World Footy News

Todd Goldstein is set to become the ninth known Jewish player to play senior VFL/AFL football. The North Melbourne ruckman, taken with pick 37 in the 2006 draft has spent the last 18 months with the Kangaroos' VFL feeder teams Tasmania and Werribee. He has been selected to line up for the club in their away game against Port Adelaide on Saturday night. Goldstein is yet another example of tall kids with basketball backgrounds who have made the late transition to Australian football. He is described as an “athletic tap ruckman.”

The Jewish connection to football has been strong in Victoria particularly with AJAX Amateur Football Club in the VAFA (since 1957) and former AFL club Presidents Richard Pratt and Joe Gutnick. Perhaps Goldstein may be an inspiration to some of the Israeli contingent of the Peres Peace Team that will compete at this year’s International Cup. Ian Synman (St Kilda), Keith Baskin (South Melbourne), Henry Ritterman (Melbourne), Michael Zemski (Hawthorn), Mordy Bromberg (St Kilda), Trevor Korn (Melbourne), Julian Kirzner (Essendon/North Melbourne) and Ezra Poyas (Richmond) are others of the Jewish faith known to have preceded Goldstein at this level.

TORONTO, Ont. - On one of the biggest days of Australian Football in Ontario, Canada’s national team, The Northwind, were no match for the OAFL Australian All-Stars, in front of a good crowd of 500 people at Humber College South. Under perfect skies the Aussie All-Stars, led brilliantly by their big full forward Danny Walker who kicked 5 goals, outclassed Northwind by 52 points.

Australians are being urged to "pick up a football and Kick Around Australia" on Thursday August 7, to mark the day 150 years ago, when the first recorded Australian football match took place. Many Primary and Secondary schools will hold "footy-themed" days, whilst organisations are being encouraged to allow staff to wear their team's colours to work.

It is one of many events that mark the 150th anniversary of Australian football, although disappointingly the official event has been downgraded from "Kick Around The World" to "Kick Around Australia". WFN is still encouraging footy fans around the world to celebrate - Grab a footy and take a photo (preferably in front of a recognisable landmark) and send it through to us. We will display them in a later article.

To avoid spam, our "About Us - Contact Us" section only allows you to send text emails to WFN staff. Either include a link to the photo in the email or notify us that you have a photo to share, and we will reply to your email address requesting the photo.

As part of an ongoing series worldfootynews.com will preview, in no particular order, each of the competing nations in the 2008 Australian Football International Cup. First up, the men from the Emerald Isle. Later, as the Cup draws nearer, we'll put together all the tips from the WFN staff to get a consolidated view of how we think the teams will go. The Irish return for their third International Cup and the Warriors are planning a fierce onslaught to return to the Grand Final after bowing out in the semis in 2005. Although the coaching staff are a fresh set of faces they still regard 2005 as leaving behind unfinished business.

Although there have been some tournaments between the North West and Gauteng provinces in the past, this week sees the first official AFL South Africa National Championships. The main tournament sponsor is Grandslots, and the games are being played at Senwes Park, Potchefstroom, from Saturday 5th – Tuesday 8th July 2008. All four of the current target provinces are in attendance, fielding teams in high school and open age groups.

After the tournament the 25 man South African squad to tour Australia for the International Cup will be announced, and in a surprise move it appears the Buffaloes will be no more, replaced by the Lions. In further exciting news, the Africans will be coached by former AFL star Jason McCartney.

We hope to bring you the results of this historic event shortly, but for now, here's some more information on what have been dubbed the footyWILD Nationals. Photos are from the Australian Indigenous tour and thanks to Sean Garnsworthy. Again, Nationals images should also be forthcoming shortly.

The Swedish Elks took on the Finland Icebreakers in front of a crowd of around 200 people at the Årsta field in Stockholm on the weekend, with the Elks running home comfortable winners by 86 pts, Sweden 14.12 (96) to Finland's 1.4 (10).

The game was the first 18-a-side hit-out for the Finns, who are currently running their first domestic season and preparing for their IC campaign. The Swedes on the other hand had a point to prove, after going down to the Danes a few weeks ago and anxious to show the AFL and the international footy world that they are the real deal.

