World Footy News

The Zagreb Hawks are planning to host this year's CEAFL championships on May 3rd. While the list of attendees is still unconfirmed, this year could include teams from Switzerland and the Dubai Heat in addition to previous attendees possibly to return from France, Germany, the Czech Republic, Austria and defending champions the Finland Icebreakers.

This would be the first time Croatia has hosted the event, with the home team Knights already in training. The Zagreb Hawks club has seen a steady increase in player numbers at training and has started holding an intra-club series between the "Hawks" and the "Saints".

With the Hawks and Saints playing a metro game on the first weekend of every month, there is a possibility that there may be two clubs in Zagreb as early as next year.

Further north in Helsinki, the Finland Icebreakers have also increased their number of domestic games in the lead-up to this year's IC, with the Helsinki Heatseekers and Halikko-Salo Juggernaughts playing matches against new sides representing Espoo and Turku.

Women's Footy in Canada, at least in western Canada, has grown rapidly and 2008 promises to see the game grow further. This story kindly provided by one of our readers.

Many would be surprised to discover that women's footy is played in Canada at all, let alone that the first game began as a junior girls match between two high schools in British Columbia, St Clements and Bishops Strachan in November 10th, 2004. The mixed junior league, North Delta Junior Football League also began that year.

An article published on the AFL website yesterday suggests that when Essendon drafted practising Muslim Bachar Houli last year, they may have a secured more than an up-and-coming midfielder. Houli's ability to make the grade in Australian football's premier league has resulted in an upsurge in “interest in Australian Rules (and the Essendon football club) among Muslims in Victoria" according to Islamic Council of Victoria spokesperson, Waleed Aly. Houli is seen as a role model for young Muslims, having provided them with "the opportunity to see themselves succeeding". This is coupled with interest from an increasing number of Muslims that are born in Australia, who regard football as "their local game".

Houli's story to date can be followed below:
Houli determined to make the grade
Houli gets the nod
Further exposure for Houli
Footy Shorts - Nauru and Pakistan updates, International footy on AFL website, Houli's debut and NY marathon

The following is promotional material from the Australia Network (formerly ABC Asia Pacific).

In conjunction with Australia Network's coverage of the 2008 AFL competition, Australia Network has launched the Australia Network AFL Dream Team Competition. The competition allows Managers to pick a Dream Team within a salary cap and test their talent spotting skills. As well as playing against the global pool of Managers, each indivdiual can establish a private Mini-League and compete against family, friends and work mates locally or from around the world. The Dream Team Compeition also includes a celebrity Mini-League. Each Manager is welcome to enter the "K-League", Kostya Tszyu's Mini-League.

Great prizes are up for grabs, including a PSP console, games and AFL jerseys. The winner of Kostya's Mini-League will win a pair of signed boxing gloves.

We would love for AFL supporters in Asia getting on-side. Details for the Dream Team Competition can be found at Australia Network AFL Dream Team competition. All the best.

The "official" USFooty league season kicked off this weekend with the Florida Redbacks travelling to take on the Atlanta Kookaburras. Actually, while many in the country are still kicking the ball around in the snow, down south footy is already underway. In Atlanta they have been playing and practicing since February. The AARFL season is already into Round 3 with the Midtown Bombers dominating the Clairmont Loungers and the Roswell Rebels. At the International level, the Revos have had their first two practice sessions including a hit out against the Kookaburras a few weeks ago. In Florida they have been playing and practicing since Nationals.

The comedians behind the FootyWrap are back in 2008 and have started the season in fine form. In their episode dedicated to "speckies" (spectacular footy marks), look out for Mike Sheahan (the Melbourne journalist who earned our wrath recently) and, yes, it appears to be rock star Jon Bon Jovi. The FootyWrap's Jeff Wortman's only comment was "don't ask me how I managed it". Or you might want to look at their 2007 highlights package.

FootyWrap speckies

Best of Footywrap 2007

The Australian Football League's Commission has signed off on a major change to AFL club recruitment rules which could be the catalyst to sparking a wave of international recruitment in what may be a watershed moment for the spread of our sport. It also indicates that the AFL is genuinely considering international talent as a means of expanding the player base as new teams enter from the Gold Coast and West Sydney.

