World Footy News

The largest youth Australian football program in the United States, Saturday Morning Footy, begins its 6^th year on June 18.  The program started in 2006 with 22 boys and girls participating in two sessions.  In 2010, over 100 boys and girls participated in six sessions throughout the year, including one with AFL Coaching Director Peter Schwab.  In 2011, we are hoping to run five sessions in the summer with over 150 participants.  The program is free to participants and operates through the generous donation of time and money by parents and volunteers, as well as support from the Baltimore Washington Eagles ARFC and the Australian Embassy Social Club.

Tuesday June 7th saw the AFL Women's National Championships kick off in Adelaide, with four matches on the day.

Division 1

Western Australia 4.2(26) vs Victoria 8.10(58)
Queensland 3.7(25) vs South Australia 2.7(19)

Division 2

New South Wales 8.7(55) vs Australian Capital Territory 3.2(20)
Northern Territory 5.6(36) vs Tasmania 12.6(78)

The video below from the Brisbane Lions website sees Jamie Charman interviewing PNG young gun Donald Barry about his life in Brisbane and reflects on AFL visits to PNG and the realities of life there. Barry was a star for PNG at the 2008 International Cup and a genuine case of a young player who started off playing the game overseas but has come right to the cusp of AFL selection. If the embedded video does not work try this link.

One of the big surprises of season 2010 was the inclusion of not just one, but two International squads in the NAB AFL Under 16 National Championships. With the 2011 tournament a month away (beginning in Sydney on July 10), it’s been good to see that both squads will have a 2011 incarnation. Whilst the World XVIII squad is still to be finalised; below is the recently released South Pacific list.

AFL Asia Pacific Development Manager Andrew Cadzow describes the formation of the squad, “After holding two Oceania Cups of which the standard of the second in Tonga had improved vastly, we are confident that the South Pacific Squad will be a better team than last year's very successful first attempt. More Countries involved; improved programs and more games of footy augers well. With 11 players returning from last year, we are well balanced with 15 top age (18s) and 14 younger (16/17) making up the squad.”

The South Pacific defeated the World XVIII last time and pushed Queensland to 15 points, so will be looking for an Australian scalp this time around. While the squad is dominated by PNG players, there are also representatives from NZ, Tonga, Fiji, Nauru, Samoa and the Solomon Islands. The full squad is listed below.

The 2011 Australian Women’s Nationals, to be held in Adelaide, South Australia, are almost upon us! As the days count down, the four division 2 teams, NT Thunder, ACT, New South Wales and Tasmania, have finally announced their line-up.

The event will run from June 7th to 11th, and will include a rest day on the 9th. An opening ceremony will be held on the 7th at the City Mazda Stadium, Richmond. The Grand Finals will take place at Gliderol Stadium, Glenelg, on the 11th. More information can be found in the event’s programme, downloadable here.

With the fourth International Cup now just a couple of months away we thought it time to look back at some of the matches from 2008. First up the thrilling Grand Final between the reigning champs New Zealand against the challenger and regular runner up Papua New Guinea. Each quarter is included below. It demonstrates the high standard reached at the top of the competition, with a strong and structurally sound Kiwi team versus the frenetic pace of the PNG players.

Carlton look set to play 21 year old Irishman Zach Tuohy this week against Port Adelaide in Adelaide. Assuming that Setanta O'hAilpin plays, that will make two Irishmen in the one side, although technically Setanta is Fijian-Irish and born in Australia.

Foxsports is reporting that it will be the first time an AFL side has featured more than one Irish player in a game since Jim Stynes and brother Brian played for Melbourne in 1992, they discount fellow Gaelic footballer Sean Wight given he was Scottish.

Tuohy was recruited from Laois in northeastern Ireland and has spent 2010 and 2011 playing for Carlton's VFL feeder club, the Northern Bullants.  He has been elevated from the rookie list.  Countryman O'hAilpin will play his 77th game in this his 7th season (starting from his debut year).

The Port Adelaide Football Club has been in the news again this week, crippled by debt, with an under-spending football department, tiny crowds, and board under siege and calls for radical changes.

As I see it, there is one key reason for Port's problems; its supporter base.  That base can be divided into three groups - long term core supporters, bandwagon fans (the ones who only follow during success) and the next generation.  I contend the hard core supporters are divided, the bandwagon group was larger (as a percentage) than most clubs, and the next generation has been slow to be converted.

