World Footy News

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.

The AFL has selected the World XVIII squad (Under 18s) to compete in the Under 16 championships against Australian states. worldfootynews.com will have details of other country selections soon, but for now, Canada's representatives...

AFL Canada is pleased to advise that 4 players have been selected by the Australian Football League to be part of the 30 player squad to represent the inaugural Under 18 World XVIII that will compete in the NAB State under 16 championships to be held in Melbourne & Sydney, Australia from June 27th - July 11th.

The initial 4 players selected were Riyad Karacic (Etobicoke Kangaroos, pictured left), James Duggan (Toronto Dingos) in Toronto Ontario, Clayton Lund and Andrew Roosdahl both from Vancouver, British Columbia. Unfortunately James Duggan will not be able to attend and he has been replaced by John Elliott (pictured right) also of the Etobicoke Kangaroos.

The players will travel to Australia prior to June 27th and attend a week long training camp and practise games in Melbourne before heading to Sydney where they will compete in Division 2 against New South Wales, Queensland, Northern Territory, Tasmania and a Pacific XVIII team.

Oslo's Australian football team, the Oslo Crows, defeated Swedish team the Karlstad Eagles by 39 points at Ekebergsletta in Oslo on Saturday.

In windy, rainy conditions the home team kicked 10.9.69 to Karlstad's 4.6.30, with Paul Swanston bagging three majors for Oslo.

The win was a great result for a team that featured many Norwegians with limited experience with Australian football, including several first-gamers. Best players for Oslo were Erik Svela, Nathan Roxby, Paul Swanston and Amund Lundesgaard.

The Essendon Football Club along with Cricket Victoria and supported by Primus Telecom, last week launched the GLoBALL initiative, which, "aims to provide positive engagement opportunities for international students and new migrants to interact with the broader Victorian community through sport by providing free cricket and football activities year round."

Through the program, thousands of international students and newly arrived migrants will have the opportunity to attend up to three AFL matches. The first intake attended last round's match in which Essendon defeated the Hawks.

According to the Bombers' media release, "beyond matches, program participants will have the opportunity to be involved in tours of iconic facilities, will be buddied up with AFL and cricket supporters on match days, and will enjoy practical skill sessions and other social events."

A website has also been set up, suggesting some activities newly arrived migrants and international students might like to be involved in.

Setanta O’hAlpin (pictured left) and Tadhg Kennelly (right) have both started the AFL season in highly impressive form but as yet are the only Irish players to have played senior football in the AFL in 2010. Kennelly has been instrumental in the Sydney Swans shock rise to first place in the ladder after six matches, winning five and only losing a tight contest to premiership favourites St. Kilda. Setanta has kicked 16 goals for Carlton including a personal best 5 goals against arch rivals Collingwood last week and has been in career best form.

A quick plug for our main sponsor, Burley-Sekem, who do sell to countries around the world, and can provide various Australian football items including Guernseys (jumpers) and footballs. Of particular interest is the colourful array of international jumpers they've produced and specifically featured in their brochure which can be accessed by clicking on the yellow Order Sheet that features at the top of our site.

With an "awesome display of guts, determination and sheer skill", the mighty Huddersfield Rams outclassed six opponents from around England & Wales to take out the UK National Carnival in Portmsouth on Saturday April 24th.

In only their second year, and proudly wearing Western Australian State-of-Origin jumpers until their new kit arrives, the Huddersfield Rams brought the cup back to Yorkshire for the first time in the tournament's history.

The Rams won six games out of six to battle through to the final, before seeing off the hosts the Portsmouth Pirates. Rams captain Danny Armitage picked up the Golden Boot award for the tournament with an outstanding performance of 18 goals.

Club founder and president, Karl Haigh said “I’m so proud of the effort put in by the lads – both in the build up to and duration of the carnival. Considering that we came here last year and did not win a game, to come here in 2010 and go on and win the thing is amazing.”

The 9-a-side National Carnival is the last pre-season tournament before the regular season begins, this year hosted in Portsmouth by the Portsmouth Pirates with the Southampton Titans, Bournemouth Demons, Bristol Dockers, Sheffield Thunder, Cardiff Double Blues and the Rams all vying for the Cup.

This report courtesy of the Huddersfield Rams AFC.