World Footy News

While Australia is being treated to a second Grand Final this weekend, on the other side of the world, another big day of footy will also taking place: the Euro Cup. This year the annual 9-a-side Australian Football tournament will be held in Milan, Italy.

The competition has only been running since 2005, but in that time it has grown dramatically in terms of nations competing and players participating, and its growth is reflective of the growing popularity of the game in Europe.

The 2010 Euro Cup will be contested by 15 countries. Wales and Switzerland will be taking part for the first time where they join other emerging football-playing nations such as Austria, France, Catalonia, Spain, the Netherlands, Italy, the Czech Republic, and Scotland. England, Ireland, Germany and Croatia, who are all relatively well established, will also be involved.

This year’s Euro Cup will also feature the first ever women’s international in Europe, between Italy and Ireland.

This article courtesy of Nic Townsend.

Six teams are set to contest the 2010-11 AFL Middle East season, which will kick off in October. In surprising news the Dubai Heat, who have been Premiers in the league’s only two seasons are apparently not taking part. This season will consist of five Home and Away matches, plus a Grand Final and playoff for Third and Fourth position.

Read on for the complete fixture and club previews.

The AFL, Richmond Football Club and Queensland Government today announced that they had formed a partnership that would see Toyota AFL Premiership Season matches played at an upgraded Cazalys Stadium in Cairns in 2011, 2012 and 2013. Richmond will play a home match against the Gold Coast Suns at the stadium every year for the next three years.

It also brings AFL football closer to PNG. While the SUNS currently have Stanis Susuve listed, the Tigers also have scholarship listed players from PNG in Gideon Simon (pictured) and Nathan Malbak who will be happy to have top level footy on PNG's doorstep.

Considering the contribution Greek Australians have made to Australian rules football, and that leading figures in the game including current AFL chief Andrew Demetriou are of Greek or Greek-Cypriot background, it is perhaps surprising that until now the game has not been exported back to Greece.

Behind the match were AFL Multicultural Development head Nick Hatzoglou and members of the Hellenic-Australian Cricket Federation, on tour in Corfu. The lead-up to the game included Auskick clinis in local primary schools, as well as some recruitment of local sportsmen to take part in the match.

The following article by Mike Sweet originally appeared in Australian Greek community newspaper Neos Kosmos.

A club from Sydney's west are the 2010 Sydney AFL Division Four Premiers. Quite incredibly the Premiership was won in the Auburn Tigers' debut season and in promising signs for the AFL's development plans for the region (2012 sees a Greater Western Sydney team join the AFL) the vast majority of the team are of a non-Australian background.

Coinciding with the AFL Grand Final rematch this Saturday 2 October, is the 2010 OAFL Grand Final, to be contested by the Central Blues and the Toronto Dingos.

The event will be held at Humber South (Lakeshore West and Kipling) and will get underway at 11am.

Apart from the match itself, guests will have access to a licensed beer garden, live music and plenty of BBQ food.

The Dingos are four-time OAFL Premiers, with their most recent Premiership in 2005, whilst the Blues will appear in their first ever Grand Final. The Blues were stronger throughout the Home and Away season, although both teams have performed solidly thoughout their finals campaigns. The Blues enter the match with fresher legs, given a week off because of their superior ladder position. The Dingos and Blues have met twice in 2010, with the Blues comprehensive winners on both occassions, and consequently they enter this match as favourites.

Ending months of speculation, the Gold Coast SUNS today announced Geelong champion midfielder Gary Ablett has confirmed he will join the club for the next five years. The 2009 Brownlow medalist, dual Geelong premiership player and four-time All Australian, is widely recognised as the best player in the AFL competition.

Gold Coast SUNS CEO Travis Auld said the announcement is the biggest endorsement of the new AFL team yet with Ablett joining recent player signings Nathan Bock, Nathan Krakouer, Michael Rischitelli, Campbell Brown and Jarrod Harbrow.

The AFL has provided us with the international broadcast schedule*. Please note there is no ICS broadcast into China. Please see below for details.

Kevin Sheedy, the GWS senior coach and a multiple premiership coach at Essendon, has once again thrown his weight behind supporting international growth. With reports that the AFL is set to reap $10 - $15 million from the Grand Final replay, CEO Andrew Demetriou has pledged that much of it will go to Game Development. However, numerous measures are likely to eat into that, including some extra money to be given to the participating paying players and probably free tickets will be given to under-privileged fans.

All worthy causes, but let's hope that AFL HQ also listens to Sheedy's call, "I hope the AFL contributes all the extra money to developing football in the northern part of Australia and overseas", in his article Collingwood faces bigger hurdle to rise again. An extra $3 million into the international department would go a long way to covering International Cup airfares, or employee a swag of development officers to set up junior and school programs in a handful of nations.

There was some worries that ESPN would not be able to free up broadcast space for the 2010 AFL Grand Final Replay which comes about due to last Saturday's draw.

But never fear because the match will be shown on ESPN Classic – live coverage of the match only at 00:00EST. ESPN 2 – will join the match in progress at 01:00EST on Saturday

Online the match can be viewed on http://ESPN3.com where avaialable with live coverage of the match only at 00:00EST on Saturday. http://Omnisport.tv will have their pay serview showing the match live from 00:00 EST Saturday.

The AFL has announced that retiring Adelaide Crows champion Andrew McLeod will work for the AFL on national projects such as the Indigenous and Multicultural Combines in his role as community engagement and talent co-ordinator.

He will also travel to Tonga later this year to coach the Flying Boomerangs and will co-ordinate the No School No Play program. The Flying Boomerangs is an Indigenous Australian squad that has previously toured South Africa and Papua New Guinea.

McLeod said he was looking forward to helping to develop young indigenous players and fulfilling a role that expands across the wider Australian football community. “This is something I am passionate about and have wanted to do for some time,” he said. “The opportunity to give something back to the game and the community is truly exciting.”

McLeod won back to back flags with Adelaide in 1997 and 1998 and was awarded the Norm Smith Medal as best on ground in both matches.

The AFL has appointed retiring Sydney Swans captain Brett Kirk as an AFL Ambassador, in particular with the brief to spend 6 months overseas promoting the fourth International Cup, set for August 2011.

Kirk was a member of Sydney's 2006 premiership side and has been arguably the AFL's most respected leader. A product of Albury in southern New South Wales, he has been well known for his spiritual approach to life and is reportedly a practicing Buddhist.

Kirk will contribute to the AFL website with blogs and video entries throughout his international travels. “I played my footy with a lot of passion and heart and I’m looking forward to bringing that into my next role and next phase in life. The role encapsulates a lot of different things, including going on a journey with my family and telling their story and taking people on an adventure through my eyes. I just want to help the AFL showcase to people what our game can do and work towards taking our game to other countries.”