World Footy News

Hollywood star Brendan Fraser, a self-confessed Aussie Rules Footy fan, was at a recent AFL match between Hawthorn and Carlton at the Telstra Dome.

Fraser was in Melbourne promoting the new movie from "The Mummy" series and was one of at least a dozen celebrities on hand to watch the shootout for the Coleman Medal between Lance "Buddy" Franklin and Brendan Fevola in front of a near capacity crowd. Not only that, but he would have also witnessed the International Cup teams parade at half time.

Fraser was interviewed during the television coverage of the match and the subject of the Herald Sun article "Brendan Fraser at AFL match in Melbourne".

This match was eagerly anticipated by International Cup watchers. Could the improving Lions take it up to the bigger bodied and more experienced Revolution? The weather while still quite windy across the ground and favouring the southern end had improved since the earlier session with the sun now shining and the ground dried by the constant wind.

The Lions set the tone with the first clearance. Steven Malinga snapped out of the pack to open the scoring with a point. Simphiwe Mbhalo added another from a long kick that drifted away and Bayanda Sobetwa snapped one more after roving a loose ball. The US team started to look a little more settled and laying some strong tackles. But the Lions put up the first goal of the day and the only one for the quarter when Malinga marked a kick in from an out of bounds free kick, went back and goalled. Donnie Lucero cleared from the centre of the ground to Justin Valley for the US, but the ball spilled and though he gathered was tackled as he kicked with the ball skewing left for a behind.

South Africa added another point after Sobweta's long bomb came off hands for a minor score. Further points were added for the Lions by Mtutuzeli Hlomela, Toy Prinsloo and Richard Prinsloo. The Lions 1.8 to the US 0.1 with a wind advantage of a couple of goals looked like a poor return but it was a lead that they were glad to have.

Sweden and Finland continued their countries' long running sporting rivalry and so far short running footy rivalry at the other end of the world in Warrnambool. The more experienced Swedes kicked with the wind in the first quarter. Finland were competitive at ground level but unable to get too much going into the wind as Sweden added 2.4 with the wind affecting goal kicking that could have seen the lead being much larger. Roger Nillson was aggressive at the ball and 18 year old Emil Aberg racked up possessions. Fernando Leon was the standout for the Finns.

A cold Warrnambool morning kicked off with the New Zealander’s Haka and the Samoan Siva Tau going head to head as the local media (and a large group of school children) lapped it all up. At the last International Cup the two almost came to blows at the end of the ceremonial shows of force but everyone went their own way peacefully this time at Walter Oval.

After the Monday round 3 games International Cup players headed to Warrnambool's Brauer College where the vast gym room hosted a relaxed evening of complimentary finger-food, drinks, music, a bit of dancing, and performances by some of the teams.

In much the same style of an evening in Wangaratta when the Cup went there in 2005, speeches were kept to a minimum, with the AFL's Kevin Sheehan doing the basic introductions. The local rockabilly band The Sky Rockats played a few songs (with the unstoppable ground announcer Grilla joining in) and several nations also sang - the Indians gave their rendition of a Bollywood hit, the Americans, unusually self-conscious, sang "You've lost that loving feeling" and the Kiwis started with a gay Austrian impersonation (I'm not sure why) followed by the theme song to popular Aussie soap-opera Home and Away, but couldn't escape before acceding to crowd demands for the Haka. Japan were all energy as they belted out a tune (using the term lightly) and the Irish were deep and strong but didn't burst into any Riverdancing, though at least one began to strike the pose - more threat than intention.

The Our Airline Nauru Chiefs have faced some major obstacles over the last few years and just making it to the third of the AFL's International Cups has been an achievement in itself. So it's quite remarkable that after such an effort, including personal self-sacrifice, that coach Wes Illig (pictured with Dipper) still found time to have some empathy for his opposition.

As with all the Peace Team's matches against the more experienced international sides, this was never going to be a close match. So coach Illig obviously asked himself, "what are we going to get out of this match?" But he also asked "what will they get out of it?". His decision was to try to teach his own men to have some understanding of their opponents, and to over an olive branch the Palestinian and Israeli players. Prior to the match he suggested that the two sides warm up together, and that was gratefully accepted by coaches Robert DiPierdomenico (the famous former Hawthorn champ that you'll see the media swarm to) and Simon Jacobs (the quiet but just as important one in the background).

