World Footy News

It was cold. It was wet. It was cold and wet in the low 40's (F). The big upset of the day was Vancouver beating the number one seed Denver. In the other pool, the Boston Demons beat the number two seed the Baltimore Washington Eagles. Pool B is a wash, all four teams are 1-1.

Sunday should be very interesting. The Boston vs Golden Gate game and the San Diego vs Baltimore Washington game will both decide the winner of Pool B. The BW Eagles' big win over Golden Gate may help them if it comes down to percentage.

In Pool A, Vancouver is the team to beat. They ran over both Denver and New York and they are looking to be the first Canadian team to win the USFooty National championship.

Barring a big upset by Orange County, Vancouver should go through to the final representing Pool A. In Pool B, San Diego takes on Baltimore Washington and Golden Gate takes on Boston. Baltimore Washington probably have the inside run but will have to beat a determined San Diego team.

Story by Chris Adams for USFootyNews.com.

The England Dragonslayers defeated the Croatian Knights in Prague yesterday to take out the 2008 EU Cup. Scores in the final match saw England 16.11.107 defeat Croatia 9.5.59.

Both sides were made up almost entirely of locals, meaning a good part of the score above is made up of handicap. Taking this out of the equation, the scoreline reads England 9.8.62 to Croatia 2.5.17 - reflecting a dominant effort on the part of the Dragonslayers. For their part, the Knights can be very happy with a very strong first-up performance at the cup, auguring well for Croatia as a future powerhouse in European footy.

Germany defeated Sweden for third place, with Finland narrowly defeating France for fifth. The full final rankings are listed below, reports to come in the next few days.

Bol Luak, the 17 year old Sudanese ruckman from the Murrumbeena Colts in the Southern Football League (reported earlier by WFN in Murrumbeena's Multicultural Colts featured in local media) has suprised many by taking out one of the league's most prestigious awards - the Shooting Star (equivalent to the Rising Star in many leagues like the AFL), for the league's best young new player in just his first season.

Most suprising is that he arrived in Australia from Ethiopia just two years ago knowing absolutely nothing about the game. His sporting background is soccer, where he held down the position of goal-keeper and his towering but still growing 193cm frame make him an ideal ruckman for Australian Football. He now features regularly among the best players for Murrumbeena and is obviously catching the attention of the league's umpires.

An article, Murrumbeena Colts’ Bol Luak a shooting star by Paul Amy which features in Caufield-Glen Eira Leader also makes mention of Murrumbeena's up and coming young Chinese and Indian players.

The odds appear to be increasing that Carlton's Irish brothers will be forced to go their separate ways next year. Setanta has played 46 games for the Blues and still seems a chance to hold down a key position. He was only considered as a possible trade for a reasonable pick in the draft, and with no deal done (trade week finished yesterday), and still under contract for 2009, it looks like Setanta will get another season.

The chances for younger brother Aisake O'hAilpin seem less promising. At 23, out of contract and with no AFL games after 3 to 4 years at the Blues, his time may be up. On Thursday Carlton confirmed there were no trade offers, and combined with reported disciplinary problems this year, it doesn't look good. The final blow could be Carlton's last gasp securing of Fremantle's 206cm rookie ruckman Robert Warnock in the trade. He joins 2007 number one draft pick and very promising ruckman Matthew Kreuzer at the Blues, so given that Aisake has been touted as a ruck option, it is bad news for the Irishman.

If the Old Dark Navy Blues decide to de-list Aisake, he will have to hope for a club to pick him up in the November or pre-season drafts, if he wishes to continue his AFL bid. Note that previously players only got a second the chance via the pre-season draft, so at least he now has two opportunities if Carlton cut him.

The Timor-Leste (East Timor) Crocs will be represented at this weekend's 12-team Indigenous Community Division of the AFLNT's annual pre-season carnival in Darwin, from Friday October 10th until Sunday October 12th at TIO Stadium, Marrara.

The Crocs were invited to compete as a team in their own right, however this was not possible and the team decided instead to send a small delegation to play in a combined team with Australian Defence Force personnel and East Timorese residents in Darwin.

Luke Gosling from the Timor Crocs said, "the Timorese players are very happy to be coming to Darwin and playing their newly adopted sport of Australian Rules Football. One of the Timor-Leste players to watch is Amaro da Silva, who is also a very good soccer player. With strength, natural agility and hand-eye coordination, Amaro and the other Timorese players have taken to the sport quickly."

Thus far in Timor-Leste, as well as in representative games played this year in Indonesia, the team has played 9-a-side on a soccer field. The tournament in Darwin will be the first time the players have experienced the larger field and different gameplay of 18-a-side.

