World Footy News

Hot off the press, the Australian Football League has released the draw for the 2010 NAB AFL Under 16 Championships. The tournament will be played at Blacktown in Western Sydney from July 3rd to July 10th.

The two international sides feature in Division Two and will commence the series with a match against each other on Sunday July 4th. The World 18 follow up with matches against Tasmania on Wednesday 7th and NSW/ACT on Saturday 10th. The South Pacific squad takes on Queensland and the Northern Territory, also on the Wednesday and Saturday.

The full fixture follows:

The AFL Britain's Central and Northern Region has found its first full-size footy oval, with an agreement reached with the Manton Sports Club in Worksop, near Sheffield.

The new £1.2 Million pound venue hosts a 185m x 155m oval, which is fully securely fenced off with ample room around the oval for out of bounds and spectators, as well as a fully-licensed club house.

Karl Haigh from the Huddersfield Rams says the people running Manton Colliery Athletics Club have been very supportive of the venue becoming a new base for British footy. "Half the battle finding grounds in England is the people behind the clubs, they have a dim view of new sports and are not very forthcoming when you approach them. But not here - Denise and her team are right behind new sports and anything sport related which gives youngsters new oppotunities in their life. It's near Sheffield, which is central to the whole country. The Midlands are central to England, but Sheffield is more central to the UK overall. People tend to forget about Scotland and the north east!"

The 18-a-side Central and Northern Warriors representative squad, made up of the best players from the AFL Britain's CNW and NE Divisions, will be holding their first Selection/Training day at the ground on 29th of May 2010.

The ground is set to also become the "Northern" Venue for England and Great Britain International games, selection trials and training camps.

In great news for NZ footy, the AFL's Hawthorn Football Club will visit New Zealand in June this year. The itinerary includes the three major centres of Christchurch on Monday 21st, Wellington on Tuesday 22nd and Auckland on Wednesday 23rd.

Players will visit schools and community groups to assist in the promotion of AFL in New Zealand. Details of players attending and a finalised itinerary are yet to be decided. The visit corresponds to the AFL's split round, with Hawthorn having a break the weekend following their visit.

In World War Two New Guinea was Australia's last line of defence against Imperial Japan. As the Japanese invaded from the north the local Papuans helped Australian troops defend, often assisting by carrying equipment and guiding through heavy terrain. The legend of the Kokoda Trail (Track) is perhaps the most famous memory of those events, with many Australians walking the path each year, including AFL players.

Decades later and the links remain. Carlton's PNG recruit, Peter Labi, recently returned to his home town of Lae and while he was there he searched the war cemetery, eventually finding the final resting place of Jim Park. The 1938 Carlton premiership player made the ultimate sacrifice during the war and his surviving daughter, Joan Schinner, was delighted to have Labi pay tribute to her father.

2818 soldiers of the Second World War are buried there (444 of them unidentified), including Jim Park and Labi’s five great uncles - Gesengus Tae kikia, Hansa Gageng Gindingeng, Leo Kikuctung, Yanger Dingu and Nasala Pedere. Labi said, “I was trying to imagine what Jim went through, to leave his young family behind and go to another country to fight. To think that Jim never came home to see his wife or his little girl. It’s very sad.”

The full touching story can be read at Peter’s PNG pilgrimage to Jim Park’s grave.

The northernmost Australian football league in the world will begin its first official season this weekend, with the Foster's Premiership kicking off in Reyjavík, Iceland. The 9-a-side features three sides, named the Bulls, Dragons and Eagles after three of the four traditional guardian spirits of Iceland.

The Bulls will go into the season as early favourites, after winning the pre-season English Pub Cup played on the 1st and 2nd of May. Icelandic Australian Football League president Friðgeir "Fritz" Ásgeirsson says the tournament was a great success, and gave a number of players the opportunity to have a competitive hitout before the season begins.

"We were very lucky with the weather and everyone had a good time. We see this tournament as a warm up for the league and a great opportunity for the new guys to try out the sport and get a hang of things. That went very well, the new guys were excellent and we are very optimistic for the future of Aussie Rules in Iceland. I’d be very surprised if we didn’t see some of the new guys at the European Championships in Denmark/Sweden later this year,” Fritz said.

