World Footy News

Not only was 2008 a big struggle for football in Tonga as the Tongan Australian Football Association (TAFA) attempted to get a team to the 2008 International Cup, but the fledgling league also suffered the cruellest of blows when two of its players suffered horrific injuries in a car accident just weeks before the trip to Australia. Both young men sustained life-changing injuries and have been the subject of fundraising efforts. Meanwhile TAFA ended up sending a side to the Cup but the decision was too late for the main event.

Sweden's Karlstad Dragons and Queensland's Noosa Tigers have teamed up to start the first player exchange program for an individual Swedish footy club.

While a few Swedes also played footy in Australia via a partnership between Powerhouse FC and the DAFL, the first Swede from a northern club to travel down under to hone his footballing skills under this agreement will be Mattias Ewald, who will arrive in Queensland in early February. Ewald's journey has created some interest in the local press, with the Värmlands Folkblad and online version of the Nya Wermlands-Tidningen both publishing articles in the past few days.

The Noosa Tigers, based on the Sunshine Coast north of Brisbane, play in the AFL Queensland state league. The AFLQ has grown in recent years to be the strongest league in the northern "rugby states", with a number of former AFL players playing or coaching.

The exchange was organised by former Dragons coach Kevin Anderson while visiting relatives last year, and supported by his company Maloo Inc.

Mattias will become the third Scandinavian we know of currently visiting down under for a kick of the footy, with Nicolai Secher and Chris Campion from the Denmark Vikings' IC08 squad currently in Geelong playing with the Thomson FC for 2009.

Despite the transfer of the West Coast versus Collingwood NAB Cup match from Cape Town to Subiaco, Perth, the two Western Australian AFL clubs, West Coast and Fremantle, are still keen to play an official match in South Africa in 2010.

In WA clubs set sights on African adventure by Digby Beacham in The West Australian, both clubs have put their case that they should return. The article states that:

The AFL is hoping to return to South Africa in 2010, although a final decision on whether a sanctioned fixture can take place overseas won’t be made until later this year.

and

Fremantle strategic partnerships general manager, Darren Beazley, has secured commercial partnerships with Nkwe Platinum, Continental Capital and Air Mauritius and [Fremantle chief executive] Rosich said the club intended to foster those contacts.

and

"We are sending a community development team to South Africa to our province, the North-West province, from February 12 to 16 and that will include a coaching clinic in the Limpopo province".

That's interesting, because Freo's zone, the North West Province, is a long way from Limpopo which borders Kruger National Park in the north east.

The Australian Football Association of North America (AFANA) is undergoing a change of leadership with Rob de Santos (Chairman) and Ann Solomon (Editor-in-Chief) leaving those roles after 13 years with the organisation.

Both have been there since the start, as AFANA has sought to promote Australian Football in North America and in particular has been a focal point for lobbying efforts to improve television coverage of AFL matches. de Santos and Solomon leave with coverage in North America in very good shape, via Setanta Sports and MHz Networks.

The Australian Rules Football League of Ireland will this year introduce a second division to its league, comprising reserve teams from the established clubs and new teams from around the Emerald Isle.

The move is hoped to make the creation of new clubs easier, with the league finding it difficult to expand in recent years due to start-up clubs struggling on-field against the powerful Dublin and Cork-based sides.

The ARFLI’s Ciaran O’Hara tells WFN that, while the ARFLI Premiership will this year see the same five clubs from 2008, the league is hopeful the second division could see the debut of the Kingdom Kangaroos, Mayo Mariners and Galway’s Midwest Magpies, in addition to the rebirth of the Clare Crows and Belfast Redbacks.

O'Hara also tells us the league is launching Rec Footy this year, as an avenue to taking the game to the nation's schools and colleges.

In international news, the Green Machine will this year take on Wales and Scotland for the inaugural Celtic Cup, as well as the return of the tri-series against Great Britain and Denmark.

In some respects the breakthrough that many of us involved in international footy have been awaiting has occurred. Papua New Guinea's International Cup hero, 17 year old Amua Pirika, has been signed by the Gold Coast Football Club, the proposed 17th club in the Australian Football League.

Pirika first came to prominence when he kicked three goals for PNG against a Queensland Colts side in the Queensland Under 16 championships in 2007. In 2008 he played for Nambour in the AFLQ Northern Area U18 competition, booting a league leading 65 goals. At just 17 he finished equal 11th in the 2008 Australian Football International Cup best player voting, and was 3rd in the goalkicking with 15. That included 4 in the semi-final against South Africa, previewing his grand final form.

Originally listed for IC08 as 184cm, he was obviously in a growth spurt as he was soon quoted at 190cm - certainly he played tall in the Cup grand final at the MCG (Mozzies at last in MCG thriller), taking several strong marks in an unstoppable burst, booting four goals in total to drag the Mosquitoes to a come-from-behind victory. And for tens of thousands of fans gathering for the following match, an AFL final between the Western Bulldogs and Hawthorn, he provided a great highlight, curling a check-side goal through the big sticks after the siren to put the icing on the cake of PNG's 8 point win.

