World Footy News

The Cincinnati Dockers Australian Rules Football Club will begin regular season play on the road against the reigning three-time Mid American Australian Football League (MAAFL) champions, Chicago United. This game will take place on Saturday June 5th at 3 PM central time at Waveland Park in Chicago.

The Convicts are planning their first-ever Australian rules football tour to South America this October, with matches planned against the national teams of Chile, Argentina and Brazil.

A sports tour group offering amateur Australian footballers the chance to play overseas, the Convicts were formed back in 2003, and have conducted Australian rules football tours to Europe, South Africa and North America. The Convicts have also recently begun offering tours for cricket, rugby league, rugby union and soccer.

Junior footy clinics and sightseeing are also included on the itinerary.

For more information, visit theconvicts.com.

Carlton's improving Irishman, Setanta O'hAilpin, is attracting increasing attention as a key in the Blues' forward line as they push for a top four finish in the 2010 AFL premiership race. With a fleet of small indigenous players complementing the tall import, the set up has become known as Setanta and his little helpers. "Carlos" has booted 24.13 so far this year, putting him equal 9th on the goalkicking ladder.

The notoriously shy player has always been reluctant to do media interviews, but recently conducted one with Martin Flanagan for The Age - Beyond the Lore and one for SEN radio below.

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Player agent Peter Jess has conducted the first AFL talent camp in Buenos Aires, as previewed in Search for talent in Argentina. A video from Argentine news site La Nacion appears below.

worldfootynews.com also caught up with Peter Jess (see below) and was keen to ensure that local footy organisers in Argentina and Chile made contact with him. That has happened and hopefully will be the start of a good working relationship that might help push Aussie Rules forward in South America. Jess has confirmed that two exciting young talents have been selected to head to Australia to compete in the World XVIII in the NAB AFL Under 16s.

The Danish Australian Football League (DAFL), Australian Football League Sweden (AFL Sweden) and the European Australian Football Association (EAFA) today announced the official schedule for the inaugural 16-a-side 2010 European Championships of Australian Football.

The schedule outlines the sixteen matches that will ultimately determine the European Champion until the next European Championships in 2013.

The participants are Europe’s best locally developed (non-Australian) international teams representing 8 different nations. As favorites, Ireland will be looking to continue its dominance in Australian Football in Europe, but will have strong competition from Great Britain and Germany, as well as host nations Denmark and Sweden.

As for Finland, Croatia and Iceland, they will be looking to make an impact, test themselves against the experienced teams, and use the tournament to continue preparations towards the 2011 International Cup in Melbourne, Australia.

GWS today officially announced that they have signed Brisbane Broncos (and former Melbourne Storm) rugby league star Israel Folau. Folau is well known for his high leaping catches and has often been touted as a natural choice for a code switch to Australian Rules football.

Folau is known to be a devout member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and his parents are of Tongan descent. He was born in Australia. He recently visited Tonga and when asked if he wanted to play for Tonga he said yes. A relaxation of the International Cup rules (and if Kevin Sheedy and Dale Holmes allowed it to happen) could allow him to do that in Australian Rules at the 2011 International Cup where Tonga are expected to field a national team, bearing in mind that GWS will be in the VFL and do not make their AFL debut until 2012.

See also our poll on whether Folau or former teammate Karmichael Hunt will be a greater success in the AFL.

The Carlton Football Club, in conjunction with its sustainability partner Visy, will this week commit to a series of promotional activities in the lead up to one of the most significant dates on the global calendar – World Environment Day.

This year – June 5, 2010 – marks the 10th Anniversary of World Environment Day – a landmark event acknowledged in more than 100 nations, Australia included.