World Footy News

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.

It may seem a small step, but to have AFL CEO Andrew Demetriou mentioning South Africa and other international leagues as potential sources of extra player depth for the AFL is still something noteworthy for the army of volunteers outside of Australia who have often felt that trying to grow the game they love is a lonely task. Some will no doubt wonder that if international talent is truly sought, where is the support to back that up.

But there's no doubt that the idea of international expansion has slowly but surely been percolating up through the system. It won over the AFL Commissioners sufficiently to have them back a strong push into South Africa, while Papua New Guinea continue as very effective but quiet achievers. So now it's nice to hear Demetriou also talking up the prospect as the league launches into a full-blooded drive into the Gold Coast and Western Sydney, and looks forward to the next 150 years of our game.

The AFL today confirmed that India will send a team to this year's International Cup. Two AFL India board members, Ravinder Chadha and Pranab Bhattacharya were last week able to attend a coaching course at AFL House along with two Chinese delegates. This is a promising step, with India's previous attempts to send delegates to Australia hampered by visa difficulties.

Chadha predicted "rapid growth" for football in India in the next five years, and expressed his desire to see Australian football played in several of India's major population centres. He highlighted the possibility of matches against neighbouring China and nearby Japan (no mention of Pakistan was made) and even suggested that famous cricket stadiums such as Mumbai's Wankhede Stadium or Kolkata's Eden Gardens, with the capacity to hold tens of thousands of spectators, might be sought out to host an AFL exhibition match in a few years time. If successful this would be a big win, as in the past the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has been unwilling to open their facilities for external use. Ironically, the Indian cricket team were given Australian football lessons during their recent tour of Australia.

Football's growth in India was initiated by ex-Melbourne footballer Brian Dixon on his 2006 World Tour.

The Convicts' Anthony Nanfra has contacted WFN to let our readers know that he's produced a short "virtual tour" of the grounds where round 1 and 2 of the 2008 International Cup will be played, in Melbourne's inner northern suburbs.

Anth looks at the four large ovals that make up the park - McAlister, Ransford, Ryder and Western Ovals. His video can be viewed on Youtube here: IC Cup Ground tour.

More information on the grounds is available in our earlier story: Royal Park North.

In 2006, Australian Traveller voted the Bathurst Island Footy Grand Final #88 on the Top 100 list of "Things to do in Australia before you die".

I am lucky enough to have done 10 of the things on this list, the Tiwi Grand Final being one of them and personally, this would be the top for me. The Tiwi footy grand final is a real insight into indigenous Australia and its culture. The friendly and welcoming people there have an unmatched enthusiasm for footy, the islands are rich in culture, the standard of skills is extremely high and the games are played at a blistering pace. Testament to the quality of the Tiwi Islands Football League is the expansion of the semi-professional NTAFL to include the Tiwi Bombers, and the growing number of Tiwis who are finding their way into the professional AFL. This article looks at some of the good news and bads news for indigenous footy in 2008.