World Footy News

Setanta O'hAilpin has shown some good form in 2007 under difficult circumstances and is certainly developing a cult status amongst Blues supporters. The tall athlete has been forced into ruck due to a long list of injured or poorly performing Carlton big men. At this stage it's fair to say "Carlos" is struggling in ruck, rarely winning the tap, so against Melbourne on Sunday coach Denis Pagan used him somewhat differently. Setanta took the centre bounces then switched to playing as a lead-up forward while Anthony Koutoufides, more a ruckrover (to use old terminology) did the bullocking work at boundary throw ins and around the ground. Setanta did an admirable job in the absence of regular forward Brendan Fevola, kicking two goals (and missing another) from his 14 possessions including 8 marks. Originally starting the season as fullback, the big Irishmen has become Mr Fixit for Pagan, filling holes wherever needed. His centre bounce leap is certainly improving, and there's promise as a forward, but at this stage he's likely to move back to the key defensive post if Carlton has all hands on deck.

Meanwhile younger brother Aisake could well have stepped up from the rookie list to fill the rucking void if not for an ongoing groin injury. The Blues lost the hitouts 19 to 60 against the Demons and goes a long way to explaining their recent run of losses. But unfortunately Aisake is now listed as out for the remainder of the season and most likely has undergone surgery to fix the problem. Hopefully that will allow him a full pre-season and to push for a senior squad spot. It's believed there are restrictions on how long a player can be on the rookie list, so Carlton may have a major decision to make.

The Southampton Titans, a team formed at the start of the year for the ARUK's Southern England division, received some coverage in Southampton newspaper the Daily Echo last week. The article focused on the Titans taking top spot on the ladder for their division, with a background to club founder Michael Krischunas.

In a significant publicity boost for Australian Football in the UK, Scotland's major national newspaper The Herald recently ran a full back page spread on work by the SARFL to grow the game. The article gave a good background to the game and talked about the dedicated Glasgow ground, Victoria Park, the push into schools and a program to give troubled youth employment experience at the BBC and law firm McGrigors. The article featured a detailed interview with the SARFL's Eddie McAvinchey. It explained that the 29-year-old (who was pictured in the story), originally from Armagh, is "at the vanguard of a disparate collection of individuals comprising the Scottish Australian Rules Football League, a four-team division begun by two Australian expatriates in 2003". McAvinchey was delighted with the amount of coverage given to the sport, although a little embarrassed that the author focused so much on himself. The article should lift the profile of the game amongst the locals and be a boost to the credibility of their junior program. As for McAvinchey, congratulations to him for getting the SARFL front-and-centre of the sports section. A small price to pay are the friendly jibes that have already started from his team-mates and work-mates about his media attention - the perils of the job Eddie!

The full article is Richard Winton meets a man using Aussie Rules to help society.

After prolonged negotiations and over half the 2007 AFL season slipping by, it seems fans in Canada are finally getting the much improved footy coverage they'd been hoping for. AFANA have reported that Rogers Sportsnet have reached agreement with the AFL and Setanta (sports network) and has slotted AFL into its schedule. See Canadian Coverage Begins on Rogers Sportsnet.

We pretty much only see news of international footy on mainstream network television news when the International Cup is on or when there is an AFL match played overseas. Last night Channel 7 in Melbourne ran a story on footy development in South Africa. The story was quite heavily promoted in advertising in the previous 24 hours. And following on from that they also interviewed Kevin Sheedy who indicated that he will be heading to the US again this year for both scouting and fact finding from U.S. sports.

The South African story includes interviews with Joel Kelly and Mtutu Hlomela and can be viewed online at this link: African Auskick. It should be noted that the story only focuses on one area of development, so doesn't mention the many other areas where footy is more advanced in South Africa.

The Kevin Sheedy/US story is quite short and includes a reference to Sheedy’s intention to go to the US at the end of the season. The story can be viewed at this link: Only in America.

We will warn you that you may need to sit through a 30 second advertisement before the clip plays.

