World Footy News

There has been a sprinkling of former AFL players who have drifted to foreign lands and played footy on foreign shores. But as far as we know Ariel Steinberg could be one of the first Australian to play in a foreign local competition prior to being drafted to an AFL club.

The 18 year old looks to be a good chance to be drafted in the 2010 AFL draft which will take place on the Gold Coast this Thursday. At the start of 2009 he moved to Edmonton with his parents on a teaching exchange, and played in his high school football team as a punter and outside linesman. But he also took advantage of keeping in touch with Aussie rules at the Edmonton Australian Rules Football Club as well as helping to coach and umpire the Edmonton Emus women's team.

The AFL today announced that a North East Australian Football League (NEAFL) will be introduced in 2011, bringing together teams from NSW, Queensland, ACT and NT into one competition. The new league will build upon the successful existing competitions of AFL Canberra and AFL Queensland.

In 2011, Team GWS will join current AFL Canberra teams to form the Eastern Conference, comprising seven clubs. The Gold Coast Suns’ feeder team will combine with existing QAFL teams to form the Northern Conference, comprising 10 teams, including NT Thunder.

The Junior Secondary Schools Hawks Cup Cluster competitions have been completed for the New Zealand North Island. The Hawks Cup sees Junior Secondary School teams across New Zealand compete for North and South Island honours and positions in the New Zealand Under 16 team.

The competition has been buoyed by the announcement that the Senior Secondary School competition has been sanctioned by New Zealand Secondary Schools Sports Council and will enter the sanctioned sports calendar as of March next year.

All the North Island results below, courtesy of the AFL New Zealand - nzafl.co.nz

AFL Tonga will play AFL New Zealand Hawks in a three game series at Parrs Park Oratia West Auckland commencing Saturday November 13th at 4.00pm, competing for the “Pacific Cup”.

THE AFLPNG Talent Camp will take place on Friday 3rd December in Goroka. Approximately 100 kids will make their way to the Eastern Highlands Province and be put through numerous tests, both physical and mental by Australian AFL staff.

Whilst the senior Oceania Cup in New Zealand has disappointingly fallen over, PNG is gearing up for the youth Oceania Cup to be held in Tonga during December. Coached by Pint Kar the boys are already focused training several times a week. Competing against NZ, Nauru, Samoa, Fiji, Tonga and the Solomon Islands, PNG’s Head Coach is quietly confident that they will be very competitive throughout.

“We have a strong presence of academy players who are well-drilled and well-trained so we are confident of success come December. The PNG Talent pathway has created many opportunities for these kids to play football across the world, and they are all benefiting from it in many ways outside of football”.

A very excited Lachlan Keating of the Canterbury Australian Football League and the Christchurch Bulldogs provided this story to WFN....

For the first time in history the Christchurch Bulldogs met the Eastern Blues in a grand final. The Bulldogs were premiers in 2009 and the Blues were champions from 2006 - 2008 and with both teams featuring several players with high-level experience the scene was set for a torrid battle.

Donovan “Donny” Epa, aged 25 years, a member of Seaford’s triple Premiership team 2007-2009 has died as a result of a tragic accident.

Of Samoan background, Epa was originally from New Zealand and didn’t take up Aussie rules until he was 18.

In October 2008, the Western Bulldogs announced that they had signed two Fijian teenagers to the International Scholarship scheme. Inoke Ratu then 19, and Solomon Loki then 16 had impressed at trials conducted in Lavaca and Suva. Alas, Fijitimes reported recently that after 2 years, that the Bulldogs have declined to extend their ‘contracts’.

Australian physical education teacher Warwick Kain, formed a footy team a couple of months ago, and after a few practices and a game against some University of Otago students, has made the 4 hour trip to Christchurch and defeated the growing stronghold of schoolboy footy in Canterbury, St Bede’s School. Not only that, but 6 of the team have made the NZ U 16 team and are off to Tonga!

In preparation for the upcoming Oceania Cup (Youth) to be held in Tonga in December, and after the David Rodan Cup, Fiji has named a pretty large 39 member squad.

The squad is as follows :

We've seen the inaugural European Championships, and each year North America has the US versus Canada. Now a senior Oceania Cup will be played in Auckland from November 12th to November 17th. Hosts the New Zealand Hawks will play against the inexperienced Tonga, traditional footy rivals Papua New Guinea and an exciting Oceania Allstars team.

New Zealand's initial selections for the Oceania Cup took place in September 2009 shortly after the Senior National Provincial Championships held in Auckland - part of long and steady build up to the tournament.