World Footy News

worldfootynews.com recently ran a story on some of the problems, particularly financial, facing countries attending the 2008 Australian Football International Cup later this year. The AFL’s General Manager, National and International Development, David Matthews (pictured at the 2005 IC), contacted us to explain the AFL’s position on some of the issues and to highlight their recent investment in international footy.

Other than a few breakout countries like South Africa and Papua New Guinea, growth in Australian Football around the world has generally been steady but not explosive. Simply building awareness of the code or its elite league, the AFL, is a difficult task. All the while the AFL and the people at grassroots have battled the perception of the game as violent. Ironically, in one swing Sydney's Barry Hall has put the sport onto the headlines (good) but for all the wrong reasons (so probably bad).

Here's some examples from Denmark and the United States.

The Edinburgh Australian Rules Football side has won the 2008 Walkabout Haggis Cup competition in Glasgow. The competition, held on Saturday 12th April, survived 2 late pitch cancellations by Glasgow City Council to bounce back in great style at a damp Bellahouston Park.

The tournament saw Edinburgh, Glasgow, the Dublin Demons, the Welsh Red Devils and the England Dragonslayers joined by the new Aberdeen footy club for the first time, with Edinburgh too good for the Dublin Demons in the final.

Council officials pulled the plug on the use of a rain-affected Victoria Park Oval late on Friday afternoon, giving organizers less than 24 hours notice of the cancellation. A substitute venue was organised by the SARFL at Nethercraigs at short notice, only to again be cancelled incredibly by council officials on the morning of the competition, with no solutions being offered to save the competition.

It has been a steady as she goes journey for the Portland Power Australian Football Club. They have slowly and patiently been building their club for a number of years now. Mostly with a small group getting together for training runs and kick to kick. Building to “Metro” intraclub games and supplying players to top up the Seattle club’s numbers for tournaments and the US Nationals as well as competing in games against Seattle and the Canadian teams to their north. As their closest neighbour club, Seattle has been like a big brother to the Portland club and has provided both competition and assistance in the development of the Power. Last Saturday the club took a big step with a home win against their “big brother” team Seattle. With both teams in the dark shorts it may have been a little confusing at times with some similarities in strips but the game was played in bright sunshine on lush ovals at Portland’s John Deere Field. Hopefully signs of a big 2008 for the Oregon club.

The world’s smallest island nation, Nauru will field a full team at this year’s International Cup. Australian football is the most popular sport on the South Pacific island, and Nauruans are renowned for their passion for the game. Like many Aboriginal communities in Australia, it is not uncommon for children in Nauru to be named after well-known footballers. According to Mathew Batsiua, the country’s Minister for Sport and one of the people behind the effort to get Nauru to the International Cup, “There’s at least one Jesaulenko bearing that Christian name here and you’ll even find a local Akermanis in our community”. The Chiefs' were one of eleven sides at the inaugural International Cup in 2002, finishing eighth. They were a late withdrawal from the 2005 tournament, and doubt had been cast over their involvement this year.

Batsiua revealed that as of May, players will spend time in Melbourne with VCFL clubs “to help them achieve top match fitness ahead of the August event”. Our Airline, the new trading name from Air Nauru, has agreed to provide air travel for 22 players and three officials, and the AFL has allowed Nauru's team kit to feature Our Airline’s logo. In further positive news for Nauruan football, the AFL is apparently considering conducting coaching and umpiring clinics, and reestablishing a revamped national football competition on the island.

The NZAFL were expecting a Canberra Marists Junior side later this year, but unfortunately they have had to cancel. With the postponement of the Barassi Cup this is a double blow to NZ's efforts to attract and retain junior players.

With Rugby Union, Cricket, Soccer and Rugby League as the more traditional sporting choices it is imperative that juniors who are participating in NZ get an opportunity to make national sides and therefore view a pathway that is exciting, and possibly leads somehere other than the All Blacks, Kiwis, All Whites and Black Caps.

Though many players may only get to represent their country at the junior level, with little likelihood of making an international rookie list, it is a numbers game and it just might be those young fellers who become the future leaders of the sport within the country.

If you are interested in taking a junior or senior team to NZ in the near future all contact details for CEO Rob Vanstam are on the NZAFL website at www.nzafl.co.nz

For more on the Canberra Marist cancellation please view this article.

Pictured below is action from the Canterbury high school league on New Zealand's South Island.

The last three games of the day saw the Baltimore Washington Eagles up against the New York Magpies and the Denver Bulldogs, while hosts Florida were taking on the New York Magpies. Given the Eagles and Magpies were unbeaten, their game and the last game of the day would decide the tournament.

The USAFL traveling squad for the 2008 International Cup has been announced. The selection process for the team known as the ‘Revolution’, began at the start of 2006 with their international match against Canada and has included a number of training camps and matches which culminated this past weekend in Florida. The 35 man squad has thirteen members of the 2005 squad which finished third at the International Cup including the 2005 captain Donnie Lucero and James Brunmeier who were both named in the 2005 Australian Football International Cup All Stars Team.

Clubs best represented are San Diego with five players in the squad, Minnesota Freeze four and Denver, Nashville, Milwaukee and Orange County each with three. Some of the better known clubs not represented this time include Atlanta, Chicago, Arizona, New York, Dallas, Kansas City, Louisville, Cincinnati, Portland and Seattle.

Yes, it's time for WFN to put out another request for assistance. With the steady ebb and flow of work and life commitments of our volunteer reporters we are currently in need of help covering Asia. Our writers are all volunteers who have a passion for seeing Aussie Rules grow internationally. Our main area in need is Asia, covering such growing areas as Japan, China and many more. Language skills relevant to those countries would be a huge plus but by no means a requirement - we have plenty of English speaking contacts.

Perhaps you're an Aussie that used to play for an Asian club and would like to maintain some involvement, or maybe you speak an Asian language and would like the chance to practice. Or perhaps you're just a fan of spreading our great game and would like to help. Your location isn't particularly important - being based in the region is helpful but not a realistic requirement for the job. More important are reasonable writing skills, a love of footy and the willingness to get involved.

The Lao Elephants, Asia's newest club, will host their first-ever home match this weekend with the powerhouse Jakarta Bintangs visiting Vientiane for a showdown.

The Elephants debuted late last year, traveling to Vietnam for a tournament against the Thailand Tigers and Vietnam Swans. While they went down to the more experienced Swans and Tigers, the Elephants performed fairly well on their first hit-out and will be hoping to build a reputation as a footballing outfit worthy of respect in the Asian circuit.

The match, to be held on April 19th, coincides nicely with the Lao New Year, giving visitors another reason to head to Vientiane to play some footy and soak up the celebratory atmosphere.

The Bintangs are one of Asia's oldest and proudest Australian rules clubs, with a number of former Bintangs spread around the world. One such is Rob Spurr, founder of the brand-new Santiago Saints in the capital of Chile. With a bit of luck, we'll have an update from Los Santos in the very near future.

For more information on the Lao Elephants or the match, see their website or email martysharples {at} hotmail.com.