World Footy News

2007 Brownlow medalist Jimmy Bartel and Bulldog Tim Callan will tomorrow return from India, where they have spent time assisting charity Red Dust. Red Dust is a, "non-profit health promotion charity that seeks to improve the health and well-being of disadvantaged youths in remote communities." They are based in Australia but are, "globally focused".

Bartel and Callan worked for five days at a slum in Bapatla, a remote town in Southeastern India (in the same state as Hyderabad), conducting sports clinics, "as a means of developing rapport with the children, before encouraging them to attend afternoon classes focusing on hygiene and other life skills."

An article about their journey, which was completely independent of AFL India, appeared in the Geelong Advertiser, prior to their departure.

The minor rounds of the 2009 JAFL season have finished in exhilarating fashion with the makeup of the Top Four not settled until the final seconds of the final match.

Heading into the final round, the top two teams, the Eastern Hawks and the Tokyo Goannas, would play off to decide the minor premiers. The Tokyo Goannas earned that honour by running out 14.9 (93) to 7.13 (55) victors.

WFN is pleased to announce that our snapshots for South American countries involved in Aussie Rules are now complete.

They can be accessed through the pull down menus at the top of the page, under Countries.

More regions will follow later in the year.

Sudanese immigrant Majak Daw continues to create interest as the AFL Draft approaches (November 26). Big in athleticism but raw in football skills with only 4 years in the game, there appears to be growing discussion in media and AFL club circles suggesting that rather than be a rough chance to be rookie listed, he may in fact be picked up in the main draft, possibly even quite early.

AFL clubs are increasingly confident that with full time coaches and full time players, inexperienced athletes can be fast tracked into good players. Although he wasn't invited to the main draft camp, Majak Daw attended the Victorian state screening and posted impressive statistics; a 70-centimetre standing vertical jump would have put him third at the main camp in Canberra, a beep test of 13.6 (compared with the best tall forward at 13.3) and 3.03 seconds for 20 metres (quicker than the tall forward mean).

On top of that is the prospect of what is being billed as the first African to play in the AFL and the associated attention that may bring. Technically, there have been others listed by AFL clubs who have had African heritage, such as Caucasian South African-Australian Luke van Rheenen and (more successfully) Essendon's Damian Cupido. But in the popular imagination, a tall and very dark skinned African-born player has not been seen before at the game's top level.

Daw is very much aware of the growing hype and the potential to inspire other African immigrants to play Australia's indigenous game. But meanwhile he continues with his studies and plays the waiting game. "I reckon I've got a bit of a chance, but I'll wait and see. If it happens, I'm happy to be the first Sudanese to play AFL".

An in-depth discussion in The Age is Majak Daw: one giant leap.

See also our previous articles Multicultural camp trials, Sudanese immigrant a chance for rookie listing and Majak receives scholarship.

A team from the English city of Sheffield took the field for the first time in 2008 - with the student-based Sheffield Thunder completing a handful of games in the ARUK Central Division, before pulling out of the league due to the pressure on the squad of combining running the footy club with university commitments.

Aussie Garth Nevin, previously of the New York Magpies, recently took over the reins at the Thunder and is planning to get the club onto the pitch full time in 2010.

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.