World Footy News

Australian sports news and opinion website The Roar today ran a story profiling Sam Stranks, an Adelaide native who received Oxford University's prestigious Rhodes Scholarship and has now become the Uni's Aussie Rules captain.

The article describes Stranks' background in the SANFL, as well as the growing collegiate footy scene in England, where Chichester and Birmingham have recently joined Oxford and Cambridge to make a university Aussie Rules season a reality.

The full article can be read at Sam Stranks Oxford University Aussie Rules Captain.

As we approach the month of December, for many of us, we’re sorting out our Christmas presents and wondering if Christmas cards are either still the done thing, or even whether we’ve left it all a bit late. For the good folk of the Pacific AFL community, final preparations are being made for the Under 16s Oceania Cup to be held in Tonga across December 14-20. And with that, the “Fiji Power” squad has been finalised.

The entire Hawks playing squad and coaches will touch down in Christchurch, New Zealand this Thursday, before making their way to the Mount Cook vicinity, one of the Country’s most picturesque and elevated training locations. The high altitude adventure training camp will see the Hawks in NZ for five days.

The players will be put through high-intensity physical activity, including mountain bike riding, high-altitude running and hiking and white water rafting. The players will also focus on team building activities.

This coming Sunday, the Tokyo Goannas will contest the 2010 Japan AFL Grand Final against the newest club in Japanese football, the Nagoya Redbacks. It is the Redbacks' first Grand Final appearance in just their second JAFL season.

Read on for a match preview, courtesy of Nagoya's Ashley James.

Established international football powerhouse New Zealand have just completed a clean sweep in a 3 test Pacific Cup series over newcomers Tonga. The first two games were close to 100 point drubbings from the slick Kiwis but Tonga went down by the lesser margin of 10 goals when they were assisted by NZ’s only International Cup winning coach, Jim Lucy, in the third test.

The series received coverage on the local TV which can be viewed here http://www.facebook.com/video/video.p...amp;ref=mf

This saturday, November 20, AFL Fiji is running a Melbourne based fundraising night to help send the Fiji Power U16s to Tonga for the AFL Oceania U16 tournament in December. Details as below:

AFLPNG is looking for footy loving Aussies based in Port Moresby interested in participating in friendly matches on a monthly basis. As the number 2 ranked Australian football nation in the world, any Australians looking for a game should find a pretty high standard in Papua New Guinea's capital.

Send your name to info at afl-png.com or call AFLPNG on 3254943. The hope is to host the first match by March 2011. All organised by AFLPNG and the Southern Sharks Development Staff.

The official launch of the new name and colours of Team GWS occurred on Tuesday night. To be called the GWS Giants, they enter the new NEAFL in 2011 and the full AFL in 2012, with a sneak peek in the 2011 NAB Cup pre-season competition. Here is a look at their promo video, which heavily features star Rugby League convert Israel Folau and the multicultural nature of Greater Western Sydney.

The Port Adelaide Football Club was one of the strongest SANFL clubs for a century, but by the 1950s they came to dominate in premierships, supporter base and influence. Through the 1980s and 1990s the club seemed to have their way even more, playing their tough style of football that some followers would argue escaped sanction too often as their brutal style won flag after flag. Supporters bragged that they would do the same in the AFL if given the chance.

The one critical decision that went against the Magpies was when they tried to go against an agreement with the SANFL and join the AFL, whereas the SANFL had long pushed for a more equitable national competition with the support of its clubs. The move forced the South Australian hand and saw court action and the formation of the Adelaide Crows.

With AFL competition in the city from 1991, the local league took a back seat, then from the 1997 season the AFL granted a second licence to the state. After various submissions and a strong public push to not reward Port Adelaide the proud club once again won out, becoming SA's second side. But what occurred was a Jekyll and Hyde split between the new Port Adelaide Power and the old Port Adelaide Magpies - or was that the new Port Adelaide Magpies and the old Port Adelaide Power, with both haemorrhaging money.

The SANFL has now controversially voted to end the split and allow the two parts of the club to unite under one banner - a move almost certainly good for Port Adelaide but arguably the death knell for other SANFL clubs.

The 2010 NAB AFL Draft will be held next Thursday, November 18 on the Gold Coast at the Gold Coast Convention and Exhibition Centre.

This year marks only the second time in the 25 year history of the draft where the event has been moved outside of Victoria.

In the lead up to the draft, AFL National Talent Manger, Kevin Sheehan has released his list of 30 leading prospects. Detailed profiles of Kevin Sheehan’s Top 30 are below.

The Convicts' tour of South America continued on 23rd October with a match in Buenos Aires against Argentina's Eagles, who were captained by Martin Parsons. With both squads low on numbers and limited facilities available the match was played with soccer goals instead of footy posts.

After a hard fought match the visitors emerged with a 4-3 victory. Silsirado Diego (Argentina) was selected as the best player in the game.

Details have been slow to filter out of South America but the final match was scheduled against a Brazilian squad.

Plenty of AFL players have been heading to the US in the offseason with Jordan Lewis and Shane Mumford probably the highest profile as they made headlines for a nightspot punch on in LA. But far from rest and relaxation (and other not so healthy activities) are the high altitude camps undertaken by North Melbourne and Collingwood.

North Melbourne have spent the past week in Utah and are hoping to benefit from the long proven theory that training at high altitude can significantly improve fitness due to the change in the body such that more oxygen can get into the body through red blood cell level increase.