World Footy News

Belfast Redbacks last weekend hosted the Leprechaun Cup for men and women. The tournament is the big season catalyst needed for clubs ahead of the start of the AFL Ireland season which isn’t far away. The following report from the Belfast Redbacks details the day with all scores, with the host team, the Redbacks, taking the men’s title and the University Shamrocks the women’s.

Saturday 23rd of March saw the annual Leprechaun Cup being held at Boucher Road playing fields with 5 men's teams and 4 women's taking to the field of play.

The London Swans and South East London Giants made the trip over from across the water and fielded teams in both the men's and women's competitions. The Galway Magpies, the South Dublin Swans and the Belfast Redbacks brought the number of men's team to five.

The girls from the newly formed West Lothian Eagles made the trip to Belfast for the first time and the last team in the ladies competition was the Irish University Shamrocks team.

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The Adelaide Crows thumped Geelong by 66 points at the Adelaide Oval on a mild day in Adelaide.

It was a superior effort from the Crows, as they made light work of the Cats all day with their tough and relentless pressure.

With the 11 goals kicked by the Crows, 7 of them were kicked by individual goal scorers. 

The Cats struggled to get any flow and momentum to impact the game.

It was a great performance down back for Cats defender Meg McDonald who kept the dangerous Stevie-Lee Thompson quiet all day.

The Crows will host Carlton at the Adelaide Oval in the AFLW Grand Final next week. 

Image Source: AFL Photos

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It is slow and gradual, but it is relentless. More and more Hollywood and entertainment heavyweights are taking our great game to a world stage, perhaps nowhere more so that the United States.

In the past twelve months, a slew of Hollywood (or entertainment general) figures have visited Australia and ensured they spent time learning more about our game.

Last night, as part of the first AFL premiership match at the newly renamed Marvel Stadium, Chris Hemsworth (Thor) and Matt Damon (remember his small role as Loki in Thor: Ragnorak) cheered on the Thor-themed Western Bulldogs.

Carlton pulled off a solid upset win by 36 points over a Fremantle Dockers outfit that were outclassed all game long at the Ikon Park on a hot day in Melbourne.

From the wooden spooners last year to making the AFLW Grand Final for the first time.

The Dockers had an exceptional season, but the Blues played their best game of the season so far and the Dockers could not get any flow into their usual reliable formidable game plan. 

It was the first ever AFLW preliminary final at Ikon Park.

The Blues did not disappoint their home crowd with their stifling  pressure and cleaness with their ball skills around the entire ground.

It was the walking wounded for the Dockers during the match.

Image Source: Mike Owen

The Osaka Dingoes are hosting the Aussie Night for the season launch and to recruit more players.

Aussie beers and food will be served at reasonable prices and the live AFL coverage of North Melbourne versus Adelaide Crows will be on.

Please share this article on your social media platform to spread the information so that we will attract more people to come in. Everyone is welcomed, and we hope patrons will enjoy the event and them getting involved in Osaka’s own AFL club.


Date: Saturday 13 April 2019

It took longer than they had hoped, and arguably longer than they deserved, but after four consecutive grand final losses the Multiplex Bulls have won their maiden AFL Middle East premiership. In the process they brought to an end a Dubai Dragons reign of four consecutive flags.

Since joining the league for the 2014/15 season, the Bulls have not missed playing in a grand final, including reaching the big dance in their first season.. However, until today their only silverware was multiple pre-season cup trophies.

But after an excellent season which saw just one defeat – by three points – the Bulls knew this was their best chance, and they took it.

Irishwoman Ailish Considine will play in her first AFLW final for the Adelaide Crows this Sunday afternoon at the Adelaide Oval.

Considine says that her preparation leading up to preliminary final has been pretty much the same.

“It’s been pretty good this week so far, we had our first training session last night (Tuesday) and we will have our second one tomorrow (Thursday),” Considine said.

“It’s been pretty much the same as every other week we have prepared, same training days and the same way we do every week, because at the end of the day that’s what it is another game and we have to do our best to hopefully win and get the result.”

Image Source: AFL Women's 

It cannot be understated how important tomorrow’s AFL Middle East grand final is. On the one hand you have an incredible club chasing what would be a seventh flag in eight seasons and a fifth in a row. On the other hand, a club that has performed so well since they first came into the league, but four premiership defeats later are waiting to break a drought.

Sceptics might take the view that another Dragons flag would be fine for them but have a downside to the competition as a whole as other clubs might question their ability to rise and ever challenge them.

But the Multiplex Bulls hold the antidote to a sceptical viewpoint. A Bulls victory will send a clear message to all present and future clubs that things change the Dragons are nothing more or less than a raised bar to be jumped over. The Dragons will not lay down, but the Bulls are ready to bring them down - rise to the challenge.

Preliminary finals teams have been released below

Carlton Vs Fremantle, Saturday 23rd March 2:45pm at Ikon Park

Carlton Squad

Position	Name	#	Name	#	Name	#
Backs	J.Van Dyk	36	K.Harrington	9	N.Stevens	21
Half Backs	C.Dalton	15	C.Wilson	20	G.Pound	6
Centreline			B.Davey - C	1
Half Forwards	L.Brazzale	12	B.Moody	16	T.Lucas-Rodd	18
Forwards	D.Vescio	3	T.Harris	7	B.Walker	14
Followers	A.Downie	30	M.Prespakis	4	S.Hosking	10
Interchange	G.Gee	19	J.Edwards	25	K.Loynes	2
	A.Mullane	8	J.Hosking	11
	R.Hicks	24	N.Plane	32

In: - J.Edwards

Out: - A.McKay (Omitted) 

 

The following extract is from an excellent story by Ellie Honeybone at ABC Great Southern looking in depth at the popularity of Australian Rules football in Europe, driven heavily by the uptake of the game by women across Europe.

A growing number of women and men are signing up to play Australian Rules in Europe and there are hopes a women-only league will be established in Switzerland in the next few years.

Katherine Dellar spent her childhood playing AusKick with the boys, and played Australian Rules for the Australian National University in Canberra.

When the 30-year-old moved to Switzerland 18 months ago she had no idea the sport would once again become part of her life.

"Geneva has a large expat population, a lot of those are Australians, and I heard via word-of-mouth about people who were trying to get an AFL team together," Ms Dellar said.

Round 1 of the 2019 AFL Season kicks off tonight (Melbourne time) at the MCG with Richmond hosting Carlton in what has become the traditional season opener.

The full international broadcast schedule can be seen below.

In addition to the TV networks you can also subscribe to the Watch AFL service that will give you live access to all the matches and more (outside Australia only).