This report courtesy of Swedish Elks' coach Cameron Crooks.

USFootyNews.com's Jeff Blankman has interviewed San Diego Lions and US Revolution backman Brett Ullman, ahead of next month's International Cup.

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Peter Bell, one of only a few players in the history of the professional Australian Football League with a direct Asian background, has retired at age 32 having played 286 AFL games.

Born in South Korea to a Korean mother, Bell moved to Western Australia at a young age. Bell was educated in Perth, where he achieved a Bachelor of Law. Bell was recruited from the South Fremantle Football Club in the WAFL. He was often regarded as short for an elite footballer at 175cm, although he played as a rover developing a reputation as a nuggety and creative ball-winner with accurate disposal skills and good goal sense, Bell played much of his career in Melbourne with the North Melbourne Kangaroos where he played in two premierships. He returned to Perth to captain the Fremantle AFL club. During his career he was named All-Australian twice, represented Australia in International Rules and best and fairest at both North Melbourne and Fremantle. His coaches at Fremantle managed to squeeze more out of Bell's AFL career, as he has considered retirement on more than one occasion.

While Bell was the oldest of the AFL's current crop of "internationals", Papua New Guinean born Mal Michael is another veteran, whose career at 31 years of age appears to be drawing to a close, having recently spent much of his time outside of the Essendon senior list.

Aussie Rules fictional films are fairly rarely, with only occasional movies such as the 1978 classic The Club, loosely based around Collingwood. A recent telemovie heavily related to football is Valentines' Day, which screened last night on Australia's ABC. Set in the Victorian country town of Rushworth, it follows the arrival of a former big-time player and his misguided efforts to save the local side from merger.

Although perhaps not the most riveting of shows (and fair to say the skills on display are less than exemplary), it's a nice little yarn about what footy means to local communities and for those keen to soak up anything footy related it's pleasing to note that the 90 minute movie can be downloaded from the ABC (around 330 MB), and there's also a preview available.

Sadly we've been informed that the video cannot be downloaded outside of Australia, presumably based on an IP address check, so unless you have a friend in Oz who will do it for you...

Preview Valentine's Day
Download full movie Valentine's Day

On most weekends, the parks and stadiums of Buenos Aires are crowded with some of the most passionate round ball enthusiasts in the world.

On Saturday afternoon however, puzzled locals at club DAOM, which is only a couple of drop punts from Maradona’s famous Boca neighborhood, witnessed the sight of a new Sherrin being bounced as play kicked off in South America’s historic first international fixture.

Los Santos (Saints) from Chile and Las Aguilas (Eagles) from Argentina were playing for the inaugural 9-a-side Andes AFL Cup, although both clubs agreed beforehand that the promotion of “Futbol Australiano” in South America was more important than the result.

After a tight and physical first quarter, Chile eventually got on top of their hosts and ran out comfortable winners 19.10 (124) to Argentina's 1.5 (11), largely due to the influence of their expatriate Australian forward line consisting of Pedr Chapman (9 goals) and Tristan Bradbrook (4 goals).

Sunday 28 June 2008 on the playing fields in the Bois de Vincennes in the east of Paris will go down in history as the beginning of a new phase in the establishment of Australian Football in France, the commencement of a new era.

Four teams came from around France to compete in a round robin series concluding in the final. The Montpellier Fire Sharks in the south west is the newest team, having only formed this year. Coming from the Atlantic coast, just above the surfing beaches of south west France, the Bordeaux Bombers are also relatively new, having formed only in 2007.

The Strasbourg team, the oldest team playing ‘le Football Australien’ in France, a team which played for a season in the German league, were the third team, and the losing team in the final. One of the Strasbourg players was Marc Jund, the first pioneer of Australian Football in France.

Home ground advantage matters in Australian Football around the world as the travelling teams are often missing players who are either busy or find the journey financially pressing. The Paris Cockerels, with the home ground advantage and a few more experienced (that is Aussie) players, ran out winners in the final.

It appears that Tasmania is going full steam ahead with its bid to have a team in the Australian Football League. We've previously reported (Tasmania bid adds AFL expansion twist) that the island state has upped the ante to have their own team in the sport's elite competition, a dream the Apple Islanders have harboured since the VFL morphed into the AFL.