World Footy News

The Ontario AFL (check out their new website) has appointed Emile Studham as its Director of Marketing and Game Development, their second full time employee. Emile has a long history of success with Australian Football in Canada, including a track record in junior development that the League is keen to revive.

Emile Studham has been associated with the Ontario AFL and the Northwind program since he first played for the Toronto Dingoes in 2001. During that year, he won the League Best & Fairest award, returning to Australia in the middle of the season due to player commitments in his home town of Wonthaggi. But it turned out that his association with footy in Canada had only just begun.

AFL legend Ron Barassi has made several comments about where he thinks the game should go. Besides his well-known desire to see the international side of the game expanded, he also reiterated his belief that North Melbourne should have moved to the Gold Coast, Melbourne has too many teams, Sydney should have more AFL clubs (but not yet) and that there are too many players on the field.

The Peres Center for Peace football team continues to attract media attention, with the latest article in the The Jerusalem Post.

This unique concept sees a group of Israelis and Palestinians, previously unfamiliar with Australian football, come together to learn the rules and then compete at this years International Cup. For several members of the team, it is their first real interaction with a Palestinian or Israeli and the article is an interesting read. It also raises the possibility of an Australian football competition in Israel once the International Cup is over.

Follow the story so far:
Israeli-Palestinian "Peres Peace Team" for IC 2008?
Israel-Palestine "Peres Peace Team" one step closer to IC 08
Peres Peace team under way
Teamwork goes for goal: peace
DiPierdomenico to coach Israel-Palestine Peace Team at IC

As the 2008 Australian Football International Cup quickly approaches, WFN is continuing to upload short segments of footage from the second Cup, back in 2005. The latest clips include Britain versus Papua New Guinea at what was Optus Oval (Carlton's ground), the welcome to teams in Wangaratta in rural Victoria, and the matches there between Ireland and Japan (mainly Japan's solemn anthem), Britain and Canada (focussed on former AFL player Matt Connell's 3/4 time coaches address to the Bulldogs, and post match celebrations) and the tight United States versus PNG one point result.

View the footage on the World Footy Channel.

There’s been a fair bit in the Irish and Australian media over the past week about the possible resumption of the International Rules Series. The basis for such a resumption rests on a significant beefing up of disciplinary rules and some rather minor tweaks to playing rules, as evident in a document presented on the Melbourne Herald Sun website. The document arose out of GAA and AFL dialogue culminating in the recent meeting in Dubai before the Adelaide v Collingwood NAB Cup match.

A closely related factor making news is the increased “poaching” of Ireland’s best young Gaelic footballers by AFL clubs. The point is being made by GAA officials, including CEO Nicky Brennan who in the past has been somewhat negative towards the hybrid code, that working with the AFL will reduce rather than increase the loss of the GAA’s talent to Australia. As Fox Sports reports in Irish plunder plan rejected the AFL has recognised this and spoken against an all-out recruiting service for AFL clubs based in Ireland. On the other hand the creation of the two new AFL teams in Queensland and New South Wales has Setanta Sports reporting comments of AFL CEO Andrew Demetriou’s mentioning recruitment from Ireland as one possible source for players for the two new AFL teams.

On Friday February 8th USFooty held its first ever press conference to announce the 2008 USFooty National Tournament in Colorado Springs, CO. USFooty bills the tournament as the largest Australian Football Carnival in the world. While an early to mid October date is expected, USFooty is waiting on Air Force and the Mountain West Conference to announce the 2008 football schedule. The tournament will be played on the lush grounds of the Academy's vast Cadet Athletic Fields.

USFooty's announcement was reported in the local press and on the AP wire, as follows.

G'day, and what a great day it is, the footy season is upon us with the NAB Cup and the boys are going at it hammer and tongs. I think the tempo is up a bit from last year so it is going to be a pretty tough year, the games I have seen so far have been fast and faster.

