World Footy News

The AFL Europe Champions League tournament was played this weekend in Amsterdam. The West Clare Waves from Ireland continued their dominance, winning back-to-back titles in the women’s draw.

In the men’s draw it was a changing of the guard as the West London Wildcats were usurped by the host nation’s Amsterdam Devils. The Wildcats have been the only previous winner of the men’s draw, winning all four previous events staged since 2015. Now the Amsterdam Devils are champions and the toast of the Netherlands Aussie Rules community.

The 2019 Champions League featured 23 teams (15 men’s and 8 women’s teams – an increase on the 2018 teams) and was played with seeded groupings.

In the men’s draw, the Amsterdam Devils downed the Belfast Redbacks whilst the West Clare Waves defeated the Wandsworth Demons.

Now that the pre-season action of the Rebel Shield, Leprechaun Cup and this weekend’s AFL Europe Champions League in Amsterdam are done, the eyes of Ireland will turn to the new AFL Ireland domestic seasons.

The draw for the 2019 men’s season was released this week. In a revamp of the competition, each round will return to two venues with two home teams, replacing the more recent format of small round robins hosted by clubs across Ireland.

The release of the women’s 2019 season draw will follow soon.

The new AFL Colombia season has begun and the flagless Bogotá Bombers got away to a perfect start, downing the Bogotá Bullants by 15 points to draw first blood for 2019. The following report comes from the Bogotá Bulldogs/AFL Colombia.

The 2019 CAFL season opened on Saturday with the Bogotá Bombers emerging 15-point victors from a tightly contested clash with reigning premiers, the Bogotá Bullants.

The contest began as a scrappy affair, neither side making the most of their chances, and a tug of war in midfield. CAFL debutante Angela Toro and Fernando León led the way for the Bombers, while last year’s league Best and Fairest winner (check this) Yesid Gonzalez and Dominic Fuentes matched them for touches. The Bombers struggled to a narrow seven-point lead at the first break, having kicked a wasteful 2.4 to 1.3, the Bullants’ lone goal coming from a lovely left-foot snap by Camilo Vinasco.

Round 3 of the 2019 AFL Season kicks off tonight (Melbourne time) at the Adelaide Oval with Adelaide hosting Geelong.  US viewers will be able to see Mason Cox, now able to play since his rough conduct charge was downgraded to a fine. His Magpies will play the West Coast Eaqles at the MCG at 04:00am Saturday morning EDT.

The full international broadcast schedule for the round can be seen below.

In addition to the TV networks you can also subscribe to the Watch AFL service that will give you live access to all the matches and more (outside Australia only).

 

 

 

 

The AFL Tribunal will sit tomorrow night, Tuesday April 2 5pm (Melbourne local time), to hear the charge laid against Collingwood’s Mason Cox.

Mason Cox, was charged with engaging in Rough Conduct against Dylan Grimes, Richmond during the fourth quarter of the Round Two match between Richmond and Collingwood, played at the MCG on Thursday night March 28, 2019.

The Adelaide Crows soared to a 45-point win over the Carlton Blues at the Adelaide Oval in the 2019 AFLW Grand Final.

Now, the Crows are the only team to win two AFLW premierships.

It was the Blues first AFLW grand final.

The Crows hosted the Blues at the Adelaide Oval in front of a record crowd of 53, 304.

Crows superstar Erin Phillips’ day came to a sad end late in the third term, as she injured her ACL and was stretchered off the ground.

Meanwhile, teammate Chloe Scheer tore her ACL in the match as well.

Blues star forward Tayla Harris also injured her knee after a knock to it. 

Image Source: Michael Wilson

The ALFA Lions have downed the Cergy-Pontoise Coyotes this weekend and in the process have all but secured another finals battle. Disappointed they missed the finals last season, the Lions had set their target to see finals this season. Now they have effectively done so and can prepare for the next phase of the season.

That phase will be a “top of the table” clash with the Paris Cockerels in the final round. There could be no better preparation going into finals that a clash with another potential grand finalist. Their biggest advantage is that the clash will be at their home ground Lyon.

Their victory against the Cergy-Pontoise Coyotes by 36 points had two effects. Firstly, it locked in their own finals booking, but it also placed the Coyotes in a dangerous situation.

It can only be a matter of time before a UCC Bombers incarnation becomes a fully-fledged AFL Ireland team. Whilst still a university team, the Bombers showed again they have the talent to compete at a higher level, downing the Leeside Lions for the first time since 2017 in the Rebel Shield’s second leg.

The following is a small article from the Leeside Lions Facebook page, detailing the day.

In a fixture that traditionally marks the start of the AFL season in Cork and the closing of the college season. The Rebel shield again failed to disappoint. With the Lions holding a 17 point advantage over their opponents the UCC Bombers from the first leg a fast start was needed by the Bombers to breathe life into their challenge and fast start is exactly what they got racing into a four goals to one lead in the first quarter.

The highly anticipated AFLW Grand Final teams have been released below.

Adelaide vs Carlton, Sunday 31st March 12:30pm at Adelaide Oval

Adelaide Team

Position	Name	#	Name	#	Name	#
Backs	D.Cox	31	S.Allan	39	J.Mules	23
Half Backs	M.Rajcic	32	C.Randall	26	A.Foley	3
Centreline			E.Phillips - C	13
Half Forwards	D.Ponter	15	C.Scheer	4	C.Cramey	22
Forwards	E.Jones	2	S.Thompson	14	D.Varnhagen	9
Followers	J.Foley	24	A.Hatchard	33	E.Marinoff	10
Interchange	H.Martin	6	A.Considine	16	J.Sedunary	17
	S.Li	19	R.Forth	27	N.Gore	7
	H.Martin	8	N.Gore	7	S.Riley	8

In: - N.Gore, S.Riley 

Out: - None

Carlton Team

Position	Name	#	Name	#	Name	#
Backs	J.Van Dyk	36	K.Harrington	9	N.Stevens	21
Half Backs	C.Dalton	15	C.Wilson	20	G.Pound	6
Centreline			B.Davey - C	1
Half Forwards	L.Brazzale	12	B.Moody	16	T.Lucas-Rodd	18
Forwards	D.Vescio	3	T.Harris	7	B.Walker	14
Followers	A.Downie	30	M.Prespakis	4	S.Hosking	10
Interchange	G.Gee	19	J.Edwards	25	J.Hosking	11
	A.Mullane	8	K.Loynes	2
	R.Hicks	24	N.Plane	32

In: - R.Hicks, N.Plane 

Out: - None

 

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.”