World Footy News

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.

The 2010 Ontario Australian Football League (OAFL) season begins this weekend in Ontario, Canada and with what is to be expected to be its best season yet, the OAFL is working hard both on and off the field.

The Hong Kong Dragons will meet new local rivals the Macau Lightning and Pokfulam Vikings this weekend, with a three-match schedule kicking off at Hong Kong's new Kai Tak Cricket Ground at 11am this Saturday.

The match will mark the first official match for the Macau Lighting, who only formed 12 months ago and have been focussing on Auskick and junior development in the former Portuguese outpost. A strong contingent of players and supporters is expected to venture from Macau across to Hong Kong for the day, lead by former Dragon Troy Harris. Macau have also signaled their intent to make their first appearance at an Asian Championships this year, when the best of Asian footy converges on Shanghai in October.

The Dragons' cross-town rivals the Pokfulam Vikings are also to play their first-ever match this weekend, having been formed by a number of Dragons players living in that area of Hong Kong.

For their part, the host Dragons will be looking to use this day as a platform to launch their assault on a 3rd consecutive Manila Cup Crown on Saturday May 29th, whilst also getting in some much needed match practice before the Vietnam Swans sail into harbour on May 22nd.

In other Chinese footy news, the China Cup is coming to Hong Kong this September, when the Shanghai Tigers and Beijing Bombers fly in to battle the Dragons for supremacy in the Chinese footy community.

The Wolverhampton Wolverines played their first-ever match last Saturday, taking on the University of Birmingham Sharks. Although the Sharks won the match 126-58, Wolverines founder Ian Mitchell was upbeat about his squad's debut performance. "My lads played really well and learnt a lot. It was fairly close until the Sharks took the game away from us in the 4th quarter, after we had put them under great pressure and won the 3rd."

Stand-out performers for the Wolverines were Sam Findell with 4 goals, Ben Yeates who took some great marks under pressure and Tom Archer who was solid at fullback.

Besides hoping to schedule a few more friendlies during May, the Wolverines will meet the Liverpool Eagles in their first league game this Saturday, with all teams in the Central & North West League coming to Manchester for the round, including the debuts of the clubs from Peterborough and Hull.

The World XVIII and South Pacific squads have been named for the June 2010 NAB AFL Under 16 championships in Australia. This is the first time international squads have been invited to compete and although the inaugural teams are likely to be in for a torrid time on the scoreboard, in coming years the concept should provide an excellent pathway to the AFL as well as an incentive for international leagues to promote youth.

The players named have been selected but have not necessarily confirmed their involvement, as it will be subject to players making the journey Down Under. The full lists are given below. Including the multi-cultural component, there are 21 countries represented.

The Cincinnati Dockers Australian Rules Football Club will begin their 14th season at the annual John Harrell Memorial Cup tournament in Louisville, Kentucky on Saturday, May 8th. The matches will start at 1:00 PM, and will take place at Champions Park on River Road in Louisville.

Cincinnati is coming off a stellar 2009 season which saw them win their second consecutive United States Australian Football League (USAFL) Division 4 title in Mason, OH, and their fourth league championship overall. In that tournament, the Dockers won all 4 of their matches to win the crown. Following that finish, the Dockers have high hopes of achieving a three-peat.

The tournament itself will be divided into two groups, A and B, and have some special rules. Matches in group A will feature 12 players on the field per team, while matches in group B will have 9 players on the field per team. Games in this tournament will consist of 2 20-minute halves. Cincinnati will be represented in both groups, and will compete against squads from the Nashville Kangaroos and the Columbus Jackaroos in each group.

Tyler Kamerman no doubt has the American frontier spirit, but at the same time he upholds that great Aussie desire just to have a kick of the footy. His return to his home state left him without a footy outlet, so he started his own. While he is not the first member of the mobile American nation to take the Aussie Rules seed and transplant it to new fertile, virgin ground, he is the first to do so in his home state of Iowa.

The Des Moines Roosters first materialized last year when the US Nationals divisions were announced, and those of us not so familiar with US geography had to check out where exactly Des Moines was. It turns out it is a geographical hub of a semicircle that is ringed by other USFooty cities Minnesota, Milwaukee, Chicago, St Louis and Kansas City.

To find out more about the USFooty new kids on the block, we spoke with Tyler this week.