World Footy News

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.

Further to recent news on the Western Bulldogs' recruiting efforts in Fiji, there's confirmation that they indeed are still looking for more talent in the small Pacific country. A brief report in the Fiji Times said:

Australian rules football officials were at the tfl National Stadium yesterday to scout for budding talents. Officials from the AFL club the Bulldogs were spotted at the marshalling area and the corporate boxes talking to potential youths. Joining them were Inoke Ratu and Solomoni Loki, who have signed up for the club.

The Thailand Tigers proved far to strong for the Vietnam Swans in the annual Hellfire Pass game played at Kanchanaburi on Anzac Day, April 25th, 2009

The Tigers were younger, faster and fitter and, although the Swans played with plenty of heart, they were well defeated 91 points to 13. The Tigers got away with a strong lead in the first half – keeping the Swans goalless in the second term, and coasted home in the second half winning the ANZAC Cup, Tigers star Damien Hoo earning best on ground as voted by the 'Diggers'.

Off the footy field, both teams attended the emotionally moving Dawn Service at Hellfire Pass, followed by a visit to the Allied War Cemetery for a memorial and wreath laying service.

The Vietnam Swans were given the honour of laying our own wreath during the official service. This magnificent opportunity was made possible thanks to the Thailand Tigers who organise for a wreath to be laid on behalf of each of the clubs that have played them on ANZAC Day. This is the 5th year of their ANZAC Match, the other four teams to have played Thailand are the Malaysian Warriors, Hong Kong Dragons, Bali Geckos and Jakarta Bintangs.

The actual match was played in front of a crowd of between 300 and 400 people - including 3 ex POWs.

The Cayman Islands has a vibrant Gaelic Football scene, and within their playing ranks are a number of Aussies who play the Irish game. On an annual basis the Irish play the Australians on both ANZAC Day and St Patrick's Day. In the past some of these matches have been Aussie Rules but compromise rules (or International Rules) has been the agreed format. One of the Aussie stars of the game there is Gavin McMaster. We thank Gavin for the following report.

For many Aussies living in the Cayman Islands, ANZAC Day was spent preparing for the much anticipated re-match of the International Rules series against the Irish. The Irish had earlier denied the Australian requests to play full Aussie Rules for fear of injury and were full of confidence given their recent St. Patrick’s Day victory and superior skills with the round ball. While some of the Australian team play in the local Gaelic football league, for many the St. Patrick’s Day game was their first exposure to International Rules. This was clearly evident on that day with errant kicking for goal costing the Australians dearly.

On a day where football truly was the winner, the Singapore Wombats annexed the Anzac Day Cup triumphing over the Malaysian Warriors and an Australian Army side at Alice Smith School on April, 25th 2009.

To some extent the results were secondary to the day itself. This year is the 10th year of the Warriors history, and importantly, they are hosting the Asian Championships in September. Given the gains our code has made in the Asian region over the past few years, Warriors have been keen to build on that and to promote the upcoming Championships though the media.

A local television segment focused on the Anzac Day Tri-Series and this was backed by a studio appearance of the Warriors leadership on NTV7’s breakfast show, and further exposure for the Great Game is coming via a camera crew representing the Australian TV network who recorded Saturday’s activities.

With the added assistance from other KL based organizations, targeted advertising in the form of email and flyer distribution helped boost the numbers to a more than acceptable attendance. Suffice to say that there was great exposure for the Club Sponsors and the image of Australian Rules Football within Malaysia on the day.

The Malaysian Warriors in association with the Australia Month Campaign are grateful to all those who attended and supported a fantastic Anzac Day afternoon, Saturday 25 April. Special thanks go to the Australian Army “Rifle Division”, the Singapore Wombats, the Australian Alumni Hunteroos and the young boys from Saint John’s Institution Secondary School, Kuala Lumpur for their involvement.

Many thanks to Glen Sargeant, Ben Simpson and Peter Habel of the Malaysian Warriors for contributing the bulk of this article.

The jockeying for position across Australia continues, with Australian Football, soccer, Rugby League and Rugby Union continuing to seek opportunities to expand. The AFL has confirmed the Gold Coast for 2011 and maintains 2012 as the preferred date for Western Sydney, though there are some concessions that it could be pushed out depending on circumstances. Tasmania is also being publically discussed more favourably as a future option, although no real timetable or mechanism has been set.

The A League (soccer) has a free kick to establish itself in Tassie if it wishes. Currently the state government is investigating whether to bid for a licence. The league already has 8 clubs across Australia and New Zealand, and has been focussing along the heavily populated stretch from Sydney to Brisbane. The coming season will see Gold Coast and North Queensland teams, and Gold Coast United's billionaire owner Clive Palmer has predicted that the AFL's Gold Coast club will fold within three years. "The biggest loser's going to be GC17 and Australian rules itself. I give them three years they'll be gone (by 2014)".

On 1 July 1945, The Australian 7th Division, composed of the 18th, 21st and 25th Infantry Brigades, with support troops, made an amphibious landing, codenamed Operation Oboe Two, a few miles north of Balikpapan, on the island of Borneo. The landing had been preceded by heavy bombing and shelling by Australian air and naval forces. The Japanese were outnumbered and out gunned, but like the other battles of the Pacific War, many of them fought to the death. 230 Aussies paid the ultimate sacrifice

Taking the name Operation Yoboe, the Jakarta Bintangs, with their junior side the Jakarta Bulldogs in tow, journeyed to Balikpapan in Kalimantan to contest the Borneo Bears for the Borneo Cup on Anzac Day, April 25th, 2009.

As always, the day commenced with the solemnity of the Dawn Service, but the afternoon’s football was fast and furious and not without surprise.

Mike Pyke's rapid transition to senior AFL football has come before anyone would have thought possible when he was signed up with the Sydney Swans in Decmeber 2008. But the last few weeks on the fringe of selection must have dragged out for the big Canadian. Today the Swans confirmed that he would indeed be starting on Sunday against Richmond at the SCG. The former rugby international for Canada impressed in the preseason matches for the Swans and it seemed only a matter of time until he would get his opportunity at the highest level of his adopted sport.

We know our regular Canadian readers will be watching Mike's progress closely, and hopefully he will be an inspiration to young Canadians who are already playing Aussie rules in their own country.

For many years Australian Football had a good toe hold in Canada, but it was limited to Ontario and very little beyond that. In recent years a lot of progress has been made in British Columbia and Alberta, so bringing players together from across Canada in a club or provincial championships would seem to be well overdue. So it was pleasing to see AFL Canada announce the 1st Annual Canadian National Championships of Australian Football. It's scheduled to run in conjunction with G'Day Toronto Australia Week 11 -16 May, and sponsors include Air Canada and Crowne Plaza.

Notionally it's an excellent opportunity to showcase the sport's development, pit the newer clubs against the established Ontario ones, and put on a big event, like the US Nationals. In fact US clubs are also welcome. Disappointingly though it appears that only local teams will be playing, with the Calgary and BC sides not likely to make it, nor Ottawa or Quebec, or any US clubs. worldfootynews.com spoke to some of those involved to find out what the situaton is.