World Footy News

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:

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!!

With the pool rounds completed, the final draw for Wednesday is ready to go. Ireland, New Zealand, South Africa and PNG are the four left with a shot at the Cup, with some of the newer countries undoubtedly looking forward to getting a few goals on the board against fellow newcomers.

Note the later starting times, with the play-offs for a spot in the game at the MCG to be held under lights - hopefully with a big crowd of eager country footy fans from Warrnambool and surrounds. Placement finals will be played at Royal North on Friday.

The intention is to update these scores each quarter as the games progress. Match reports and images will follow later. All times are Australian Eastern Standard Time (AEST), which is +10 GMT. A cold day, around 14 degrees Celsius, with showers increasing.

Round 3 - 1st September 2008

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An unlikely sequence of results in the final round of the 2008 Australian Football League season has resulted in a first round finals draw that does not feature any match in Melbourne on Saturday. This upsets the AFL's plans to stage the International Cup Grand Final as a curtain raiser to such a final at the MCG - the match was always expected to occur then, but was subject to the clause "to be confirmed".

Fortunately the Second Qualifying Final between Hawthorn and Western Bulldogs is set down for the MCG from 7.50pm on the Friday, 5th September. Preliminary confirmation from the AFL is that the International Cup match will therefore be a curtain raiser to this match. More details when available.

Saturday, September 6th sees the 9th edition of the Asian Championships, the holy grail of football in this part of the world. This year sees 10 teams competing in two groups under a lightning premiership type format. Whilst in the past the all-important draw has been random, this year sees the finalists of the 2007 Championship, Hong Kong and Bali deliberately drawn in opposing groups. A further innovation is the introduction of semi-finals where, in a cross-over manner, the top two teams of each group will meet, the winners to contest the Grand Final.

Because of the intense nature of the competition, being played over one day, often in extreme weather conditions, fitness and depth of squad are often major contributing factors in determining the outcome. So far, only 3 teams, Hong Kong (3), Singapore (3) and Indonesia (playing as a combined Jakarta-Bali side) have won the Asian Championships, though Bali have finished runner-up in the past 3 years.

The 2008 championships will be held on the grounds of the Singapore Polo Club and will offer a great venue for the Asian Champs including for the first time 5 star corporate and VIP entertainment plus a dedicated kids play area with jumping castle, face painters and more.