World Footy News

The Regional Junior Football Championships were held last month in the Highlands of PNG. The Highlands are one of the four current “talent” regions in PNG. These are Highlands, Islands, Northern and Southern.

As part of the AFLPNG National Talented Player pathway, local championships are held in each region before the Nationals which will be held in Lae during September. The Nationals in Lae will consist of 27 teams across 4 divisions – Boys under 13s, 15s, and 17s and Girls under 15s.

The Danish Australian Football League are one of Europe's oldest Australian football leagues, with a history dating back to the early 1990s. For the first decade of their existence they were one of only two nations in Europe with a functioning national league, with clubs spread from the Jutland peninsula, across the Copenhagen region, to Helsingborg in southern Sweden.

However, once the youthful enthusiasm powered by the excitement of a new league faded, expansion in Denmark has been hard to come by in the past twelve years, with Swedish club Port Malmö the only new side in the DAFL Premier League since the year 1997.

This season saw a new team emerge in the city of Randers in Jutland, close to Denmark's second-largest city Århus. The Randers Dockers have just completed their maiden season in the Jutland 9s, a local league with the Aalborg Kangaroos and Århus Bombers feeding into DAFL Premier League team the Jutland Shinboners.

Driving force behind the Randers Dockers is Jens Djernes, a member of last year's Denmark Vikings team at the IC and one of two Vikings selected to the 2008 World Team.

In recognition of the many stars of Italian descent who have played in the professional Australian rules over the decades, the VFL/AFL Italian Team of the Century was selected in 2007, featuring such footballing royalty as Sergio and Steven Silvagni, Robert DiPierdomenico, Saverio Rocca, Mark Ricciuto and current star goalkicker Brendan Fevola. Named as honorary coach was 3rd generation Italian-Australian Ron Barassi, a great supporter of international Australian rules and one of the greatest players and coaches in the history of the game.

However, even while clubs and leagues are mushrooming elsewhere in Europe, footy has so far had a difficult time establishing an outpost in Italy, with a short-lived venture in Naples a few years ago the only presence before the formation of the AFL Italia this year.

In the northern city of Milan, footy fans Nicola Giampaolo and Armando Colombo have started a group playing Australian rules, consisting almost entirely of Italian nationals recruited from sports such as rugby, American football, soccer and basketball. A 15-man squad has been selected for the EU Cup, with only one non-Italian (a New Zealander) in the team.

There was no good news at AFL selection as the finals commence. Several players would have had hopes of playing this weekend but all have missed out.

The most bitter pill to swallow will be for Carlton's Setanta O'hAilpin, who after running into good form through the middle of the season has drifted back to the periphery and was this week dropped for the Blues' elimination final against Brisbane. The Lions' Pearce Hanley is due to have recovered from a hamstring injury but was selected.

Collingwood's Martin Clarke continues his time in the wilderness, having been absent from the senior team for a couple of months. At St Kilda there was no room for Colm Begley, while at Essendon their run of injuries and suspension elevated Michael Quinn to the status of emergency only.

Kevin Dyas (Collingwood) and Brian Donnelly (Adelaide) are still well short of a senior debut.

Hopefully by this time next year several of Ireland's exports will have established themselves as regular players in their club's first 22 chosen. Many of them seem to have landed at successful clubs - a good thing overall but not if you're trying to break into a team.

In June we reported that the AFL would be staging a Multicultural Academy during grand final week, to encourage greater involvement and talent identification across Victoria's large multicultural community - see AFL to hold Multicultural Academy Camp.

Last weekend another step was taken towards that intake, with trials for 120 players. The following is a media release from the AFL leading into those trials, which involves AFL Multicultural Development officers including several men who have previously been involved in developing the game overseas - Mickey Roberts in Samoa, Sasha Herceg in Croatia and Yuta Kobayash (Japan and India).

This weekend will see the year's first 18-a-side clash for the England Dragonslayers, when the reigning EU Cup champions run onto the pitch at Albert Road, home of the North London Lions. Their opposition? Fronting up in the emerald green will be the Irish Exiles, a side of the best Irishmen playing the game in England.

Sussex Swans captain Ronan Moran is fronting the team, with players drawn from Sussex, Birmingham and Southampton in the ARUK National League, the West London Wildcats in the AFL London, and the Edinburgh Bloods up in Scotland.

