World Footy News

The newly-reformed AFL Britain is soon to kick off the 2008 season, with draws for the London, Southern and Northern regions released and Scotland already playing.

The ARUK-run Southern league features the new Chippenham Redbacks side, although Thanet and Swindon are gone from last year. The Northern league has held steady with four clubs back in the race for the title. The Central league, this year to feature clubs including the existing Manchester Mozzies and Nottingham Scorpions alongside some new teams, will release its feature in the near future.

The pre-season ANZAC Cup will be held in London this Saturday, with the British Bulldogs to compete as part of their preparation for this year's International Cup. As the ANZAC Cup has no eligibility rules, the all-local Bulldogs will likely be up against some seasoned Australian opposition on the day.

The British Bulldogs showed some major improvement last year, giving the Irish a thumping in Dublin to claim bragging rights as the strongest national team in Europe. With a number of training camps already held, and a series of practice matches coming up, the Bulldogs may be a major threat to the top sides in Melbourne and Warrnambool come August.

In other exciting news from England, the under 16s league in London is looking likely to go ahead, featuring teams from schools running junior footy programs.

For more information on the upcoming season, visit the AFL Britain's new website at www.AFLGreatBritain.com.

One of the world's oldest football clubs, the oldest remaining Australian Rules clubs and the only club to bear the name of the game's spiritual home is currently in crisis. In terms of world footy, the Demons were pioneers in China, setting up a China partnership which has seen the game exposed to thousands of visiting exchange students, businessmen and a team represented at the International Cup.

The Melbourne Football Club, trying to celebrate its 150th year, is suffering from a major downturn in its fortunes at a time when it was already at a low ebb. On the field the Demons have had moderate success in recent years, following a curious phase of making the finals every second season like clockwork (1997 - 2004). That sequence then broke with three years in a row of finals action (2004 - 2006), but they crashed in 2007 (14th), are winless in 2008 (0 wins, 5 losses), struggling financially and the fact remains they have not won the VFL/AFL premiership for 44 years. The club is now very much "under the pump". This is apparently also having ramifications for their links with China.

The Canadian Wolfpack, the U18 Canadian National Team, are touring Australia in August to take on some of Australia’s best youth teams. The Wolfpack dominated the U18 US Revolution team when they played in August 2007, and they are using this tour to measure themselves against the best young talent in Australia. A touring party of between 80 and 100 people including players and families will be heading to Melbourne in August where they will play at least four games including games against the Port Melbourne Colts and Kew High School. While the tour will coincide with the International Cup and organizers are hoping to be involved in some way, the tour is not officially part of the Cup.

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 Doha Kangaroos will today face off against the Dubai Dingoes for the ANZAC Cup, in the first Australian football match on Qatari soil. The game begins at 3pm at the Doha Rugby Club and will follow the same format as the Dubai 9s, but will be comprised of four quarters. Entry to the game is by donation, which will help support Frank Kleinitz, a popular member of Doha’s Australian community who was involved in a serious motorbike accident two weeks ago. He is currently recuperating in hospital, with serious back, leg and rib injuries. Frank also faces months of rehabilitation. Organisations can also support Frank. For a donation of QR2000.00 your organisation can place a banner up on game day at the ground, in view of the entire crowd. Crown Relocations and Rydges have confirmed their involvement for the day. For more details contact Gary Johnson on +974 556 2054. This match marks the end of a busy football season for the Dingoes. It began with a game against the Muscat Magpies in Oman in December 2007. In March they hosted the Dubai 9s tournament, which drew eight teams from the Middle East region and earlier this month they played the Falcons in Abu Dhabi.

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.