World Footy News

The Sydney Swans are excited to announce they have signed one of the most gifted young athletes in NSW to their recently-established Academy. African-born Alex Jalloh, 14, has excelled at soccer, rugby, athletics and Australian football, but has opted to be part of the Swans Advanced Academy, which means he can be drafted directly to the Club in 2013.

The Academy’s talent identification and operations manager, Chris Smith, said Jalloh’s signing was a major win for the Academy. “This is a real win for the Sydney Swans Academy where a priority is attracting kids who have the ability to excel at a number of sports,’’ Smith said. “The fact Alex chose the Swans Academy in its first year of operation, over his other sporting options, is extremely pleasing. We’re excited to have the opportunity to nurture and develop Alex’s extraordinary athletic talent,’’ Smith said.

Former Sydney Swans star Michael O'Loughlin has spoken on the AFL website about the challenge and excitement of coaching the youth World XVIII at the upcoming NAB AFL Under 16 Championships, to be staged in western Sydney.

The video interview can be viewed here.

It's only a few weeks until the tournament begins - see NAB AFL Under 16s draw announced

Mr. Danish Football... from Andy Rew on Vimeo.

Despite the TV guides indicating the Werribee vs Geelong would be the ABC TV VFL match for broadcast this Saturday, a late change has seen ABC now set to broadcast the Karmichael Hunt VFL debut from Craigieburn. The telecast is for ABC in Melbourne and presumably across Victoria, as well as a live online stream to Australia. A few days later it should also be viewable across Australia online from the ABC's iview.

The AFL Sweden has announced its squad for the 2010 European Chapionships, with coach Daniel McClaer naming 26 players in what the league is rating as the strongest Swedish Elks side assembled to date.

Officially announced via the Swedish Footy Show, the squad is dominated by players from southern Sweden, with the Helsingborg Saints and Port Malmö Maulers providing sixteen players between them in the 26-man squad. The Göteborg Beserkers from the west have five representatives, the Stockholm league four and the Karlstad Eagles one.

Coach McClaer says this is the first time ever that they have had to do a proper selection process for the Swedish national team, with the majority of the squad chosen from national selection trials held on May 15th in Stockholm.

Captaining the Elks will be Johan Lantz from the Helsingborg Saints. Previous Sweden captain and Scandinavian footy veteran Andreas Svensson is also in the squad, along with another eight members of the Elks' 2008 International Cup team.

The Elks also have some international elements, with Englishman Daniel Scotford named alongside Americans Matt McMahan and Ross Levesque in the main squad, and Irishmen Aidan O'Reilly and Mark Rattigan listed as emergencies.

The Elks' draw sees them open the tournament against Croatia at midday on August 1st, followed by a clash with Germany two days later, then the final game of the pool rounds against Ireland on August 5th. The Elks and Irish would be early favourites to defeat both Croatia and Germany, meaning their clash on August 5th could see the winner go straight to the gold medal match. Whilst the Irish have traditionally been the team to beat in Europe, the home team Elks will be very keen to prove that they can match it with all comers.

The full squad list and Swedish Footy Show clip follow.

AFLPNG continues to develop its off-field efforts with the appointment of Tristan Tancredi to assist in its public relation duties and marketing.

Tancredi was raised in Melbourne, Australia. Tancredi’s main focus is to assist in developing the AFL code in PNG through media involvement as well as marketing.

This involves promoting the AFL throughout the provinces that are involved with the AFL code such as Lae, Morobe Province, Kimbe, West New Britain Province and Mount Hagen, Western Highlands Province.

This will increase community involvement and participation. Tasks that will assist in reaching these objectives include the redesigning of web content, increasing media awareness through newspapers, TV and interaction with local sporting communities.

Tancredi is a media and communication graduate from Melbourne University in Australia. He will be in PNG on a 12 month contract through AusAid funding program called Australian Youth Ambassador for Development (AYAD). For more see this article from the PNG's Post Courier newspaper.

There are still plenty of footy xenophobes out there who believe that Australian football should be played by Australians only. But anyone who has been involved with foreigners coming to the game seems to be quickly converted to the idea that the game shouldn't be restricted to those who live in Australia (which of course it is not). There is something special about sharing the game that has largely been a secret to the rest of the world, who for the most part take it up with great enthusiasm.

Luke Ball today wrote in The Age of his encounters with Collingwood team-mate Shae McNamara and surmises that the game can only be better off for the diversity that international expansion can bring. The following is an extract from that article Globalisation of our code can only make us better.

The following statement was released from Team GWS today;

Team GWS Chief Executive Officer Dale Holmes has welcomed today’s announcement from the NSW state government that the proposed upgrade of the Sydney Showgrounds facility will go ahead. "This announcement marks an important milestone for Team GWS as we work to build the first AFL club in Greater Western Sydney. This redevelopment is fundamental to the establishment of our club.”

“This is a terrific result, not only for our club, but for all of New South Wales as this will redevelop existing infrastructure into a multi purpose venue which will enhance the experience of visitors to the Royal Easter Show and open up the venue to a number of different sports including cricket, rugby league, rugby union and soccer.

AFL Game Development Manager David Matthews spoke to SEN radio Saturday about the possibility of NRL star Greg Inglis moving to Essendon in the AFL. He also touches on the strategies behind the signings of Folau, Hunt and the possibility of using Nic Natanui as an ambassador to promote the game in the Pacific region.

The audio can be heard here.

Rome's first-ever Australian rules football match was held last month, with the home town Roma Blues defeating Milano by 25 points.

Among the small crowd who braved the wet conditions to watch the match was former Australian deputy Prime Minister Tim Fischer, who is currently Australia's ambassador to the Vatican. Mr Fischer described the event as a strong standard, "better than a Hume league match", referring to the country footy league of his old electorate in southern NSW.

The Roma Blues have recruited around 30 players so far, after starting training earlier this year.

The match got some coverage in the Australian media, with this article appearing in the Sydney Morning Herald.

In other footballing news, the AFL Italia has been awarded the rights to host the 2010 EU Cup in Milano later this year.

Norway's Tromsø Australian Football League have finally emerged from the polar winter and taken the field for 2010. 24 players made it to the first match on May 28th, including a healthy number of local Norwegians. Regular games are scheduled for Friday nights across the summer months.

The Norway Trolls also have an test against Finland in Helsinki coming up on July 17th. Last year saw the Norwegian national team make their first appearance, defeating Sweden in Karlstad, including three players who made the long trek south from Tromsø.

This year the northerners will again be hoping to have some representatives join the players from Oslo and Ås for the match in Helsinki. The Finnish Icebreakers for their part will be hoping for a good showing in the lead-up to their campaign at the first-ever European Championships, being held in Denmark and Sweden at the start of August.

The Australian Football League (AFL) last night announced that AFL Team of the Century member and nine-time Fitzroy Best and Fairest Winner Kevin Murray had been made a Legend of the Game. Murray, who played a club record 333 games for Fitzroy between 1955-74, was elevated to Legend Status at tonight’s Australian Football Hall of Fame dinner at the Palladium Room in Melbourne.

Inducted into the Hall of Fame tonight were Brian Dixon (pictured left - who has been a significant supporter of the development of Australian rules internationally), Stan Heal, Tony Shaw, Ross Smith and Gavin Wanganeen the controversial Wayne Carey whose personal life dramas were seen to have stalled his induction previously.