World Footy News

The youth World XVIII and South Pacific players have arrived in Australia for the NAB AFL Under 16 Championships, with both squads competing in Division Two against Tasmania, NT, Queensland and NSW/ACT.

The players were scheduled to touch down in Melbourne last weekend and are now undergoing an intensive week of skills training and general football education, before they head up to Sydney for their opening clash (which is against each other) next Sunday, July 4th.

A dispensation for the international sides, which are competing in this elite competition for the first time, is that they can field players up to 18 years old. The World side also includes a significant contingent of young multicultural Australian talent.

The Vice President of China, Xi Jinping, attended last week's AFL match between Carlton and Fremantle on the invitation of dignitaries which included, "AFL commission chairman Mike Fitzpatrick and Victorian premier John Brumby." Xi has previously been named amongst the Top 100 most influential people in the world, by Time magazine.

After the rules were explained in Mandarin by a Southern Dragons player, Xi expressed an interest in the sport, enquiring if any players were of Chinese heritage and was excited by the prospect of future players being recruited from China. When he later addressed a trade delegation, he even made mention of his night at the footy. If the sport has made a positive impression on Xi, this could add serious momentum to the sport's expansion into the world's biggest country, as Xi is likely successor to current president Hu Jintao.

Melbourne play the Brisbane Lions in an exhibition match at Jiangwan Sports Centre in Shanghai on 17 October 2010, with a crowd of up to 30,000 a possibility.

The third annual Coupe de France will kick off in Strasbourg this weekend, bringing together players from right across the country. After a season where they had to withdraw from the national league and focus on rebuilding their squad, the Strasbourg Kangaroos will be eager to show the rest of the nation's clubs that they can match it with the best.

The Paris Cockerels are hot favourites going into the tournament, hoping to add another back-to-back championship. Led by Icelandic-born footy veteran and former Denmark Vikings captain Palli Finnsson, the Parisians have been tough to defeat throughout their 2009-10 French national league, running out premiers.

The Bordeaux Bombers look likely to be the principle challengers to the Cockerels, having finished runners-up in the main season. Fred Zohar's charges are justifiably confident that they can make the final, and haven't given up on any dreams of knocking off the Cockerels for the cup.

The Toulouse Crocodiles are also banking on a strong performance, which could see them go all the way to the final. However they may be missing some of their key members for the tournament.

Rounding out the field will be a combined team from Languedoc-Roussillon, composed of players from the Montpellier Firesharks and the Perpignan Tigers. They also have the potential to surprise the field, with the French footy community noting that the Tigers were surprise finalists in last year's Coupe.

For more information, visit footballaustralien.com or the Strasbourg Kangourous' site.

In a story of one who had the talent, but was lost to footy, Rhys Casley has recently been unveiled as the new captain of NZ’s National Softball team. Softball in NZ is a major summer sport and is very popular with a large percentage of the population.

Rhys was a football prodigy who came to Wellington football as a 15 year old. He was one of those kids that the plodders of the world like me love to hate (I mean envy). Multi-talented, he already was in the key position of Number 8 for his schoolboy rugby team, a provincial champion athlete and already in junior national softball teams. Even at that age he had a big frame and now at the at about 193 cms and about 90 kgs what a key position player he would have made!!!

The final squads for the South Pacific and World XVIII teams at this year's AFL National under 16s Championships have been released, with representatives from PNG, New Zealand, Tonga, Fiji, Samoa, Nauru, South Africa, USA, Canada, England, Argentina, China and Denmark to take the field, along with a number of players picked from recent African, Middle Eastern and Asian migrants to Australia.

The World XVII will be coached by former Sydney Swan Michael O'Loughlin, whilst the South Pacific will be coached by NZ-born former AFL star Trent Croad, pictured at left with their respective team captains.

The event will mark the first time ever that teams drawn primarily of international players will take on the best young talent in Australia, the previous closest being PNG's appearance at the Teal Cup in the 1970s.

US Freedom coach Wayne Kraska is proud to announce the 2010 US Freedom team. A pool of 60 players went through the tryout process including tournaments in New York and Denver. The US Freedom is the United States national Women's Australian Rules Football team.

The following players will be representing the USAFL in the 49th Parallel Cup against Canada on July 31 and Aug 1.

The Sydney Swans' Canadian Rugby Union recruit, Mike Pyke, is continuing to impress in only his second season of Aussie Rules. After being elevated off the rookie list to debut in 2009, Pyke has added 6 games to his 8 AFL matches last year.

With injuries and suspension to other ruckmen the former Rugby International was thrown into the deep end earlier this year, manfully leading the Swans' ruck but struggling to exert sufficient influence. He is now back in a more appropriate role, supporting Sydney's Shane Mumford, but often taking on 50% of the rucking duties. Averaging 17 hitouts along with 2 marks, 2 tackles and 7 disposals is a pretty impressive return in just his second year at AFL level which is also only his second year ever in Australian football.

The 200cm, 104kg athlete is coming to the end of his contract and although the 26 year old is not ruling out a return to Rugby, he's hoping for a contract extension - it seems highly likely it will be offered.

The Western Bulldogs today congratulate Julia Gillard on this historic occasion becoming Australia’s first female Prime Minister. Ms Gillard has been a lifelong Western Bulldogs supporter and Member.

Chief Executive Campbell Rose said that today’s news marks not only an unforgettable day but also a historic one for both our Club and our country. “The Club is very proud to be associated with such a significant moment in our national history. Ms Gillard’s achievement is recognition for her tireless work within the western suburbs of Melbourne and we believe that Julia will make an outstanding Prime Minister. Julia is an brilliant leader and will represent the people of our country well,” said Rose.

The Bali Geckos Australian Rules team topped off hosting a very successful Powerade Bali Masters 9’s tournament by winning the championship. The Geckos defeated a team made up of Darwin firefighters in a fairly one-sided final of the cup division.

With 13 teams participating, this year’s tournament saw the largest number of teams to compete in an AFL tournament anywhere in Asia. The eleven teams from last year’s event all returned, and were joined by debutants the Motley Men from Victoria and the eventual runners-up the Darwin Firies.

The large number of teams, seven from Australia and six from Asia, saw the event split into two separate divisions, the Cup and the Plate competitions. The growing size of the tournament forced organisers to hold the event over two days at Bali’s leading sporting facility, the Canggu Club.

The Finland AFL reached a new milestone last Tuesday with the first ever league game being played where both teams were comprised entirely of non-Australians.

The Salo Juggernauts, who have had a completely Finnish line-up for their entire 3 year history, took on the reigning premiers, the Turku Dockers, who rested their three Aussies for the match and had a line-up for the 9-a-side game that included eleven Finns, two Estonians and one Greek.

This report courtesy of Craig Primmer.

The Portsmouth Pirates from the AFL Britain's Southern Regional league recently hosted journalist Jordan Cross, who had a run with the Pirates in spite of his previous impression of the game as being mindlessly violent.

Cross' article can be read here on The News' website, including a video.

The Pirates started up only in 2009, and have since grown to be one of the strongest clubs in England's regional south, hosting the National Club Championships earlier this year where they finished runners-up to the Huddersfield Rams.

The Irish players in the AFL have been undergoing a tough time of late, with Tadhg Kennelly out injured, Setanta O’hAlpin experiencing a dip in form and Pearce Hanley playing his first senior game of the season before being dropped. There has however been some promising performances in the VFL with Tommy Walsh kicking his first goals in the sport for Sandringham and Michael Quinn impressing for the Bendigo Bombers, kicking 3 goals last week.