World Footy News

Round 1 of the 2008 Australian Football International Cup threw up some very one-sided results, all of which were expected, although some of the margins were runaway results. Round 2 should see a few more exciting and tight matches, as well as more blow outs. This author is 8 from 8 so far but could well come unstuck tomorrow. For what it's worth, here come the tips.

Round 1 of the IC08 saved the best until last, as one of the tournament favourites, and dual runners-up, Papua New Guinea fronted Nauru, returning to Cup competition after missing in 2005.

And what a contest it was. PNG are expected to be very good once again, and slightly favoured by this writer to go all the way, just. The way the tournament is structured, if a team loses one match and their opponent wins their other two rounds, there's no way the loser can make it through to the top four (an artefact of having to squeeze so many games into a short space of time in what is, after-all, an amateur competition). So the prediction was looking very shaky and the PNG brains trust must have been concerned when at quarter time the Nauru Chiefs led the Mozzies by 3 points, albeit after having had the use of a strengthening breeze.

Playing in the middle time slot for Round 1, Samoa took on India in what was the first official game for the team from the subcontinent. The Samoans, newly dubbed the Kangaroos, smashed the Tigers as expected. But there was still plenty of interest, to see whether the Samoans had improved since solid 2002 and 2005 campaigns, and whether the Indians would cope with the big islanders.

As it turned out, the Indians were brave and showed glimpses of talent, but the pressure of decent opposition never gave them much of a chance.

With the IC08 off and racing, media coverage is starting to trickle through.

Read on for the links we've found so far to stories about the cup in the wider media, mostly from Australia, but also a few stories via NZ and India.

Anyone knows of any more, leave us a comment and we'll update the list.

Amongst a media scrum never before seen at the International Cup, it seemed everyone had come to see the Peace Team play but it was Great Britain who impressed on the field, giving a hint that they may have stepped up a level since 2005.

The new men on the block were reasonably impressive early, with an attack on the ball that made life difficult for the Brits. As with several other new footy nations, this competitiveness could not be sustained, and slowly the Bulldogs drew away.

We've had a few queries and we're pleased to announce that most of the range of International Cup country jumpers are available for sale from Burley Sekem, including the local multicultural sides. The spectacular collection can be viewed more closely here and the order form is available from the AFL website here. Cost is AUD$75 per jumper (excl. GST in Australia), not including postage (no cost in Australia). And do us a favour and jot on there that you heard about it at worldfootynews.com

This article contains a selection of images from around Royal Park during Round 1 of the 2008 Australian Football International Cup, from umpires to flags, AFL staff and hotdog stands.

Amongst the notable attendees were international footy visionaries Brian Dixon, who played a big role in South Africa and is now doing the same in India and China, and Ron Barassi, a long time advocate for internationalising the game and one of the originals to tour Ireland in the 1960s.

Reigning International Cup champions New Zealand got the business done against one of the mid-ranked sides in Japan. The final margin of 92 points was an excellent result for the talented Falcons, although the general feeling amongst onlookers was that they didn't move the ball as well as expected given they are widely seen as the favourites in a competition that is improving amongst the top countries.

The Samurai have found a few taller players since 2005 which should help their cause against other sides of similar ability. They were generally more athletic than last time, but were up against a strong outfit in a tough first hitout. Some of the stars from the last Cup were again prominent, such as captain Andrew Congalton and last Cup's grand final leading goal-scorer James Bowden, sporting something along the lines of a rats-tail, following up a distinct bleached blond look in '05.

IC08 kicked off with former champions Ireland up against Sweden in their Cup debut. With the other two matches scheduled for the 11am time slot delayed slightly (presumably staggered start times to allow for the playing of national anthems etc), these two teams had the opportunity to score the first goal of the 2008 Cup - and perhaps surprisingly it was Sweden. Alas from that point on the Warrior defence proved impenetrable.

That first goal was kicked by the Gothenburg Beserkers' Janne Nilsson, who weaved through traffic and stabbed the ball low and hard into a light breeze (which picked up during the day). Much of the first quarter was an arm-wrestle with neither side getting clear passages and questions were being asked - is this a sign of an Irish slide down the ladder of international footy that some have predicted, or are the Swedish Elks a top contender themselves?

Canada’s big squad took on the undermanned Finland on the Western Oval. The conditions were fine with a light breeze across the ground, ironically it was a southerly but it would be the Northwind that would dominate the day. The Finns who started with a small squad on paper have lost one of those to a broken leg and had others withdraw prior to the first game. This saw them with little in reserve to what they could put on the field.

From the first bounce Canada came out strong and dominated the center clearances. They got the ball forward well but the Ice Breakers defence spoiled continually and captain Freddy Romar led the way. The Canadians were forced wide and put under pressure and they missed a lot of early shots before Murray Lovett finally broke through to score the first goal of the match for the Canadians. The Finns did not look at all out of place though, with good skills, linking up well with handball they looked like they may be able to get something started. But the experienced Canadians were relentless and finally broke through again through James Maitland who seemed to be running unmarked off wing for his country’s second goal. The Canadians took a 21 point lead into quarter time.

Denmark’s return to the International Cup is welcomed by everybody, they were missed in 2005 and most observers saw this as a danger game for the highly fancied US team. They were the real unknown, would they have improved markedly in their absence? After the initial flurry reminiscent of grand final openings, the US dominated the early part of the quarter. Paul Duncan missed from a set shot. Shortly afterwards George Lakomy started what would be a great day for the Boston forward by goaling after nudging his opponent under the ball, the call could have gone against him but the umpire allowed the mark, and Lakomy played on to goal from close range. Denmark then showed some spark and the ball spent the next five minutes around their half forward line without further reward. The US rebounded and Duncan kicked another point. Dan Sarbarker for the Revolution then marked the kick in and after a quick pass to Justin Valley the US were two goals up.

A well-drilled South African Lions team posted a comfortable win over IC debutants China at Royal Park this afternoon. The Red Demons were held scoreless in the match, whilst the Lions' running brigade combined to finish the game with 12 individual goal-kickers in a 20.26.146 final score line.

South Africa are stronger, faster and more skillful than we last saw them in 2005, with players such as Motuba, Hlomela, Mbhalo, Sethibe and Phakedi moving the ball very well by hand and foot and Horn and Toy Prinsloo providing effective targets up forward.

The Chinese for their part were gallant in defeat, with the majority of their team having only begun playing the game very recently.