World Footy News

With a place in the European Championships grand final on the line, the highly fancied Great Britain team took on host nation Denmark at Farum, in warm, sultry conditions in front of 350 spectators.

Those who came witnessed a hard contest played in good spirit, as has been the norm in these inaugural European championships.

Denmark opened their account early with goals to Secher and Ottesen and took a slight 7 point lead into the first break. In the secord term, the Danes started to use the width of the field to great effect which lead to a couple of mark-and-goals by dominant forwards Norlander and Ottesen.

With everything on the line, Great Britain came out focused in the third quarter and locked the ball in their own attacking half for long periods. This resulted in goals to Tarn and Todd, while keeping the locals to a single point.

Taking a slim 9 point lead into the final quarter and with everything to play for, Denmark lifted a gear with a fine left footed running goal to World XVIII representative Mathias Biron and two quick goals to Norlander thereby sealing the victory.

Despite the tenacity and defensive pressure shown by Great Britain, Denmark displayed great skill and poise to finish comfortable winners, and now head to Saturday's final against tournament favourites Ireland. Great Britain will take on host nation Sweden in the 3rd place play-off game.

This report courtesy of the EC2010 organising committee.

In the third round of the EC2010 held on Thursday, August 5th, Iceland took on Finland in the first match of the day at Farum, Denmark in steamy conditions in front of an enthusiastic crowd of 100 spectators.

After a slow start from both teams, the game lifted in tempo as the running players from both teams started to find time and space out on the flanks, resulting in some exciting and skillful passages of play.

In the second quarter, Iceland started brightly with some inside 50 mark and goals from Palli Finnsson and Bjarni Sigurjonsson, however Mika Kupila scored two quick goals to keep the Finns within touch at the main break.

After half time, Finland continued to pile on the tackle pressure on the key Icelandic playmakers and started to dominate possession, thanks to the hard ball getters Jani Saarinen, Fernando Leon and Jukka Reiman.

In the final quarter, Iceland showed its class with a brace of goals to Pavel Velikov and veteran Palli Finnson to seemingly put the game beyond Finland. In response, the Finns replied with late goals to Juho Leino and Jusso Timosaari to keep the game within reach and set up for an exciting conclusion.

However, it was not to be for Finland as Iceland hung on to record its first ever victory in full-format footy, setting them up for a juicy 5th place classification playoff against Croatia in Malmö, Sweden on Saturday.

This report courtesy of the EC2010 organising committee.

Croatia won the toss and elected to kick to the beach end aiming to take advantage of a strong breeze. With their cheer squad in full voice the Knights would have been expecting a solid start.

However, it was the Germans who proved to be more attacking in the early stages running and carrying the ball, with Beyer providing a strong option up forward. Although the conditions were tough, both teams were able to put together good passages of play. Unfortunately for the Germans they could not covert this pressure into a score on the board.

As the quarter progressed, the Knights were able to push the ball forward, with Cvetko kicked beautiful check side goal from the forward pocket, Cudina then kicked another for Croatia after a great centre clearance. When Cudina kicked his 2nd with a quick snap after some great ruck work the Croatians had a handy lead. The Knights then began dominating the clearances and with their bigger bodies were able to move the ball forward to create scoring opportunities. At quarter time Croatia led by 32 points.

This report courtesy of the EC2010 organising committee.

Quarter-by-quarter scores from round 3 of the European Championship in Australian Football, courtesy of The Footy Record and the EC2010 organizing committee, updated as close to live as we can manage!

Carlton Football Club will train in Nike RED jumpers today at at Visy Park to drive awareness and raise funds to fight HIV/AIDS in Africa. As well as training in the RED jumpers, Carlton players will wear RED laces during Friday night’s game against Essendon at the MCG.

RED was created by Bono and Bobby Shriver and is a business to raise awareness and money for the Global Fund to invest in African Aids programs by teaming up with the world’s most iconic brands to produce RED branded products. RED partners and events, of which Nike RED laces is an example, have generated $120 million to the Global Fund helping to medicate people with HIV/AIDS in Africa and educate young people in Africa about the disease.

This is the third year in a row the USAFL's Austin Crows and the Irish Celtic Cowboys have contested a three game series International Rules Series. The rules combine elements from both games with the Irish advantage being the round ball and the Aussie advantage being the tackling. We thank the Austin Crows for the match report.

On another hot and humid Austin summer day, the teams arrived at the Stassney field to once again see who has bragging rights as the best Footy team in Austin, Texas. The Crows were a little undermanned through injuries and unavailability but had a considerably younger team than their Irish rivals.

