World Footy News

The newly rechristened Welsh Australian Rules Football League hosted a pre-season friendly tournament on the weekend, with the Manchester Mosquitoes, Bristol Dockers and new team Chippenham Redbacks converging on Cardiff for a four-team round robin with the WARFL Red Devils.

The Bristol Dockers went through the day undefeated, with Manchester taking second spot with a 2-1 record. Newbies Chippenham had a tough day at the office, finishing without a win - although only went down to the Welsh 4.4.28 to 4.0.24.

The Welsh ARFL Red Devils will next tour to Scotland this weekend for the Haggis Cup, hoping to show their development since footy began in Wales last year. This year they are going it alone without any English sides in the comp, with the season kicking off next month.

It was March Madness in the US and we were following the performances of the best of the best in College footy, that’s right, footy! While most Americans were watching the Sweet Sixteen and the Elite Eight (the US National Collegiate Athletic Association basketball finals), Vanderbilt University was hosting the USFooty National Collegiate Championship. The tourney brought together some of the best college footy programs in the country including Vandy, North Carolina, and St John's (MN).

UNC – Chapel Hill, not only has one of the best basketball programs in the country it also has one of the best footy programs. The Tar Heels have been competing for a number of years against the arch-rival NC State and the “old-boys” of the North Carolina Tigers. Vandy is a relative young club with a lot of ambition. Many ‘Dores represent the Kangaroos in the MAAFL. The St John's “Johnnies” are the new kids on the block but they have talent to spare making a large portion of the 2007 Division II National Championship winning Minnesota Freeze. The Johnnies include many former Yankaroos - St John's students studying at Notre Dame in Western Australia and going through a footy program supported by the WAFL's South Fremantle.

Gaelic footballer Declan Lally is reportedly on his way to Australia to switch codes. Lally looks to have left his St Brigid's team and Dublin County to take up Aussie Rules. Lally was on the 2006 Dublin side that won the 2006 Leinster senior football championship against Offaly and on Dublin’s winning team for the 2008 O'Byrne Cup winning team which defeated Longford in the final. In recent times Lally was dropped from the Dublin senior football squad and that has prompted his move.

The report on The Press Association site suggests he will be meeting with a “team manager and club chairman of an unnamed Australian rules club” in Sydney (but not with the Sydney Swans). It looks like he will try to be placed with a feeder club for 2008 with hopes of making it to an AFL list for 2009. Given that Eddie McGuire has recently been in talks with the Dublin Blues in relation to his Collingwood AFL club playing them in a future International Rules clash, we might speculate that Lally could become a Magpie. If Collingwood were the club involved we may see Lally line up at in the black and white stripes in the VFL near future. Carlton and Brisbane’s taste for Irish recruits would also put them high on the list of possible clubs vying for the Dubliner’s services, but we can’t rule out other clubs getting on the Irish bandwagon. Against him is that players often take time to adapt and AFL clubs have therefore targeted younger players, so at 26, his age may be a deterent

And Lally may get a chance to see his countrymen up close later in the year, with the AFL expected to shortly announce whether they can squeeze in the International Rules series against the Irish this October. The GAA appears to have given the go ahead for the series to continue and the ball is in the AFL’s court as to whether 2008 will see its return under the conditions agreed upon when the two bodies met in Dubai earlier this year.

The Essendon Football Club in conjunction with the Australian Federal Police (AFP) are hosting the Unity Cup Family Day on Sunday April 13th, featuring a round robin between four multicultural community teams.

The Unity Cup will be held at Windy Hill and will also feature multicultural entertainment, AFP/Victoria Police Expo, a chance for kids to meet Essendon senior players, Boys/Girls junior football activities and longest kick competition.

The feature game will be between Essendon FC/AFP Staff vs a United Community Youth Team, with ex-AFL players Matthew Knights, David Calthorpe and Paul Barnard taking part.

"Sports Without Borders" have thrown in a $1000 prize pool, with $700 going to the winner of the round robin and $100 each to the other three teams.

Entry to the Cup is free, with all welcome.

WorldFootyNews.com and USFootyNews.com are teaming up to present the 2008 USFooty Top 10 Poll. To kick things off we are having a Top 10 Countdown for the Preseason Top 10. Who are the best teams in USFooty?

The Baltimore Washington Eagles are Ranked Number 3 in the WFN/USFN Top 10 Poll. The Eagles had a break out season in 2007. In 2006 the Eagles won the Division II National Championship, so the expectations were high for 2007 but even the most optimistic predictions weren’t for as well as their 2007 went.They finished 7-1 with their only loss to the eventual champions the Denver Bulldogs. The Eagles were ranked number 3 in the final World Footy News Poll. Their number 3 finish was spoofed in a YouTube viral video made for the Eagles' 2007 Awards Night.

