World Footy News

Richmond Football Club tonight confirmed that it is the club that has signed American born Irishman John Heslin. Heslin, an 18-year-old Agricultural Science student from University College Dublin, who has competed at hurling, soccer and Gaelic football at a high level, will be selected by the Tigers as an international rookie in next December’s Rookie Draft.

Heslin currently plays Gaelic football for his university team, as well as at senior level for county club Westmeath. As a junior, he represented Ireland in soccer, and made such an impression that he was noticed by a number of Premier league clubs and invited to trial at then English Premier League club Derby County.

In a first-ever for Australian rules football in Europe, the AFL’s future stars from the Australian Institute of Sport will take on a representative European side in London on Saturday April 23.

Newly-appointed AFL Europe General Manager Ben MacCormack views the event as a perfect opportunity for Aussies and locals with an interest in Aussie Rules to get a sneak peek at the future of the AFL.

“We are excited this event is coming to London as it is a great opportunity for not only the Aussie community living in the UK but includes locals being introduced to a sport that flows in the veins of so many Australians” MacCormack said.

The AIS-AFL Academy squad will be made up of the best 16 & 17-year-old footballers in Australia. In the past over 80% of players in this squad have been drafted on to an AFL list and some have become champions of the game. Players in previous academies include the likes of Chris Judd (West Coast/Carlton), Luke Hodge (Hawthorn), Joel Selwood (Geelong), Lance Franklin (Hawthorn), Adam Cooney (Western Bulldogs) and David Swallow (2010 #1 Draft Pick – Gold Coast)."

“AFL Europe are extremely pleased to have secured the services of Glenn Lovett (ex-Melbourne FC player) as coach of the European Legion which is a squad of Under 21’s made up of players from Croatia, Denmark, England, France, Ireland, Scotland, Sweden and Wales. These boys have the talent to surprise a couple of the AIS young guns which will lead to a great spectacle” MacCormack added.

Over the past two years the Hawks Cup Secondary School competition has involved Secondary School students from years 9 and 10. The success of the competition sees 2011 as the first year of the Senior Secondary School Hawks Cup now catering for years 11, 12 and 13.

This could be the vital step in getting what appears to be a very talented mid-teenager group to stay in the sport within school and move into local senior competitions. In fact in areas such as Otago and the Bay of Plenty these students might be the ones that cause local competitions to be created.

Over March 22nd, 23rd and 24th, cluster tournaments have seen 16 teams compete in five regions through out the North Island.

The weekend of March 12th and 13th saw the Under 20 National Provincial Championships played in Auckland at Parrs Park, Oratia. After losing their first game of the weekend, the Under 16 NZ Hawks went on to win all of their remaining games including the Grand Final against the Wellington Tigers 9.8 (62) to 6.9 (45).

This is the third year the tournament has taken place with previous winners Auckland in Christchurch in 2009 and Canterbury in Wellington in 2010.

Teams from Auckland, Wellington and Canterbury and the New Zealand Under 16 team, competed in matches comprising of two 22 minute halves over the two days. After a round robin, the two top teams were selected to enter into the grand final with Wellington undefeated (including a tie with Auckland) and NZ Under 16’s with just the one loss to Wellington. In the third and fourth playoff, Auckland was too strong for the Canterbury Cobras.

Part 2 of the interview from SEN radio in Melbourne below.

Former Geelong captain and now NFL punter with the Arizona Cardinals recently spoke to SEN radio about life in the US, visiting home and the NFL lockout that could potentially see the next NFL season not go ahead.  He also goes indepth into the NFL player benefits post retirement and how that may relate to AFL players making similar claims to the AFL in their own negotiations of their own pay packages.  The part 1 of the audio of the interview can be heard below.

Over the years the AFL has slowly expanded its various metrics for testing young players, steadily adding to fitness and agility tests. Recently a "hands" test was added under guidance from Matthew Lloyd and a kicking analysis by Nathan Buckley. Now the AFL's Kevin Sheehan has combined all the measures to give an overall result for players, and so far Tasmanian and South Pacific players have been tested. Encouragingly for international footy fans, the "newcomers" recorded some impressive results.  Besides providing more evidence to AFL recruiters to consider international talent, it also continues the rise in profile of international footy.

