World Footy News

In our fourth and final roundup of European local footy in 2010, we've had a look at southern and eastern Europe, where a number of new domestic comps have kicked off in the past season or two.

Included in this group is the AFL Italia, which followed up their inaugural premiership season by hosting the Euro Cup (previously known as the EU Cup) in Parabiago, near Milan.

Team Austria have signalled that they won't be coming to the 2011 International Cup, with Martin Schittegg from the Graz-based Styrian DownUnderDogs citing a lack of sponsors and players who could afford the trip as the main reasons.

"We set ourselves the target that we had to decide by the start of December... By that deadline we had only 13 players definite, plus around 9 more who weren't sure if they could organise it, or whether they could afford it," Schittegg says. The potential squad was made up exclusively of players from the DownUnderDogs, with no players from the Vienna Kangaroos nominating to make the trip.

However, whilst it looks like 2014 might be the first time we see an Austrian team at the IC, Schittegg says there has been plenty of positive growth for footy in Austria, where the Dogs and Vienna Kangaroos are planning some new projects for local and regional footy in 2011.

With the 2011 International Cup approaching, the Dutch Australian Football Association is currently weighing up the pros and cons of sending the Flying Dutchmen on their first trek Down Under.

At the moment, it's looking likely they won't be at the IC until 2014, with Josh Carmichael from the DAFA saying that for a league at an early stage of footy development, the question remains whether the benefits of experience and exposure on the world stage outweigh the high costs of sending a team to Australia.

Josh Carmichael spoke to us about their plans for the Flying Dutchmen, and the pros and cons of mounting an IC campaign in 2011.

LEFT: The Dutch National Team at the 2010 Euro Cup in Parabiago, Italy. Photo courtesy of Daniela Scalia.

It has been a very wet start to the year for many parts of Australia. Areas of WA, Victoria and NSW have suffered from flooding, but Queensland has copped the worst in widespread flooding at extremely high levels.

“On behalf of the AFL I want to extend my condolences to those thousands of people who have been devastated by the floods, especially those who have lost family and friends,” Mr Demetriou said. “It’s also been heartwarming to see so many people give their time and resources to help. In particular, I want to acknowledge the great work by state emergency services and the Queensland Government headed by Premier Anna Bligh.”

The AFL and its 18 clubs have contributed $500,000 to the relief appeal and Mr Demetriou acknowledged the generosity of AFL players in donating a further $150,000 through the AFL Players’ Association. “The AFL, its clubs and the wider football community is committed to helping the people of Queensland get back on their feet over the coming weeks, months and years,” Mr Demetriou said.

Cyril Talon, president of the French Commission for Australian Football (CNFA) and national team manager, says Team France is "200%" certain to make their International Cup debut down under in 2011.

Les Bleus are one of a group of European nations who are hoping to make the pilgrimage to the home of footy for the first time this year, and have a big year of preparations in front of them, including international friendly matches, the ANZAC memorial match and national team training camps.

France has been home to Australian football clubs for some time now, with a few ups and downs along the way, but the past few seasons have seen rapid growth, with a number of club tournaments, the creation of a national league and seven senior clubs now in existence.

US tennis player John Isner, in Western Australia warming up for the 2011 Australian Open, has revealed that he's a keen Fremantle Dockers supporter. Isner is just another example of converts to the game when people get a chance to see it and are encouraged by someone they know, in this case his former room mate, an Australian.

For non-tennis fans Isner's name may not jump to mind, although he is ranked 19 in the world. But mention that he won the longest ever professional match at Wimbledon last year, the 11 hour epic, and most sports fans will remember him well.

He and Frenchman Nicolas Mahut took 11 hours, five minutes to complete their first-round clash at Wimbledon last year, Isner winning an inconceivable 70-68 in the fifth set. In their latest bout the American again won, 6-3 7-6 (7-5), but says the pair now share a friendship. "We've become really good friends off the court," Isner said. "You ask him. Before the match we never spoke one word to each other. Now we text each other quite often and I've got to know he really is a class act". See Big John reveals he's a Dockers fan.  For more, see Big John reveals he's a Dockers fan.  Thanks to our reader "nowherehome" for sending in the link.

2010 saw traditional heavyweights Munich and Paris continue to build their reputation in the German and French leagues, whilst over in Ireland, the South Dublin Swans broke through for their first flag in four years.

The Netherlands hosted its first-ever national competition, with the Amsterdam Devils prevailing.

For more details of the season's play in those leagues, read on.

In August 2011 the International Cup will be staged in Sydney and Melbourne, and one proven way for representative players to improve their skills is to play for an Australian club, with all the week after week of high standard training and playing. It worked wonders for many of the Nauruan players in 2008, as well as players from other countries.

Now the Coolangatta Australian Football Club in south-east Queensland is offering eligible international players the same chance in 2011. The following offer is from Scott Reid, President of Coolangatta. He has been one of the key men behind the re-birth of Papua New Guinean footy over the last decade, so he his knowledge of international Australian football is both deep and realistic.

 

For the first time, all five Scandinavian countries hosted regular season footy in 2010, in addition to hosting the first-ever full-field European Championships in Australian Football.

Whilst Denmark and Sweden remain the most established leagues in Scandinavia, the Icelanders and Finns are also playing premiership seasons, and the clubs in Norway are laying the groundwork for league play in future.

Read on for the winners and losers in domestic footy around Scandinavia in 2010.

The Toulouse Crocodiles have recently aligned with AFL club Hawthorn, in the process changing their name to the Toulouse Hawks. Hawthorn have relationships with a number of international clubs and leagues, with the Zagreb Giants becoming the Zagreb Hawks and the Phoenix Scorpions rebranding as the Arizona Hawks a few years ago, and more recently the New Zealand AFL taking on the Hawks moniker for their national team.

As part of the arrangement, the Toulouse Hawks will play their future matches in the silver jumpers of the New Zealand Hawks.

The six-team French National League recently kicked off their 2010-11 season, with a Northern Division comprising Paris, Strasbourg and Bordeaux, and a Southern Division with Toulouse, Perpignan and newcomers the Marseille Dockers.

Pictured at left are Cyril Mahamad and Quentin Delaville from Toulouse in their club's new gear. For more on the new partnership between Toulouse and Hawthorn, visit this article on the Hawthorn FC website.

As we come to the end of 2010 worldfootynews.com has its annual reflection on the year gone by. We've been in the happy position over our existence to be able to report on 6 to 7 years of excellent growth in international Australian football. This year has been no exception. And that's not spin presented to try to give the impression footy is on an upward curve.

There is no question that, from a modest base, Aussie Rules has been doing very well; not always exploding in numbers, and with plenty more to do, but very positive indeed, after a rather sluggish first century or so.  Instead of going into depth on all the various achievements, this year we'll just list some of the highlights that come to mind from across the year, as well as some more dubious events.

Of course because international footy is now so diverse and widely spread, even with around 500 stories in 2010 we're bound to miss some significant achievements, either on a larger scale or great local happenings.  Did we miss something special?  Got your own favourite?  Let us know by posting a comment on this story.

A great video on Youtube discussing women's footy in Italy, including quality footage from the match between Ireland and Italy in Parabiago (Milan), Italy, as part of the European Cup 2010 in September.

 [youtube:boCRch_9R1Y]

Thanks to keyframe.tv.it and australiaitalia.it.

See also Italian girls share love of AFL