World Footy News

Regional England has seen a great number of new clubs formed in the past few years, with the growth in club numbers lead by the three regional divisions of the ARUK National League, which operated largely separate to AFL Great Britain. 2010 has seen some personnel changes in English footy, and reports indicate that this year the English footy scene will be significantly more united than for some time.

GB Bulldogs coach Mark Pitura told WFN that he is very optimistic about the new structure, saying "AFL Great Britain is more united than ever. All clubs have come underneath this umbrella."

With all footy clubs in England now part of the one structure, last year's ARUK clubs in regional England will form the AFLGB North East, Central & North West and Southern divisions, although they will essentially remain self-governing leagues. Each division will have a main premiership competition featuring five teams, with a number of further development clubs playing friendly fixtures during the season.

World Footy News spoke to a number of key figures from the regional English clubs about the upcoming season.

The fledgling new AFL club, the Gold Coast, this year graduates from playing in Victoria's TAC Cup Under 18 competition, to senior competition in the Victorian Football League. Next year the Queensland club becomes a full AFL side, competing in the world's top Australian football competition.

This weekend the Gold Coast gave a strong sign that they will be competitive in the VFL in 2010, snatching a 3 point victory over the Brisbane Lions' reserves side, in a final practice match for both teams. The Lions reserves compete in Queensland's top league, while the Gold Coast play their first VFL match on April 10th. Given Brisbane's next match is Thursday night, it may well have been that there were heavy rotations in the last quarter, but it was still an excellent showing from the young GC side.

Outspoken Hawthorn Football Club President Jeff Kennett, who is also a former Victorian Premier, has suggested the AFL will expand to 20 teams (up from 16 now, and soon to be 18 with the Gold Coast and Western Sydney). His prediction is that it will occur within 10 to 20 years, and that one of those new clubs may well be New Zealand based.

"I think in 10-20 years there might be 20 clubs. That will be the full bottle for the AFL", Kennett said. "I think there should be one in New Zealand because you think of the young Caucasian athletes over there, they find it very hard to get into their own football code (Rugby)" and "20 clubs, play each other once during the season and then move into the finals".

It was a wide-ranging interview with Kennett on Melbourne radio station SEN, including his disagreement of the way the AFL handled their investigation of the Lara Bingle-Brendan Fevola nude photo incident. Typical of some of the narrow minded Melbourne football media who still don't see the big picture, one journalist suggested that if not for Kennett's credentials he would be considered "a stark raving lunatic" and that "it's not going to happen".

Although Kennett often has some left field ideas that don't always gain traction, it is encouraging that the idea of New Zealand one day fielding an AFL side is beginning to arise in circles of influence.

The AFL have issued a short statement calling for expressions of interest from countries wishing to attend the 2011 Australian Football International Cup. WFN assumes the message was sent to all international affiliates and other AFL contacts. Any national leagues not receiving the information should be able to contact the AFL at international@afl.com.au. The AFL text follows and was accompanied by an April 9th return date.

EXPRESSION OF INTEREST

The AFL is pleased to extend an invitation to participate in the fourth Australian Football International Cup to be played in Australia in August 2011.

A formal entry form will be forwarded in due course however to gauge initial interest from the international network, we ask that countries interested in being involved register their interest below*.

Once a list of interested nations has been established, a working party will be established to determine the most appropriate timing and venues for the event.

* Not attached to this article.

Papua New Guinea's Stanis Susuve has been named on an extended bench for the Gold Coast's final pre-season game (before entering the VFL), which is against the Brisbane Lions Reserves this weekend. The match is a curtain raiser to the Round 1 AFL match between Brisbane and the West Coast Eagles.

With the Gold Coast likely to bring in 10 to 20 gun new players at the end of the season, all but their very best players will be under the pump to hold their spots. Susuve looks to have bulked up over the off-season and will be keen to establish himself as a regular in 2010. As an international football pioneer I'm sure all the international footy community wish him well in his quest.

In the continuing tradition of London clubs touring Europe for pre-season friendlies, AFL London powerhouse the West London Wildcats will take on the Paris Cockerels on April 10th at 2pm in the Bois de Vincennes.

Cyril Talon, president of both the Cockerels and the French National Footy Commission, says the game will be the third-ever 18-a-side full-field match held in France, after Tasmania Montivilliers versus Paris Cockerels in 2000 and Paris Cockerels versus North London Lions in 2009. The game against the Wildcats will also be a good warmup for the second Anzac Cup, to be held in Villers-Bretonneux the Saturday 24th April.

The Paris Cockerels have stamped their dominance on the emerging French footy scene in recent years, and are currently sitting undefeated at the top of the ladder in the French league, a game clear of the Bordeaux Bombers in second.

