World Footy News

In 2009, the AFL announced the Sydney Swans, GWS GIANTS, Brisbane Lions and Gold Coast will set up high performance Academies to provide a pathway for young local athletes to an AFL career.

Each club has exclusive access to athletes aged as young as nine from its own zones within NSW, the Australian Capital Territory and Queensland. On Monday, the Swans Academy will play the GIANTS Academy for the very first time. NSW, Queensland and the ACT account for 54 per cent of Australia's population but they provide just 12 per cent of AFL players.

The Regional Assistance Mission to the Solomon Islands (RAMSI) began in July 2003, with a charter to restore peace and economic stability after five years of conflict. Graeme Wilson has held the position of special coordinator since January 2009 and has recently completed his assignment in the Solomons.

In February this year, Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd announced that Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade's Nicholas Coppel would become RAMSI's new special coordinator in March.

A couple of weeks back the Adelaide Sunday Mail ran a story looking at the Solomons and RAMSI. As per usual, Graeme Wilson was quoted, along with his CV that includes VFL footy with South Melbourne in the early 70s.

Mr Wilson is using sport as a nation-building tool, encouraging an Auskick and AFL program where reservists like UniSA student Lance Corporal Luke Png help out with coaching. Mr Wilson also coaches the Solomons Sharks in a regional AFL competition which is extremely popular among local men and boys. It is one small way of putting the population's focus on the Solomons as a united nation rather than a collection of islands.

The 8th Annual Haggis Cup was held at Scotstoun Stadium, Glasgow on Saturday 9th April, bringing 8 club teams from across Europe together for an Australian Rules festival.

The eight team competition saw the Glasgow Sharks, Edinburgh Bloods, Huddersfield Rams, Dublin Demons, Aberdeen Dingoes, Wimbledon Hawks, Milano Footy club and Solna Axemen battle it out with the endeavour to become cup winners.

The semi-final saw Glasgow Sharks take on Edinburgh Bloods and Wimbledon Hawks against the Huddersfield Rams. With Glasgow and Wimbledon just shading their opponents in highly competitive semi-finals a close grand final promised to follow.

In an intense 10 minute halves format the crowd was right behind the home team in the grand final. It was finally Glasgow’s chance to shine as the sun beat down and the Sharks came away victorious for the first time in 8 attempts. Glasgow 31 defeated a brave but tiring Wimbledon 15.

AFL Europe board member Douglas Hunter of Glasgow has seen the Haggis Cup grow considerably in both size and quality over its 8 years. "We could not have asked for better spring weather to hold the annual Haggis Cup. The competition was fierce, fair and played with great sportsmanship. We are very pleased to see the obvious commitment and passion for the sport from all teams and support volunteers," Hunter said.

New head coach Tristan Waldock has proudly announced the 27 players that will make up the 2011 AFL Canada Northern Lights Women's squad. "We are very proud of our selections and confident in our team going to Australia to compete in the first Women's Division of the International Cup in August, 2011," Waldock says.

The inaugural Women's division will feature international teams including Canada, PNG, the USA, Ireland and Italy.

Full squad can be seen below.

In 2010 the Ontario Australian Football League in Canada (OAFL), with the help of the Hamilton Wildcats, put together a rag tag team of mixed Australian and Canadian players to send down to Boston, USA, to compete in a tournament with the Boston Demons and the Washington/Baltimore Eagles.

In 2011, the side founded and organised by Wildcats Club President Timmy "Bulldog" Wilson, will be taking this trip to the next level, taking a full-blown OAFL representative side to Chicago on the May 24 holiday weekend to compete against the "Best of the Midwest".

Outside of the international scene, this will likely be some of the best footy seen not only seen in North America, but possibly the world. The OAFL boasts one of the most organised leagues outside of the home country of Footy, Australia, and also has some of the best non Australian players kicking around as seen in a recent Northwind article on www.oafl.ca.

The Midwest also features some of the best players from around the US so the tone will be set for some cracker footy!

The Berlin Crocs last week played the first matches of their new Berlin metro league, with the West Berlin Eagles defeating the East Berlin Mariners, and the North Berlin Crows defeating the South Berlin Demons.

The Crocs, who will celebrate the club's 10 year anniversary later this year, are the second German club to start a metro league, with the Munich Roos founding the three team Bayern Liga in 2010.

The four Berlin metro teams are playing 9-a-side, with 6 rounds to be held on Thursday evenings throughout the season, allowing for players to get more game time in between the Berlin Crocs fixtures in the AFLG National League, as well as offering an introduction to the sport for new recruits.

Crocs coach Troy Pedder says the Crocs currently have over 50 players on their list, with 35 playing in the first round of the Berlin league. The club is hoping to grow this to around 80 by the end of 2011, and add a fifth metro team next year.

The Falun Diggers will join the Stockholm region Australian Football Federation in 2011, bringing the number of sides in the league to five, the other four being based in the Stockholm metropolitan area.

