World Footy News

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.

Many countries have military forces in Afghanistan as part of the ongoing conflict, under the banner of the International Security Assistance Force.

Australian Sergeant Darrin Tapp is a Physical Training Instructor (PTI) in the Royal Australian Air Force in Afghanistan. "One of my roles here is to keep up morale and fitness levels for the 2000+ troops from 40 different nations around the world. One of these ways, and to bring a bit of Australian culture to HQ ISAF is to allow several nations to experience our great game of Australian Rules Football".

So Sergeant Tapp undertook the process of getting a tournament going in Kabul, Afghanistan's capital, with the aim of linking it in with ANZAC Day, including inviting players to a service and to watch a telecast of the Collingwood versus Essendon clash from the MCG.

ANZAC stands for Australian and New Zealand Army Corps and is commemorated each year on April 25th by Australia and New Zealand to remember those who have served in their armed forces.

Among the crop of new clubs on the English Aussie Rules scene this year are the Liverpool Eagles, a side hoping to bring footy to the Merseyside.

Although the Eagles actually already played their first game late last year, a friendly against the Manchester Mosquitoes, the nature of a mainly student-based club means they are back to recruiting a fresh squad for 2009.

World Footy News spoke with Eagles organiser Chris Thompson about the challenges associated with getting the club off the ground.

Richard Pratt has died after a long battle with prostate cancer. He was 74. In a media release from the AFL, Chief Executive Officer Andrew Demetriou last night said the AFL commission and Staff wished to pass on their sincere condolences to the family of the late Richard Pratt.

Mr. Demetriou said Mr. Pratt had made an enormous contribution to Australian life and his work within football was often not realised by the wider community. “Mr. Pratt played a pivotal role in forming and bringing out the Peace Team last year (pictured) to play in the AFL International Cup. This team brought together Palestinians and Israelis on the sporting field for the first time -- a monumental achievement."

Saturday April 18th was a perfect day for football, with the sun shining and barely a cloud in the sky for the 6 teams from around Wales and England who competed for the inaugural Cardiff British Clwb Challenge in Cardiff hosted by the WARFL at the picturesque Llandaff Fields.

The Nottingham Scorpions were the favourites to take out the cup, however a pumped-up Manchester Mosquitoes side, along with the two WARFL development composite teams at home thought otherwise. ARUK’s Huddersfield Rams, playing in their first competition since their formation this year was also keen to impress, along with the Bristol Dockers who always put a competitive team on the park.

The whole day saw some very tight contests, with no side completing the tournament undefeated and Nottingham winning only by percentage over the Manchester Mozzies.

Thanks to Bryce Stone from the Welsh Australian Rules Football League for this report.

With the success of the Calgary Kangaroos Australian Football Club and their cross-town associates the Calgary Kookaburras at last year’s US Nationals, Alberta is looking to branch into local schools in an effort to attract youths to Australian football.

The "Downunder Travel" Alberta Footy Schools Program is a new development in Calgary which began in October last year. It is a program which Alberta Footy believes will revolutionize footy in Alberta by introducing children to the sport.

The program consists of sending dedicated football development officers into schools to facilitate skills acquisition and to build a relationship between students and Alberta football clubs. The facilitators will return to the same schools every week for five weeks, gradually introducing more-complicated football concepts to the students.

Former PNG Mosquito Emmaus Wartovo has clinched Best on Ground in each of the first 3 games played by his East Devonport Football Club in Northern Tasmania. The addition of Wartovo has seen the Club viewed as a genuine chance to play finals footy. EDFC club secretary Pettina Borlini said “Emmaus’ exceptional speed, ball skills and goal kicking ability have proved to be a great asset for the EDFC."

“His good form so far this season has him in contention to play in two representative games. If he performs well in the two games, he is likely to be selected in the Tasmanian under-23 side, which plays in a carnival in Adelaide in July. The best 25 players in this carnival are then selected to play for Australia in an international game against Ireland, later in the year,” Borlini said.

Those involved in international footy have long known the potential was there for success such as this - it has been more about the opportunity and a pathway. Awareness has now grown and with the increased exposure of international footy through the International Cup, the youth tours to places such as South Africa, Ireland and PNG, appointment of internationally-focused staff such as Andrew Cadzow by the AFL and now the AFL International Scholarships, the work done by many in laying the foundations now seems certain to lead to something beyond many of our wildest expectations.

For more, see this article in PNG newspaper "The National".

Editor (Brett): I will temper that just a little by noting that although The National report seems to suggest Wartovo was best on ground in each match, the Northern Tasmanian Football League website only has him amongst the best each week. Still, an excellent effort, especially 4 goals in round 3 in a 19 point come from behind win, given he's a non key position player. He has also been noted in other media as scoring votes in two games, so he's definitely getting recognition.