World Footy News

worldfootynews.com asked China's Team Manager and Australian Football Development Officer, Andrew Sawitsch, his thoughts on the 2008 International Cup from the perspective of the Chinese Red Demons. Overall he felt it was a great experience for both the players and staff, though he left no doubt that a development division was and remains their preference for the lower ranked sides. Sawitsch also has some interesting comments on China's opponents. "Sanga" as he is known, also revealed the surprising country that China formed the closest bond with. His thoughts are given below.

It's also interesting to note that the AFL are currently surveying the countries, asking for feedback on issues such as the pool structure, facilities, host locations (Melbourne and Warrnambool), frequency of the event (3 or 4 years), costs, umpiring and medical assistance, functions and how a junior carnival could be staged.

While the AFL grand final fast approaching, many leagues around the world have already completed their premiership seasons.

Last month saw the Northern and Southern regional premierships going to Newcastle and Southampton respectively, the Cardiff Double Blues too strong in Wales, and the rampaging West London football club taking out the flag in all three London divisions.

While it was first time the West London club had taken out the Social division, it was their fifth consecutive crown in the Premiership and eight straight in the Conference.

Reports courtesy of AFL Britain and the West London Wildcats FC.

The New Zealand local leagues have recently commenced their seasons. Like many other countries around the world, those playing Aussie Rules in NZ are not required to make the choice between their traditional weekend winter codes and playing footy.

Generally footy is confined to the September - December window with some local variance across the four leagues in Auckland, Waikato, Wellington and Canterbury.

Though there has been talk and some action in seeking to establish the game in other centres including Hawkes Bay, Dunedin, Blenheim and Queenstown, thus far these endeavours have not materialized into any on-going footy.

Recently there have also been a couple of articles on NZ footy in the mainstream NZ media that make interesting reading:- "Playing by the Rules" from The Aucklander and Marsden plays at MCG, lands Black Caps job on stuff.co.nz, telling how one of the 2008 Falcons has recently been named team physio for the New Zealand national cricket team.

In this article I will look at descriptions provided by the Auckland clubs and a brief rundown on what is happening in the Waikato.

The boldest innovation of the 9th Asian Championships in Singapore on September 6th was the first Under 16s Championship involving teams from the Jakarta Bulldogs, Singapore Wombats, Singapore Gaelic Cubs and Hong Kong Dragons. Anyone who was present could not have been anything but uplifted to watch these young lads, the vast majority of whom were non-Australians, show the levels of passion, excitement and commitment that we have come to expect with our game.

The International Cup was a great success because of the many people who made it happen, from the AFL Development staff and a range of other people, mostly volunteers including the umpires, trainers and physios, the ground announcer and the alternative as well as official AFL IC 08 media. It also had its scenes, its images, its moments off the field as well as on – that’s footy.

The New York Magpies AFC footy jumper has taken out the Special International Award in the ‘Australia’s Favourite Football Jumper’ competition which ran as part of the 150 Years of Australian Football celebrations.

In the club's blurb about their kit they said "We are very proud of it our jumper, as it’s remained true to the black and white of our sister clubs, Collingwood and Port Adelaide Magpies, but also adds some New York highlights with the outlines of the famous buildings on the back. We sell a good deal of them to people in Australia through www.nyfooty.com."

Other finalists in the International section were jumpers of Timor Crocs, Vietnam Swans, Bromma FC and Borneo FC. The overall competition for Australia's Favourite went to the Old Hobartians Association (OHA) Football Club guernsey. In total, more than 34,000 website visitors voted in the poll.

Paul Duncan was one of the standouts for the US Revolution team at this year's International Cup. The mobile forward played in five matches for his country in the competition kicking goals against South Africa and China and featured as best player for the US in the match against China.

Duncan was this week featured in the Winston Salem Journal - the full article is reproduced below.

Ben Graham, who was waived by the New York Jets last week has reportedly been re-signed by the same team. The Jets brought in two new punters but Reggie Hodges was added to the injury report with an undisclosed problem with his left (non-kicking) thigh. And it seems the Jets did not want to 'punt' on Waylon Prather from their practice squad.

So Graham who just happened to be in San Diego visiting trailblazing fomer Aussie rules player/NFL punter Darren Bennett, got an emergency callup and now looks to start as punter in his 50th game for the Jets. He by no means has a permanent home with the Jets though, and fortuitously he will be playing on Monday night football, probably the best place to showcase his abilities in front of an estimated 50 million TV audience (including the other NFL clubs who he is hoping will sign him).

Essendon Football Club yesterday released details of a significant enviromental project and came hot on the heels of the announcement by the USAFL that they would be aiming for a "Green Nationals" tournament this year. This is part of the world wide push to look after the environment, bringing footy into line with communities and corporations across the globe looking to carry out their activities in an enviromentally sustainable manner.

Construction of an 800,000 litre water storage system - which will be housed underneath the famed Windy Hill oval surface - officially began yesterday. The system (called a 'StormTech' water storage system) will capture 5-8 million litres of water each year from existing roof structures, the oval and an approved bore into massive underground cylinders for use around the club. Construction will take just four weeks to complete.

Once he has caught his breath after the 2008 Grand Final, Geelong 2007 Premiership coach Mark "Bomber" Thompson will appear at the this year's USAFL National Championships in Colorado Springs. He will be at the tournament's Saturday night event – attended by all teams in a happy hour format. Bomber will be part of a panel to discuss the next 10 years of footy both in the US and internationally. He will also present the wining trophy and tournament medals at the tournament.

Thompson follows in the footsteps of other AFL greats Kevin Sheedy, Robert Dipierdomenico, Stephen Silvagni and Peter Schwab among others to attend the US tournament featuring three men divisions and one women's division played over the weekend Oct 11th and 12th. The weekend will see 1,000 players, officials and support staff compete for the title of best in the USA at the amazing fields at the United States Airforce Academy Athletic Fields.

For more information on the tournament the USAFL have a dedicated section on their website here.

During the 2005 AFL Grand Final, Tadhg Kennelly received a lot of publicity for his part in the Sydney Swans AFL premiership team.

While many talked up the "Luck of the Irish", the luck of the Kiwis runs just as strong. Of the ten or so New Zealand born players to feature in the VFL/AFL, almost half of them have tasted premiership glory.

The last New Zealander to play in a premiership was Wayne Schwass in 1996. Before him was Warren Jones with Carlton in 1982, Geelong's Joe Sellwood in 1937 and Richmond's Thomas O'Halloran in both 1932 and 1934. An enviable record indeed.

Croad, who has already had a couple of injury scares during the AFL finals series and is under an injury cloud but likely to make a Grand Final appearance. A premiership would add to Trent Croads growing AFL star status and impressive list of career achievements as reported earlier in the WFN article Kiwi Croad in the Big V on the big stage.

The AFL's General Manager of National and International Development, David Matthews, has written a piece for the Melbourne newspaper the Sunday Age, urging (and thus effectively justifying) support for international Australian football. He notes that "People tend not to remember opportunities missed as much as opportunities that failed", which is an acceptance that by promoting international footy there is a risk of criticism if it fails - but that the football community should try anyway.

It's a continuing theme from Matthews, who has put forward a strong case on several occasions, and has over-seen the AFL's practical efforts. Although the support so far rolled out by the AFL remains somewhat uneven, there's no doubt the last three or four years have seen a tremendous increase in their commitment to international football. Although the article has nothing new to our regular readers, it's great to see the message in such a major Australian paper.

The article is AFL needs to seize opportunities to make inroads at home and abroad and is also re-produced below.