World Footy News

Nick Naitanui has started his career with two exciting games that have the AFL community buzzing. With his stunning performances interest in talent from the Fijian-Australian's ancestral home must be at an all-time high. This makes the establishment of AFL Fiji all the more timely. The initial meetings will be held in Suva on July 10th and 11th.

The first meeting is open for all interested people to discuss AFL Fiji. AFL Oceania Development Manager Andrew Cadzow has said that they will advertise this through all papers and media.

The second meeting will be the first formal meeting of the steering committee of AFL Fiji. Cadzow says, "Very important we get as many as possible to the first meeting to ensure we add to the quality of our steering committee. At the second meeting we will be outlining and planning for the commencement of AFL Fiji including Junior Development, Talent Pathway, Auskick (Fiji Kick), Competitions, Finances, Resources, Academy, Volunteers/Staffing/AYAD, Formalising Advisory board".

The meetings will be hosted by Cadzow and steering committee chairman Damian Ames.

"We are looking at an 8-10 person Committee with representatives from all regions, Nadi, Labasa etc. As well as Australia".

Last weekend, the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, hosted the first annual Canadian National Championships for Women and Youth.

Forty-seven women from Calgary and Edmonton travelled from Alberta to contest the Nationals, which were played in a round-robin format against the Vancouver-based West Coast Wildcats. It is believed to be the first matches of 18-a-side women's club football played in North America.

The AFL has announced that as an interim solution to the loss of Setanta Sports coverage, as reported earlier on WFN, UK fans will be able to watch all eight matches live at no cost (other than their own ISP costs) this weekend via the AFL website, at bigpondtv.com/aflliveuk and there are further links here. The AFL also announced that coverage should be unaffected in other regions, and AFL chief operating officer Gillon McLachlan stated that the AFL was in discussions about selling its UK broadcast rights to an alternative television network for the remainder of the 2009 season.

Full details can be read on the AFL website at AFL's broadband offer for UK fans.

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A beautiful sunny day on Saturday 20th June in Rio de Janeiro, with a backdrop of Sugar Loaf Mountain and Christ the Redeemer and a few curious local onlookers, saw the first ever Australian football match in Brazil.

Up against the Santiago Saints from Chile was the region's newest team, the Brazil Carnaval. At stake was the inaugural Copa Cabana with the winner entitled to claim South American supremacy.

In bad news for AFL coverage in Great Britain, the British component of Setanta Sports has shut down. Readers tell us that coverage has ceased. At this stage we hope it will not be affecting coverage in North America or Ireland. worldfootynews.com has contacted the AFL for more information. The following is a statement from the Setanta Sports website.

Setanta Sports Customers from England, Wales, Scotland, Isle of Man and Channel Islands, please be advised that it is with great regret that Setanta GB is no longer trading.

Setanta Sports is still operating in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland only. Customers from ROI and NI should go to www.setanta.com/ie for more information.

Setanta Sport Limited Setanta Transmissions (UK) Limited
Setanta Sports S.a.r.l
(All In Administration)
(together "the Companies")

On 23 June 2009, Neville Kahn, Lee Manning and Nick Edwards were appointed Joint Administrators of the Companies and now manage the affairs, business and property of Setanta Sport Limited and Setanta Transmissions (UK) Limited and Setanta Sports S.a.r.l..

Attempts are currently being made to establish a football team in Jordan's capital, Amman. So far the most that has been achieved is the occasional "kick-to-kick", but Nick Gibson, the man behind the idea, remains hopeful of securing the numbers required for a club. If successful, this club would be a potential starter in the next AFL Middle East season.

Unfortunately for Gibson, whilst he's, "been putting the word out to expats," there are limited Aussies in the country, "and the majority are rugby fans." In his own words, "it's tough to find anyone, let alone get a team together."