Two years ago the AFL added the International Scholarship List to encourage AFL clubs to bring international players into the system. This was separate to the international rookie list which effectively merged with the normal rookie list (think Irish players such as the O'hAilpin brothers, Martin Clarke, and more recently Brendan Murphy) and this new list excluded Irish players. There was a financial overhead that may have put off clubs taking the risk, and so far none have done so, despite some very talented Papuan youngsters such as John James playing in Queensland. The drop to just $1000 if the player remains in their home system and an increase in the number that can be listed must surely now see AFL clubs prepared to invest in some of international football's bright young talent.

worldfootynews.com is aware of at least one AFL club that is making plans to actively seek out talent (and not in the better known regions of Ireland, South Africa or PNG). This listing change is believed to have only strengthened that motivation.

The full details of the changes follow, from the AFL document issued Friday 14th March by David Matthews, General Manager of National and International Development, and Andrew Dillon, General Manager of Legal and Business Affairs, as sent to AFL clubs and international affiliates.

The Ontario Australian Football League (OAFL) has launched its new league website.

As local and international interest in the league is rapidly growing, the website has had a major overhaul and redesign to assist with promoting Australian football on Canadian soil.

Click on the following link to experience the new website.

www.ontariofooty.com

The Sydney Swans latest Gaelic football recruit from Ireland, Brendan Murphy (pictured), has played his first game of Aussie Rules, taking part in a reserves grade trial match against the New South Wales ACT Rams.

"It's a moment I'll never forget, with my brother here watching on and all the boys here to support me," Murphy said. "It was great to get a game. In training you can only develop so far but in a match you learn so much more. I was just loving it out there, I could have played another match". He also slotted his first goal in Australian Football.

You can read more about Murphy in Irish rookie makes his debut, and he is obviously enjoying some craic with compatriot Tadhg Kennelly, as evidenced by their new hair cuts in Irish stars shave down.

At the official 2008 AFL season launch, Andrew Demetriou announced a conference to be held in November where "players, coaches, administrators and other figures in the game" will discuss football's future. A website has also been launched allowing fans to offer their suggestions for the game's next 150 years. Dubbed an "Ultimate Ideas Forum", it is a good opportunity to encourage the AFL to expand their global push of the game.

This time, however, it isn't Ben Cousins or under controversial circumstances (as reported earlier in AFL stars a hit with US blogs). Instead, it is none other than USAFL star turned American Idol singer Michael Johns featuring on US blog TMZ.com.

TMZ is rated by many to be the #1 online celebrity gossip rag in the world and attracts a massive audience.

Following up our previous story "Could a former USAFL player be the next American Idol ?", Johns is still very much in the running and after several strong performances is tipped by many to win the competition.

The TMZ article, called "Idol" Michael Johns: Big Ballin' includes a photo of the American Idol contestant flying in a marking contest and makes a very strong connection between the popular singer and Aussie Rules. The article describes his performance for the Atlanta Kookaburras in one game "the equivalent of 6 or 7 touchdowns".

This level of exposure will surely have flow-on benefits for the USAFL, but Johns is still yet to acknowledge his participation in the sport on the hit TV show.

No, the Revolution aren't backing down (that's never likely), but the USAFL has held their 2008 Board Retreat, where their committee members review the organisation and plan for the future.

Some of their key aims include 10,000 participants in the next 10 years, to be the best run amateur Australian football league in the world, including Australia, and to re-invest in umpiring, player development, women’s footy and the Revolution.

Some of those are lofty goals and all are worthwhile, though a couple are somewhat subjective and so open to interpretation. For example, does 10,000 include students briefly exposed to the game in school? As USFootyKids rolls out, that could be achieved within a couple of years. Similarly it's difficult to measure whether an organisation is the best run. Nevertheless, goal setting is an important tool and it certainly seems as though the USAFL administration is becoming better each year, building on past lessons and steadily growing their network of support. At the top level, the sport in America has been remarkably stable given the geographic spread and diversity of opinions. And of course on-field, the Revolution will most likely go into the third International Cup amongst the favourites. The summary of the retreat, courtesy of the USAFL, follows.