World Footy News

The Australian Football League has released the much anticipated draw for the 2008 Australian Football International Cup. The AFL had felt a two division format was most likely (effectively separated between elite and developing nations), with anywhere between 12 and 18 teams on the cards. But with the final number of teams coming in at 16, and most of them wishing to play in the main draw, a late decision was made to merge them into one division. This gives the tournament a very fair structure, with 4 pools of 4 teams, each side playing the others within their pool once, with the top team in each going through to the main semi-finals (and similarly lower finishing teams playing off against each other).

The previously alluded to Multicultural section outside the main draw has also been released, with "Team Africa" representing Melbourne's recent African immigrants and playing three matches, against each of South Africa (as a practice game for them), Tonga (unable to commit to the full draw) and "Team Asia".

The pools:

Rank	Pool A	Pool B	Pool C	Pool D
1	New Zealand	PNG	USA	Ireland
2	Samoa	Great Britain	South Africa	Canada
3	Japan	Nauru	Denmark	Sweden
4	India	Peace Team	China	Finland

All the rounds, times and venues are listed below.

Leader News has published a story which profiles young Sudanese ruckman Luak Bol, one of a number of other multicultural players in the new Murrumbeena Colts in Melbourne's Southern Football League Under 18s league.

A copy of the article, "A club for all nations", can also be found on the Leader's website.

Australia consistently ranks in the top four medal winning nations in the Olympics, something proudly celebrated by most Aussies. But has the time come for Australia to willingly accept a slide down the Olympic ladder? I think the answer should be yes. And it's intimately related to the health of Australians and the untapped potential of Australian Football.

Widely adored Sesame Street character Elmo recently met his match - the one AFL player who seems to be happier than the energetic little red... whatever Elmo is.

It's not often the AFL crosses paths with such a truly global megastar - check out Elmo and the ever-smiling Western Bulldogs' Brad Johnson on the AFL Bigpond site (for those that don't struggle with Bigpond; certainly Internet Explorer is recommended for the site).

Elmo meets Brad Johnson

The Samoan Kangaroos are one of nine teams that will contest their third International Cup in 2008, although at the past two cups they were known as the Bulldogs. Adopting the Kangaroo was deemed to fit nicely with North Melbourne supporting them at the tournament, and going forward as something distinctly marketable as Australian within Samoa. Previously the Samoans have finished seventh (2002) and fifth (2005). With no senior competition currently in place the Samoans enter the IC08 as somewhat of a wildcard. At the 2005 tournament for example, they initially easily accounted for the eighth-finishing British side (70 point victory) and yet nearly dropped a match against the ninth-place Canada (4 point victory).

The final list of nations competing for the 2008 Australian Football International Cup has been finalised. Here they are:

New Zealand
Papua New Guinea
United States
Ireland
Samoa
Britain
Canada
South Africa
Japan
Nauru
Denmark
Sweden (debut)
Finland (debut)
China (debut)
India (debut)
Israel/Palestine Peace Team (debut)

Tonga was unable to make the final commitment due to issues such as player availability for the full duration of the tournament; we hope to have a chat to TAFA staff later. They are however expected to make an appearance outside the main draw as well as there being some practice matches for a few of the main combatants and teams representing some of Melbourne's ethnic communities.

The West London Wildcats have taken out the 2008 Brit Cup, Britain's annual locals-only tournament. The Cats have won their share of Brit Cups before, taking five of the past six, but the real talking point of the day was the dominant debut of the ARUK Southern Redbacks, drawn from players across the ARUK's 9-a-side southern league.

After a close 5 point loss to the Wildcats in their first match, the Redbacks lifted with strong wins against Wandsworth, the Swans and Putney to make the final.

Led by best on ground Donny Mullen, the Wildcats were too strong in the final, with 16-year-old George Merrick doing a superb job in the ruck. Merrick is part of the junior Great Britain Bulldogs squad that will play 3 matches in Australia during the AFL International Cup. Joining Merrick with the Wildcats in the final were Ollie Ash (also a junior Bulldog) and Paul Avery (coach of the junior Bulldogs).

