World Footy News

HANZ UP video of Hawthorn's New Zealand launch can be viewed on the AFL website (unfortunately we believe this will be unavailable to viewers outside of Australia, a glaring issue that needs to be rectified by the AFL)

With the first-ever Oceania Cup fast approaching, WFN has been talking with the six nations sending their best young talent to Fiji come the second weekend of December.

The tournament will see Papua New Guinea, New Zealand, Samoa, Tonga, Nauru and hosts Fiji fielding under 16s teams, with matches played over the three days from Friday 11th of December until the following Sunday at Cathedral College in the Fijian capital Suva.

The Oceania Cup is also expected to produce the core group of the World 18 for next year's Australian junior state championships, opening the door for Pacific talent to be on AFL club lists within a matter of years, as well as a catalyst for a senior Oceania Cup next year.

In our first team preview, we spoke with the Hon. Mathew Batsiua M.P., president of the recently reformed AFL Nauru, about the junior squad (pictured at left) ready to represent the tiny, but footy-mad Pacific nation.

Although there is clearly a battle between the football codes in Australia for the hearts and minds of fans, we don't encourage readers to be too critical of any sport, as they all have their upside and many supporters and players enjoy multiple codes.

But it was galling to see soccer club Gold Coast United's billionaire owner, Clive Palmer, bagging the new AFL club, suggesting the Gold Coast would fold within three years (reported back in May, see Football codes continue to position themselves). The gloating was short-lived.

2009 has been a stellar year for international footy with many major new announcements that should see junior talent fast tracked to give them AFL opportunities. During this time the rough gem that is South African football, that had begun to shine in 2008, has not been hitting the headlines to the degree it has in recent years. However, Africa's great Australian football hope has continued to consolidate in some areas and develop new projects in others, which we hope to bring more news on later, but it can be difficult for all involved to collate the facts and figures from the grassroots across one of Aussie Rules' most ambitious programs. Firstly we track back to September of this year.

A series of Provincial Championships were held across South Africa's four Aussie Rules provinces. The matches helped each region in selecting their sides for the National Championships, staged at Mohadin Cricket Ground, Potchefstroom, where there was a youth focus. Speaking before the Nationals, Provincial Development Manager for KZN Bubele Ngangalaza explained that unlike last year when there were senior and youth divisions, in 2009 the provinces instead were combining the squads. “We expect this year’s Nationals to be even more competitive than 2008, as each Province has been asked to bring its best 24 players in one team, rather two sides spread over Extreme and High levels”. It was expected that at least eight 15 - 19 year olds would feature in each side.

The stunning array of good news stories for international footy continue, with a report from Fiji confirming that a squad of 36 players are in training for the Oceania Cup to be hosted there in December. It's a major step for the country as until just months ago there was no active program other than the Western Bulldogs' scouting mission.

Local Dylan Wolfgramm is a player and development officer, and helping with the team is Inoke Ratu, one of the Bulldogs' international rookie listed Fijians.

The squad is getting plenty of local press and the report in the Fiji Post, by Dale Carruthers, suggests the Oceania Cup will feature teams from Papua New Guinea, Nauru, Samoa, Tonga, New Zealand, the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu, and will be held on December 12 and 13 in Fiji. We'll have a preview in the next few weeks.

The Australian media today reported that plans for an exhibition match between the AFL's Brisbane and Melbourne football clubs in the Chinese metropolis Shanghai are well underway.

The game is slated for next October, with an Asian club championship also linked into the plans for an Australian Rules Football World Expo.

Long-time international footy fan Kevin Sheedy told the ABC that they were close to signing a ground for the match, and that he saw huge potential across Asia for the game to expand beyond the current expat-majority scene.

For more, visit Australian football targets Shanghai on the ABC Radio National website. Listen here.

In case you missed it in our previous article, Hawthorn has announced it's first International Rookie. He is Kurt Heatherley who is a fourteen year old New Zealander with a basketball background.

The announcement today on the Hawthorn website goes on to say "Kurt Heatherley, from Tauranga - 220km SE of Auckland, will become the first of these young players to join the Hawks. A highly regarded young sportsman in New Zealand, Kurt will undertake specialist training and coaching with the Hawks - both in Australia and New Zealand - between 2010-2012.

Kurt will participate in various AFLNZ player programs at U/16 and U/18 levels in the Oceania Region ahead of being eligible to be listed as a player with Hawthorn in 2013..."

The full announcement is below.

The Sydney Swans confirm that overnight Tadhg Kennelly informed the Club of his decision to return to Australia and accept a two-year contract. Kennelly arrived at the Swans in 1999, made his debut in 2001, played in the 2005 premiership, earned Life Membership and played 158 games before returning to Ireland at the start of this season to fulfil a lifelong dream to win an All-Ireland premiership.

The All-Ireland premiership was achieved for Kennelly and his side Kerry in September and the 28 year-old was then left weighing up the possibility of resuming an AFL career. After spending a considerable time making that decision, Kennelly will return to Australia next week to officially launch his autobiography ‘Unfinished Business’ and at that time, commence training with the Swans.

An interesting development has happened recently which has bucked the recent trend of Irish players being signed up by AFL clubs. Four players have decided to turn their backs on lucrative contracts and return to Ireland to play for their GAA counties in the amateur game. In the past, if an Irish player left the Australian game this was mainly because their contracts were not renewed, but a player like Martin Clarke obviously still had a big future with the Pies and many were surprised that he chose to return to County Down.

It has only taken two matches for the new boys of AFL Middle East, the Bahrain Blues, to join the winners list. They defeated last year’s Grand Finalists, the Muscat Magpies 12.14 (86) to 11.9 (75) in front of a home crowd.

Although we've previewed some of this already, Wednesday 11th November will be remembered in AFL New Zealand circles as hugely momentous and not just for the commemoration of the end of the First World War.

AFL New Zealand and the Hawthorn Football Club officially launched the HANZ Up programme for player development within the country. ‘HANZ (an acronym of Hawthorn and New Zealand) Up’ is a programme instigated between the two bodies which is truly multi-faceted and simply one of the greatest events thus far in the promotion and development of football outside Australia.

Hawthorn President and former Victorian Premier Jeff Kennett will be hosting the evening alongside Geoff Dickson (Chairman AFLNZ) and Dean Warren (AFL Oceania GM). Three Hawks players in Trent Croad, Brent Renouf (Premiership players of 2008) and Shane Savage (all born and bred NZ) will attend. Renouf’s family is well known in Wellington with the foyer of the Town Hall, the Renouf Tennis Centre and Renouf Stadium linked to his father’s uncle, Sir Francis Renouf.

‘Hanz Up’ fits in beautifully with New Zealand’s Prime Minister John Key’s direction that he wants more Kiwis to be active and therefore is to be included among the sports promoted through KiwiSport.

The first ever ‘Bute International Test Series’ between Wales and Scotland has ended, with the Cyrmu Red Dragons (Wales) lifting the Crichton-Stuart Cup.

The Red Dragons and the Scottish Puffins played two matches, held in Glasgow and Cardiff, with the Welsh awarded the series on aggregate score after both sides claimed victory in their respective home matches.

Played 12-a-side, the first leg in Glasgow was the first ever international for the all-Welsh Red Dragons against a team other than England, whilst for the Scots, it was the first test match played by an all-Scottish national team.

Both camps have plans for domestic expansion in the 2010 season, as well as plans for more test matches against other European nations.

Thanks to the Welsh Australian Rules Football League's Ben Coak for this report and photos.