Gosling says, "In many ways the Timorese players are quick and agile like the Northern Territory's indigenous players, however they lack the many years of practice that comes from growing up with a footy in their hands. The Timor-Leste players have a great opportunity to learn from playing the community teams and from their own Timor-Leste and Australian teammates."

The Crocs are scheduled to play their first match this afternoon at 5.30pm.

This year's EU Cup in Prague will feature live streaming via the web.

From 10am until approximately 7pm western European time this Saturday, action will be available via this link.

If that link doesn't work, try directly through the TVCom.cz website. The site's in Czech, but it's currently on the front page.

With comments noting that Australia's increase in skill with the round ball needs to be matched more, perhaps than trying to match Australia's physical strength - Ireland’s International Rules squad was announced on Tuesday 7th October in Dublin.

As reported in the Irish Times, Irish team manager (coach), Seán Boylan, admitted Ireland was sending its most inexperienced (in terms of International Rules experience) squad since the series resumed a decade ago. Ireland will be without all its AFL players due to injury or personal reasons (or perhaps some not considered on form grounds – though Boylan didn’t say that) apart from the Brisbane Lions' Colm Begley who did have an excellent season. Tadgh Kennelly carrying several injuries will be a big loss but will be assisting Boylan with managing the team.

The Irish players came mainly from the most successful counties in the recently completed All-Ireland championships, as the Irish Times reports: “All-Ireland finalists Tyrone and Kerry leading the pack with four players each. Other representations are Armagh and Cork (3), Galway, Dublin and Meath (2) with Laois, Down, Wicklow, Westmeath, Wexford, Mayo and Derry having one player each.” Of some controversy was that a small traditionally unsuccessful county, Fermanagh, that has improved markedly in recent times had 3 players considered likely, but all were overlooked.

In the third and final installment of WFN's preview of this year's EU Cup, we spoke to team managers from the England Dragonslayers, Scottish Puffins and Austrian Kangaroos.

The Dragonslayers have performed well at EU Cup in the past, and will be keen to be back towards the top of the table. A large contingent of their team is drawn from the ARUK Southern league, who surprised many with a strong showing at this year's Brit Cup in London. They will also have the services of Christian Lloyd, who travelled with the GB Bulldogs to this year's IC in Melbourne.

The Puffins are coming to Prague after a disrupted 2008 season, with problems in player numbers and availability of Victoria Park getting in the way of conducting their regular league structure. However, management in Scotland are confident the SARFL will be back on track for business as usual in 2009.

The Austrians will again be drawn from the Vienna Kangaroos club, with the expansion side in Graz still yet to get off the ground. The side has had a few hit outs this year, including their regular local show downs against Croatia and the Czech Republic, and the clash of the Kangaroos against Munich.

The Denver Bulldogs and San Diego Lions will this year again go into the USFooty Nationals hot favorites, being drawn as number one seeds in Division 1 pools A and B respectively.

We take a look at how they're traveling, their players to watch and who their stiffest opponents might be.

The AFL today announced its 25-man squad for the 2008 Toyota International Rules Series to be played in Perth and Melbourne. The squad to be coached by Collingwood coach Mick Malthouse will be defending the Cormac McAnallen trophy, which was won in Ireland in 2006. Malthouse said the team featured the next generation of Australian players.

“We have gone for youth, speed, skill and agility. The squad consists of players who have had outstanding seasons with their clubs, 23 of the 25 have finished in the top 10 of their club best and fairest. They all deserve the opportunity to play for their country and win for their country.

India was one of five nations that attended their first International Cup this year. Two thirds of the team flew in from Kolkata, India with the rest of the squad Indian students already in Australia.

WFN spoke to team captain Mario Shelton about his journey to Melbourne and his plans for the game back home.

Melbourne's Herald Sun reports that Carlton's O'hAilpin brothers may not be at the club in 2009. Setanta (pictured left) is having a break back in Ireland after struggling through the end of the season with the Blues, missing nearly half the year with a calf injury and/or demotion to the VFL. Aisake (pictured right), at 23 and 201 cm, has yet to make his AFL debut and has gained a reputation as a fiery player, with run-ins on the field and disputes with staff. Both players have switched their management to Michael Quinlan, who also looks after Sydney's Irishman Tadhg Kennelly. With 46 matches under his belt, the elder O'hAilpin has already exceeded the average length of an AFL career, with so many young players not making it past two or three years.

Encouragingly several clubs (Western Bulldogs and Port Adelaide) are reported to be interested in Setanta, and Aisake has supposedly caught the eye of Collingwood. Trade week is always full of speculation and rumour, but hopefully the Fijian-Irishmen will still find themselves on AFL lists next season. Certainly with draft picks in the 20s and 30s being talked about as potential swaps for Setanta, he should be reasonably safe to make one of the 16 AFL lists. The Herald Sun article is: Carlton appear to be put O'hAilpin brothers on the market, by Mark Robinson.