World Footy News

An issue that began to become obvious over the course of the 2008 International Cup was a growing frustration amongst some nations over the umpiring. Firstly we should note that the umpires were generally Australian umpires from Victoria who had volunteered their time for the tournament, doing their part for international footy, and it was greatly appreciated by those involved. What we're going to discuss here was a relatively minor issue and was primarily an issue of different interpretations.

To generalise, the main rules that were causing most cries of discontent from the benches were high contact and in the back when tackling, and holding the ball / incorrect disposal.

The AFL Grand Final is fast approaching, with the event celebrated by footy clubs, expat Australians and other assorted sports fans across the globe. This year's GF will kick off on Saturday September 27th at the MCG in Melbourne, with TV coverage starting around 12pm AEST.

For many international footy clubs, the Grand Final party is the year's major fundraiser, for others it's been the key meeting where footy fans in a far-off city have realised they weren't alone and started a new team.

At WFN we also get a steady flow of requests from people who want to know where to see the game overseas. We've put on a very short list of ones we've heard about so far, if you aren't on the list yet, leave a comment on this story and we'll add you in!

Also, a reader in Germany sent us a message saying: "We have found one option that will work. We are likely to subscribe to EuroSport2 via the internet (around €5 per month, and hopefully cancel later). We are lucky that we can plug a laptop into the TV and watch it semi-normally from home at stupid AM German time."

http://player.eurosport.de/home
Click on Eurosport 2

Some other coverage details are also given on the AFL website in Global game: watching the GF overseas

Additional reporting by Stephen Alomes.

After Papua New Guinea's narrow win over New Zealand in the International Cup Grand Final worldfootynews.com headed down to the rooms to get the thoughts of winning coach Andrew Cadzow, runners-up coach Robert Vanstam, and we also had a quick word to retired AFL champion, PNG's Mal Michael.

The biggest single event during the 2008 Australian Football International Cup was arguably the "Dinner with the World" function at the Palladium at Crown in Melbourne on Thursday 5th September. Around 1300 guests attended this glittering evening, with the 16 competing nations and the Multicultural Challenge teams, as well as AFL guests and sponsors.

There were a few speeches, the announcement of the World Team, and several cultural performances along the lines of those given by the teams in Warrnambool, as well as one by an Aboriginal group.

Looking out across the sea of people gave a sense of just how far international footy has come in the last few years. The event itself would have cost at least AUD$100,000. Perhaps the most significant speech was that of Australian Federal Trade Minister Simon Crean. Late in 2007 there was a change of government and the new one appears to be quite interested in working with the AFL in using Australian Football as a tool for increasing trade with other nations. This can only be a good thing for the development of our sport, and something we should hear more about in future.

Although light on detail, you can hear more of Crean's speech in our Youtube video of the night.

Full results of the recent Asian Championships are here, with points tables and scores.

Group A went much as expected. The China Reds' win over Jakarta Bintangs was somewhat of a surprise and Malaysia were desperately unlucky not to beat Bali, having the lead until the last few seconds.

As expected, Hong Kong and UAE dominated Group B, though it was evident from the first game they played that UAE had a very formidable and very fit team. In their initial outing in an Asian Games, Laos were very impressive. Thailand were disappointing given their strong lead-up form. Like Malaysia in Group A, Vietnam were competitive but could not convert chances in front of goal.

The semi finals went according to form in the preliminary matches and the two best teams met in the final. UAE were superb, their standard of play was excellent and ability to convert second to none, to kick 10 goals straight in any form of football is no mean effort, and they ran out deserved winners on the day. Singapore fought hard, but were outclassed in the final.

In this author's opinion the IC08 worked so well as a tournament because of the serious commitment of resources to it by AFL Development and because of the efficiency and dedication of a number of people, including volunteer umpires and trainers.

We contacted Garry Bilson, AFL Medical Coordinator, as a prelude to writing an article on this aspect of the International Cup.