Falun Diggers founder and former Sweden Elks coach Cameron Crooks says the move has already given new impetus to the team in the lead up to the 2011 summer season, after 2010 saw them only able to play 3 friendly matches. "The numbers were dropping rapidly last year, due to the fact we were not in a league and just playing practice games. The boys were not getting motivated to play, so being accepted in the Stockholm league has giving us a new lease of life," Crooks says.

Falun's location in the Dalarna area 2.5 hours drive north of Stockholm has made it hard for the club to get regular matches in the past. Besides the SAFF clubs, the Karlstad Eagles are only a few hours to the south-west, but the Eagles currently have a league with Oslo and Gothenburg, both of which are around 6 hours drive from Falun.

WFN reported back in March that Andrew Cadzow, AFL Pacific development manager, had been working with AFL PNG to help restore senior footy in PNG.

Cadzow says “Senior footy was once a great strength across the country, we are looking at recovering the game to its former glory, to make AFL a premier sport in PNG and make these senior footballers role models for the 40,000 juniors playing the game”.

In a media release on March 30, AFLPNG announced that BSP CEO Ian Clyne had agreed to chair an AFL sanctioned AFLPNG Senior Advisory Board for the 2011 season. AFL International Manager Tony Woods and Asia Pacific Manager Andrew Cadzow have charged the Advisory board to put in place the 2011 season and then spend the next 9 months finalising the best structure and key logistical requirements nationally for AFLPNG.

AFL Fiji continues to make great strides, with AusAID development officer Glen Butler reporting a growing 9-a-side competition in Fiji which will be used as a basis for their International Cup side if they do indeed make the final commitment to attend in 2011.

At last count the 9s competition had four teams playing each week on fields such as the Saint Marcellin Primary School grounds in Vatuwaqa.  Butler is hoping to expand to more teams to grow their player base.  A lot of players have a Rugby background.  As Butler explains, "The players' knowledge of the game (is improving). The boys (and girls) are picking up the skills very quickly. It will just be a matter of more match practice to better understand rules and intricacies of AFL, and of course getting away from the rugby-passes, encouraging knock-on's and off-sides".

"The average age is 17-20, the core group of players are from the Fiji Power Team that competed in Tonga last year for the Oceania Cup. Due to the school clinics and through word-of-mouth, many of the new players now playing are from high schools around Suva. Planning to now target some of the Universities around Fiji as well to attract more players in the 20-25 age bracket". 

After 2010 saw Croatia take out the gold at the Euro Cup and three clubs play out a 12-game season in the Zagreb area, 2011 will see the Croatian domestic season expand with an international flavour.

The HLAN (abbreviation for the Croatian title meaning "Croatian League of Australian Football") will kick off with three teams, as it did in 2010, but the only team to return from last season will be the Velika Gorica Bombers.

Croatia's two oldest teams, the Zagreb Hawks and Agram Power, will spend 2011 on hiatus, due to a combination of injuries, players with other commitments, and lack of sponsors. Players from the Hawks and Power will compete with either the Bombers, or new fourth Croatian side the Zaprešić Eagles.

It is hoped that the Hawks and Power will re-emerge in 2012 to give Croatia four functioning clubs, but in the meantime the Styrian DownUnderDogs from the Austrian city of Graz will be competing as the third team in the HLAN.

The HLAN 2011 kicks off this weekend, with the Velika Gorica Bombers taking on the Zaprešić Eagles on Sunday, April 10.

For more information, visit http://footycroatia.com.

The Haggis Cup is Scotland's premier annual footy tournament. The SARFL event is hosted by the Glasgow Sharks and this year is set to be the biggest yet. The event will be held at Scotstoun Stadium on Saturday the 9th of April from 10:30am, and will see teams from across Europe compete for the prized trophy.

These teams include Scotland's Glasgow Sharks, Aberdeen Dingoes and Edinburgh Bloods, English clubs Huddersfield Rams and Wimbledon Hawks, Irish powerhouse Dublin Demons, the Solna Axmen from the Swedish capital Stockholm and AFL Italia foundation club Milano.

The Haggis Cup is always a high intensity event full of passion and usually attracts an impressive crowd. The tournament's growth was highlighted when 6 teams had to be declined entry into the tournament, either through not being able to confirm their intentions or the team not being able to make the date.

With Grandstand seating, onsite eating facilities and kids' entertainment, the Haggis Cup is a perfect day out to watch some footy. After match celebrations will take place in the Walkabout Bar from 7:30pm so make sure you are there too.

As part of the growing relationship between AFL club Hawthorn and AFL New Zealand in 2010 the Kiwis adopted the Hawk emblem (replacing the Falcon) and a Hawthorn inspired jumper.  Recall that story in Hawks Loom Huge in New Zealand. It's interesting now to see that Hawthorn are selling that jumper.  Although there's an obvious financial benefit to Hawthorn it should also help raise awareness in Australia of NZ footy.  Perhaps one day we'll see a Hawthorn match for premiership points "across the ditch", with the Hawks gathering local support wearing this jumper. You can see the Hawthorn / NZ jumper at the Hawks' online shop (click on PUMA Apparel).