World Footy News

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.

A scandal has erupted in European Rugby Union over a faked injury, leading to a club in turmoil, a coach sacked and a player suspended for four months. And the cause of it all? The desire to substitute onto the field a superb kicker who just happens to be a former Aussie Rules player from New Zealand.

The all-important draw for the 10th Asian Australian Football Championships in Kuala Lumpur on 5th September took place at the Australian Ambassador's residence on 27th August.

Group A consists of title holders Dubai Heat, hosts Malaysian Warriors, three-time winners Hong Kong Dragons, two-time winners Jakarta Bintangs and Thailand Tigers.

Group B consists of three-time winners Singapore Wombats, three-times runners-up Bali Geckoes, Lao Elephants, China Reds and Vietnam Swans.

Each team plays the others in their Group with the top two in each group progressing to the semi-finals, the winners of which play off in the Grand Final.

Whilst weather, injuries and depth of fitness within the squads are always a factor in an event of this nature, the teams in Group A promise intense competition, with all five harbouring realistic expectations of a strong showing.

On known form, Singapore and Bali look the likely semi-finalists in Group B.

A big day is promised on September 5th at the Royal Selangor Polo Club with the action kicking off from 8.30am and the final being contested at 4.20pm.

In addition to the main games there will be a Junior Under 18 competition as well as Auskick.

There has been quite a bit of fuss over the suspension of Hawthorn star Buddy Franklin for his head high bump that concussed Richmond’s Ben Cousins. The fact that Franklin had his elbow tucked in to his side and hit Cousins with his shoulder has been held up as the bump having been legitimate and a “part of the game”.

After a tight race to the line the final eight is set and the 2009 AFL Finals Series is set to be one of the most competitive yet. Since the revamp in 2000 no eventual premier has come from outside the top four, so the winner is almost certain to come from St Kilda, Geelong, the Western Bulldogs and Collingwood. But as Adelaide coach Neil Craig recently said, one day a club will break that record, so the other four clubs from 5th to 8th are still in it to win the premiership, with his own club likely to be considered a reasonable dark horse after demolishing fellow contenders Carlton. And although St Kilda was a runaway leader and Geelong the dominant team of the last 3 years, recent wobbles have the Bulldogs and Magpies seemingly not far behind the top two. An intriguing month of football lies ahead.

North Shore Tiger Caleb Stick was featured in an article in his local paper, the North Shore Times as the Auckland AFL season gears up for their season. In a paper that circulates through the populous North Shore of Auckland City, this will assist with recruitment for local Clubs the Takapuna Eagles and the Tigers, and obviously, promotion of the code.

Stick was a member of the all conquering 2005 NZ Falcon’s side and a key member of the Tigers and Auckland inter-league side.

In an article from the NZ Herald, Papatoetoe High School are looking to introduce Aussie Rules into their sports curriculum. This would be great for the nearby Manurewa Raiders club in South Auckland.

The Oslo Trolls defeated the Ås Battlers (at left) by five goals on Sunday August 23rd, to claim the honour of being the first team to win a Norwegian domestic match.

The 9-a-side game at Oslo Rugby Club in Ekerberg comprised around 50% Australians, with Norwegians, Germans, Americans and a Swede making up the rest of the squads.

Simon Berger from the Oslo Trolls said "I think the Ås team played particularly well and think Adam (O'Toole) has done a great job. The Trolls managed to get nine players, mainly Aussie but some were 1st gamers from the rugby code... hopefully we can do it again soon and prepare well for our international versus Sweden." One woman player from Australia, described by Berger as a goalsneak, also took the pitch, acquitting herself well against the men.

No one seems too sure of the exact score, but organisers estimate it was around a 100-70 win to the Trolls. An Australian Association BBQ ensured a bit of a crowd were on hand to match the match.

Next event on the calendar for the Norwegians is the first-ever test match for the Norway Polar Bears against the Sweden Elks on October 3rd, with the Oslo Trolls, Ås Battlers and hopefully the far-northern Tromsø club all contributing players to the squad.

worldfootynews.com have recently had the privilege of catching up with Andrew Cadzow, general manager of AFL Oceania.

For those wondering what is happening in the Zone that comes under his influence, we took a look at his diary for the next six months, including a match between an AFL Queensland club and the PNG Mosquitoes, an under 16s Pacific Cup, the official launch of AFL Fiji, and numerous further goings-on in New Zealand and Papua New Guinea.

Yuta Kobayashi is Victoria's trainee of the year for 2009 for his work traveling to India and coaching the nation's team for last year's International Cup.

Kobayashi has been working as a multicultural development officer for the AFL in Melbourne while completing his tertiary studies in sports management, and recently became AFL club Carlton's Community and Sponsorship Executive. Born in Japan but raised in Melbourne, the 24-year-old taught Aussie Rules to more than 100 Indian residents in Kolkata as part of his traineeship with the Australian Football League while studying Certificates III and IV in Sports and Recreation at Swinburne TAFE.

The Indian team was drawn from local police, universities and homeless youth. Kobayashi says “It was a great opportunity to see the excitement of young men from all walks of life in Kolkata having the chance to travel overseas – many for the first time – and represent their country.”

Mr Kobayashi, who is now the Carlton Football Club’s Community and Sponsorship Executive, accepted his award from Victorian Skills and Workforce Participation Minister Jacinta Allan at last night’s 2009 Victorian Training Awards held at the Crown Palladium in Melbourne.

The Footy Show on Australia's Channel Nine features a football news wrap by reporter Craig Hutchison, and tonight "Hutchy" reported that Sudanese immigrant Majak Daw is a chance to be rookie listed by an AFL club. Daw has featured in the news previously, with only a few years in the game, and could be the first of a wave of African immigrants to make it to the highest level in Aussie Rules.

Daw is still reportedly very "raw" in his football skills, but a short piece of footage shown on the Footy Show demonstrated his potential, with a spectacular mark and in a separate play he roved the ball and cruised away from three opponents who appeared to be trying twice as hard but were unable to match his speed. If Daw is rookie listed it should be a boost for the cause of introducing the many recent African arrivals to the great Australian game, and perhaps introduce a new level of athleticism to the sport.

More about the promising young player in an article in The Age, called Out of Africa.

The Sydney Swans' Brendan Murphy has decided to give up his AFL dream, just days after writing in his column on the Irish-Australian news site the Irish Echo that he would continue in 2010. We recently reported his decision to stay, but note that the Swans have announced his change of heart and his article has been removed from the Irish Echo website (although it is still available from Google's cache).

20 year old Murphy played 25 games for Sydney's reserves in his two years Down Under but was restricted by injury. With a large turnover of players expected at the Swans over the off-season it looked like 2010 would be a great chance for Murphy to break into the AFL side.

Murphy stated that, “It wasn’t an easy decision to make but it has been a frustrating year with injuries and I feel as a consequence I’ve lost the drive and passion to play AFL".

It would appear as though the Irish experiment is now at best settling into a low level steady state with less than a dozen players on AFL lists at any one time, and only two or three getting regular senior matches at best. Homesickness and injuries appear to be as big hurdles as learning the new skills required.