World Footy News

The Australian Rules Football League of Ireland is celebrating its 10th year of existence with new and increased plans for expansion while also continuing to focus on the Irish Warriors national team. The league's website at ARFLI.com has been completely re-launched, with several new sections that it is hoped will spread the word of the sport across Ireland and beyond.

With the inaugural European Championships being held in Sweden and Denmark this year and the International Cup again being held in Australia in 2011, the ARFLI is keen for Irish players living abroad to become involved with the National team.

The league is aware of dozens of Irishmen playing the game throughout the world and how this would obviously strengthen the Warriors side. Indeed when Ireland finished fourth at the 2008 International Cup, Australian-based Mick Finn was named player of the tournament. As a result there is now a player registration form on the new website where players interested in being considered for the national side can register.

In addition to this, the England-based Irish Exiles have formally affiliated with the ARFLI.

The University of Birmingham Sharks, one of Britain's newest Australian rules football clubs, last weekend hosted the WARFL Red Devils, the representative side featuring the best players in the Welsh Australian Rules Football Leagues across all nationalities.

In a surprise result, the Sharks' fitness was too much the more-experienced Devils, the home side running out to a comfortable 59-point win, Dan Di-Lieto kicking six goals for the winners.

The Sharks this weekend will host the Portsmouth Pirates, followed by planned matches over the coming weeks against Cambridge University, the Huddersfield Rams and fellow newly-founded collegiate clubs the Leeds Met Taipans and Chichester Uni Cougars.

Closer to home, Birmingham Uni will also take part in the three-team West Midlands Cup against Wolverhampton and the Birmingham Bears on March 13th.

This report courtesy of David Wheaton from the University of Birmingham.

The AFL Italia last weekend held their first-ever all-women's training session, with players taking the field in Milan in muddy conditions.

Women's footy has grown immensely in Australia over the past decade, and also has an established club scene in Canada and the United States. However, the Italians may be the first in Europe to found a full-scale women's club, as the following YouTube clip explains.

The new Gold Coast Football Club was the first AFL (or future AFL) club to play Papuan players at the club's highest level, giving Amua Pirika and Stanis Susuve (pictured) a run in 2009. With a huge influx of some of Australia's best young talent it was always going to be difficult for the two to stay on the club's list as it moves into the VFL (2010) and AFL (2011).

As it turns out, Pirika has moved on to play with Mt Gravatt in Queensland's top league, with the possibility of playing some games with the Brisbane Lions, and Susuve will stay with the Coasters to hopefully play some VFL matches. Gold Coast assistant coach Shaun Hart, himself a triple premiership player with the Brisbane Lions, talked to WFN about where the two players stand heading into 2010.

The SARFL in conjunction with the Glasgow Sharks have announced Scotland's Aussie Rules 9-a-side Club Tournament the "Haggis Cup" will be played in Glasgow on the 10th April 2010.

The Haggis Cup is now in its 7th year, having previously fielded teams from across England, Ireland, Wales, Belgium and France.

Organisers are hoping for at least 6 teams for the competition including Edinburgh and Glasgow to take on reigning Cup holders Aberdeen. The tournament will take place over one day and be played under current European 9-a-side rules in an express format with a post tournament function.

The Scottish Puffins will also soon be holding trials for the national team, which will be heading to Italy for a 4-team tournament on July 4th.

For further information about the Haggis Cup or to register interest in taking part, please contact SARFL President Dougie Hunter via the SARFL website.

After the formation of the European Australian Football Association this January, a major development in international footy, it is useful to look at the development of footy in different countries. In this article, we look at France.

The Flying Boomerangs, an Indigenous Australian team, have proven too strong for South Africa's Coastal squad, in the second and final game of their tour, in Cape Town. An even second half followed a dominant first, in which the large Nyanga township ground allowed the Australians to use their skills to damaging effect.

Amongst the best for the locals was Bayanda Sobetwa. It was following this game that Boomerangs coach Michael O’Loughlin and AFL Commissioner Justice Linda Dessau announced an AFL SportsReady traineeship for Sobetwa which will see him join Greater Western Sydney (GWS) this year in the TAC Cup under AFL legend Kevin Sheedy.

Team GWS this afternoon officially announced the signing of Bayanda Sobetwa (pictured) with the following release.

Team GWS has secured its first international player, with South African Bayanda Sobetwa today accepting a scholarship with the new AFL team for Greater Western Sydney. He will fly to Australia this month to begin training and will play with the Team GWS TAC Cup side for the 2010 season.

Sobetwa, a 19 year old from Khayelitsha Township - south east of Cape Town, was presented with his scholarship by Justice Linda Dessau and AFL Community Engagement & Talent Coordinator Michael O'Loughlin, during the Flying Boomerangs tour of South Africa.

At the end of the 2005 Multicultural Cup, it was Team Greece holding the cup, having defeated Turkey in the final. In the 2010 Harmony Cup, they're back to defend their title, featuring no less than 5 ex-AFL players in a squad who will certainly be going into the tournament red-hot favourites.

Angelo Lekkas, Ang Christou, Anthony Koutoufides and Peter Daicos - four members of the Greek AFL/VFL Team of the Century chosen in 2004 - are coming out of retirement for the Harmony Cup, as is former Fitzroy, Port Adelaide and Richmond player John Rombotis.

With the support of Melbourne's huge Greek community and the proud history of Greek involvement in Australian rules football dating back over 100 years, the team will be very tough to beat when they run onto the Whitten Oval on March 21st.

Team Manager Peter Kalla spoke to WFN about the team's preparations.

The AFL's Team Greater Western Sydney, set to enter the league in 2012, has made history by being the first AFL club to sign a player from the AFL South Africa.

19-year-old Bayanda Sobetwa has accepted a SportsReady traineeship, which will see him study and work in Sydney over the coming years, on top of his development as an elite footballer.

GWS coach Kevin Sheedy, a long-time supporter of the internationalisation of Australian rules football, has compared Sobetwa to a young Michael Long.

The following story appeared in today's edition of Sydney's Daily Telegraph newspaper.

After the successful Frankfurt conference which saw the formation of the European Australian Football Association, the Australian Rules Football League Ireland (ARFLI) ran an article discussing the body's establishment. It also mentioned that Ireland will send a team to the next 9-a-side EU Cup, to be held in October 2010.

Of particular interest is that the locations were named as likely to be either Milan (Italy) or La Manga (on Spain's Mediterranean coast).

In a good result for South African footy, the Inland Lions squad has pushed the youthful Australian Indigenous Boomerangs team all the way before narrowly losing their match by 10 points at Mohadin Cricket Ground, Potchefstroom, South Africa.

After several days of rain a wet ground awaited the players despite sunny conditions on the day. In a see-sawing affair the lead changed hands several times before the Boomerangs saw off the challenge from the Inland component of AFL South Africa's elite training program, which represents the best of the senior and youth talent in North West and Gauteng Provinces. The Flying Boomerangs are a selection of Indigenous Australian talent, this year lead by recently retired Sydney Swans star Michael O'Loughlin. It usually features youth from a range of backgrounds and footballing ability, including some potential future AFL stars.

Details and photos follow, and updated with comments from Micky O and Chris Johnson. Pictured at left is South African Mazizi Sifanelo as he evades a Boomerangs opponent in the wet.