World Footy News

They have been nothing if not patient, but the West Lothian Eagles in Scotland’s SARFL competition have only a few months to go before they hit the field as a fully-fledged team in the national competition. Commencing with scratch matches across 2017, progressing to five non-competitive SARFL matches in 2018 and now moving to full competition for 2019, the Eagle’s journey continues.

With the release of the 2019 SARFL fixture, the Eagles can see what their future will throw at them. It begins with an historic opening home match against the Tyne Tees Tigers. Both teams were new to the competition last season, but the Tigers had full competitive status. This time, both will be ready for a match that offers four points to the winner.

The last time the teams met, the Eagles had a day to forget in Newcastle, going down by 139 points. However, 2019 is a different story. This time the Eagles are the hosts and they are also a season wiser and will be two pre-season’s stronger.

 

The National University League got back into gear last weekend. The following report comes from the www.afl.england.org website, detailing the results and the implications ahead of the final round next month.

Birmingham turned up the heat on home soil as they won all four of their games to jump to the top of both the Men’s and Women’s division. 

After a bye in Round 2, the two sides jumped straight back into the fray as the men’s team kept up their unbeaten record.  

A total of seven individual goal-kickers saw them see of the Universities of South Wales (UoSW) team, and they followed that up by soundly beating Cambridge. Four goals from James Williams and three for Ciaran Jeanes across the round helping their side secure a spot in the inaugural NUL Men’s Grand Final with a round to spare.

After having enjoyed their winter break, the AFL Middle East teams return to the field on Friday for their Australia Day round. With three rounds remaining, all teams can book a place in finals if they can win all remaining games and it starts Friday at the Dubai Sports City with a double-header. The Multiplex Bulls will meet the Abu Dhabi Falcons whilst the Dubai Dragons play the Dubai Dingoes.

The Bulls sit in second place with two wins. Another win against the Falcons will almost certainly ensure them a grand final berth. But it won’t be easy. The Falcons sit on the bottom of the ladder winless, yet have played far better than that position suggests. Should they upset the Bulls it will give them momentum to win all remaining games. The Bulls start favourites, yet the Falcons will be determined to turn their season around.

After bringing down the reigning premiers, the Tiwi Bombers will be reassessing their goals for the 2019 season. Their victory against the Southern Districts Crocs proved that they have the “A” game capable of reaching finals and causing havoc when they get there. But ahead is a period of developing consistency and belief – mixed with hard work – to finish the season well. Nevertheless, they now sit in fourth place and finals are theirs to lose.

Travelling to the Crocs home ground, and trailing at half time, the Bombers were up against it. But four unanswered third quarter goals saw the Bombers grab the lead and were good enough to increase that in the last quarter to win by 22 points. The loss was costly, though not terminal, for the Crocs as they lost their third game from their past four starts and need to regroup, answer the wake-up call and re-establish their premiership credentials.

The Western Bulldogs drafted 22-year-old Irish recruit Aisling McCarthy after she impressed at the Cross Coders program.

McCarthy was picked at no.23 in the draft.

“It was the middle of the night at home so I was quite tired but waited up eagerly to see if my name was going to be called out,” McCarthy said.

“I could not believe it when I was announced at pick 23 – it did not feel real until I actually landed in Melbourne a month ago.”

“I am delighted to have been selected by the Bulldogs, they are a great club with a great ethos and culture.” 

Image Source: @aish_mac

Nicola Barr, the inaugural number one draft pick for the AFLW has made a name for herself not only on the footy field but also off field too.

“I have recently graduated from the degree and am now working at Starlight Children’s foundation as well as taking a couple of spin classes each week,” Barr said.

“Balancing these things in addition to AFLW training can be quite a challenge at times! For me the best way to juggle these commitments is to ensure that while I am doing something to be completely focused on it," Barr said.

This weekend in Birmingham, the National University league for men’s and women’s fixtures returns after their break. It will be the second last round in the competition’s inaugural season before a final round to be played in Wales (venue to be advised).