To explain these thoughts requires some history.

If you keep up to speed with footy news in Australia and on this site, then you’ve probably come across comments by Hawthorn’s President, Jeff Kennett regarding how the AFL is being run at the moment, as well as his thoughts on the international development of the game. Soon after this came a thoughtful response from Mtutuzeli Hlomela, a South African player currently looking forward to the 2011 International Cup, which sparked my interest in the matter. Mtutuzeli’s letter put’s forward good counter-arguments and Mr Kennett’s remarks may have been heat-of-the-moment, but where do you see footy going in the next 25 years?

Let’s look at other sports across the world today. Sports you can make a direct comparison with such football and rugby – had their own humble beginnings back in the mists of time. The former consisted of dozens of people from neighbouring British villages getting the ‘ball’ from one point to another and the latter was invented when a football player took advantage of a loophole in the rules and used his hands rather than his feet. There was no inkling then of the popular, widespread and powerful forces that these sports would become.

Outspoken Hawthorn Football Club President Jeff Kennett has launched an offensive against AFL support for international football, in an attack that was ironically wrong in so many ways, and prompting a response from former South Africa Lions captain Mtutu Hlomela.

Kennett, also a former Victorian Premier, said that "AFL football will never be an international game." Regarding a proposed African match Kennett said, "To be quite honest, I would rather my players, if they were asked, didn't go on the trip", also stating "trips to South Africa are just a part of the gravy train".

The first point in which he is wrong is whether Australian football will be an international sport, because it simply already is. A sport does not have to be professional to have "made it". There are tens of thousands of players across dozens of countries. As Mtutu Hlomela pointed out in an open letter published on the AFL website, "I invite you to take some time in August to go and witness the AFL International Cup. It's a magnificent event that is full of colour and cultural diversity; things I think are great for the game. It will also show you how the game has grown internationally in the last decade despite minimal resources in some countries".

It was ironic that such an attack came from the President of a club that has invested in New Zealand and which is already yielding promising results, with Kiwi rookies Kurt Heatherly, Rhys Panui-Leth and Shem Tatupu already signed by the Hawks. It was also Kennett who not so long ago called for an AFL club to one day be based in NZ. Why can Australian football be successful in one country, or a series of countries around Oceania, but not others?

Russia's set to go from having no organised Australian rules football presence a month ago, to having clubs in two separate cities by mid-June, with the fledgling club in Krasnoyarsk to be joined by a new group in Moscow who will begin training on the weekend of June 12th.

Australian expat Roger Scott is leading the charge in the Russian capital, after being inspired by news of Paul Kube kicking the footy with locals in the Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk. Phil Porublev from the EAFA / AFL Europe, being an Australian of Russian background, has also been working hard to support a footy presence in Russia, sending materials such as balls to Moscow.

Scott has found around a dozen initial interested players so far, with only two of those, an Englishman and another Aussie, being non-Russians. Judging by the size of Moscow's population and the positive response to the idea so far, he believes that having a number of 9-a-side teams playing by the end of the summer isn't out of the question.

AFL F has teamed up with iconic fashion designer Peter Morrissey to create a new range of football sportswear specifically designed to fit women’s body shapes.

The new football guernsey deigns and other footywear will be worn by AFL Femminile Italia’s team and some of the other women’s teams at this year’s history making female division of the AFL International Cup.

Though designed with footy in mind, there Female-Fit range also hopes to cater for female players of many different sports. Items in the new range include team guernseys (jumper) and shorts, running tights, performance polo, tracksuit jacket and pants and socks.

A unique Aboriginal pattern of fish spawning designed by famous Indigenous artist Billy Doolan will feature on the signature range, but the designs can be customised for team colours and to include club and sponsor logos.

This unique sportswear range will be available exclusively through AFL F and their manufacturing and distribution partner, Australian Rules Football Apparel (ARFA). The designs are in the final stages and images will be on AFL F’s website over the next few weeks. If you would like more information on the range or how to order, please email either Peta Lowry at peta@aflf.com.au or Barry Bird barry@footyapparel.com.au.

You can also follow the progress on their Facebook page or by following afl_f on Twitter.