Geelong Football Club President Frank Costa has won wide praise for his efforts to rejuvenate the Cats since taking over at the end of 1998. The recovery of Geelong is still a story being told, with the team sitting atop the AFL ladder and looking to complete their rise with their first premiership since 1963. Costa's efforts extend beyond the football arena. The family company has become a major force and in addition Frank was awarded the Order of Australia Medal in 1997 for his services to youth and the community. Now Costa Logistics is combining its business, community and football passions to give young South African's the chance to play footy whilst investing resources in local communities there. Their South African arm have now committed to putting into Australian Football resources worth around AUD$200,000 per year for the next three years, a massive boost to the sport in the country that has become the focus and in many ways the litmus test for internationalising Aussie Rules.

Reporting on the footy news in western Canada, MyK Aussie brings us the following.

In the 2nd game of the year between the two Calgary-based teams the Bears won convincingly by approximately 30 points. After Marlborough Park, a full size Aussie Rules Footy playing field, was flooded a week ago and could not be mowed the Calgary footy crews had to again revert to the Rugby fields on Sheppard Rd in the South East of Calgary.

In game 3 of the 07 season the Vancouver Cougars 18.26.134 hammered the Burnaby Eagles 4.2.26 despite some inaccurate kicking. The scoreline is even more remarkable considering the Eagles had won the first two games played this year.

Switzerland's first Australian Football club may soon be founded in Geneva, with Kevin Meynard on the lookout for players. Kevin first saw footy while on holidays in Australia three years ago, and quickly became infected with the footy-virus.

So far he's collected about 7 or 8 players who are interested, although ideally he'd like to find at least 18. "To start with I'd like to find 18 so that we can play 9 vs 9 against ourselves, then we can look at playing against some of the French or German teams."

He's also searched if there might be a Gaelic club in Geneva with players who might be interested, although he hasn't found one as yet. "Apparently there's an Irishman currently living in Bahrain who wants to start a Gaelic or Australian Football club in Geneva, but for juniors."

"The Swiss are a bit scared - when they see footy they imagine "catch" mixed with rugby. So I created a blog to inform people." The blog, mainly dedicated to explaining footy to beginners, is located at australianfootball.skyrock.com.

Anyone in the vicinity of Geneva who wants to make contact with Kevin can email him via australianfootball_genevaeagles@hotmail.com or through his blog.

After a superb debut that had much of the AFL media buzzing, Irishman Martin Clarke has backed up with three goals and making Collingwood's best player list in just his second match. Although the Pies lost the blockbuster against Hawthorn by 8 points, it wasn't through lack of ability by Clarke who was his team's leading goalkicker and finished with 13 kicks, 6 handballs and 3 goals 1. WFN has previously suggested that clubs that aren't actively seeking international recruits are probably doing themselves a disservice. In many ways it will be sad if the ranks of Gaelic football in Ireland are pillaged for young talent by AFL clubs, as their sport is major part of their culture and at least by appearances a very close cousin to Australian Football. But regardless, it seems likely that more than any Irish recruit before him, the almost instant success of Clarke will have club recruiters clamouring for tickets to the Emerald Isle. One suspects the GAA may go rushing back to the negotiating table for a restart of International Rules so they have some leverage with the AFL to try to prevent a surge in player losses. Given his auspicious start, Martin Clarke must be a good chance to receive a NAB Rising Star nomination. If his form keeps up, he could just be one of the top AFL stories of 2007.

With Fijian-Irishmen Setanta and Aisake O'hAilpin in Melbourne playing for Carlton and its VFL affiliate Northern Bullants, their older brother Teu has also taken up the game, joining the Leeside Lions in Ireland's local Aussie Rules league. At 29 Teu is several years older than Carlton's recruits and has played both Gaelic Football and Hurling to a very high level. He has represented Cork at U-18 and U-21, and then played seniors for Clare having moved there in 2001. He later lived for a while in London where he played both Hurling and Gaelic football. He has spent time in Melbourne with his two brothers and his debut appearance for Leeside helped push them over the line in a very tight match against the Dublin Swans a few weeks ago. The three athletes also have an older brother, Sean Og, who has had a stellar career in Gaelic football and impressed Australian footy fans with his strong performances in International Rules. So it seems talent runs right through the family - maybe one day Carlton will be recruiting Irishmen under the father-son rule.

More on the Irish league at ARFLI's website.