World Footy News

Back in late August WFN told you about Andrew Cadzow having been in Fiji helping with preparations for the David Rodan Cup.

AFL South Africa has once again staged its national championships, then followed up with a friendly against the touring Australian Amateur Football Council's Under 23 side, drawn from the amateur leagues in Victoria, SA, WA and leagues in Tasmania. This initiative has seen the Aussies doing the kind of South African tours we've seen in the past, but really getting heavily involved in teaching the up and coming Lions players, especially in an area considered lacking, coaching of team tactics.

The third annual footyWILD National Championships culminated with a victory to the home Province Western Cape Magpies over the Gauteng Blues in a tough encounter at Khayelitsha Cricket Ground on Friday afternoon (Oct 1). Besides the match at Khayelitsha Cricket Oval, Cape Town, the AAFC 13 day tour was also scheduled to include an exhibition match at Monash University, Johannesburg, on Wednesday October 6 . It has been an all-round effort, with support from the AFL, the AAFC member states, government and a state league contribution with the WAFL’s Community Development Manager Cameron Agnew outstanding in an umpiring education role throughout.

The USAFL has announced seedings for the 2010 USAFL tournament to be played this weekend in Louisville, Kentucky. Division 1 of the tournament is split into two groups and Chris Adams from US Footy News reviews the seasons of the teams competing in that division to give us the form of each going in.

The number one seed in Group A is the Denver Bulldogs. Denver finished the season with a record of 5-0. While they had some good wins on the road, particularly the recent tournament against Boston. Their only win against a ranked team came against Chicago United at home. That said, Denver is a 7-time National Championship winner and always brings their A-game to Nationals. In 2009 they dominated the ruck with former AFL Fremantle Docker Brendon Feddema, they were also assisted by the great work off half-back by the Championship game MVP Dom Kennedy.

The annual Asian Championships of Australian Football will be held in Shanghai on Saturday week, with an encouraging twelve teams to take part, a two-team increase on the previous year's event. All of last year's teams will be present, although Bali and Jakarta are consolidated as Indonesia. Joining them are the Japan Goannas, Macau Lightning and the Asian Barbarians.

Dubai Heat, aiming to win their third consecutive title, are the hot favourites. They're taking the tournament very seriously, withdrawing from the upcoming AFL Middle East season, apparently in an effort to focus on the "greater prize". This is a big statement considering the Heat are reigning AFL ME Premiers.

Across the weekend, the SANFL Grand Final played out. Normally held the week after the AFL Grand Final, this year the SANFL Grand Final was up against both the AFL on the Saturday afternoon and the NRL on the Sunday evening.

With the footy seasons in New Zealand all up and running here is a brief overview of recent news from around the country.

Auckland:-

The Auckland season (http://www.aafl.co.nz) is about half way through and last year’s Grand Finalists Waitakere Magpies and University Blues are sharing the top two positions. Rounding out the four are North Shore Tigers and Mt Roskill Saints with regular cannon fodder Manurewa Raiders and Takapuna Eagles completing the ladder. In the last round of scores available the Saints beat the Eagles on default, the Magpies defeated the Raiders 120- zip and the Blues won 14.13: 97 over the Tigers 9.2:56.

After the stunning drawn AFL Grand Final the teams went to battle in the re-match the following week, with Collingwood, the best team during the minor round, not letting St Kilda get close the second time around. Collingwood 16.12 (108) defeated St Kilda 7.10 (52). Below are Bigpond highlights via Youtube.

The AFL today announced changes to the Laws of the Game for the 2011 Toyota AFL Premiership Season, following an extensive period of consultation throughout 2010. AFL General Manager Football Operations Adrian Anderson, Chairman of the Laws of the Game Committee, said the Commission had approved the following:

1) An alteration to the interchange system, whereby AFL teams will have a bench comprised of three interchange players and one player to be used as a substitute;

2) A change to the Advantage Rule, whereby the player and not the umpire will decide if there is an advantage to a team in playing on after a free kick;

3) Simplify the rough conduct (bumping) rule and make consistent with head down over the ball, so that a player who elects to apply a bump in any situation is liable if he makes forceful contact with the head, unless:
a. the player was contesting the ball and did not have a realistic alternative way to contest the ball; or
b. the contact was caused by circumstances outside the control of the player which could not be reasonably foreseen.

It will be interesting to see how widely these rules are adopted by international leagues who usually use their own discretion when it comes to implementation of new laws (as implementation may be hampered locally by cost or extra administration required).

worldfootynews.com has closely followed Mathias Biron's progress since assisting the young Danish player to make it down to Australia for the 2010 NAB AFL Under 16 Championships, in which he performed well for the World XVIII. Since returning to Denmark, the 18 year old (pictured front row at the far left) has represented his country at senior level during the Vikings' gallant run in the inaugural European Championships (the full field version not to be confused with this weekend's Euro Cup 9-a-side tournament). WFN caught up with Biron to discuss the benefits of the World XVIII experience.

"I think that I learned a lot in the weeks that I was there. We had some really good coaches that taught me many new things at the training sessions. I improved a lot on those two weeks, not only because of the training sessions but also the matches taught me a lot. I learned to manage the pressure before a match, but I also learned many things on ground. To play against the Australian teams, we obviously didn’t have a chance, but it taught me how I should play and what I should work on. I think that you always learn a lot from players that are better than you".

Irishman Michael Quinn has been awarded the Cater medal for the Best and Fairest of the Bendigo Bombers, the VFL affiliate for Essendon. It is a huge boost for the County Longford native who has struggled in his two outings for the Bombers in the AFL this season. Despite this he has consistently impressed in the lower grade.

The Sydney Swan's Dennis Carroll Trophy for Most Improved Player was last night awarded to Canadian Mike Pyke. This award is decided by the Match Committee and is based on votes in 2010 compared to 2009, among other criteria.

Pyke, 26, played International Rugby Union for Canada before moving to Australia in 2008 to try his hand at AFL with the Swans. This year he played 18 senior games, developed his all-round game and skills, and held down the number two ruck position.

The night's main award, the Bob Skilton Medal (for the club's best player in 2010) was won by Kieren Jack, completing a fairytale rise from budding rugby league junior to elite AFL midfielder.

The notion of Aussie Rules being played in Europe is no longer new but until now it has been an entirely male environment. This weekend Milan will host the continent’s first ever women’s international match of Australian Football.

The Euro Cup, an annual 9-a-side tournament, has been going since 2005. Every year Aussie Rules continues to expand, and that growth is reflected in the increasing numbers of teams taking part.

This year that expansion goes across genders as well as borders with both Ireland and Italy fielding women’s teams as well as men’s.

This article courtesy of Nic Townsend, photos courtesy of Daniela Scalia.