World Footy News

The Auckland AFL Premiership is soon to be decided with the race down to four - University Blues, Mt Roskill Saints, Waitakere Magpies and North Shore Tigers. The AAFL Season has been one dominated percentage-wise by the University Club, winning 8 games from 10, who surprisingly only finished a game clear of Mt Roskill and Waitakere. North Shore Tigers scraped in with a 50% win/loss ratio, but with NZ Coach and NZAFL CEO Rob Vanstam as their coach their chances cannot be dismissed. Certainly Uni are going in in top form with key forwards Todd Taverna and Thomas Taungakiavia kicking 36 goals between them in their last two wins.

BBC Sport have a tremendous 30 minute documentary on the rise of Collingwood's Irish recruit Martin Clarke. The story looks at his junior days of Gaelic football through to his first successful season at the Pies (with coach Mick Malthouse hailing Marty's amazing achievements), and his end of year return home where he again donned his local colours as well as bringing some footy to his former school.

The video gives great insight into how much Clarke is already missed back home and what a talent he has for both sports. It also demonstrates the incredible array of resources Collingwood have to develop a young player - from top quality gym facilities to an altitude training room and video analysis of player body mechanics. Some Irish officials assure themselves that many "Irish experiments" will fail in Australia and return after a year or two. But the modern era of recruitment is very much different to when Jim Stynes was in the minority in making the transition back in the 1980s. The professional scouting and extra resources could well see the success rate become very high, and early indications are that it has happened already.

Unfortunately at time of writing there appears to be an audio synchronisation issue, but the documentary can be viewed here: Clarke Rules, OK!. Thanks to Aussie Rules Wales' Bryce Stone for the tip off.

We've also updated the International Players in Australia page with some photos of the earlier players, courtesy of the AFL.

The following press release is from AFL Canada's Mike McFarlane. The Ontario Australian Football League (“OAFL”) is pleased to announce the appointment of Mr. Dan Walker (pictured) as the League’s Marketing and Development Officer on a full time basis effective immediately. Based in Toronto, Dan will be working out of OAFL/AFL Canada’s Toronto office in downtown Toronto. As Marketing and Development officer, Dan will be responsible for the league’s day to day football operation along with developing the league’s sponsorship, recruitment, membership and junior development programs. A key part of his responsibilities will be to increase the league’s image and awareness as well as promote the game of Australian Rules Football in the Greater Toronto Area.

Further to our story highlighting Collingwood's call to supporters to join them in Dubai on February 9th 2008 for their NAB Cup opener, their opponents, the Adelaide Crows, have also sent a message to members (via email) and all supporters (via their website) inviting them to make the trip. Packages start from AU$2895 per person for flights and 5 nights accommodation (excluding airport taxes). Options include tours to Abu Dhabi and a breakfast with the players, and there's even an opportunity for supporters to fly with the team. More details here at afc.com.au and Crows Travel on (08) 8239 1333 (from within Australia). The more Pies and Crows fans that make the journey, surely the more likely AFL clubs will feel financially comfortable in committing to overseas games.

The Dubai Dingoes have organised a football match against an Oman-based side. The game will be held on December 14 at a Gaelic football pitch in the nation’s capital Muscat, with players-per-side to be agreed upon on the day. The Oman side is made up of players from their 2007 Dubai 9s squad, along with local Gaelic side Na Cunna GLC an Mhadaidh (the Wolfhounds in English). The club was established in 1979, and they remain active, having just returned from the Gaelic Games in Bahrain.

It is part of a greater push to establish Australian football in the region. Apart from the Dingoes, the Dubai Heat and the Doha Kangaroos are other active clubs in the Middle East. The Dingoes hope that this match will add an Omani side to that list. Dubai will also play host to an AFL preseason match between Collingwood and Adelaide in February 2008.

The AFL's coordinator of the 2008 Australian Football International Cup has confirmed the dates for the third instalment of world footy's biggest tournament. Roger Berryman told WFN that the dates previously listed as possible have now been settled, with some minor changes. It looks like at least one match (prior to the Grand Final) may be a curtain raiser to an AFL match, but whether the Grand Final will be is subject to the AFL Finals schedule - not known until after Round 22 of the AFL season. Berryman also gave some further insight into the possible attendees and arrangements between those countries and AFL and VAFA clubs (more on that later).

