World Footy News

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.

While in some parts of the US teams are just awakening from their winter slumber, the Southern California AFL has six solid rounds of football behind it. Add to this, having hosted the Revolution training camp with trial games, an indoor exhibition match before an Arena Football League match and a road trip to Dallas and you can see that these guys are returning to a position of strength not seen for some years. President Corey Irwin tells us “The SCAFL currently stands at the best it’s been in the league’s short three year history. We’ve built a strong core of players and continue to grow talent on each side.”

Following on from the great write up their game received last year in the CBS Sportsline’s Spin on Sport article, the Nashville Kangaroos’ match last weekend was covered by local TV station WKRN. The video news story features pre and post match with the team as well as match footage and features interviews with coach Marty Thompson and Shane Clohesy on Nashville’s famous ground announcing microphone. The resulting news story titled AUSTRALIAN RULES FOOTBALL IN THE MUSIC CITY can be viewed here and is a great promotion for Nashville locally as well as for the game in general in the US. The Kangaroos’ opponents were the combined Cincinnati/Louisville team. The final scores were Nashville 12.8 80 to Cincinnati/Louisville 8.4 52.

A full write up of the match can be found by following this link.

The Peres Peace Team, a concept that will see Israeli and Palestinian Muslims, Christians and Jews take the field together and play Australian football at this years International Cup, has received another boost.

Carlton Football Club President, Richard Pratt has announced that the Pratt Foundation, established in 1978 by Richard and his wife Jeanne "to enrich the lives of our community", will support the team, alongside the Carlton Football Club for the duration of their stay in Melbourne. The Pratt Foundation is already a significant donor to the Peres Center For Peace.

Pratt alongside Australia’s Governor-General Michael Jeffery and his wife Marlena were recent guests at an Israeli State Dinner. They not only used the dinner to make the announcement, but also presented Israel’s President and Peres Peace Centre founder Shimon Peres with a Carlton Football Club jumper with the words “Peres Peace Team” printed below the CFC insignia.

Read on at the Carlton Football Club website.

Papua New Guinea have named a star studded squad for the 2008 Australian Football International Cup - the de facto World Cup of Aussie Rules. Two times runners-up, the Mosquitoes will go into the tournament either first or second favourite with reigning champs New Zealand.

The Papuans have listed the 2008 Telikom Mosquitoes Squad of 30 players and 4 emergencies. Pleasingly the team includes their star players that are being hosted in Queensland, including rising Queensland under 18s star John James, PNG's first Queensland under 16 representative (in 2006), Stanis Susuve, and some of their best players from their 2005 campaign such as Alestar Sioni who at one stage spent time with the Brisbane Lions. This year's squad has a more even age spectrum than 2005, and the Mozzies have even found room for a few of the stalwarts from past tilts, including Rex Leka (pictured below) at 33 and Overa Gibson at 35.

Last month Tasmania's premier, Paul Lennon, announced Australia’s island state will make an official bid for an AFL licence, adding some intrigue to the AFL's expansion strategy and making headlines.

The Australian Football League are hoping to shortly finalise a draw for the 2008 Australian Football International Cup. A full 18 team program is still possible, with the AFL waiting on just three nations to confirm attendance. The countries with question marks are China, India and Spain. AFL International Coordinator Josh Vanderloo explained to worldfootynews.com the likely list of nations.

The Western Bulldogs' Scott Clayton has confirmed his club is actively exploring new talent in Fiji, prompted by the enormous potential seen in the likely number one draft pick, Fijian Australian Nicholas Naitanui, as discussed in Naitanui - a big Fijian draft prospect to watch.

It seems one of the keys to opening the AFL club wallets has been the recent rule change to allow clubs to stockpile international talent for just AUD$1000, as explained in International recruitment about to explode? Recruiters previously would have been hesitant to commit to any area if they couldn't exclusively lock in the best talent, or if the costs were too high. It seems the changes now have several clubs looking around Oceania and trying to keep a low profile so that they can sign up the best prospects first.

Other than a few off the record comments from a couple of our sources, it's difficult to know exactly how many AFL clubs are on the hunt, but hopefully we'll start to see some signings within the next six to twelve months.

In the meantime, see the Daily Telegraph story Bulldogs hope for Fiji paradise where Mark Stevens reports on Clayton's efforts to spot Fijian talent, funded by club supporter and businessman Shaun Bassett. The article states that "Most of Clayton's scouting has been centred on secondary school rugby sevens" and that "He is intent on finding tall, mobile players in the mould of 196cm Naitanui".

On Saturday 26 April, in front of a large crowd at Kanchanaburi, the Thailand Tigers defeated the Jakarta Bintangs by 31 points to win the prestigious ANZAC Cup.

The game was played in great spirit with neither side backing down in a contest, prompting former POW Bill Haskell to say, “We never expected the game to be this tough”.

Report courtesy of Brendan Cunningham from the Tigers.

The AFL Division 2 Championships have just concluded in Melbourne with PNG’s John James representing the Queenslanders, the first player developed internationally to represent an Aussie state at this level. The tournament comprised the best players from NSW/ACT, Tasmania, Queensland and the Northern Territory. Though Queensland failed to gain a win John James was still able to be recognised as among Queensland’s better players.

The number of injuries affecting AFL players with international backgrounds is high at the moment. Brisbane's Irish duo of Colm Begley (quad) and Pearce Hanley (hamstring) are both expected to be out for 4 weeks, while Sydney's Irish defender Tadhg Kennelly missed the Tribute Match (hamstring) but should return this week. Samoan figurehead Aaron Edwards (broken leg) faces 8 to 12 weeks on the sidelines, and South African born Luke van Rheenen (foot) is out for the season. At last check Carlton's O'hAilpin brothers at least weren't injured, but Setanta continues to be bounced between seniors and the VFL, and Aisake was recently dropped to the VFL Reserves over reportedly an on-field dispute with VFL team-mate and assistant coach Matthew Lappin.

The injury toll across the AFL is remarkably high this season, with clubs averaging about eight players injured right now, out of playing lists of approximately 40. No wonder Geelong, Western Bulldogs and Richmond are performing quite well, with three, two and three injured players respectively. Brisbane and Essendon "lead" the injury field with 13 each. It would seem the week break for most players will have been most welcome.