Top 10 scores from the Tasmanian and South Pacific NAB AFL Under-16 Combines (all scores out of 60):

Eli Templeton (Burnie, Tas) - 42.9
Ben Killalea (Lauceston, Tas) - 42.5
Tommell Raidinen (Nauru, South Pacific) - 41
Seniol Hermon (Samoa, Sth Pac) - 40
Kade Koladjashnij (Launceston, Tas) - 38.4
Kurt Heatherly (New Zealand, Sth Pac) - 38
Max Lavia (Papua New Guinea, Sth Pac) - 38
Marcus Lee (South Launceston, Tas) - 37.9
Gideon Simon (Papua New Guinea, Sth Pac) - 36
Ryan Dowling (Clarence, Tas) - 35.8

Full story:  New testing for young stars

We're not sure when this footage is from, but it features AFL Indonesia's junior footy league. The players look to have a mix of experience with some looking very smooth and others a little raw. Some clever soccer skills were also on display.

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The opening day of the SCAFL was a huge success exceeding the expectations of all concerned. The weather was great and the slightly less than capacity crowd were treated to an exciting day of Aussie rules.

The venue, Guangdong University of Technology Stadium or GUTS, proved to be the perfect venue for the opening round of the competition. The first class facilities ensuring that The Guangzhou Scorpions were able to host there visitors from Hong Kong and Macau in a style not always seen on the Asian footy scene.

The opening game saw the hosts take on Macau Lightning in the first of six 12-a-side games played during the day; under an NAB Cup 15 min half format.

Thanks to Jon Hopper of the Guangzhou Scorpions for the following report. Well Done to the SCAFL board and teams on an a great opening round. LEFT: Some members from the Scorpions.

Heir to the British throne Prince William has been in Australia this week to visit flood affected areas. While in Murrabit in north west Victoria he was given a skills clinic by Irishman Jim Stynes and was involved in a bit of a kick to kick session. For those that missed it we have the video here courtesty of the Herald Sun website.

Two of the more established Australian football regions are New Zealand and Japan. Sadly both have been hit hard by recent earthquakes. If the devastation of Christchuch was not enough, the quake that hit northern Japan unleashed a massive tsunami, followed by the radiation leaks coming from the nuclear emergency at the Fukushima powerplants. Our thoughts and best wishes go out to the people of both countries.

WFN spoke to the President of AFL Japan, Hideki Miyasaka, who explained that "All of our players, families are basically safe at the moment although we have a serious electricity problem in the Tokyo area as some of the plants has been destroyed", before stoically or perhaps ironically adding "Besides that it is pretty much normal.." A remarkable aspect of the disaster has been the resilience of the Japanese people, the bravery of the rescue workers and especially those at the nuclear plants, and the way society has maintained such stability and civility.

In Australia we were proud of the efforts in Queensland to help each other but other disasters remind us that it is not a uniquely Australian spirit. It should also be noted that Japan is one of the biggest donators of aid in the world. AFL Japan is hoping to raise some funds to support the recovery effort, and Hideki has called for help "from all Footy Players around the World!!".  All donations will be distributed through the Japanese Red Cross Society (or other relevant charities) to provide relief for the victims.

Full details of the appeal can be viewed here: Tohoku Earthquake/Tsunami Appeal

Westmeath teenage star John Heslin looks set to sign with an AFL club. While it is yet to be confirmed which club, he has just returned to Ireland after a week long trial with a club and will not say which club it is until it is made official. Irish website Hoganstand is reporting that the club is the Gold Coast Suns while elsewhere it was speculated that a Melbourne based club was involved.

Heslin, is just 18 and possibly one of Ireland’s most promising young footballers and will be a blow to the Gaelic system that may have been breathing a sigh of relief on St Patrick’s Day last week when high profile Australian Ricky Nixon was suspended as a player agent.