The AFLPNG Kurakums, the national under-16 Girls team, will arrive home this week as the Queensland State U16 Girls Champions. They did not lose a game throughout the tournament and the only opposition side to score against them was the other Grand Finalist, Cape York.

In only their second attempt the Kurakums have surprised the AFL fraternity in Queensland by dominating the Under 16 National Championships. Their domination was evidenced by the selection of nine PNG players in the Queensland All Stars Team.

The Collingwood Football Club opens the 2008 NAB Cup pre-season tournament against Adelaide in Dubai on February 9th. The club's website is now calling for its supporters to join them in the journey to the Middle East. The details follow:

Fly high with the Pies in Dubai! Pie in the Sky Travel Collingwood Football Club and Emirates Airline are delighted to announce a series of special travel packages for Collingwood supporters who wish to experience the first ever official AFL blockbuster to be played in the Middle East! Collingwood Football Club will play the Adelaide Crows in an official NAB Cup Match in Dubai on Saturday 9 February 2008. The match will be played at the famous Dubai Polo and Equestrian Club amidst a carnival of events. Travel Packages have been designed to include a range of options for Magpie supporters. All packages include luxury accommodation, transfers, tickets to the game, an official supporters function with the CFC players and coaching staff, official supporters merchandise pack and a range of special Arabian experiences! Contact Pie in the Sky Travel to find out more. Email one of our friendly team members: pieinthesky at pieinthesky.com.au or call (03) 8412 0100 (within Australia)

The wave of recent Irish recruits to AFL clubs have begun arriving in Australia for pre-season training. Although mainstream Aussie media has been slow to pick up on the development of Australian Football internationally, because the men from Ireland are headed for AFL clubs there has been no shortage of articles.

Most of the players have been added to the International Rookie List for the respective clubs, meaning they are outside of the main squad lists, but can play for the clubs' feeder teams, such as in the VFL, and be called up to senior duty if a long term injury occurs.

In a disappointing development for US and international fans, the match between Geelong and Richmond planned for Los Angeles next January has been cancelled due to lack of funding. Reportedly the exercise fell $100,000 short of the $1 million required to stage the match, compounded by logistical problems with preparing the venue at UCLA.

AFL game development manager David Matthews reported yesterday that the AFL were trying to find clubs to remount the London exhibition match for 2008, in addition to the planned matches for Dubai and South Africa.

Through the start of this century Australian Football supporters keen to see the game developed more beyond Australia's borders were quite accustomed to hearing the mantra that the Aussie states of Queensland and New South Wales were the Australian Football League's number one development priority. With an obviously greater commitment to international footy in recent years the mantra is less often repeated, but the AFL's determination to see the game achieve full penetration into two of Australia's biggest states has not lessened. The obvious next step in the sport's evolution is the move to place an AFL club on the Gold Coast, and one way or another, 2010 appears to be the target.

While Ben Cousins has been in the news for all of the wrong reasons lately (even to the point of being charged by the AFL for bringing the game into disrepute and suggestions of recreational drug use), it wasn't just Ben's mysterious disappearance in the USA that had many in the Australian media surprised. Many newspapers were instead fascinated by the fact that the AFL star, got attention, if not in the mainstream, but among the more influential players in the blogosphere.

Celebrity gossip site Perez Hilton, arguably one of the most popular on the Internet asked "Where In The World Is Ben Cousins????", while Dave's Football Blog, apparently one of the Top 100 most influencial sports bloggers has maintained regular features on AFL football and the most recent adventures of Ben Cousins.

Ben Cousins may not be the best ambassador for our game, though it is a change from publicity generated in the US by stories such as amputated players fingers, Adam Selwood's taunts on Des Headland and Warwick Capper's debut as an "adult actor", news of which can be found on 100 percent injury rate and Matt Ufford's withleather.com.

Naturally, one of the biggest stories to reach US blogs in recent times was Saverio Rocca's successful conversion from Aussie Rules to NFL football, which was reported by popular blogs Deadspin, Larry Brown Sports, The 700 Level, highlighting more than anything just how massively popular the NFL is stateside.

While tabloid news is not necessarily promotion of the finer points of our game, it does demonstrate a growing awareness of the Australian Football League among Americans, who are just beginning to spread the word and discover that our game is indeed different to rugby.