For many French people, the role Australia played in the first World War may seem pretty small, but there is one village in the north of France that will never forget what the Aussies did for them.

During the first and second battle of the Somme a large number of Australians and New Zealanders died to free the small village of Villers-Bretonneux. The village was almost destroyed during the conflict, and the Australian government helped to rebuild it. Since then the village is closely bonded to Australia, and a big sign in the school courtyard saying “Never forget Australia” is here to remind everyone of what the diggers did.

Every year Villers-Bretonneux host the second biggest ANZAC ceremony behind the one in Gallipoli, involving the Australian ambassador in France, and numbers of other French and Australian officials.

We all know how important is ANZAC day in the footy community, hence the officials of French footy along with Aussie Rules Europe (ARE) have decided to organise the first 18-a-side game in France since WWI (probably played in Villers-Bretonneux) as a part of the 2009 ANZAC Day ceremony.

Paul Roos today discussed Kennelly's departure from the club “As a Club we knew Tadhg was going to go at the end of this season and we accepted that and were respectful of Tadhg’s decision...based on the last two years and Tadhg’s genuine concern for his body, the injury problems he has had with his groins, shoulders and knees, it has fast-tracked that decision by six months.

“We have always known that family commitments back home and also a burning desire to play for his county Kerry and follow in the footsteps of his late father Tim Kennelly, would one day take him back. We are totally supportive of Tadhg’s decision. It has come six months before we thought it would but we completely understand that Tadhg wants to go back and have an impact. His genuine fear is that if he got injured this year, as has been the case the last couple of years, he would never fulfil his ambition that he has long had and it would genuinely haunt him for the rest of his life.” He went on to say “Tadhg’s contribution to the Swans has been sensational and led to our Premiership win in 2005, the sacrifices he has made to play with us, leaving his family and friends, have been extraordinary. His competitive drive has allowed him to become a star player of the AFL and we'll miss him but obviously respect his decision, will continue to support him and he will always be welcome back at the Football Club.”

Tadhg Kennelly is set to announce his retirement from the Sydney Swans and AFL football this afternoon at a scheduled press conference at 3.30 pm. Reports of his return home were reported here and denied by the Swans and by Kennelly himself in the past two weeks. Obviously the cat was let out of the bag early and further reports last week suggested that the Swan's players had already held a send off party for him, again the Swans denied his departure. But it seems that with Paul Roos' return to the club this week, Kennelly has had a sit down with the coach to inform him that he will be returning home to Ireland.

His departure would seem to make it less likely that Kyle Coney will return to the Swans despite Kennelly saying last week that he thought there was still some chance of his return. Kennelly's presence may have been the best tool the Swans have at their disposal to both encourage him to return and to help him to settle in. In fact it is possible that Coney's decision not to return to Sydney may have been prompted by the revelation of Kennelly's plans prior to Christmas.

A small piece of Australian football news appeared in the Solomon Star News recently. The article, to coincide with Australia Day, discusses the 5-year Australian role in that country as part of a Regional Assistance Mission, and various efforts to interact with locals. Of particular interest is that the footy program has continued. It is being suggested as a role model for the introduction of cricket. From Aussies and Solomon Islanders – enjoying the partnership:

This could follow the model used by RAMSI personnel who, since arriving in 2003, have managed to introduce Aussie Rules football to many Solomon Islanders with a regular Saturday afternoon Auskick clinic run by RAMSI personnel for the past five years.

Captain Robert Coales, an Australian public servant currently serving in RAMSI’s military contingent as a personnel officer, says he looks forward to umpiring these games, now held at the Honiara Secondary School ground, each Saturday.

“For me it’s a chance to get out of headquarters, to interact with the community and to be involved in the game I love.”

Captain Coales says it is great to see how far the local players have developed in the past five years; some of them are excellent.”

It was recently reported that Western Bulldogs international scholarship player Inoke Ratu was unable to receive a visa to visit Australia due to his father's links to the military rulers of Fiji. An article in the Fiji Daily Post has raised hopes that the ruling was in fact due to an error by Ratu, thus potentially clearing the way for him to travel to Australia for training with the Bulldogs. The article says:

"My chances are really good. That’s what the Australian High Commission told me,” Ratu said.

“They were not happy with a section of the application I filled out”.

“It had nothing to do with my dad being in the military,” he added.

The Bulldog officials are also confident Ratu will have his visa application approved and will be training with his teammates within a matter of weeks.

Let's hope the reports are correct this time.

Although AFL South Africa lost its marquee event for 2009, the NAB Cup match between Collingwood and West Coast in Cape Town (now moved to Subiaco due to sponsor issues blamed on the global financial crisis), there's still a very busy schedule of exciting events planned.

worldfootynews.com spoke with Operations Manager Anthony "Joel" Kelly, Lions captain Mtutu Hlomela and North West Provincial Development Manager July Machethe, about what will be yet another exciting year for the game in this footy hotspot, which includes tours by the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) and Geelong College, as well as a development camp by Fremantle and the launch of further programs focussed on footy, health, education and employment.