World Footy News

Preparations for this year's EU Cup in Samobor, Croatia are well underway, with 12 sides having confirmed by the July 1st deadline. Aussie Rules Europe have capped the final squad number at 16 national teams.

Reportedly on the list so far for Europe's 9-a-side Championships are Central Europe's Austria, Czech Republic and hosts Croatia, in addition to fellow continental Europeans Spain, Catalonia, France, Germany, Finland and the Netherlands.

From the British Isles, Scotland and the reigning champions England Dragonslayers have confirmed.

The most surprising announcement is the exciting news of a confirmation of attendance from Russia - a country so far unknown to the international footy scene. WFN will have some information on this development as soon as we know more!

It's still an open race who will fill the final four places, with previous champions Sweden not yet locked in, nor the Welsh who are still to make their EU Cup debut despite playing a number of tests against the Dragonslayers in recent times. The newer squads from Iceland and Norway have also indicated an interest in coming.

The usual EU Cup conference will this year feature a meeting with AFL Europe's Gerard Murphy. While this reporter is merely speculating about what is on the agenda, I'll be optimistic that this will see steps towards greater collaboration between all sides in Europe and the creation of a European governing body.

Our readers will also be very interested to hear if there is any further discussion about an 18-a-side championship under full IC rules in future, featuring the big guns of Ireland, Denmark, British Bulldogs or possibly even the Peres Peace Team.

Heading into the half way point of the Ontario Australian Football League season the contenders are starting to separate themselves from the pretenders, and many clubs start to set themselves for a serious run into September action. Many of the clubs have a lot of work to do while others will be looking to keep the momentum going as they build towards September.

AFL agent Ricky Nixon is planning to further his interest in the Irish market by establishing coaching clinics in Irish primary schools. His exploits are currently being told in a three part documentary on Irish television called ‘The Oz factor’.

Nixon who has previously been very unpopular amongst the Gaelic Athletic Association establishment has claimed that “This will probably put the fear of God into GAA people but we’re starting to look at potential talent at a younger age. And if the door was shut in my face in Ireland in the past I expect it will be slammed in my face now.”

Four schools, whom Nixon has declined to name, have agreed to the programme which begins when the new school term gets underway in September. Nixon is aware of potential criticism but remains unrepentant. “People will overreact to these clinics and will insinuate that I’m only here to fleece your country of its young talent, but the reality is that I’ll be lucky to get one layer from this initiative. I’m doing it to drum up more interest in the AFL in Ireland and get more kids au fait with the skills of our game from an early age.” says Nixon. “An Irish guy actually came to me with the proposal and he’s got clearance from the schools involved. We’re starting off with four clinics and the schools are more than happy to go along with it.”

Winis Imbi was born in PNG and spent his first eleven years there. At that stage his mother moved the family to Portland in the western district of Victoria to be near relatives. Winis began playing footy in the local junior competition and shone thanks to his pace and ability to read the game. For those that have had the privilege of watching the Mosquitoes you have to almost wonder whether these assets are genetic!

By his mid-teens he had caught the eye of scouts from the North Ballarat Rebels. Awarded a scholarship to attend St Patrick's College, he moved to Ballarat hoping to make it all the way to the AFL. Imbi was a member of the Rebels' 1997 premiership team,. This was a line-up that also included Adam Goodes, Shannon Watt and James Walker. He and Walker, who was recruited by Fremantle, were subsequently named in the TAC Cup team of the year. But on draft day Imbi missed out.

During the next four seasons he worked hard to crack the big time. Rookie-listed by Essendon he made a number of appearances in the Ansett Cup and even won the club's reserves best and fairest in 1999. A short stint at North Melbourne followed, but injuries ended his AFL hopes.

Imbi took over as coach of Portland in early 2008 after his team had gone back- to-back and there had been a raft of retirements. He stepped in and rather unexpectedly , despite fielding a side with an average age in the low 20s, they lost only one more game in 2008. On grand final day the Tigers held out the Imperials to complete a hat-trick of premierships for the first time in the club's 123-year history.

For those wondering, Imbi has not been a part of the PNG squads at the International Cups. Given eligibility criteria it would be this writer's belief that he would be ineligible unless special consideration was given.

For more on this story, read Portland's Plan - Play Hard.

