World Footy News

We've previously reported on the upcoming Canadian Nationals and the problem that only Ontario-based clubs look set to attend - see Inaugural Canadian Nationals planned but something is missing. Nevertheless, a big tournament is expected next weekend and it could be the start of a long and successful tradition. The following is a press release from AFL Canada.

On May 16th and 17th, 2009, the first ever annual Australia.com Canadian National Championships of Australian Rules Football, sponsored by Tourism Australia, will be held in Toronto, Ontario.

The tournament will see 8 Australian Rules football teams from across Canada competing over the weekend at Humber North College from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. on Saturday the 16th and Sunday the 17th. It will be a weekend for all to enjoy – we encourage everyone to come out and enjoy the festivities and see our athletes in action. It will be an opportunity for both Canadians and Australians living in Ontario to have fun supporting the mix of Canadian and Australian players, have something to eat and even get involved with the junior football clinics available for kids of all ages.

We've reported previously that the Australian Football League is keen to stage an exhibition match in Shanghai as part of the 2010 Expo. We've also reported the Federal Government is now supporting Aussie Rules as a potential export product.

These two factors seem to be coming together, with renewed reports that a match will go ahead. An article in the Herald Sun, Australian Rules Football to be played in China, quotes Australian Trade Minister Simon Crean, currently in China, as saying that "It is a great way to make Australian rules known in China," and "It's a great game, it's fast and exciting, but people need to see it first-hand". Writer Gerard McManus speculates that long term, the AFL may have its eye on selling TV rights the emerging economic superpower. The suggestion is that the game would feature Melbourne against Brisbane or new-boys the Gold Coast.

A lot more quotes and information can be read in AFL eyes Shanghai showcase, by Michael Sainsbury, including Crean stating, "Look at all the people. Anyone who watches a game of Aussie Rules football falls in love with it," and "This will be an expo that has 70 million people. If we can show the game played on their soil with their audience I think it would take off."

No word yet, but wouldn't it be tremendous to feature China versus Japan as the curtain raiser. That would give China two years to bring themselves up to Japan's level - difficult but possible if enough resources are committed.

As we move toward the start of the 2009 season, USFootyNews.com will be previewing the Top 10 teams in USFooty as voted in the preseason USFootyNews.com and WorldFootyNews.com poll.

At No. 6 is the Orange County Bombers. OC finished the 2008 season ranked number 8 in the Top 10 Poll with a regular season record of 5-2 and a record at the Nationals Tourney of 0-3. Overall Head Coach, John Fragomeni, was pleased with the season. "Season 2008 was very successful for the Southern Californian Football League (SCAFL) and the LA representative side the 'Bombers'. We grew our players stock in the local competition significantly and I was happy with our 18 a side performances leading up to Nationals. On our way we played some good football and we defeated some very good Division 1 sides, Golden Gate by 116 points and San Diego by 33 points in San Diego. But Nationals proved there is still plenty of room for improvement."

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The AFL sought feedback from competing countries after the 2008 Australian Football International Cup. Probably the most interesting three issues raised were the timing of the next such tournament, its location, and whether some form of Australian side should be included.

The League has marked 2011 as the year for the fourth instalment of the Cup, and announced that the location was open to tender - see 2011 confirmed for next IC, location up for tender for more information. It seems that Melbourne is the very warm favourite to again be the primary host for the tournament - there are plenty of logistical and player reasons why this would be a good choice, although it may reduce the allure for some players and supporters (and therefore prospective nations) who have attended previous Cups. Perhaps surprisingly, the AFL reported not a great deal of feedback on the issue of an Australian side. The chances such a team would play the full tournament seem to be unlikely.

The AFL's Roger Berryman (Development Events Manager) was in charge of organising the 2008 Cup and will likely take the reins in 2011. worldfootynews.com posed a series of questions on what we could expect for IC11.

Back in 2007, Vietnamese-Australian Tri Thoi from the Box Hill North footy club founded a new side known as the Elgar Park Dragons, a project aimed at building the participation of Asian-Australians in the indigenous footy code.

Originally based largely around the Vietnamese team from the Multicultural Cup, but with increasing numbers of players from other nationalities, the Dragons played the 2008 and 2009 seasons in the Victorian Amateur Football Assocation's Club 18 division, as the third senior team associated with Box Hill North.

This year the Dragons have gone it alone, becoming a stand-alone club, joining the semi-professional Southern Football League and moving their home base from Elgar Park to the suburb of Clayton, around 10km south.

With the relocation, the club has been renamed the "Southern Dragons". Their playing base still has a large Vietnamese contingent, but also now boasts a large number of players of Cambodian background, a few from nations such as Japan, China and Korea and a few non-Asians, including Greeks and New Zealanders.

