World Footy News

The South Australian state league team representing the SANFL has cemented the league's reputation as the best competition outside of the AFL. The interstate match yesterday at Adelaide Oval was SA's tenth win from their last eleven matches, and the emphatic nature of their victory over the Big V should put the debate to rest, at least until the next time the two states meet.

Yuta Kobayashi, one of the AFL's International Development Coordinators, was recently in India where he assisted AFL India with their plans to send a team to this year's International Cup. The AFL and AFL India are taking several steps to get an Indian side to the tournament, including recruiting a high profile Australian cricketer's support.

The Adelaide Football Club are the latest AFL club planning to bring a talented young Gaelic footballer to Australia for a trial. Teenager Carl Dias is expected to arrive for a four-week trial with the Crows in August. Although a member of Dublin's under 18 squad, the youngster came to attention while playing for a combined Coláiste Éoin/St Benildus schools team against an underage representative side from Adelaide in an International Rules match earlier this year.

Having some contact with the Adelaide Crows, this writer has urged them not to be left behind in the pursuit of Irish players (that advice goes to all AFL clubs), and the word over the past year had been that they were considering their options, and as recently as last week club CEO Steven Trigg suggested they were ready to make a move. Now that move has a name, in Carl Dias.

The International Rules series that was scrapped at the end of 2006 is set to return in October. The Irish site RTE Sport reports that the AFL and GAA have confirmed the return of the series with games in Melbourne and Perth in October. A long and drawn out process by the GAA to decide whether they wanted to resume the series left the AFL with little time to organise venues in October. Due to stadia around the country being utilised by cricket and the upcoming rugby league World Cup, the series almost fell over as the GAA put an ultimatum to the AFL to have venues arranged. The GAA’s willingness for the series to continue was evident by an extension of their original deadline for the AFL to confirm venues. Even now it is not known what the venues in the two cities will be.

Long time readers of worldfootynews.com may remember one of our original writers, Jake Anson. Born and bred in Warrnambool in country Victoria, Jake has been busy since 2005, joining the growing army of Aussies out teaching the world about Australian Football. We recently caught up with Jake to learn about some great results with juniors and women's footy in Alberta, Canada.

Back in late 2005 Jake landed in South Africa where he embarked on AFL South Africa's progam of taking Australian tourists to local communities. You can read more about his experience in Aussies on the Road.

Next stop was Europe, an inevitable pilgrimage for many young Australians. But he didn't stay long.

The U16 Binatangs returned home to PNG recently after a long and exciting AFL tour in Queensland. AFL Queensland have nominated three Binatangs as part of the Queensland State Squad. These three boys, Garry Kele (who also received the Coach’s award as Most Promising Player), David Meli and Naime Gordon have not returned to PNG with the rest of the team but will remain in Brisbane to be part of the Queensland State U16’s Squad and will return to PNG in September.

Michelle Anne Sinclair aka "Belladonna", a big name in the adult entertainment industry, confessed her love for the rough sport of AFL where "guys run into each other without padding or anything". She also threw her support behind the Port Adelaide Power after visiting a match at AAMI stadium for the first time during a recent trip to Australia. The article appears on the Adelaide Now website of South Australian newspaper The Advertiser as "Porn Star makes her AFL debut".

The Dubai Heat are the Middle East’s most successful Australian football club in terms of matches won. Since their formation in 2007, the Heat have grown from a few mates, to a squad of over 30 players. WFN chatted to Daniel Dugina, one of the instigators of the club about their major highlights and plans for the future.

The South Australian National Football League has rejected the Northern Territory's bid to place a side in the SANFL in 2009. The AFLNT is now determined to secure a place in the West Australian Football League or one of the AFL Queensland competitions. In the longer term, the South Australian league risks losing its widely held status as the premier state league.

The Philippine Australian Football League plays host to teams from across Asia on May 31st. The Manila Cup lists the Philippine Eagles, Hong Kong Dragons, China Reds, Malaysian Warriors and the Hongila Dogs. Sponsored by companies such as Leighton, Metals Exploration and ANZ, the tournament will be a major milestone for the PAFL, which first formed in 2004 (see Aussie Rules gets its start in the Philippines).

The Chinese side, the Reds (not Tigers as listed on the poster), are the merged forces of the Shanghai Tigers and Beijing Bombers (probably mostly the expatriate Aussies). The Hongila Dogs will be a combined side of extra players from the larger Philippine Eagles and Hong Kong Dragons squads. PAFL organisers had been hopeful of the Dubai Dingoes making the trip, but it didn't turn out so the Hongila side slots in.

Meanwhile the PAFL's weekly games continue between the Eurekas (originally based on expat Victorians) and the Dingoes (based on "the rest").

Read on to check out the tournament poster for the 12-a-side Manila Cup.

The Jakarta Bintangs formed in 1995 and have since become a powerhouse of Asian footy. With a sizable expatriate Australian community, the Bintangs have been regular tourers around the Asia-Pacific region, winning the Asian Championships twice.

Junior football in and around Jakarta has had a few ups and downs over the years, with a league based around local Javans being held in the Pancawati area. This league - the West Java AFL - has since disappeared, a victim of the transient nature of the Australians and Kiwis who make up the majority of the Bintangs' membership base.

However it seems local footy is back in the area in a big way - a new development program kicked off around 3 months ago thanks to a grant from the Australia-Indonesia Institute and the placement of AYAD volunteer development officer Chris Bandy.

Around 4000 Indonesian school kids and quite a few expat kids have since taken part in clinics. Bandy is optimistic of seeing a local-run organisation off the ground in the near future, with a Jakarta school-based league of around 10 teams in regular competition, as well as resurrecting the West Java AFL. An Indonesian team at the International Cup may even be on the cards for 2012.

It is Helsinki early May. Spring; the tulips are blooming and the sun is shining but it takes till late morning to reach the double figure temperatures. What better time for a travelling Aussie to get to know one of the main clubs in one of Europe's newest Australian Football leagues?

On a Thursday night, at the Helsinki Heatseekers’ training at Kumpula in suburban Helsinki half the players are wearing their tracksuit pants, even though it’s turning warm.

A sharp session of handball drills and mark, handball and play on drills under the guidance of Simon MacGregor, in his Lions guernsey and from Torquay via Bali, was followed by a mark and handball session of moving the ball on. The discipline and application was strong even for those new to the game, and they needed to learn fast. Soon they would take on a Stockholm side in Salo, a town between Helsinki and the once capital of Finland, Turku, and home of the Salo Juggernauts team.