World Footy News

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.

Whilst the slow approach of the European summer brings the start of the footy season for most European and North American leagues, the University year is coming to the end. Among the growing crop of college footy clubs outside Australia, the University of Birmingham Sharks have completed the first season in their history, recording 4 wins out of 5 matches.

Thanks to Tim Smith for this report.

During his coaching reign at Essendon, coach Kevin Sheedy would periodically spruik for international development and promotion of Australian football. During his "enforced" sabbatical after being moved on by the Bombers, he took took on an ambassadorial role with the AFL, push the international angle even harder.

Now put in charge of the future Greater Western Sydney AFL side, the ever-controversial coach is in his element, promoting the need for international players, multicultural players, and stirring up everyone from the NRL (Rugby League) to Paul Roos, coach of Sydney rivals the Swans.

With Australia bidding for the soccer World Cup in 2018 and 2022, the AFL has secured agreement that the AFL season will be uninterrupted but admits alternative grounds will need to be found. Sheedy has stated what international footy fans want to hear, calling for some regular season matches to be played outside of Australia. "Take the risk and take the game overseas and get to some of those cricket grounds that are doing nothing and lying idle in other parts of the world". And he didn't stop there.

The launch party for American Footy Star took place on Saturday at the residence of the Australian Consul General in Brentwood, California. Interviews with various attendees can be viewed online. We have included interviews with the creator and producer Miro Gladovic, host Cameron Daddo and producer Amit Handa below.

The pilot and footy guide that has been produced so far comes from Gladovic's original idea for a movie with the working title of "Hometown Blues" about a young American who heads to Australia to become an American footy star. In the process of getting this movie made the idea to put together a reality TV show to detail the talent camps and find a young American came together. The TV series will be used to try to obtain the interest and financing to get his film made.

The AFL today announced it had signed a Memorandum Of Understanding (MOU) with the Federal Government guaranteeing the AFL season will continue, should Australia’s bid for the soccer World Cup be successful. AFL CEO Andrew Demetriou said he was pleased that all outstanding issues had been resolved and the AFL, along with the Australian Rugby Union (ARU), National Rugby League (NRL), Football Federation Australia (FFA) and the Federal Government, had all signed off on the binding agreement which ensures the bid lodged by Australia would be FIFA-compliant.

Mr Demetriou said the MOU recognised that it was fair and reasonable that other football codes continued to play their seasons should Australia win the soccer World Cup. He said the AFL has consistently supported Australia’s bid and the code had agreed to give up use of the MCG, Skilled Stadium at Geelong, Subiaco Oval, Gold Coast Stadium and Adelaide Oval during the World Cup. “We have consistently supported Australia’s bid for the World Cup as we have with other major sporting events.