The all-important draw for the Asian Championships was made on Monday, 1st September at the Australian International School in Singapore.

The process saw last year's Grand Finalists Hong Kong and Bali first allocated separately to groups A and B. The remaining 8 teams were then randomly allocated into Groups A or B depending on balls drawn from a barrel.

The pools are:

Group A	Group B
Bali	Hong Kong
China	UAE
Singapore	Thailand
Malaysia	Vietnam
Jakarta	Laos

Each team will play all others members of their group, with the first game at 8.40am. Two ovals will be used with games being played concurrently, so for spectators and players alike there will be plenty of action. The top two teams in the respective groups will progress to the semi finals with the Grand Final to be played at approximately 5pm.

Fresh from a stirring victory over Samoa, next stop was the newest faces in International Cup footy, India. Given Japan is doing relatively well at this tournament there was little chance the Indians would cause them too many difficulties, and that is how it turned out.

Played on Monday 1st September at 1pm on Mack Oval, the wind-swept ground didn't lend itself to good football. There's no doubt the Japanese coaching staff were frustrated by the fumbling football on display, as the wind made precision kicking - so important to Japan's game plan - a very difficult task, even over short distances. Given the good sized oval being played on, that meant India had ample opportunities to take the ball from the Japanese, and that they did. In fact India had periods where they had plenty of the ball, but the long journey to goal against good opposition was beyond them at this early stage of their football development. Both teams seemed to get lost out wide.

The 1pm Monday slot at Walter Oval in Warrnambool pitted one of the tournament favourites Papua New Guinea against a British Bulldog side hurting from an unexpected loss to Nauru. A big question was whether the Brits would mentally recover from their loss to give a good account of themselves in this match.

After a shaky start and wearing their predominantly white "away" strip, the answer was yes, as they attacked the contest with renewed vigour in conditions that probably suited them. The strong wind made for some ugly footy which limited the clean passing of PNG's running game. Having said that, it also meant any possible aerial superiority for Britain was extinguished.

Unfortunately that Bulldog spirit took a while to get started, and kicking with a very strong wind the Papuans effectively ended the contest in the first quarter, booting 4.4 (28) to zip. If the Poms had won the toss then perhaps they could have scored a few goals themselves and put some pressure on the Mozzies, but it was not to be.

In one of Round 3's crucial matches for determining who would go through to the semi-finals of the International Cup, Ireland's Warriors jumped Canada early and steadfastly hung on for the rest of the match in an impressive display of defensive football.

The Monday match started at 11am and the Northwind kicked into the northerly wind blowing pretty strongly to the south end of the ground in the first quarter. The Canadians have looked impressive so far and this was their chance to step up into the top four. But Ireland had most of the play early and looked much more intense. They peppered the goals, racking up a healthy first quarter score of 2.2 (14) and holding the Canadians to nothing, before a crowd of perhaps 200, with school children arriving and cars starting to surround the oval in traditional country style.

It seems the International Cup has stirred someone in control of the Age's Real Footy website to run a poll (at time of writing) asking "Should the AFL look at hosting a football World Cup, including an Australian team?"

It's nice to see the topic being raised in a mainstream site, although even as advocates for international footy, we're also realistic enough to know that most versions of an Australian side would be far too good. Although we've seem massive score blow-outs between the top and bottom sides, there has at least been the knowledge that the top few sides had a genuine shot at the title.

The presence of an Aussie team would pretty much wipe out that possibility. So do we want a World Cup? One day, absolutely. Soon? Only if the Australian side was very much restricted, such as an All-Australian under 18 team, or All-Australian under 20 amateur team. Perhaps in that context it would be a good idea, along with higher and lower divisions. It would certainly help increase the public exposure for the tournament, would probably make fundraising easier for the other teams, and would be a good way to test the best few teams. But bear in mind the difference recently displayed between New Zealand and country Victorian side Maffra - so again, the Aussie side would need heavy restrictions. Make up your own mind and visit the site to vote.

As part of the Australian Football 150 years celebrations, a competition is underway to find the world's best (or according to the title, Australia's favourite) non-AFL club footy jumper.

The top 20 have been shortlisted and are available via this link for viewing.

International footy connoiseurs will recognise 5 among them - the NY Magpies, Borneo Bears, Timor Crocs, Bromma Vikings (Stockholm) and Vietnam Swans. Feel free to cast your vote and push one of the international teams over the line!!