World Footy News

 

Marc McGowan reports on the www.afl.com.au website that the next wave of Irish talent is on it’s way ready for potential drafting/rookie listing later this year.

The newest batch of potential Irish AFL recruits will land in Melbourne in April, while another will privately audition for Sydney.

Ronan Devereux, Ross McQuillan, Peadar Mogan and Luke Towey are the chosen ones out of the 20 Irishmen who tested in front of recruiters at the AFL Europe Combine in Dublin in December.

They will complete more testing during their fortnight in Australia, with the hope of being signed or drafted to an AFL club for the 2020 season.

 

The Swans' list and recruiting boss, Kinnear Beatson, made the trip to Dublin for that Combine and has invited 193cm, 92kg Irishman Barry O'Connor to the Harbour City.

In yet another amazing example of Asian expansion, the Mongolian Wolves Australian Football League is under way. Whilst only in their early stages of development, the league already has kicked goals – men’s footy and also kids – and has grander plans.

According to the league’s Facebook page, the league was given the green light when the league announced, “[we are] excited to announce that the Mongolian Australian Football League has been accepted as an official foundation member league with AFL Asia. This affiliation provides us with a range of great resources, support and events and we look forward to working with the AFL Asia team to grow the sport and provide opportunities for participation in Mongolia.”

Since then, the MAFL has already instigated junior development. “We are excited to announce that the AUSKICK junior football program will be conducted at the International School of Mongolia starting week one of the next school term (after the summer break) as part of the schools CCA programs.”

After a highly successful inaugural season, the Colombia AFL 2019 season is about to commence. Following on from an initial season where two smaller tournaments saw the DC Aguilas and Bogota Bullants claim premierships, the league has revamped into one big season, starting this weekend.

Also new for 2019 are international matches, with clashes against both the Austin Crows from Texas and the Denver Bulldogs from Colorado which will add enormously to the game. Combined with the annual Andes Cup against the Santiago Saints from Chile, Bogota is fast becoming an Australian Rules football link between North and South America.

According to Colombia AFL, “we’ve got a season of round robins until September, then finals. The teams are now anchored in Colombian members - so our Colombians were all drafted to a team and the foreigners get allocated as top ups on the day to keep it even.”

Belfast Redbacks last weekend hosted the Leprechaun Cup for men and women. The tournament is the big season catalyst needed for clubs ahead of the start of the AFL Ireland season which isn’t far away. The following report from the Belfast Redbacks details the day with all scores, with the host team, the Redbacks, taking the men’s title and the University Shamrocks the women’s.

Saturday 23rd of March saw the annual Leprechaun Cup being held at Boucher Road playing fields with 5 men's teams and 4 women's taking to the field of play.

The London Swans and South East London Giants made the trip over from across the water and fielded teams in both the men's and women's competitions. The Galway Magpies, the South Dublin Swans and the Belfast Redbacks brought the number of men's team to five.

The girls from the newly formed West Lothian Eagles made the trip to Belfast for the first time and the last team in the ladies competition was the Irish University Shamrocks team.

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The Adelaide Crows thumped Geelong by 66 points at the Adelaide Oval on a mild day in Adelaide.

It was a superior effort from the Crows, as they made light work of the Cats all day with their tough and relentless pressure.

With the 11 goals kicked by the Crows, 7 of them were kicked by individual goal scorers. 

The Cats struggled to get any flow and momentum to impact the game.

It was a great performance down back for Cats defender Meg McDonald who kept the dangerous Stevie-Lee Thompson quiet all day.

The Crows will host Carlton at the Adelaide Oval in the AFLW Grand Final next week. 

Image Source: AFL Photos

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It is slow and gradual, but it is relentless. More and more Hollywood and entertainment heavyweights are taking our great game to a world stage, perhaps nowhere more so that the United States.

In the past twelve months, a slew of Hollywood (or entertainment general) figures have visited Australia and ensured they spent time learning more about our game.

Last night, as part of the first AFL premiership match at the newly renamed Marvel Stadium, Chris Hemsworth (Thor) and Matt Damon (remember his small role as Loki in Thor: Ragnorak) cheered on the Thor-themed Western Bulldogs.

Carlton pulled off a solid upset win by 36 points over a Fremantle Dockers outfit that were outclassed all game long at the Ikon Park on a hot day in Melbourne.

From the wooden spooners last year to making the AFLW Grand Final for the first time.

The Dockers had an exceptional season, but the Blues played their best game of the season so far and the Dockers could not get any flow into their usual reliable formidable game plan. 

It was the first ever AFLW preliminary final at Ikon Park.

The Blues did not disappoint their home crowd with their stifling  pressure and cleaness with their ball skills around the entire ground.

It was the walking wounded for the Dockers during the match.

Image Source: Mike Owen

The Osaka Dingoes are hosting the Aussie Night for the season launch and to recruit more players.

Aussie beers and food will be served at reasonable prices and the live AFL coverage of North Melbourne versus Adelaide Crows will be on.

Please share this article on your social media platform to spread the information so that we will attract more people to come in. Everyone is welcomed, and we hope patrons will enjoy the event and them getting involved in Osaka’s own AFL club.


Date: Saturday 13 April 2019

It took longer than they had hoped, and arguably longer than they deserved, but after four consecutive grand final losses the Multiplex Bulls have won their maiden AFL Middle East premiership. In the process they brought to an end a Dubai Dragons reign of four consecutive flags.

Since joining the league for the 2014/15 season, the Bulls have not missed playing in a grand final, including reaching the big dance in their first season.. However, until today their only silverware was multiple pre-season cup trophies.

But after an excellent season which saw just one defeat – by three points – the Bulls knew this was their best chance, and they took it.

Irishwoman Ailish Considine will play in her first AFLW final for the Adelaide Crows this Sunday afternoon at the Adelaide Oval.

Considine says that her preparation leading up to preliminary final has been pretty much the same.

“It’s been pretty good this week so far, we had our first training session last night (Tuesday) and we will have our second one tomorrow (Thursday),” Considine said.

“It’s been pretty much the same as every other week we have prepared, same training days and the same way we do every week, because at the end of the day that’s what it is another game and we have to do our best to hopefully win and get the result.”

Image Source: AFL Women's 

It cannot be understated how important tomorrow’s AFL Middle East grand final is. On the one hand you have an incredible club chasing what would be a seventh flag in eight seasons and a fifth in a row. On the other hand, a club that has performed so well since they first came into the league, but four premiership defeats later are waiting to break a drought.

Sceptics might take the view that another Dragons flag would be fine for them but have a downside to the competition as a whole as other clubs might question their ability to rise and ever challenge them.

But the Multiplex Bulls hold the antidote to a sceptical viewpoint. A Bulls victory will send a clear message to all present and future clubs that things change the Dragons are nothing more or less than a raised bar to be jumped over. The Dragons will not lay down, but the Bulls are ready to bring them down - rise to the challenge.