two, alongside fellow internationals the South Pacific and Australian states/territories NSW/ACT, Queensland, Tasmania and Northern Territory. Due to scheduling and concessions the two international sides will play one game less than their Aussie counterparts but the event will still be invaluable in exposing world talent to scouts and what is required to take their game to the next level.

As per 2010 the side will feature true internationals nominated by the AFL's international affiliates and be strengthened by Australian-based talent with recent multicultural backgrounds. Perhaps one disappointment is that the number of players from the affiliates is down from 18 to 12 this year. It's a reminder that whilst junior development is on a tremendous surge in the South Pacific the game is not quite so advanced in the Northern Hemisphere. A strong feature of the 2011 squad is a number of tall immigrants of North African descent.

This year's affiliates to provide players are Canada (4), South Africa (3), East Timor (2), USA (1), Scotland (1), Ireland (1). Notable absences are Denmark and England. The full World XVIII squad is listed below courtesy of Peter Romaniw, AFL Multicultural and International Coordinator .

Stateside Footy caught up with Brett Kirk in Boston on his worldwide footy tour. This great interview by Bill Robert can be seen in the video below and covers Brett's tour so far and the upcoming International Cup.  We also get to find out how Bill came to love Aussie rules and find himself broadcasting it.

The AFL International Development Manager, Tony Woods, has advised us that the draw for the 4th International Cup will be released to competing nations on Friday 1st July.

WFN hopes to publish the draw probably some time late Friday Australian time.

The AFL has several times extended the deadline for competing countries to give all possible competitors the maximum chance to make IC11 but Friday's release should be the final version and contain details of the expected lightning format and how teams will be seeded into two divisions afterwards.  The exciting new format should ensure all nations get to play against a range of opposition whilst still focusing the best teams into the semi-final stages.

Pictured is the 2008 trophy surrounded by some of the national jumpers.