The English Pub Cup also created some interest in the Icelandic media, with this report appearing on the national TV broadcaster RUV, and a number of articles in the local press. The Iceland Ravens made a strong debut at last year's EU Cup, and with some hard-working and passionate locals onboard look set to become a force in European footy.

Papua New Guinea's Stanis Susuve has been named in the back pocket for the Gold Coast in the VFL this weekend, up against Geelong's VFL side at Southport, Queensland.

Also a chance to play VFL seniors is Carlton's Peter Labi, also from PNG, who has been named on an extended bench for the Northern Bullants, having so far played for their Reserves side. The Bullants play Casey Scorpions.

Will one of these players become the first footballer born and initially developed in PNG to play in the AFL?

Channel 9's The Footy Show has reported that AFL heavyweights Collingwood and Essendon are considering a proposal to play their annual ANZAC Day clash in Istanbul, Turkey.

Turkish Australian Ismail Ozsoy approached Essendon last year with the idea, and the Bombers and Collingwood are exploring the concept. Collingwood President Eddie Maguire said it would require major support between both governments to make it a huge event. At this stage the extent of support is not known. The nominated stadium (Galatasaray Soccer Club's ground, the Atatürk Olympic Stadium) holds 80,000 and can reportedly be reconfigured for Australian football.

The South Dublin Swans have won the the SMAT’s.com super 9’s ARFLI preseason competition for 2010. The tournament was part of the inaugural Dublin ANZAC sports carnival and saw seven Irish club sides joined by the Aberdeen Dingoes (Scotland) and from London, the Irish Exiles. The nine sides were drawn into three pools with the pools winners advancing through to a round robin final.

For those interested you can listen to Shae McNamara the "Yapping Yank" and Steele Sidebottom on the Collingwoood Football Club's Pie Cast podcast at the link here if you are in Australia or here for our international readers using iTunes.

The big American missed a game through injury but hopes to return to Collingwood's VFL side this weekend.

Follow the link here to listen to Melbourne radio station SEN's Daniel Harford interview Amercian Footy Star creator Miro Gladovic about the project which he suggests could spawn an American mini draft in years to come.

The first camp is loosely scheduled for August in Dallas with others to be determined by demand in other areas. The show will rely on a significant number of applicants to get it off the ground. If you are in the US and know of anyone interested please get them to register at www.americanfootystar.com.

On a cool and windy day in Louisville, KY, the Cincinnati Dockers Australian Rules Football Club began their 14th season at the preseason John Harrell Memorial Cup Tournament this past Saturday. Between the A and B squads, the Dockers finished the tournament with a 1-3 record, playing against squads from Nashville and Columbus.

Cincinnati’s A squad started their tournament against the Nashville A squad. Cincinnati had plenty of shots on goal, but only managed 2 goals out of 7 scoring shots, while Nashville earned more scoring shots and were more accurate. The final score had the Nashville Kangaroos winning with 6 goals and 6 behinds for 42 points beating Cincinnati with 2 goals and 5 behinds for 17 points.

Sydney's Canadian recruit, Mike Pyke, returned to the Swans' side for their Round 7 clash with reigning premiers Geelong at Skilled Stadium. It was his first AFL match of 2010, following his 8 games in his first season in 2009.

Pyke's team were competitive early in their biggest test for the year, but slowly the classy Cats got on top and ran away with the game. Perhaps it will remind those who are saying Collingwood are now clear flag favourites that the club that has played in the last three grand finals might not be done yet.

In positive signs for Pyke, the 200cm budding ruckman had 13 possessions and 18 hit outs, in support of the Swans' Shane Mumford who had 14 possessions and 25 hit outs. The Canadian may become vital to Sydney in the coming weeks, as team-mate Mumford has been reported and is looking at a 2 to 3 match penalty for rough conduct against former Geelong teammate Gary Ablett, although it's the kind of charge that could just as easily be defeated if challenged.