World Footy News

In the second part of an article about the recently completed AFL New Zealand National Provincial Championships, WFN presents the story as told by Wellington's Assistant Coach Mark 'Langers" Langdon, with just a short footnote from a very proud former long-time Wellington Coach!

The following is a press release from the AFL regarding the entry of a World 18 side in the annual NAB AFL Under 16 Championships. We have referenced other media reports on this in a recent story; apologies for not getting the full release to our readers immediately, due to staff absence.

Press Release from Denver Bulldogs.

Mason, Ohio – October 11th, 2009. The Denver Bulldogs are once again the Australian Football National Champions. The US Footy League National Championship tournament was held over the October 11th weekend in Mason, Ohio. Thirty two men’s and eight women’s teams from across the US and Canada competed for the title.

Reports have emerged that the AFL intends that next year's national Under 16s championships will for the first time feature a "World 18", with a squad of 25 players from outside Australia. The squad will compete in Division 2, with Queensland, Tasmania, the Northern Territory, and NSW/ACT.

It was reported that 15 squad members will be recruited from Papua New Guinea, New Zealand and South Africa, with the remaining ten to be picked from Europe, the US, Canada, Japan and the remainder of the Pacific.

The World 18 will be allowed to include overage players in the side, meaning the playing group will be in the age range 15-18 years. Only players having spent at least the last three years overseas will be eligible for selection.

An official announcement is expected today. For more, see the article AFL to add "World XVIII" to national under-16 championships from Melbourne's Herald Sun newspaper.

Hawthorn FC's New Zealand venture scored the back page of Melbourne's Herald Sun newspaper this morning, with a lengthy article detailing the Hawks Cup and the related "HanzUp!" schools program.

As World Footy News reported earlier, the Hawks in conjunction with the NZAFL are founding a national schools tournament, with the Hawks investing in excess of A$50,000.

The full article is available at Hawks cast recruiting net across Tasman.

While Melbourne footy fans can be notoriously hard to convince that footy's international potential is worth exploring, the comments on the story make for interesting reading. Maybe an AFL side in NZ isn't too far off - or at least a few Hawks games not just in Tasmania, but across the Tasman Sea.

Ever wondered how hard it could be to get a representative team to the National Champs?

Here is a brief rundown of the Wellington Tigers journey to the AFL New Zealand National Champs held in Auckland on the 24/25 October, as provided to WFN by Wellington Assistant Coach Mark Langdon.

Over the last weekend of October, the Victorian Amateurs Under 18 Representative side went on the footy trip of their lifetime - off to Auckland to play the New Zealand Falcon under 20s. Though there would be a significant age disparity in the Falcons' favour, the Victorians were tipped to have the edge in skill level.

Despite a concerted effort from the New Zealand AFL, Aussie Rules remains far from a mainstream sport and many of the Junior Falcons would lack real understanding of the game, though it is likely they would have a high level of natural ball skills.

The young Ammos went on to win the series 2-zip, though it would be very fair to say the New Zealanders would be pleased with their efforts.

Game 1

VAFA Under 18s	8.11 (59)
NZ Falcons Under 20s	5.6 (36)

Game 2

VAFA Under 18s	16.11 (107)
NZ Falcons Under 20s	12.12 (84)

For a related story profiling some of the young Victorians ready to embark on their trip, read Snowdog's Pups to take on New Zealand.

The post AFL-season trade period has seen plenty of footballers change clubs this year, with international footy followers noticing a few ups and downs in the fortunes of Irish imports.

Irishman Colm Begley has elected to return to the Emerald Isle, after breaking into St Kilda's senior team only once this season. Begley moved to the Saints at the end of 2008, after playing 29 games with the Brisbane Lions over three years, starting in 2006.

Also delisted by St Kilda was Khan Haretuku, a Sydneysider drafted as a NSW rookie by the Saints last year, of Pacific Islander descent via New Zealand.

Fellow New Zealander Adam Campbell was delisted by the Fremantle Dockers, after managing just 13 senior games over the past four seasons. Campbell was born in Christchurch, moving to Australia at age 16 and making very quick progress after taking up the Australian game.

Meanwhile, back in Sydney, Swans coach Paul Roos has told the media he is not putting any pressure on Tadhg Kennelly to return to the club, after recent speculation the Irish superstar was considering a return to the AFL. Kennelly has told Irish media his brain was "fried" over the decision of which football code to play in 2010.

Melbourne's The Age newspaper today ran a substantial article on European footy, including interviews with Australian Football League Germany president Malte Schudlich, and fellow German Jörg Pareigis, president of the AFL Sweden.

Topics covered include the relationship between European clubs and the AFL, the International Cup, and moves in Germany for the AFLG to join the German American Football community as an umbrella organisation (a move that would give the AFLG greater government recognition, without actually switching to gridiron).

The full article can be read at Against the odds, oval ball bounces into Europe.

The Montpellier Fire Sharks recently achieved the first appearance of a French Australian rules football club on national television, with a report on the club appearing on l'Equipe TV on October 23rd.

The Fire Sharks also got some media coverage with their visit to the Seaquarium Grau de Roi for the launch of European Shark Week, an initiative starting this year hoping to save shark populations in Europe's seas.

As a further tie-in to the Shark Week charity, the Montpellerains are looking at hosting a future Sharks tournament, where the club would play other 'Sharks' sides from around the world - such as Glasgow or Birmingham Uni from the UK, or even any of the many Australian clubs with that name who want to make the trip.

Despite mixed results lately AFL sides are continuing the Irish experiment by signing up and trialling several new youngsters in advance of the November deadline for finalising lists. Recent headlines have been dominated by the news of Irish players turning their backs on the Australian game to return home but clubs are continuing to take a punt on the chance of finding a new Kennelly or Stynes.

Melbourne newspaper the Herald Sun this morning reported that AFL chief Andrew Demetriou has raised the prospect of the next stage of expansion to include clubs in Tasmania and either North Queensland or a third Western Australian AFL club.

Speaking at a Latrobe University alumni function last night, Demetriou said "if we were to have another team down the track you would have to say that Tasmania is the logical place for that team to be - and we have expressed that view to the Tasmanian Government."

"Beyond that, if we were to go to 20 teams and who knows, that may or may not happen, you'd have to think it wouldn't be a team in Melbourne because we've got 10."

"But a place like Western Australia, which is a booming state, or even northern Queensland, are the two places that have some attraction."

While the prospect of an AFL club in Tasmania, a state with a relatively small but traditionally footy-mad population, is sure to please many football fans, a move to 20 clubs anytime in the future has raised discussion of how far the talent pool can be stretched.

For international footy followers, more clubs could potentially open the way for more recruitment of non-Australian based talent. A North Queensland club, based in Townsville or Cairns, could be ideally located for tapping into the growing footy community in PNG and the Pacific Islands, with Cairns having already played host to a match between a young Oceania side and a Queensland representative team earlier this year.

For more, visit the original article Tassie gets a guernsey in Demetriou's vision for the future.