Gary is a Melbourne remedial masseur and trainer with the Brisbane Lions, head trainer at Gisborne FC, a former president of the AFL Trainers Association with VFL/AFL involvements going back to 1978. His international football experience includes touring Ireland as Head Trainer for Australia in the International Rules Series 2000, while he has been the co-ordinator of medical services for all three of the International Cups.

Garry provided us with this account via an email which we think it is worth publishing "as is". It confirms the general experience of high quality support services at the IC and Garry’s assessment of the "outstanding support provided by the AFL in overseeing this very important area of medical assistance".

As is traditional, at the conclusion of the Asian Championships an Asian All Star team, now known as the Asian Lions is chosen. This year, in addition to the honour of selection, thanks to a donation from Big Rooster Footy, each player was presented with an all-star team jumper.

Geoff Blethyn played 84 games for Essendon between 1968-72 and 1976 kicking 216 goals, topping the 100 goals in 1972, was leading goal kicker twice with Claremont and played in the Port Adelaide premiership side in 1977. He played his last game for Malaysia in 1992. He has always maintained contact with the Warriors but had not seen a game in Asia since that date.

At the invitation of the Malaysian Warriors, Geoff attended the 9th Asian Championships held in Singapore on 6th September. His comments on the Championships make interesting reading and are reported verbatim below.

The first major International Rules event ever to be scheduled in Sydney will be played on Saturday 18 October, followed by the first major Gaelic Football event on Sunday November 2.

The matches will be played at Henson Park, a stadium located in Marrickville, a suburb of inner-western Sydney. Henson Park is the home of the Newtown Jets rugby league club and Canterbury-Marrickville Olympic soccer club. It is also a finals venue for the Sydney AFL has grandstand and seating capacity of 1,000 with a total capacity of about 30,000.

The AFL have put together some of the highlights from the games they had filmed during the International Cup. For those that can access the Bigpond website you'll find the package here:

http://bigpondvideo.com/AFLTV/77012

Some international viewers seem to have problems accessing that site. Certainly I find Internet Explorer works better than say Firefox (which is otherwise my preferred browser).

The 2008 NFL season kicked off last weekend with the three former Australian Rules football players that competed in the previous season again starting. All three played in winning teams and got off to good starts. No additional AFL players made the transition this year, although rumors that current players Anthony Rocca, Dustin Fletcher and Brendan Fevola among others, hope to have the option at the end of their careers.

Former player with Old Brighton in the VAFA, Matt McBriar playing for the Dallas Cowboys had two punts with a 48.5 yard average, a 37 yard net average and a longest punt of 52 yards in their 28-10 win.

The AFL has released an official review of the umpiring decision that saw South Africa defeat Ireland by a point in the most controversial moment of International Cup history to date.

The review included consideration of the statements made by the umpires in interviews with the AFL Competition Managers immediately after the game and also consideration of available match footage.

Josh Vanderloo from the AFL today notified team managers from all IC sides their findings that;

"1. Near the end of the match a free kick was correctly awarded to player number 3 of South Africa for a holding the man infringement. The infringement occurred more than a metre towards the South African goal from the centre square. This is absolutely clear on the video.

2. Having set the mark, the umpire observed the Irish player step over the mark as the South African player came in to take his kick and therefore blew his whistle in response to this action. The umpire immediately decided a 25metre penalty was to be awarded which is correct. This is supported by the video which clearly shows the Irish player clearly in front of the centre square line when the umpire blows his whistle.

3. Conjecture about player number 3 from South Africa playing on is irrelevant as the umpires decision was based on the first action he observed - the Irish player coming over the mark.

Whilst it was a dramatic and emotional conclusion to an important match, the AFL is satisfied that the decisions taken by the umpire were correct."

Regardless of the official decision, the moment will be talked about for many years to come. We will hopefully have the video footage of the incident online in the near future.

Update: We've now uploaded the footage to our worldfooty Youtube player, or visit directly here.