World Footy News

The Wellington Australian Football League Grand Final has been played and won by the all conquering Eastern Suburbs Bulldogs on what was a shocking day for football in Wellington. As the well known local song goes “You can’t beat Wellington on a Good Day” but I would beggar to argue that it is a shocking place to play footy on a suburban ground when the weather isn’t kind!

New Zealand’s third place finish at the inaugural Oceania Cup may have made some believe that they had underachieved but AFLNZ CEO, Rob Vanstam, had clearly stated beforehand that the team the NZ Hawks would be represented by would be exceptionally young with many able to return for next years’ tournament. As such there are many positives to spring from their involvement in the tournament.

One of these is that New Zealand have announced, while at the Oceania Cup, the opening of an AFL New Zealand Academy in March 2010. Newly appointed chief of AFL's High Performance, Jason McCartney, was supportive of the initiative. AFL New Zealand has targeted 100 first choice athletes to become part of the academy by the end of 2012 with the hope of preparing suitable candidates for AFL International Scholarships. The new academy will assist AFL clubs with easy access to both monitor development and provide input towards potential stars at a minimum outlay.

Last week's rookie draft featured several selections with international ties, one of whom was Sean Yoshiura. Yoshiura was born in Japan, where he spent the first seven years of his life; ethnically he is half-Japanese and half-Australian. On top of being a footballer, Yoshiura is a talented Cross Country runner who last year partook in the World Schoolboy Cross Country Championships.

His story can be read in articles in the Herald Sun and Courier Mail from before his signing and again in the Courier Mail following the draft.

The Japan AFL are aware of Yoshiura and perhaps as his career develops he will become a figurehead for the game in Japan, much like Aaron Edwards and David Rodan are for Samoa and Fiji respectively.

Aussie Rules players the world over have a reputation for being a rugged breed, taking no prisoners on the pitch and accepting the hits that life and the opposition dish out. So early in December, a group of players from across England decided to test themselves against the elements in the final date of the 2009 GRIM calender - the original GRIM Challenge - combining off-season training with charity and squad fundraising.

An 8-mile cross country on Ministry of Defence tank and vehicle test land in Aldershot, the course features gravel tracks, mud slopes, thigh-deep puddles, shin deep mud and several thousand enthusiastic competitors. With torrential rain the night before, the course was even more daunting and 'running' largely turned into 'wading' for significant stretches, sapping the muscles and weighing down the feet right from the start.

Five Irishmen have been picked up by AFL clubs in the pre-season rookie draft but Brian Moran was left disappointed after St Kilda decided against offering him a deal after a three week trial. All the signings were expected and have previously been reported by worldfootynews.com with Tommy Walsh joining the Saints, Chris McKaigue singing with the Sydney Swans, Carlton and the Brisbane Lions supplementing their Irish talent by signing Zac Tuohy and Niall McKeever respectively; and James O’Reilly becoming the first Irish recruit to join Richmond.

In another amazingly positive and unexpected move the Australian Football League has decided to field two international sides in the NAB AFL Under 16 championships in 2010, to be staged in western Sydney.

Originally a World side was to be selected to compete in Division Two of the tournament against Australian states and territories Queensland, NSW/ACT, Tasmania and Northern Territory, giving international youth an unprecedented chance to be exposed to AFL scouts and to compete at a higher level. The recently selected Oceania Training Squad was likely to fill most of the World spots, but the AFL has now decided to field both World and Pacific Islands teams.

The addition of the Pacific Islands team opens the door for many more juniors from around the world, with South Africa likely to dominate the World XVIII but presumably a number of spots up for grabs for players from other countries. The only downside is that the strength of the international teams will be less than a single side, making it that much more difficult to be competitive with the Aussie opposition.

Footage has been posted on Youtube of Carlton's international scholarship player Peter Labi. After earlier moving to Queensland to develop his game with Nambour, in 2009 the 17 year old Papuan went on to have a great season for Mt Gravatt in the main AFL Queensland league, and also played five games as a "top up" player for the Brisbane Lions reserves. Indigenous player, Mt Gravatt star and former Brisbane Lions premiership player Darryl White took Peter under his wing, as did the club's coach David Lake, no doubt fast tracking his rise to prominence. Labi moved down to Melbourne in the last few weeks to commence his first AFL pre-season.

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Plenty of goals from the young speedster, and a nice handball at 4:08.

In good news for the future encouragement of African immigrants to take up Aussie Rules, Sudanese born Majak Daw has been rookie listed by North Melbourne. After much hype during the year it looked like Daw was a good chance to be drafted in the full AFL Draft (see Majak day for Africa gets closer) however come the end of the day his name had not been read out.

Offering renewed encouragement was that both the Kangaroos and the Western Bulldogs invited him to train with their clubs leading up to the rookie draft, and North Melbourne duly selected him with their first selection (pick 9 overall). He fits in with North's recent efforts to integrate better with migrant communities, and they made it clear he was a project player.

Speaking of his local community, Daw said "They're very proud of me to be the first Sudanese," and "A lot of them are migrants, refugees, come from a war-torn country and don't expect this to happen. When something like this happens it really means a lot to them. It gives them a lot more confidence to sort of go out and be more involved in the community."

You can read more about Daw in North punts on touch of Majak. May he provide us all with corny headlines for many years to come.

Perennial champions, the University Blues, faced off against the ever improving Waitakere Magpies who are yet to achieve a flag since their formation in 1990.

The Blues, Premiers in the past decade 7 times (1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2006, 2007) had steam-rolled their way into the finals with a crashing win by 112 points over bottom of the table Takapuna Eagles in Round 10 before smashing usually tough competitors, the Mt Roskill Saints, by 181 points in the Second Semi Final to go straight through to the big one.

Women's Australian football is on the rise in Canada. It started as a co-ed programme in 2003, and then a school girls clinic in 2004 culminating in the first ever all-female footy match played in Canada. Now momentum is building for an epic rematch against the USA Freedom team.

After the first ever youth Oceania Cup Jason McCartney and scouts from four AFL clubs assisted to select an initial Oceania training squad.

"The standard, ability and attitude of the players was a highlight. No doubt they have great athletic capabilities and a real appetite and appreciation, even respect for this new game of AFL. They will be part of a very competitive World squad for 2010." McCartney said.

The Oceania Training Squad will no doubt contribute heavily to the World team that will compete in the NAB AFL Under 16 championships in Australia next year, something WFN will be hoping to follow up with the AFL in the coming weeks - we expect to see PNG players added, but will other nations feature besides obviously South Africa's young talent? The squad is:

Tonga is the shock winner of the inaugural AFL Oceania Cup for Under 16s. Going into the tournament PNG was favoured but pulled out with visa and flight issues, leaving New Zealand to carry favouritism.

After both Tonga and NZ went through Day One undefeated it looked like their first up clash on the Sunday morning would decide the winner, and it did, but not before more thrills.

In a gripping contest the Tongans defeated the Kiwis by just 6 points, only to be rolled by arch rivals Samoa later in the day. That left the door wide open for New Zealand to march through and claim the 2009 title. But a small matter of Nauru stood in their way, having also worked their way into a chance to snatch top spot on percentage. Bad kicking for goal and a gutsy contest from the smallest nation in the tournament saw the New Zealanders suffer a one point defeat, leaving Tonga top and the youth champions of Oceania (excluding Australia and to be fair, PNG) for 2009. Tonga's exciting victory was capped with an unexpected visit by their Prime Minister. Nauru's win slipped them into second and the Kiwis fell to third.