World Footy News

Eccentric expat Australian Myk Aussie is a regular at Aussie Rules events across Canada and the United States. He recently caught up with football legend Kevin Sheedy at the 2007 US Nationals in Louisville. Myk's excellent interview ranged from the way the game has changed, Aussie Rules in North America, learning from other sports, Aboriginal players, the great Essendon premiership sides of the past and even horse racing. Myk's site is MYKwebTV and also contains other footy footage from Canada and the US. The Sheedy interview is here.

The trickle of Irish players into the Australian Football League is set to become a flood in 2008. Carlton may be about to take the recruiting experiment to a new level, and what had been a curiosity could now become a major phenomenon, set to shape the on-field destinies of some clubs and possibly even bring on the possibility of true international Australian Football competition for Australia.

Victoria is home to 5 million people and ten of the sixteen teams in Australia's elite football league, the AFL. A year ago I wrote a controversial article challenging the AFL to make some tough decisions and truly nationalise the league whilst ensuring football remains at the forefront of Victoria's sporting scene. I believed that reducing the number of Melbourne clubs would be the key to improved performances from the city's remaining clubs and would mean new clubs in unrepresented parts of Australia. This article looks at the relevance of my arguments a year on, following much improved results by Victorian clubs. It also looks in depth at the underperforming VFL (Victoria's prominent state league) and possible measures to lift the league to the status it could enjoy.

1 Denver Bulldogs (9-1) (10 #1 Votes)
2 San Diego Lions (9-1)
3 BW Eagles (7-1)
4 NY Magpies (6-2)
5 Golden Gate Roos (2-3)
6 OC Bombers (2-6)
7 Minnesota Freeze (7-1)
8 Boston Demons (2-5)
9 Seattle Grizzlies (6-1)
10 Chicago United (5-4)

Also receiving votes Atlanta Kookaburras (6-3).

The Denver Bulldogs finished the 2007 season taking out the John Harrell Perpetual Cup (the USFooty National Championship) and the Number 1 position in the World Footy News USFooty Top 10 Poll. It was the Bulldogs 6th championship in 8 years, making them the dominant team of USFooty’s first decade. The win by just 6 points over the 2006 Champions, the San Diego Lions, shows the closeness of these two dominant teams over the last couple of years. Earlier in the season, San Diego beat Denver in Colorado by 9 points. Let’s hope that these two great clubs schedule a full-length game in 2008.

The Baltimore-Washington Eagles finished an impressive season with third in the Poll. The Eagles finished second in pool play at Nationals after losing to the eventual champions, the Denver Bulldogs. On the other side, the No. 4 New York Magpies finished second in pool play after losing to the San Diego Lions. The two teams finishing third in pool play, the Golden Gate Roos and the Orange County Bombers, finished No. 5 and No. 6 respectively. The other team that had a very impressive 2007 was the No. 7 Minnesota Freeze. Minnesota finished 2006 losing to the Baltimore Washington Eagles in the Division II Grand Final. In 2007 they improved to their No. 7 position with an impressive performance at Nationals including a hard fought win over the No. 9 Seattle Grizzlies, taking out the Division II National Championship. The Boston Demons and Chicago United both had a disappointing tournament finishing fourth in pool play but staying in the top 10 with position No. 8 and No. 10 respectively.

It was a great 2007 season. Congratulations to all teams and thanks to the Pollsters!

Swedish footy has seen big growth in the past few years, with new clubs springing up outside the traditional hot spots of Stockholm and Scania and the Swedish Elks improving strongly onfield - taking out this year's EU Cup. However, the creation of a central governing body has proven elusive until now - partly due to the distances between clubs and leagues. A meeting held recently has seen the formation of the Svenska Australiensiska FotbollsLiga, with a seven-member committee - composed entirely of Swedes - drawn from all leagues and clubs in Sweden.

Talks between AFL CEO Andrew Demetriou and the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA)’s president Nickey Brennan, took place in Paris on Thursday night.

It was the first face to face meeting of the two heads of their respective codes since the controversial second test match of International Rules in Croke Pk, Dublin 12 months earlier. That game, played before a full house of 82,000, finished in a convincing victory to Australia but the Irish were incensed by rough play in the first quarter, and called a halt to the series in the immediate aftermath.

Perhaps the biggest issue for the international spread of Australian Football is making the step from a small club to larger numbers and getting juniors into the game. Of course it's completely reasonable for an expat-Australian club to function purely at that level, but in many cases a decision is made to try to develop the game locally and leave a lasting legacy.

In some cases a club may morph into a league, or in areas with higher numbers of Aussies, several clubs may form and become a relatively stable league relatively quickly. Over time the question sometimes emerges of how much pressure the league can or should put on clubs to ensure local development occurs to ensure the continued growth of the sport. Classic examples of reasonably large, stable leagues are those based around London (England), Ontario (Canada) and Auckland (New Zealand). Each of those boast a good standard of footy and a solid mix of Aussies and locals. But over the years all three have had issues in getting their clubs to invest heavily in junior development. Here we have a look at one small example of the tough decision another sport made.

Geelong's brownlow medal-winning Jimmy Bartel pulled on the boots for the Halikko Juggernauts last weekend, helping Finland's second club to their first-ever win over the Helsinki Heatseekers.

Bartel pulled in at least one spectacular screamer and impressive goal - and was presented with the number 8 Finland jumper after the game. The Finland AFL now has around 40 playing members, with two active local clubs (Helsinki and Halikko) and hopefully two or three more ready to go soon. If all goes according to plan, the Finns (and the Swedes) will be in Melbourne next year for the IC 2008.

The full story and a shot of Bartel receiving the jumper is available on the AFL website here

Highlights and interviews from the USFooty Nationals are up on the net - the YouTube link is here.

The clip opens with a short chat with Rod Grjlusich, regular Nationals guest commentator from Fremantle who mentions that back in 2003 he knew straight away who the Americans on the field were - but now with the improving standard it isn't so obvious.

The link will also put you into close proximity with the huge (and growing) amount of footage from USAFL games on YouTube, as well as footage from Europe and elsewhere available with a few clicks in the search bar.

English-born Fergus Watts' recent delisting by St Kilda and David Rodan's delisting scare last year show just how fragile an AFL career can be. However, many players do bounce back.

Glancing upon the AFL lists, as we head into 2008, there is plenty to get excited about. As these players mature, they become role models for players growing up in their countries. The younger they are, the more potential for long successful AFL careers.

So we decided to look at the ages of some of the current crop of AFL "internationals" and encouragingly the signs are still youthful.

For the first time since the Crows took on Brisbane in Wellington, New Zealand back in 2001, a NAB Cup match will be played outside Australia.

The Crows are back on the bill for the revival, with their much-anticipated clash against Collingwood on February 9th next year in Dubai also given NAB Cup status .

The match will be only the fifth AFL Pre-season Tournament match ever held overseas, after games were held in Cape Town (1998) and Wellington (1998, 2000, 2001).

The Crows will hold a training camp in Dubai in the lead-up to the match, while the Magpies are spending time in South Africa.

Kevin Sheedy's tour of North America received a little more media attention in Melbourne today with an article in the Herald Sun on his presence at the USFooty National Championships. The article mentions Sheedy being given the key to the city of Louisville and some general comments on the standard of footy in the US and how it's risen in the two years since he was last in attendance.

In a sound bite that might spark debate in the USA, he also mentioned as an aside that the Minnesota Freeze - a fairly new club and Division 2 Champions - has the best young talent at the Champs, particularly helped by the Western Australian Football League partnership program.