WorldFootyNews.com spoke with Moran and ARFLI president Ciaran O'Hara about the Exiles, their plans and their significance for Irishmen playing Aussie Rules around the globe.

As in previous seasons, World Footy News will this year undertake a team-by-team preview of the sides for the EU Cup in Zagreb.

In our first installment, we spoke with host nation Croatia, their former Central European AFL rivals the Czech Lions and Finland, and newcomers from the North Atlantic Iceland.

The Croatian Knights, last year's runners-up, have seen significant domestic growth this year with their Zagreb metro league and will be very keen to go one better and take the Cup in front of their home crowd. The Czechs and Finns have also progressed significantly on a local level this season and will be eager to show they can match it with the best Europe has to offer.

Iceland remain an unknown quantity, but captained by Pall Finnsson, the Icelandic-born captain of the Paris Cockerels and former test captain of the Denmark Vikings, they may surprise a few rivals come the first weekend in October.

The Turku Dockers capped off a fairy-tale debut year by beating the Helsinki Heatseekers by 4 goals in the first ever grand final in the Finland AFL.

The Dockers, coached by Australian ex-pat and two-time EU Cup all star Grant Siermans, joined the Helsinki Heatseekers and the Salo Juggernauts as the third team in the Finnish league this year.

Unlike earlier years in Finland, all teams were able to field teams with primarily their own squad members throughout the home and away season, meaning that 2009 was the first year when a true premier could be crowned.

Thanks for Craig Primmer from the Finland AFL for this report, photos courtesy of Saara Hämäläinen.

Once again this year World Footy News is collating a list of all the Grand Final parties around the world. To have yours added to the list please leave details using the "Post a Comment" feature below or email me by clicking on my name above (you'll need to register with the site).

Last year we had approximately 10,000 views to this list - so make sure that those looking to get to your party can find your event.

Please note: The information is entered here in good faith. worldfootynews.com is not responsible for any incorrect information posted to this story. Wherever possible attempt to check ahead to make sure the party you are planning on attending is still going ahead and has room for you. There have been cases of sell outs and late changes e.g. when a venue could not secure a telecast.

Following somewhat in the footsteps of Mike Pyke, American basketballer Shae McNamara who played basketball with Marist College is trialling at the Collingwood Football Club. McNamara at the age of 24 is a 202cm potential ruckman and has this week been flown out by Collingwood to trial ahead of list nominations in November. McNamara sent video of himself kicking and handballing a gridiron ball to most clubs in the league (see videos below).

Of his progress Collingwood football manager Geoff Walsh said yesterday on SEN radio “We’re conducting a few physical tests, getting him to handle our footy, seeing how all that goes. He’s not setting the world on fire, but he’s going OK,”

McNamara is seen in the video working out with Orange County Bombers stalwart Chis Olson. According to Olson. "Shae's a phenomenal athlete, with a good head on his shoulders. In 12 years involvement in the game here I've never seen someone pick up the skills as quickly as he has. I wish him the best of luck."

The AFL has again canned the Cape Town match that was originally to have been played between Collingwood and West Coast earlier this year. Back in December 2008 we reported that the match would be deferred for 12 months, but it seems that the AFL believes that the global financial crisis is still biting hard on many and they have again decided to defer the match.

After having footy’s inclusion bandied around as part of the Pacific Games for the best part of a decade, a competition for the Oceania region is now truly a reality. However, it won’t be an inclusion as an extra sport at this stage in the Pacific Games but will be as a stand-alone Under 16 tournament in the new footy region of Fiji.

The tournament is set for the 12th and 13th December with invites extended to PNG, Nauru, Samoa, Tonga, NZ, Fiji, the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu. At this stage, PNG, Fiji, NZ, Tonga and Nauru have confirmed their participation, which is an excellent result.

Though the tournament is nominally at Under 16 level, there is an ability for the countries to play up to 6 older players if signed off by Championship Manager Andrew Cadzow. This appears a sensible modification when the tournament has dual aims - to have both ‘Participation’ and ‘Talent’ outcomes.

It is hoped that from this inaugural tournament an annual opportunity to showcase junior talent in the Pacific will result. It is anticipated that this will grow the game from the grassroots level as well as give talented players the opportunity to be seen and selected via higher representative squads, Academy positions (future) and International Scholarships, not discounting the AFL Drafts.

At the conclusion of the tournament an Oceania Squad will be selected to embark on a training program, and with a game schedule, which is yet to be confirmed.