World Footy News

The AFL today held a press conference at the Telstra Dome to introduce the Melbourne media to the 2008 Australian Football International Cup, its countries and more specifically the captains. While a few of the skippers were literally arriving in the country and negotiating the parking around “The Dome” others mingled with the waiting media. Former Collingwood captain and Australian Football 150 Years Ambassador Nathan Buckley and the AFL Talent and International Manager Kevin Sheehan discussed football’s international operations and the upcoming International Cup and took questions from the assembled media. We have podcasted the full session at our host site or here if you prefer ITunes.

The Oslo Trolls have celebrated the first ever game of Australian rules football in Norway with a thumping win over Western Sweden's Karlstad Dragons. With a side boasting plenty of Australian experience, the Trolls ran away to a 155-point victory, finishing 33.20.218 to Karlstad 9.9.63.

A big local crowd turned out at Oslo’s Ekeberg Rugby Ground to witness this historic day of Aussie Rules Footy, and the newly-formed local side bounced out of the blocks, posting the first eight goals of the match before the Dragons could manage a few majors late in the first quarter.

The Dragons side featured a few impressive new recruits, but were missing some of their more seasoned Swedish talent in Australia on International Cup duties.

The big win to the Trolls should give the club great impetus for building a permanent team in Oslo. The Dragons will take some lessons away from the game and regroup, and will look forward to a more competitive showing against the Trolls next time.

Source: Stuart Roberts from the Karlstad Dragons AFC. Full report available on the Dragons' website.

While it is not unusual to find the odd Australian Rules football related story in overseas media, it is extremely rare to find sections in news or media sites dedicated to the sport. Happily this situation is slowly changing.

The Japan Samurais defeated Box Hill North on Saturday at Elgar Park in a warm up for their International Cup campaign. It looks like the Japanese team put four fairly consistent quarters of footy together. Samaurais Coach Richard Laidler offered his thoughts on the 56 point win, "It was a good stretch out for the boys. It was not a full game (only 15 min quarters) but we learnt a couple of things which we could fix before the International Cup. Also we would like to thank Box Hill North to give us a bit of run before the Cup."

Japan Samurais 3.0, 6.5, 11.7, 14.11(95)
Box Hill North 1.0, 2.1, 5.3, 6.3(39)

Goals Japan: T.Mori 6 , T.Kase 4 , H.Toyama 2 , M.Tanaka 1 , G.Tanaka 1
Box Hill North: Not Available
Best on ground was S.Yokoyama

Earlier this month on August 7th, the AFL celebrated the 150th anniversary of what many believe to be the first match of Australian Football between Melbourne Grammar and Scotch College which was held on August 7th 1858.

Though there are minor historical discrepancies, the match is about as close as the sport's governing body could get to reliving the early history of the game while at the same time promoting the spectacle of modern day professional AFL football.

In a positive sign that the Australian Government is starting to see the potential economic benefits of promoting the Aussie code of football internationally, former Labor opposition leader and now Minister for Trade, Simon Crean, has talked up the opportunities in a foreward of the IC08 Record, available for download from the AFL's www.ic08.com.au website here. The Minister's comments follow.

Under cloudy skies and a little late, the International Cup got underway with the first of the Multicultural Challenge Matches yesterday. After some morning drizzle, the rain held off and did not have a great influence on the match.

Gosch's Paddock, the training home of Collingwood Football Club, was in great condition. A small crowd made up of regular international watchers, families of Team Africa, the South African squad and entourage and a few forward scouts from opposition teams saw the game stall slightly.

There was no siren to sound, but shortly after some consultation the umpire tossed the ball up and it was on. The South Africans dominated from the start. With quick handball and plenty of numbers getting around the ball the South Africans put an early goal. It was Jayce Zidel who finished well after quick handball from a pack saw him kick truly from 35m out.

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Ireland's coach Roger Clarke and player David Walsh are interviewed on Ireland's third national TV station about the upcoming trip to Australia. The footy discussion starts around the 2:30 mark.

In parallel to the 2008 Australian Football International Cup, there are four matches being played as part of the Multicultural Challenge. According to the AFL Record, AFL Multicultural Project Coordinator Nick Hatzoglou explained that it "was initiated to give the chance of participation to several communities here in Melbourne. These communities may have otherwise been unable to be involved due to lack of support in their countries of origin, limited Australian Football experience, and in some cases, conflict in their country of origin. Many of the players representing Team Africa, Team Asia and Kingdom of Tonga reside in Australia, however not many of the participants play Australian Football at grassroots football clubs. The International Cup presents an excellent opportunity to engage these communities as part of this gala event".

See our main IC08 draw for the schedule of matches.

You can read more about the Multicultural Challenge in the official IC08 Record here.

Scott Clayton, widely regarded as one of the top talent scouts and list builders in the AFL has been recruited to the GC17 team aiming to secure the 17th AFL licence for the Gold Coast. The team also recently signed former West Coast premiership player and current Collingwood assistant coach Guy McKenna to a two year deal to coach the initial squad, most likely in the Victorian TAC Cup Under 18s in 2009 and VFL in 2010 (yes, the Gold Coast is in Queensland, not Victoria, but the players will have to get used to travelling anyway). It seems like a smart move by McKenna, as if he is deemed to be doing a good job it probably puts him in pole position to land a contract to be the Coast's inaugural senior coach, without particularly damaging his credentials if they look elsewhere. Colours and mascot are likely to be named in the next few week, and GC17 has already achieved its target of signing up 20,000 non-paying "members".

Of interest to international footy fans is that Clayton, currently at the Western Bulldogs and formerly with Brisbane, has recently been scouting talent in Fiji for the Doggies (see Cloak and dagger but international recruiment on the burst), so we know he's prepared to think internationally, which will hopefully increase the chances of some international players getting on the GC17 list. A press release from GC17 follows.

The South Africa Lions are having a warm-up match against a selection of players with African backgrounds as a lead up to the International Cup. The game is being staged at Gosch's Paddock (Collingwood's training ground), corner Punt Road and Swan St Richmond, Melbourne.

Being held from 10:30am this Saturday 23rd August, it's a great opportunity for those international footy fans who might not be able to get to the many weekday matches of the main tournament.

The Brisbane Lions were able to fast track Colm Begley to AFL football in what seemed like an impossibly short amount of time. Now it looks like they have done it again with Pearce Hanley. And the word from those that have watched his form with the Suncoast Lions this season is that he is better by both foot and hand than Begley.

The Lions would be keen to give the homesick Irishman a taste of the big time to focus on his career in his adopted sport, but selection would not be a token effort. The Lions are pushing to make the finals and have applied to elevate the international rookie to the senior list, possibly to play as soon as this Saturday against Carlton.