After the second round of matches in the 2010 European Championship in Australian Football, host nations Denmark and Sweden have ensured they will qualify for the top four.

Sweden ensured qualification after recording their second win over a spirited German side in front of around 500 people in Malmö: Sweden 8.14 (62) to Germany 4.2 (26). In the first half the Germans offered stiff resistance against the home team and were only a point down at half time. However, a lack of interchange players made it difficult for Germany, and allowed the Swedes to assert control in the second half to run away winners.

In the day’s earlier match, Ireland comfortably defeated an under resourced Croatia side: Ireland 20.21 (141) to Croatia 1.1 (7). The Croatians must be commended for their commitment and refusal to give up despite the scoreboard, but Ireland’s clinical efficiency and work rate showed exactly why they are the tournament favourites.

Across the Öresund strait in Farum, Denmark, Great Britain defeated Iceland to ensure their passage to the top four. Iceland won praise for their competitive spirit, but in the end Great Britain’s experienced playing squad prevailed to earn them an important win. Great Britain 11.20 (86) defeated Iceland 4.12 (36)

However, the team that impressed most was co-host Denmark, who defeated Nordic neighbours Finland. After a shaky start, Finland regrouped and recovered well, but the nature of Denmark’s win means many are now labelling them a real chance to take the gold. Denmark 14.20 (104) defeated Finland 2.1 (13)

Images courtesy of Morten Christensen.

This article completes the list of games that have been included in our (unofficial) worldfootynews.com World Rankings from 1994 through to the present. Here we show the matches from the start of the 2008 International Cup up to July 30th - just before the Canada versus USA match and the inaugural European Championships.

At the completion of the North American and European matches that are being played this week, we will include the results in our Rankings and present them as the Rankings against which we will reference in future, i.e. they will be our first recognised use of the new scheme. However, if good reason is shown that the system needs changing then it can be.

Canadian Mike Pyke’s extraordinary journey from international rugby to the AFL will continue for at least the next two years. The Sydney Swans today announced that he has signed a two year contract with the Club. Pyke, who has 20 rugby Test caps for Canada, first came to Australia in June 2008 to trial with the Swans. A few months later he was signed as an international rookie and in 2009 he went on to play his first senior game.

He started season 2010 on the rookie list but has made enormous progress since being called into the senior side in round seven as a replacement for injured ruckman Mark Seaby. Pyke, 26, has now played a total of 20 games and is developing into a valuable big man for the Club - and a trailblazer for athletes converting to AFL from the rugby codes.

Quarter-by-quarter scores from round 2 of the European Championship in Australian Football, courtesy of The Footy Record and the EC2010 organizing committee, updated as close to live as we can manage!

Hawks players Michael Osborne, Brent Guerra, Clinton Young, Brent Renouf, Carl Peterson and Ryan Schoenmakers and Assistant Coach John Barker, were joined by 13CABS drivers and their families for a football carnival to celebrate 13CABS Multicultural Harmony Day at Waverley Park today.

The drivers and their children, many of whom had never picked up a football before, participated in a skills clinic in the afternoon, which included with a focus on team values of respect and responsibility. Hawks forward Michael Osborne said the afternoon was particularly important, especially in the wake of an assault on a taxi driver in Springvale less than 24 hours ago.

The USA have defeated Canada in a come from behind victory at the 49th Parallel cup in Toronto on Saturday. After trailing at half time, the USA Revolution restricted the Northwind to a single goal in the second half, storming home to win by 5 goals.

The USA U23's also comfortably defeated Canada by over 10 goals, whilst in the Women's game Canada managed to reverse the trend defeating the US by 3 goals.

49th Parallel Cup - Men's

	1/4	1/2	3/4	Full Time
USA	1.4 (10)	2.5 (17)	6.9 (51)	9.12 (66)
Canada	2.1 (13)	4.1 (25)	4.2 (26)	5.2 (32)

Umpires' MVP: Dustin Jones (USA)

Goals - USA: Dustin Jones 3, Danny Hansen 1, Ryan Kastl 1, Stephen Moore 1, Andy Vancia 1, Andrew Werner 1.
Goals - Canada: Aaron Falcioni 3, Ash Steir 1, Oliver Hayward 1

Best - USA: Donnie Lucero, Brandon Bludan, Chris Candelaria, Andrew Werner, Jason Newquist, Luke Memeth.
Best - Canada: George Dimacakos, Jimmy Oertel, Kevin Minaker, Tasos Dimacakos, Frank Luisser, Manny Matata.