From fielding just one senior side in 2007, the Dragons this year will have seniors, reserves and under 18s. Although their seniors have gone down in their first two matches, their entry into the league has created plenty of media interest, with reports including Fire in the belly as Dragons Awake in major Melbourne tabloid the Herald-Sun, and Enter the Dragon in the suburban Leader Group newspapers.

On the 25th of April 1918 many Australian soldiers gave their lives to recapture the village of Villers-Bretonneux from the Germans troops. Since then the small Somme's village has a very unique tie with Australia and celebrate the courage of the diggers every year. In addition to the military service, this year saw the first ANZAC cup being held.

This event was organised jointly by Villers-Bretonneux' local authorities and the Commission National de Football Australien. The game saw a team made of Australians living all over Europe, the Aussie Spirit, taking on a selection of French players and Australian living in France, les Coquelicots.

Australian Football in British Columbia, Canada, has long been the smaller cousin to the impressive league in Ontario. In recent years we've closely followed the emergence of junior footy in North Delta, Vancouver. Along with other promotion, the result is a growing pool of players which has allowed an expansion of the local league. From really just one Vancouver side a few years ago, the 2009 season of BCFooty sees five clubs: Vancouver Cougars, Burnaby Eagles (the early season leaders), West Coast Saints, Delta Bay Hawks and the Irish Harps.

WFN spoke with Mike McFarlane, former AFL Canada President and now with new side the Bay Hawks.

After spending the season so far as an emergency for the Swans after impressing in the preseason, Mike Pyke finally made his debut for the Sydney Swans on Sunday afternoon. It seems Pyke was not all cool and calm about his shot at the big time as he sent his mother (who had travelled from Canada to see his debut game) away when she came to visit him on Sunday morning. But calm enough to cruise from his home on his bike down to the SCG.

Yes of all the internationals in recent years to make the switch, his is the most remarkable - from a rugby career which included Test match representation for Canada and playing professional rugby in Scotland less than 12 months ago to riding past the Sydney Football Stadium (where he might have reasonably been expected to line up at some stage in his rugby kit) and on to the SCG to play Australian Rules Football.

The need to find talent away from the main draft has encouraged some clubs to look outside traditional talent pools, and a tall, quick, coordinated guy who has played contact sport at the highest level who comes knocking on your door (and only takes up a rookie list spot) was too much of a good offer for the Swans to pass up.

Pyke acquitted himself well once the grand stories of transition were behind him and siren sounded. And after seven minutes on the bench he began his job, backup ruckman, giving the main ruckman a breather and providing impact with fresh legs - "a credible impression" said the Associated Press article that was printed in various media around the world.

Although China has a reasonable history of expat footy it was the Tianjin-Melbourne partnership, the SuZhou schools program and the arrival of the China Demons all-Chinese side at IC08 that confirmed that Aussie Rules was starting to accelerate in the Asian giant. The building of a dedicated field was also announced, and the expat sides were working closely with locals to get a variety of these programs going. After such a successful year, could it continue into 2009? The answer appears to be "not quite", with some programs dropping back but others still showing plenty of promise.

worldfootynews.com spoke with AFL China's Andrew Sawitsch about their year of consolidation. Sawitsch is an Australian Football Development Officer, on a part time basis and supported by the Australian Football League, Beijing Australian Football Club and the City of Melbourne Office Tianjin. First up we asked him what human resources are available to keep game development going, besides his own position. "I rely a lot on volunteer support from the universities and teams and I’ve discussed with the AFL taking on some local people to further promote the game, I’ll keep you posted on any updates". Next we turned to the question of how the national side and adult team program has kicked on after their 2008 debut at International level down in Melbourne.

Northern England has lead Europe in terms of growth in club numbers over the past few years - whilst in 2006 the Manchester Mozzies were the only club further north than Nottingham, there are now eleven sides taking the pitch in season 2009.

Of those, the Mozzies, Liverpool Eagles, Leeds Bombers and Huddersfield Rams are situated in an area measuring around 100km from end to end, with the clubs to form the nucleus of the new ARUK Central competition.

The Rams have already made a strong first impression, taking an almost all-English squad to the recent Cardiff Clwb Challenge and putting in a very solid effort in all their matches. This weekend will see them travel to Newcastle for the first ARUK National club tournament, eager to prove they are the real deal.

Rams founder Karl Haigh gave us the following report on the development of the team from its inception last December up to the present.

One of the big stories in international sport last year was the Beijing Olympics, and related to that, the push by so many sporting codes to gain a slice of the Chinese market. Tom Parker is a regular visitor to China and has been working with the AFL on options for Australian football. Parker wrote an article for China Connections on some of that potential, including the building of the first Aussie Rules oval in China - see The Business of Sport . We'll have more on the progress of the Tianjin field later, and follow up reports that Kevin Sheedy is headed to China as well.

Pictured is China vs South Africa at IC08.