New Zealand Falcons representative Liam Ackland has secured a trial with the Glenelg Under 18 team next month. Glenelg is part of the South Australian National Football League and home of many champion AFL and VFL footballers, with Stephen Kernahan and Bryce Gibbs immediately springing to mind for this Carlton supporting correspondent!

Liam attended the 2008 International Cup as a sixteen year old. This forum was a great opportunity for potential youngsters to perform in front of a myriad of talent scouts from the AFL clubs. Amua Pirika from Papua New Guinea was soon signed by the Gold Coast consortium and is now playing for Southport in the Queensland AFL competition and the Gold Coast in the TAC Cup.

After securing a position in the 2008 International Cup squad, Liam was afforded the opportunity of attending an Australian Institute of Sport Scholarship camp in Canberra last December through funding contributed by AFL New Zealand (newly renamed from the similar "New Zealand AFL") and the AFL itself. The AIS camp provides the best young talent from throughout Australia to be monitored by all of the 16 AFL clubs. NZ has had a sprinkling of attendees at events similar to this and they have always presented and performed well.

It was a perfect day for footy at the weekend as the annual Brit Cup took place in Reading, hosted by the local Kangaroos. The event was extremely well-attended, with entries from London, regional England, Wales and Scotland, and the standard was as high as has been seen in recent years, with all teams contributing some great footy to the proceedings.

WFN caught up with one of the Columbus Jackaroos founders, Chet Ridenour. While his club is in the midst of their second season he is travelling South and Central America. Ridenour presided over the rapid foundation of an Aussie Rules football club that managed to win their first ever match, and bring a breath of fresh air to the US footy scene. In the interview we discuss Chet's football journey, what went into forming the club, recruiting, football stories and much more.

The podcast of the interview can be found here.

The Paris Cockerels last weekend became French Cup champions for the second year running, defeating Perpignan 69-11 in the final of the tournament held in Bordeaux.

Six sides competed for this year's Coupe de France, with Paris, Strasbourg, Montpellier and the hosts Bordeaux Bombers joined by new squads the Toulouse Crocodiles and Perpignan Tigers. While Perpignan competed in the Catalan Premiership this season, the tournament was the first appearance for the Crocodiles, who impressed in taking out third place.

The Cup also made headlines in Australia, with Melbourne daily newspaper The Age featuring the article Injecting a Little Ooh La La into football on page 2 last Monday.

A full report will appear soon, all scores are available on the Footy Record.

Tom Cruise, according to the Herald Sun is the latest Hollywood star to find an appreciation for the Australian variety of football.

Cruise, currently in Melbourne, attended the Collingwood-Essendon clash at the MCG.

Following a bit of an American theme - visiting players from the Dallas Cowboys NFL side attended the thriller between Geelong and St Kilda, having a kick on television at Etihad Stadium in Geelong jumpers.

Both matches were played to a high standard in front of bumper crowds.

Meanwhile before a smaller crowd, the Demons did it for Irishman Jim Stynes (who WFN reported earlier is currently battling cancer), posting a spirited win against the West Coast Eagles at the MCG.

Today NFL players Terence Newman and Courtney Brown from the Dallas Cowboys will visit the Lexus Centre to meet Collingwood players Nick Maxwell, Anthony Rocca and Josh Fraser. The team-mates of Aussie punter Matt McBriar will no doubt feature in the Melbourne media in the next 24 hours. In other Aussie rules-NFL crossover news, Jy Bond has been dropped by the Miami Dolphins but hopes he will get a chance with another franchise to join McBriar, Sav Rocca and Ben Graham as an Aussie NFL punter in the upcoming season.

Toronto, Wednesday July 1st 2009: On a perfect Toronto day for football, AFL Canada in conjunction with one of the largest leagues outside of Australia, the Ontario Australian Football League (“OAFL”), held their 3rd Canada Day Football Carnival. Canada Day is national holiday celebrating the anniversary of the 1 July 1867 enactment of the British North America Act, which united Canada as a single country. It's also a great chance for the OAFL to showcase Aussie Rules and give their national side a match against quality opposition.

Once again the AFL and Bigpond have made the full round of AFL matches online, given the loss of Setanta Sports coverage in Great Britain. Full details here.