Anyway the reason for my post is I noticed a couple of posts on Mr Sheedy talking up international football, so I rang into our local footy /sports radio station SEN (Victoria) and got to have a quick chat to Mr Sheedy, I was talking up footy in the USA and I can't for the life of me work out why the AFL do not show enough interest in the USA. Any way Mr Sheedy agreed with me that the USA is full of talent and we are missing out big time, he said that there would be a player in the AFL from the USA within 10 years I think the AFL must be taking the cheaper option in pushing into Africa the way they are, not that I have anything against the push into Africa or maybe they think that football is entrenched enough in the USA for it to look after itself.

Well I will be embarking on another season of Auskick this year and I am looking forward to it I have some great ideas that I am going to bring to my coaching and it is all about fun, I will be bringing out the old favourites in footy darts and footy on a string, and the handball comp is back with a leaning to goal kicking and umpiring. So I hope I can post a few stories here and there on the exploits of a washed up gunna-be wanna-be football star's coaching exploits.

Cheers
Dale Wilson

If there was an official International Footy Mark of the Year, former Canada AFL President and Northwind stalwart, Bruce Parker, would vie for the 2007 title (we'd love to see other contenders that are better). The mark was taken during the Northwind's inaugural win over the Revolution. The game was played in front of a few thousand fans at Vancouver's Thunderbird Stadium in August last year. A shame the video wasn't zoomed in, but the audio is great to hear - the classic roar of a footy crowd.

Bruce Parker's mark

Related earlier stories: Northwind blows over Revos and Central Blues boost OAFL.

The AFL revealed both its power and its insecurity on the weekend, with AFL Chairman Mike Fitzpatrick revealing in an interview with the The Age's Caroline Wilson that the Executive want not only to have the 17th club, on the Gold Coast, by 2011, but to also bring forward the later plans for a second Sydney side to as early as 2012. The report has sent the Australian media into a frenzy and sparked talk of football wars between the codes. And it raises the question of whether it will help or hinder international development. Will we see the first AFL draftees from Papua New Guinea be picked up by a new Queensland club, and will we see even more pressure on Ireland?

Robert "Dipper" DiPierdomenico has been named as the match-day coach for the Peres Peace Team at this year's 2008 International Cup.

Dipper was a colorful figure in professional Aussie Rules in the 1980s, as one of the stars of a Hawthorn team that dominated the decade.

He has since become a major on-screen personality in media coverage of the AFL, and has visited the US Nationals and previous International Cups.

In what could be a major boost for US Footy, Michael Johns (also known as Mike Lee), a past player at the Atlanta Kookaburras, has made it to the top 24 contestants in season seven of American Idol.

It seems that the 29 year old's talents extend beyond the footy field.

Singing the Queen classic Bohemian Rhapsody at his San Diego audition, Johns has been one of the more popular contestants so far in this year's series. A YouTube video of his American Idol audition has over 130,000 views.

Johns, who moved from Perth in Western Australia to the USA at the age of 18, last played Aussie Rules for Atlanta between 2001-2002, kicking 24 goals from Centre Half Forward. He stopped playing to concentrate on his burgeoning music career. His American Idol performances and popularity may not only put his footy further on hold, but could bring the USAFL and Australian rules football much needed media exposure in the USA (where Aussie Rules is still frequenty confused with rugby) and indeed around the world.

The show is watched by over 37 million Americans. In Australia, American Idol is being screened exclusively on Foxtel, and Michael Johns continuing in the competition could also prove a big hit for the pay-tv network here.

The story has featured prominently in Perth media. Perth Now published the stories WA singer on American Idol and Michael Johns in top 24 on American Idol and news.com.au also featured the story Can Michael Johns be the first true blue American Idol ?.

The Convicts tour group have announced plans for a 2008 tour to Melbourne and Warrnambool. The plan is for something of a reunion gathering centred on the 2008 Australian Football International Cup. They're hoping it will help swell crowd numbers turning out to watch the tournament.