World Footy News

Next up in our series on teams competing at the 2009 Under-16s Oceania Cup, we spoke to the team representing the Kingdom of Tonga.

The Tongan team will be managed by AFL Tonga Development Officer Tim Grose, whose younger brother Gavin played AFL football with Port Adelaide in 2007 and 2008.

Tim Grose holds a position as an Australian Youth Ambassador for Development (AYAD) through AusAid, with the AFL Oceania being partner organisation to the program. Grose hails from Brisbane, having played for Queensland State League club Mt Gravatt, and having also held a junior development officer position at the club during 2003. Further north, he also played senior football and coached juniors in the city of Rockhampton, on the Central Queensland coast.

The first round of the 2009-10 French League took place on the 14th of November, with Paris, Montpellier and Andorra travelling to Perpignan for the first round, While Bordeaux challenged Toulouse on their own ground.

The Montpellier Firesharks took on last year French Cup finalists, the Perpignan Tigers. Both team were mainly formed of new players. The more experienced Firesharks showed their superiority in the first two quarters, quickly taking the lead. The Tigers made a lot of beginner mistakes, letting the Firesharks taking control of the game. Perpignan were never able to get back in the game. Final Score: Perpignan Tigers 42 - 168 Montpellier Fire Sharks

The second game of the day saw the newly formed Andorra Crows take on French powerhouse, the Paris Cockerels. Despite a promising result in the EU Cup the Crows were never able to match the technical skills of the Parisians. The Cockerels got their first win in this year season with a stunning 263 points margin, Andorra Crows 23 - 286 Paris Cockerels, and remaining undefeated since 2008.

The third game of the round was organised in Toulouse between the Bordeaux Bombers and the Toulouse Crocodiles. After a summer of intensive training the Bombers were eager to prove that they will not get the wooden spoon two years in a row. After a close first quarter, the Crocodiles only leading by a few points, the Bombers were off to a massive second quarter to claim back the lead at half time. The Toulouse players did not give up and came back in the third quarter, but the cool-headed Bombers were too good for the Crocs and eventually won the game 155 to 93.

The Calgary Kookaburras are one of the more progressive clubs abroad, especially for women playing the game. The club under the guidance of ex-Aussie Jake Anson have set a high bar when it comes to development and player participation.

Taking two teams to the US nationals gives more girls exposure to the game at a higher level, Jake also has plans to take on board a development coach from Australia in 2010 to help raise the skill level in this Canadian club even more.

The Collingwood Football Club is set to embark on another high altitude training camp in Arizona, USA. The majority of the playing group and coaching staff will fly out from Melbourne on Monday 23 November, and will utilise the world-class training facilities at Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff for two weeks.

The group will depart Melbourne airport at Tullamarine on midday flight, and will return to Melbourne on Wednesday 9 December. http://Collingwoodfc.com.au will provide daily video updates from Flagstaff.

The club has previously held training camps in Flagstaff, Arizona in 2005, 2006 and 2008. New American recruit Seamus McNamara will not make the trip, remaining in training in Australia.

As suggested in recent articles, the AFL has now confirmed that the Brisbane Lions will take on the Melbourne Demons in Shanghai's World Expo on October 17 next year. The match will be staged at the Jiangwan Sports Centre, which has a capacity of up to 30,000.

Dual announcements were made, with Victoria's premier John Brumby and Kevin Sheedy at a press conference in Melbourne's Chinatown and the AFL's David Matthews and Western Bulldogs showman Jason Akermanis attending a signing ceremony in Shanghai.

Brumby has predicted that "This will be a great way to promote our game, it will be a great way to promote AFL and it will be a great way to build a stronger relationship between China and Victoria". His state will be spending AUD $6 million promoting themselves at the six month World Expo.

Matthews signed the stadium agreement with representatives from the Yangpu Government at the KIC Resource Center. Melbourne and the Brisbane Lions will play for the Kaspersky AFL Cup, named after software protection company Kaspersky, one of Melbourne's major sponsors. Matthews said "We are extremely excited to be able to bring Australia's indigenous game and all its unique skills to Shanghai as we continue to develop the code internationally. This is a great way to position ourselves as we keep ramping up our international strategy. We will see what the opportunities are across the world".

"Jason Akermanis put on a kicking display to the schoolkids at the signing ceremony here in Shanghai and he was amazing. He just has universal appeal."

The announcements attracted plenty of press in Australia, for example see Brumby predicts China game will ignite Asian passion and AFL announces plans to stage first match in China. It will be interesting to see if the release registers in Chinese media.

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.