Further south in France's rugby belt, the Toulouse Crocodiles recently played a promotional game at the halftime break of a professional Rugby League match between Toulouse Olympique and English club Dewsbury, with a crowd of around 800 spectators. The Toulousains have this year already tasted glory, with a win at the inaugural Coupe de Grand Sud tournament, held in Perpignan in February, which saw the Crocodiles meet the other teams from southern France, along with those from Andorra and Catalonia.

This year's Coupe de France club tournament is scheduled for June 26th in Strasbourg, with hosts the Strasbourg Kangaroos hoping to build this year after remaining dormant through the 2009-10 season.

The 2010 Australian Football League season kicked off tonight with Carlton and Richmond doing battle at the MCG in front of a big crowd.

Both clubs have been strugglers for many years, but Carlton have slowly been rising up the ladder, and as expected were too strong for the Tigers, whose team included four first-gamers. Carlton were without suspended captain Chris Judd.

One of the common media questions leading into this season has been who will replace Brendan Fevola (traded to Brisbane after one controversial incident too many) as Carlton's major goal-scorer. Against Richmond the Blues appeared to share the focus between small forward Eddie Betts (3 goals) and tall targets Jarrad Waite (2) and Irishman Setanta O'hAilpin (3), while Chris Yarran also picked up 3 goals.

Collingwood's American recruit, Shae McNamara, has played his first two games of Australian football (outside of internal trials for Collingwood). The tall international rookie lined up for Collingwood's VFL side in both their trials over the last two weekends.

worldfootynews.com's sister site, usfootynews.com, has been keeping a close eye on McNamara's progress and recently reported on both matches. Apparently the recruit with a basketball and soccer background has already made huge improvement, making the best players in only his second trial game. Below is a snapshot of the US Footy News reports.

The AFLNZ Under 20 Championships were held for the second time on the weekend of March 13th and 14th in Wellington at Hutt Park, with the Under 20 teams from Auckland, Canterbury and Wellington, as well as the New Zealand Hawks Under 16 team taking part.

The final saw the Canterbury Cobras triumphant, running out 20-point victors over Auckland.

The new facilities at Hutt Park provided the teams with a fantastic surface and amenities, care of Hutt City Council and Stop Out Football Club, and the Wellington AFL will look to discuss further the opportunity to utilize the facility as their new home ground for the upcoming 2010 season commencing in September.

Once again, Hawthorn Football Club provided a presence with both Chris Pelchen, General Manager of Player Personnel and Strategy and Graham Wright, East Coast Recruiting Manager in attendance for the weekend.

Lebanon have emerged victorious from the 2010 Harmony Cup, defeating Albania by 49 points in the final at the Whitten Oval last Sunday. The tournament is a celebration of Australian football amongst Victoria's multi-cultural community.

The Lebanese were impressive all day, with a number of star players from high-level Melbourne suburban footy. Their first match saw them hold India scoreless, followed by solid wins over Greece and Israel, before their final match blitz.

The Albanians also made a big impact in their cup debut, easily accounting for Italy, Indonesia and Team Harmony in the pool rounds, cheered on by a large contingent of supporters who had made the trek out to Footscray.

Highlights for the crowd included a number of former AFL stars back on the playing field, Indonesia's impressive win as underdogs over Team Harmony in the first match of the day, India's Shri Purushtothaman playing out the tournament despite a broken jaw and football legend and long-time international footy supporter Ron Barassi being on hand to congratulate the winners.

The Dubai Heat have again been crowned AFL Middle East Premiers, cementing their position as the most successful Australian Football club in the region. Whilst their competitor in the Grand Final, the Abu Dhabi Falcons, were missing a few star players due to injury and other commitments, ultimately it was a solid effort from the Heat that won them the match.

In the AFL Middle East season proper, each team plays each other once and the Falcons-Heat contest was scheduled for the final round. This match had gone down to the wire; the Heat edging out the Falcons by a slender two points. Whilst the victor remained the same in the Grand Final, the score line didn’t - Dubai this time registering a 54 point victory.

The emerging PNG Mosquitoes, playing for the second weekend in a row during the Cairns pre-season tournament, certainly proved that their 10 day camp was of immense benefit. The Young Mosquitoes won three from four, with a crushing win over South Cairns in their final hit out.

With a strong core of senior and junior players already under scholarship at South Queensland clubs, a new and younger Mosquito outfit will be seen in their fourth tilt at the International Cup as they endeavour to go back-to-back in the IC11.

The PNG outfit, made up of 6 senior Mosquito members and a group of talented but raw youngsters all in their teens, improved rapidly over 10 days.

AFL Asia Pacific manager Andrew Cadzow said it was a learning experience for many of the players. "For most of them, even having green grass and a good set-up at Cazalys, they are used to playing on dirt pitches and cricket pitches so it was culturally very different for those younger boys,’’ he said.

"It’s a pretty young side, our best 20 players are still in Brisbane playing, so it was really good for the young boys to see how well they went.’’