World Footy News

Whilst the Fijian news outlets have been providing almost wall to wall coverage of their boys in Tonga, back in Australia – there’s been barely a ripple. Today that’s changed with the News Ltd papers carrying features on Karmichael Hunt and Israel Folau.

In 2008 it looked like it would be Collingwood that would be heading to Ireland to play an Irish club in International Rules, but now Melbourne could be the ones to make it happen. All on the back of the famous life and times of the most incredible story in Australian rules footy.

Melbourne’s President Jim Stynes, Brownlow medallist and the most successful convert to our game has had a high profile battle with cancer in recent times. He has managed to do great things for his former club and for so many in the community in Australia.

Building on the success of the 2010 World XVIII team which competed in the NAB AFL under 16 Championships the AFL will again call for nominations for the 2011 squad. The squad will comprise of the best Under 18 talent participating in competitions conducted by International affiliates and will take part in the 2011 NAB AFL under 16 Championships.

The 2010 squad played under the leadership of Head Coach Michael O'Loughlin (ex Sydney Swans & current AIS/AFL High Performance Coach) and his assistants Chris Johnson (ex Brisbane Lions) and Stewart Edge. Players in the squad represented nations including South Africa, United States, Sudan, Canada, England and Ireland.

Scores from Days 1 and 3 of the Oceania Cup Under 16s tournament held in Tonga have now been updated.

Ed: The President's 18 is a side made up of players from other countries who were not able to send a full side, including Samoa and Vanuatu.

Karmichael Hunt spoke to SEN radio in Melbourne today from Tonga. Hunt reflects on his year so far, looks to what is ahead at the SUNS with the Ablett brothers and speaks on Israel Folau's transition. The interview can be heard here.

Australian Football might only be young in Fiji in organised terms, however, the benefit of marketable players such as David Rodan, Alipate Carlile and Nic Naitanui is obvious not just in the coverage of those player when back ‘home’ in Fiji, but, also the Fijian press has jumped right on board with AFL Fiji and the Power Under 16s currently in Tonga. Further press coverage included herein.

When Cuan Whitefoot moved from Zimbabwe to Perth, Australia, as a 12 year old with his parents, victims of the Mugabe land policies, he thought Aussie Rules was a "girl's game". This may come as a surprise as Australian football often battles a stereotype of being too rough for the liking of some parents. But for kids from a Rugby Union or League background the reverse is true.

Nevertheless Whitefoot came to play the game with his new mates and learned to like it, so much so that now, aged 20, he has dedicated himself to winning a spot with West Perth in the West Australian Football League. His story can be read in Aussie rules for ex-pat .

Unfortunately a few plans to kickstart footy in Zimbabwe itself appear to have fallen over, with the last attempt, running under the website name Zimfooty, no longer live. We'd love to hear from the organiser, Larry Ferrier, if he still has hope for the game there in the short to medium term.

AFL Fiji reports that the Fiji Power under 16s, resplendent in their Port Power supplied kit, have kicked off the Oceania Cup in Tonga in fine style with a narrow 8 pt win over Nauru. (4.2.26 def 3.0.18). In blustery conditions at the Tonga College Grounds, Nukualofa, Fiji kicked the first 3 goals of the game for a handy lead before Nauru rallied.

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The AFL today wrote to all clubs to confirm the trial rules that will be used as part of the 2011 NAB Cup competition.

AFL General Manager Football Operations Adrian Anderson said the AFL would continue to use the NAB Cup as an opportunity for the AFL to examine potential rule options, after a number of recent successful trials including the revised ruck rule at centre bounces, the altered advantage rule and the player substitute rule and the rushed behind rule – all of which have since become part of the premiership season and the Laws of the Game.

Mr Anderson said the AFL would trial four rule options across the month-long pre-season competition, along with one option that would be used in round one of matches only. Each rule to be trialled is as follows:

The USAFL makes the claim that they hold the "biggest Australian Football tournament anywhere in the world". This could be set to be challenged by a new pre-season tournament to be held in Ballarat in Australia. Of course USFooty has the runs on the board and is a set annual fixture.

This inaugural tournament titled the "Aussie Rules Club Classic" will be a “Festival of Football” over a three day weekend played under a round robin format. The tournament is presented by Initiative Marketing and the City of Ballarat and is a pre-season competition supported by AFL VIC, giving metropolitan and country clubs/teams the opportunity to play against clubs/teams from a range of associations and leagues across Victoria. The tournament dates are March 18-20, 2011.

Such a tournament might be ideal in future years for strong international teams to compete against Australian clubs. Clubs such as New Zealand's University Blues or the USA's Denver Bulldogs come to mind as two of many we would like to see in such a format. At this stage though the tournament is only open to Victorian teams.

The World Footy News / Cam Homes World Rankings stirred debate at various stages, including requests for 9-a-side footy to be included. Ultimately the consensus appeared to be to exclude such matches from a "full-scale" football ranking scheme. It was also suggested to create a separate 9-a-side ranking. We shied away from that on several grounds such as the additional effort but primarily on the basis that there is very little international competition in terms of national sides competing in 9-a-side outside of Europe. And even within Europe there has very often been hybrid eligibility rules with plenty of expat Aussies, although in some cases with a handicap system applied.

However, leading up to the 9-a-side 2010 European Cup, run under the auspices of the European Australian Football Association, primary organiser Philip Porublev approached worldfootynews.com to compile a Europe 9-a-side rankings to help with seedings for the tournament.

The University of Birmingham Sharks played two fixtures in late November against Britain's oldest Australian rules teams - the prestigious universities of Oxford and Cambridge.

On November 13th, the Sharks took on Cambridge in a 9-a-side match, with Birmingham's 15 British locals defeating Cambridge's all-Australian squad by 13 points.

The following weekend saw Birmingham Uni take on Oxford, in the Sharks' first-ever 18-a-side match. On the wide open spaces of Oxford Uni's full-sized ground, the Sharks were outclassed but not disgraced, going down by 58 points, 14.8 (92) to 5.4 (34).

The extreme cold and huge snowfalls of the northern winter unfortunately saw the cancellation of the Uni of Birmingham's third Aussie rules match of the season, which was planned against the Leeds Metropolitan Uni Chiefs. However, the season is scheduled to recommence in late January with a clash against the Chiefs and another against the University of Chichester Cougars.

The following report is courtesy of Dave Wheaton and first appeared in the University of Birmingham's student newspaper, The Redbrick.