The Cup featured eight sides, with four from London (West London, Wandsworth, the Swans and Putney), three from regional England, (Reading, the Southern Redbacks and Nottingham) and the Wales Red Devils.

Next Sunday July 20th will see the grand final of the inaugural London under-16s league, with the game being held at Clapham Common. This year will also see the first appearance of the junior Bulldogs down under, with games planned against school sides from Geelong and Warrnambool so far. The Junior Bulldogs squad was named recently, available at AFLBritain.com.

There has been an unprecedented amount of activity by AFL clubs in regards to Ireland and young Irish players in recent weeks. While Ricky Nixon has been in Ireland, meeting with the GAA and setting up his recruiting program, Gerard Sholly has been upsetting many in the GAA for using their facility at Kingspan Breffni Park to try out a few young potential recruits for the Carlton Blues and the Brisbane Lions are looking to add to their Irish stable. Also making moves are the Adelaide Crows, with two youngsters heading down for a trial in August.

Much noise has been made about the AFL's plans to launch new clubs on the Gold Coast and Western Sydney, with it looking increasingly likely that the two new teams will be playing within just three or four years.

The new clubs will see significant concessions regarding creating their player lists, particularly regarding local NSW and Queensland talent, but a new concept has surfaced recently - connected to building a club around the increasing number of young Irishmen coming down under.

Melbourne's The Age newspaper reported today that the AFL is considering launching an Irish-dominated West Sydney side, based on a proposal first put to Andrew Demetriou in 2006 by Gaelic Players Association executive Donal O'Neill.

Demetriou yesterday confirmed the meeting with O'Neill, who reportedly put forward a detailed business plan involving millions of dollars in funding emanating from the US and Britain as well as Ireland, and increased television coverage in Britain and Ireland. The "Sydney Celtics" could also potentially tie into the international brand power of the NBA's Boston Celtics and the Scottish soccer club Glasgow Celtics.

The AFL chief was however somewhat reserved in his public response, saying "To call this embryonic is an understatement. We are looking at several proposals and we have been forwarded all sorts of ideas."

The full article can be read here.

The AFL Northern Territory and AFL Queensland have reached agreement on the Territorians entering a representative side in the top Queensland league in 2009. The Territorians had targeted the WAFL and SANFL, with the latter preferred. South Australia seemed the perfect choice as arguably the best state league and the lure of a tenth side removing their bye (created when two clubs needed to merge during the early 1990s), along with the fact that the SANFL is telecast into the Top End each week and many of the indigenous AFL stars have made the big time via moving from the Territory to the SANFL first.

The strong connection is in part due to the state's historical links. The then SA colony explored, settled and administered the Territory before handing it over to the Federal government upon Australia's federation in 1901 (you'll often hear of the tragic failed Burke and Wills trek, but less on the multiple and ultimately successful Stuart expeditions). Despite all the synergies, the SANFL rejected the proposal for at least another 12 months, but that assumes the Territorians will wait.

The draw has now been provisionally released to the participating countries, and will be officially released on Tuesday or Wednesday. We'll respect those wishes as the AFL want to promote the Cup as best as possible through various media, so any early release can affect this and so is presumably against the best interests of the tournament.

We'll have the full details here as soon as the embargo is lifted (standard media practice). There will be plenty of debate, but it does look balanced and should ensure the best teams rise to the top.

Nauru is well known amongst Australian football fans as the one other country, besides Australia, to fully embrace the Aussie code of football. An attendee at the Arafura Games in 1995 and one of eleven nations at the inaugural International Cup in 2002, the tiny island nation was absent in 2005, a late withdrawal, and has suffered a ban on the game at home. Footy fans will be happy to see the team return in 2008 as the Our Airline Nauru Chiefs and plans to re-launch the sport. With 17 players currently guest participants in the VCFL (most of them pictured below in their club jumpers), could they be a dark-horse when the Cup gets under-way next month? We talk to coach Wes Illig on the nation's expectations.