Going into the round, Oxford University has the bye. Their men’s team sits on top of the ladder, whilst their women’s team is second, but this round they can only watch as the other teams chase them. It is a huge opportunity for the host team, University of Birmingham, to seek two wins each in both men’s and women’s matches to chase top spot in both.

The matches this weekend will see:

In this extraordinary story from Lucy Murray at ABC North West Queensland, the team from Lake Nash in the Northern Territory, their trials to simply get to a footy match are explored. If you like, it ould be called extreme car-pooling to get to a match each week. It is an amazing snapshot into what it takes to play footy in one of the most remote parts of Australia. 

The Lake Nash Young Guns footy team struggles for money to travel the 600km to their games, and if they do not get a kangaroo on the way to the game, they most likely play on empty stomachs. 

Alpurrurulam, or Lake Nash, as it is commonly known, is an Indigenous community on the Queensland–Northern Territory border. 

In the centre of town is a red dirt Australian Rules Football Oval, where the Lake Nash Young Guns can be seen training every evening. 

As they run, often barefoot, or in socks, they leave a trail of red dust behind them.

A thunderstorm and cloudburst, and a rampant Crocs outfit, were not enough to stop the Darwin Buffaloes from taking the four points in their match at TIO Stadium on Saturday. It was part of another exciting round that saw The Buffaloes grab a one point win, Palmerston held off Waratah by four points, The Tigers shook of a desperate Saints by 20 points and the Tiwi Bombers romped home by over 100 points against Wanderers.

Perhaps the match of the round, however, was the Buffaloes/Crocs clash. After a solid first half, where Darwin held a three-goal lead over Crocs at the main break, Southern Districts started to fight back in the second half to get to within seven points by the final change. But with a storm close, the final quarter was delayed until the all clear was given to resume. After the enforced break, Crocs kept coming, but Buffaloes held them off by just a solitary point.

 

The following article from Kavisha Di Pietro on the AFL Players website www.aflplayers.com.au explores the journey of another young Sudanese footballer making his way onto an AFL list and hoping to emulate the deeds of Aliir Aliir and Majak Daw. 

Western Bulldogs draftee Buku Khamis’ memories of his childhood in South Sudan are hazy. 

He can recall how the sand would burn his feet as he played outside in the heat but he doesn’t remember much more from back home. 

The 18-year-old was only six when he migrated to Australia with his parents and siblings. 

His journey across the globe would be his first time on a plane. 

“I don’t remember too much from living there but I do remember coming on the plane to Australia not knowing where we were going or what was going on,” he told AFLPlayers.com.au during his first AFL pre-season.

Recently, an interesting football conversation commenced nearby. It involved the concept of whether or not scoring should be removed from games of AFL Masters to reduce the amount of aggressive competiveness amongst players whose glory days are behind them and should possibly just be playing for fun.

Footy is many things to many people. Therefore, there will not be a consensus on whether this (at this stage unofficial) idea has merit. But what is compelling is the link between this potential expectation for our oldest players and the arguments for our youngest players – kids.

For a moment, let’s assume that the idea has merit and one day we have AFL Masters playing for no scores – just enjoyment. We have already seen AFL Victoria introduce no scores for junior grades from the 2015 season where grades up to Under 10 would play with no scores and develop “an enjoyment philosophy rather than a winning philosophy’’ (Herald Sun, 2014). Since then most states and territories have more or less adopted the same policies.

You start by heading north from Islamabad, the capital city of Pakistan, towards the border with China. Eventually you link up with the Karakorum Highway, passing through never ending vistas of amazing mountain scenery. It isn’t the Himalayas, but a magical land in its own right. Then you arrive at the village of Gilgit Baltistan.

Here, Saliha Baig Jaturi is running Aussie Rules footy clinics. Not only does she face the challenges of being a woman in a Muslim country, where particular expectations on women can restrict what a woman can do, she is also selling Australia’s national game to kids and older villagers who know little or nothing about the game.

The other big challenge is snow. The mountains on the Pakistan/China border zone rank amongst the highest in the world and have the cold to prove it.