As the AFL celebrates 150 years since some of the first games of what was to become Australian football, it is time to ask where to now? I am not going to answer that question because I don’t know the answer. Actually, I don’t know the question. When we look to the future of Australian football, whose interests are we talking about, whose future are we talking about?

Are we talking about the AFL going global with the Seattle Grizzlies competing in the Pacific Division of the WFL? Are we talking about 10,000 Americans kicking a red leather ball around on the weekend by 2020? Are we talking about the West Coast Eagles taking market share of global merchandise sales from Man United? Or are we asking whether my son will have the opportunity to represent his country (the USA) in his favorite sport (footy) against the best players in the world.

Is Carlton going to look like the 2007 San Antonio Spurs with only 60% of the team being native born? Will footy help kids of the South African townships overcome poverty, AIDS and years of institutionalized racism? Are we going to see Chinese signage around the MCG advertising domestic products to the Demons’ large fan base? Is International Rules going to become an Olympic sport? Is USFooty going to become the largest footy league in the world, competing with the AFL for talent from Ireland and South Africa? What is the future? What future do we want?

The 2008 Faststream Spring Invitational will take place on April 12 and 13 at the new Broward County Cricket complex in Lauderhill, Florida, USA. The $US 70m complex was completed in November 07 and this will be the first time that it has seen competitive footy. The tournament will see some of the best matches that we will see before Nationals in Colorado.

The tourney will be the 2008 debut for 2007 National Champions, the Denver Bulldogs, the number 4 team in the country (by our reckoning) the New York Magpies and the number 3 Baltimore Washington Eagles. Taking on 3 of the top 4 USFooty teams will be hosts, the Florida Redbacks (combined with the Fort Lauderdale Fighting Squids). This will also be the final trial for the US Revolution as the coaching staff looks to get the team ready for the AFL International Cup in Melbourne and Warrnambool.

We reported in What support for IC teams? that as per previous tournaments, airfares would be the single biggest issue for the competing nations at the International Cup, which face total event costs of more than AUD$100,000 for each country. The AFL has sourced an arrangement with Qantas and provided contacts for fifteen nations, with Nauru, Samoa and Tonga unfortunately not covered as the airline doesn't fly to those islands. We've now spoken with several countries about whether the offer has made a substantial difference to their costs, and sadly the answer so far is no, though Tonga is hopeful of making their own deal.

The Australian Institute of Sport / Australian Football League elite youth squad has just completed its second tour of South Africa. The following report is courtesy of AFL South Africa, with additional reporting by this author.

“Don’t fence me in” said Kevin Sheedy, as he spoke to the AIS/AFL Academy and South African teams on the eve of the second International game between the two countries this week. One nation has been playing the game for 150 years; the other an emerging country which has only just embraced the Aussie game in the last ten years, with major progress made in the last 12 months. After travelling Australia spruiking the 150 message and talking up international footy, and having visited both the US and Canada previously, we think this was Sheedy's first trip to the AFL's best supported international project.

The message was clear from one of the most visionary men in the game’s history. “The closer the world gets and the more I see other games such as soccer, rugby and American football, the more I am convinced that we have the greatest game on the planet and we should be sharing it with the rest of the world – South Africa is well and truly part of that vision”, said Sheedy at a special function in Potchefstroom in the North West Province on Monday night ahead of Tuesday’s International clash.

NZAFL seem to be ticking a lot of boxes in international footy development whilst the sun is shining very fiercely on South Africa and to a lesser extent PNG and the USA as the future for finding international rookies.

With AFL Clubs each allowed to stockpile up to 24 international rookies over a 3 year period to monitor and support as prospective players, and with Ireland unable to have their players named on this list, the players must be sourced from other markets. With the League stretching to 18 Clubs within a four year period we are looking at the possibility of 432 players being on a list who have been developed offshore. As Paul Kelly, the musician, said “From Little Things Big Things Grow”

This has been recognised by one AFL Club who are currently in the process of developing a key strategic relationship with the NZAFL in identifying and nurturing young talent in New Zealand to possibly rookie list.

John James made his senior debut for the Zillmere Eagles in the AFL Queensland last weekend, after recently completing a great tournament in the AFL Queensland U18 State Championships. Not only did his team have a win, but he kicked 2 goals and was named in the best players. Not bad for a 17 year old from Papua New Guinea. For more information view this article and this article.