World Footy News

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.

The AFL London season came to a dramatic finale on Saturday 22nd August, with the annual Grand Final day producing some truly memorable footy across all three grades. For once the weather gave the perfect conditions and the rest was down to the players at the Barn Elms Reserve in London.

For the first time in recent memory, two clubs kept the finals between them and provided quite a spectacle. The Wandsworth Demons and West London Wildcats have enjoyed a great rivalry through their history and the effort on the pitch and support from the sidelines amply demonstrated just how much the game means to the clubs and the footy community.

AFL South Africa has been working closely with the University of Monash South Africa and this year has seen the roll out of a pilot program for 60 footyWILD volunteers in the Gauteng Province, which includes the city of Johannesburg. The broad-based ‘Basic Management and Development Course’ will cover generic skill sets but with practical application to the daily life of a footyWILD volunteer, leading to accreditation. It's another example of Australian football becoming embedded with the local community and providing more than just a game of footy.

Last weekend for the first time in league history, the Ontario Australian Football League held a Womens AFL match.

Round 12 consisted of a triple header in Ottawa, with the first game of the day pitting the Montréal Angels against the Central Blues women’s football team.

On WFN recently it was reported in this story that there were a couple of former DAFL players with Icelandic connections who were trying to get the game up in Iceland.

The group has since then taken a few steps further, Friðgeir Torfi Ásgeirsson announcing last week that the Reykjavik club was officially founded on August 21st. An Icelandic side is also set to compete at the EU Cup in Zagreb, with 14 players committed to the trip so far.

Friðgeir adds, "We have found indoor facilities for the winter (as outdoor training will be difficult in the Arctic winter) and I have high hopes that the sport is off to a good start here in Iceland."

The Icelanders can be contacted via their Facebook group.

worldfootynews.com recently fielded a query from an Australian Football organiser in Chile, noting that South Americans have no access to the AFL on TV, neither free to air or cable. The AFL has most other areas covered to some degree, as shown by their Broadcast Partners list and their International viewing guide (click on International).

We asked the AFL if they were conscious of the South American blackspot. Patrick Keane, Media Relations Manager, replied:

"Getting some form of regular coverage of our game into South America is the next step for our broadcast department. I don’t expect we will see anything before this year’s Grand Final but it is on our agenda and it is something we hope to achieve for the 2009 off-season. However, I agree it is a hole for us and it’s not something we’ve been able to get done to this point".

So hopefully a broadcast partner can be found in time for the 2010 season.

Canterbury Australian Football League club the Christchurch Bulldogs met the newest kids on the block in the South Island of NZ, the Otago Riot from Dunedin, for a preseason challenge match in Christchurch on August 22nd.

The match was preceded by a Kiwikick session for a group of local kids and hopefully future Bulldogs. With several locals helping to set up the field and wave the flags the scene was set for a great day of footy in the sun.

The game got underway at 2.30pm in warm conditions, with the Bulldogs kicking to the Mt Cook end. After several forward forays the Bulldogs scored the first goal, soccered off the ground by coach Steve Langridge. The Bulldogs' innaccuracy was keeping the Otago boys in the game and they went into the 1/4 time break leading 2.8 (20) to 1.2 (8).

The second quarter was another battle of the halfback lines and scoring shots were few & far between. However the Bulldogs went to the long break with a handy 4 goal lead.

The Dogs needed some strong defensive work from captain Steve Langridge and new pup Matt Crighton or the Otago boys may have been in with a sniff at 3/4 time.

The final quarter started well for the Bulldogs with a couple of quick goals at the clubhouse end. To their credit the Riot boys battled the game out and can hold their heads up and start preparing for their next match against the Canterbury senior team in October.

The final score read Christchurch Bulldogs 11.12 (78) Otago Riot 7.9 (51).

For more, follow this link.

The Vienna Kangaroos and their marsupial mates from Munich will hold the 3rd annual "Battle of the Roos" in the village of Kössen in Tyrol, Austria on Saturday August 29th. Vienna club stalwart Ben Chick says that with the Munich Roos fired up for the AFLG Grand Final the following week, and the Vienna team led by local boy Raoul Himberger, it will be an entertaining match as were the games in previous years.

As Chick explains, "The event is organised annually by Sepp and Jenny Himberger (yes - that's our boy) and has turned out to be a great showcase for Aussie Rules in the fantastic setting of the Tyrolean Alps. The camaraderie between the teams has grown strong over the years and its always a fantastic weekend of entertainment on and off the field."

Australian rules in Austria is continuing to grow, with last year's interest from the city of Graz culminating in the official formation of the second footy club in Austria - The Styrian Downunder Dogs, named for the province of Styria where Graz is located. The Doggies, comprised 100% of Austrian nationals, have been training over the summer and will make up almost half of the Austrian national squad for the EU Cup in Croatia.

Back in the capital, the Vienna Kangaroos are recruiting strongly after suffering a winter exodus of some established ex-pat and local players. As Chick says, "The natural attrition rate seems to have been higher than previous years, but the local new blood have taken to the game with great gusto and are continuing to improve week by week."

A series of matches between the Graz and Vienna teams will take place in September as a lead up to the EU Cup. The Austrians will thereby join their Croatian and Czech neighbours in building a local competition this year, after the Central European tri-series was suspended for 2008.

While we are still remembering the great efforts of Jim Stynes, wait for a return of Tadgh Kennelly, cheer the re-signing of Brendon Murphy, there is a team full of Irish ex-pats playing in the Sydney Womens AFL competition, and they have now qualified for playoffs in their rookie year.

The Bondi Shamrocks are a newly formed club who entered the Sydney Women’s AFL (SWAFL) competition for this season.

They are made up of primarily Irish ex-pats, with a Gaelic Football, Camogie or Rugby background, with a few native Aussies and the odd Kiwi thrown in.

In their inaugural season, they have already had Sports Bar and a cocktail named in their honour, five players were selected to represent NSW at the women’s AFL State Games in Perth, and had six play for Sydney in the rookie team against the touring USA Freedom team. Now the ladies have earned a place in the SWAFL playoffs after beating more experienced opponents during the season to finish in the top four and will contest for a place in the Grand Final .