If you wish to get involved or can be of assistance to Nick email him at n_m_gibson [at] hotmail [dot] com

Tim Grose, the brother of former Port Adelaide player Gavin Grose, will next week travel to Tonga where he will spend twelve months as an AFL Volunteer, working with AFL Tonga to develop the country's football program. Grose recently completed a week in Canberra and two days at AFL Queensland in preparation for the the role.

AFL Oceania Development Manager Andrew Cadzow said, "the progressive AFL Tonga committee, who already has full time JDO (Junior Development Officer) in place and expanding and working through the schools, will find Tim a fantastic boost for the next 12 months. His priorities are to assist and develop the Auskick and schools programs and to develop their talent program to include a team in the November Under 16 Oceania Cup and a competitive squad in the 2011 International Cup."

During this year's Grand Final week, the AFL will be holding a Multicultural Academy Camp for male students in Year 7 and 8. The camp is one of many initiatives the league is taking to ensure that Australians of all backgrounds are exposed to Australian Football. The camp, which is free, will be held in Melbourne and span five days and four nights. It will include AFL-run training sessions, clinics with AFL players, fitness and skill testing and guest speakers.

To be eligible, students must be male (a female camp will be held in 2010), verified by their school principal as actively attending Year 7 or 8 and be of a multicultural background. This is defined as having at least one parent born overseas. Participants will then be selected on athletic talent, potential, leadership qualities and willingness to develop as a footballer.

See the below flyer for further details.

Update: Note that the program is primarily open to Victorian boys - if there were kids from interstate (possibly overseas) that wanted to apply it's understood they would be considered but costs such as airfares and accommodation would not be covered.

Those at the International Cup last year or following the Peace Team on their journey there may have noticed the cameras (and microphones) accompanying the team. That footage has come together in “Tackling Peace” the inspirational story of Israeli and Palestinian youths who unite over the game of Australian football. Along with the players and team staff the program also features Kevin Sheehan, Ron Barassi and Robert ‘Dipper’ DiPierdomenico.

The documentary narrated by Hugo Weaving premieres on Saturday 4 July 2009 on Network Ten - 1.00pm Sydney & Adelaide, 2.00pm Melbourne & Brisbane, 4.00pm Perth with replays to follow on the ONE digital channel. The film is also featuring as the Opening night Film at the 2009 AICE Australian Film Festival in Jerusalem.

Australian football in Indonesia has made steady progress in recent years, with adult sides in the Jakata Bintangs, Bali Geckos and more recent arrivals the Borneo Bears. The Bintangs have also had a formal junior program that has continued the process of ensuring a new generation of players - something that has been an ongoing effort by the Bintangs and others such as Robert Baldwin.

Now Jakarta's junior program is taking another big step forward with the launch of AFL Indonesia. To mark the official start they have staged the Allan Taylor Cup, an Australian Football Carnival for Indonesian youth on Saturday, 20 June 2009 at Buperta Park, Cibubur. It was attended by Australian Ambassador to Indonesia Bill Farmer, Oceania AFL Development Manager Andrew Cadzow and former Collingwood player Craig Starcevich.

Andrew Cadzow stated, “We are looking forward to working with the Jakarta Bintangs to set up a fully fledged junior football league for the kids of Jakarta and further promote the game to other parts of Indonesia, starting with Bali and Balikpapan”. The program also aims to provide a senior Indonesian team for the 2011 International Cup.

For more see Juniors cup launches AFL Indonesia which at time of writing was featuring in the HQ section on the front of the AFL website.

Women's football has been growing strongly in Australia in recent years, and statistics have indicated especially so in Victoria and Queensland. The bi-annual national championships were staged in Perth in early June, with all of Australia's states and mainland territories spread across two divisions, with the exception of Tasmania, and with WA fielding sides in both divisions. Victoria showed once again their dominence of women's footy, going through undefeated and accounting comfortably for the host state in the Division One grand final. The following report is courtesy of Leesa Catto from the VWFL.