World Footy News

In addition to the previous post from a few days ago, here's a list of 2007 parties on in continental Europe for anyone who happens to be in need of somewhere to watch the grand final in the early hours of Saturday morning...

Also, for anyone needing to find footy on TV outside of Australia, prominent international Australian Football journeyman Julian "Rooster" Clarke has just unveiled his latest project, AFLonTV.com, a guide to when and where you can catch footy on the box.

Like so many things, Australian Football doesn't really have one moment in time that clearly defines its origins. But we all like to celebrate anniversaries and mark historic events, so the game between Scotch College and Melbourne Grammar in 1858 is often recognised as the first time our sport was played, and you'll certainly hear more about that next year as the AFL celebrates 150 years since that event. Increasingly the popular understanding is that the game was invented by Tom Wills, with heavy influence from a local Aboriginal sport and from Rugby. The indigenous connection is considered somewhat dubious by many historians, but the discovery of possibly the earliest image of a sport resembling Australian Football is sure to spark debate again. Updated 27th September 2007: The image has now been added to the story (see main article). Museum Victoria's Karen Meehan explains that the image is a print published in 1862 from original sketches and observations made in 1857.

While it seems that some players are already in the bad news books in the AFL offseason (see Greek Islands and Oktoberfest) with the Grand Final yet to be played, others just can’t seem to get enough football action. It appears that both Setanta and Aisake O hAilpin could be playing on that last weekend in September, and Martin Clarke’s season may not have finished with Collingwood’s loss last weekend.

Some of Australian Football's growth areas are in areas that do not enjoy the same socio-economic circumstances as most people living in western nations. This makes seemingly minor issues like obtaining suitable footwear out of the question for many budding young players in countries such as South Africa, Tonga and Samoa. So it's pleasing to see people in both Australia and the United States getting behind the cause of delivering no longer needed boots to less fortunate players in other countries.

The Farum Cats became the first team in DAFL history to win three consecutive flags with a hard fought win over the debutante Port Malmö Maulers last Saturday.

As we come towards the end of the 2007 footy season for the majority of leagues around the world, for the first time WFN has decided to publish a list of the premiers in all the major Australian Football leagues around the world - starting from the 2006 season. In fact this is the third year in a row we've intended bringing you a full season wrap of premiers, but the time and effort was yet to match the good intentions. Hopefully this will stand as a good record for recalling the top teams at a glance. Later in the year we intend bringing you the 2007 wrap-up.

Cats fans were not the only ones barracking for Geelong's Jimmy Bartel as he surged towards the Brownlow Medal on Monday night. Football players across Scandinavia had good cause to support the shy midfielder as Bartel has been a friend of the Danish AFL and returns there soon to help develop up to three national sides and with a possible royal appointment.

Chicago United (number 6 in the WFN USFooty rankings) secured the 2007 Mid-American Australian Football League Premiership on Saturday with an emphatic 103 to 57 win over the Milwaukee Bombers. The victory over Milwaukee secured Chicago a Division 1 invitation for the USFooty National Championship Tournament.

Chicago finished the 2007 regular season an impressive 5 and 1 record, with their only loss to the Seattle Grizzlies in Seattle. In MAAFL play Chicago had a 4 and 0 record, ahead of Milwaukee, St Louis and Nashville who all finished 2 and 2. Cincinnati took home the wooden spoon with an 0 and 4 record in the MAAFL Championship Division.

A decade after the Australian Football League's seemingly one-off experiment in Africa, with the 1998 Brisbane versus Fremantle match in Cape Town, AFL footy is set to return to South Africa with Carlton taking on Fremantle in Pretoria in a February pre-season, pre-NAB Cup match.

As previously reported (Carlton v Fremantle in South Africa) and although not confirmed, The West Australian reports that the match is tentatively booked into SuperSport Park (Google image) on February 2nd 2008. The heart of Australian Football is in North West Province and the likely venue would have been Potchefstroom's Sedgars Park, which hosted the Australian Under 17's against a South African selection earlier this year (see Aussie talent all class on African footy's big day). Unfortunately cricket commitments are reported to have ruled that out. Nearby Pretoria lies in the province of Gauteng, and North West's loss will be their gain. Rather than reward the region where footy has its roots, perhaps this will introduce the game to a relatively untouched audience. Let's hope that it goes ahead and it would be tremendous to see AFL South Africa and the AFL arrange to bus in some of the players and volunteer officials from North West to see what for many would be their first live game of AFL.

Also headed across the Indian Ocean, in December this year, will be West Coast. In the PerthNow story West Coast trip to South Africa a good life lesson it's reported that the Eagles will spend ten days in KwaZulu-Natal, their development province under a four team agreement with the AFL. The players will also be conducting coaching clinics in what is AFL South Africa's newest football region. The other AFL clubs involved are Fremantle, who work with North West, Carlton with Gauteng and Collingwood with Western Cape.

The following article is from Jeff Wortman, well known to many of our readers as one half of the comedy duo that deliver the weekly Footy Wrap posted on YouTube. Here Jeff recounts his memories of watching "the grannie" far from home and sympathises with the many people around the world in search of their footy fix on the big day.

On the last Saturday in September two years ago, I was negotiating the Tokyo subway with two mates, looking for the Clubhouse. I’m not usually an advocate of wearing your footy jumper to a game your team isn’t playing in but I felt desperate to find a way to be parochial in a city full of people who were blissfully unaware of the significance of the AFL Grand Final.

Updated 23 Sep 2007 - just a quick reminder to those hosting or looking for AFL Grand Final parties that you can make use of this post or visit AFANA's site, details below.

Originally posted 11 Sep 2007:

The 2007 Australian Football League Grand Final is fast approaching and the tradition of hosting parties to watch the game is continuing to grow around the world. Whereas it used to be mostly expatriate Aussies scrambling for a venue that would show the match, now they are increasingly joined by local fans.

Rather than replicate the work of the Australian Football Association of North America (AFANA), who each year list Grand Final parties from all around the world, we once again advise readers looking for a venue to check out www.afana.com and in particular their party page. Note that they do take details from venues all over the world, not just North America.

To increase their chances of getting a search engine hit, party organisers are also welcome to log in to WFN and leave a comment on this story, detailing where fans can watch the game.

Desperate fans who find the above methods unsuccessful could also consider contacting their nearest footy club, league or Australian embassy (don't tell them we sent you!). Visit our Links section to find the closest one.

Chicago United (ranked 6th in the US in our regular poll) will host the Milwaukee Bombers on Saturday in the last game of the USFooty regular season. This game will decide the Mid-American Australian Football League Premiership as Chicago has a one-game lead over Milwaukee with a lower percentage. The winner, and MAAFL Premier, will also get an invitation to Division 1 of the USFooty National Championship in Louisville KY.