World Footy News

The Finland AFL has recently released a new website, with pages for the national rep side the IceBreakers as well as the newly-formed domestic clubs. So far, Finns have two solid teams on the park with the Helsinki Heatseekers in the capital and a new all-Finnish side in the Halikko-Salo area of western Finland, as well as plans to found third and fourth clubs in the regional cities of Tampere and Turku.

As well as matches between Helsinki and Halikko-Salo, early August sees matches planned for the IceBreakers against Sweden and the London branch of the Convicts.

Fresh from back-to-back CEAFL Cup wins, the Finns will attend their first EU Cup this year and are making noises about being at next year's International Cup. Click on www.finlandafl.com for more information on footy in Finland.

The Melbourne Herald Sun has reported that the 2007 AFL exhibition match at The Oval in London is unlikely to go ahead due to a reluctance by AFL teams to play. This is consistent with WFN's information that the Western Bulldogs were keen to play in the annual fixture but that the AFL couldn't persuade any other clubs to take up the challenge. The timing is undeniably poor for AFL clubs as it immediately follows the end of the season and many players undergo minor surgery to fix up injuries that they carry through the year. With pre-season training starting just 10 weeks after the matches end, there's a very small window for surgery and recreation before work begins for the coming campaign. 2006 saw Port Adelaide take only a skeleton squad to London and the writing was on the wall then, despite good crowds regularly turning out.

It's a disappointing outcome given the match is the one chance each year for Australian Football to get significant exposure in England, though having said that, it has obviously been an expat event in the main. It's also unfortunate because the match has been preceded by an international between Britain and Ireland, and half-time has featured junior matches. Hopefully the event can be staged again in 2008 and perhaps a better time of the year can be found - something not too easy in the crowded AFL calendar.

In the story the AFL's general manager of football operations, Adrian Anderson, confirmed the AFL is looking at games in Dubai, Los Angeles and South Africa. Most of these have been reported as likely to be pre-season matches, rather than end of season as in the London case.

The Herald Sun article is: London's exhibition game off radar by David Reed.

There is a "new" club in Canterbury (New Zealand) called the Christchurch Bulldogs, with the aim being for the Kiwis' most southern league to have four strong independent clubs. Read on for more information on how they went about forming a stand alone club, and other football related issues in the South Island of NZ....

The status quo out west was maintained this weekend as San Diego continued their winning ways. The day started with a convincing win to the Lions over the Orange County Bombers. And the Bombers also went down to the home team in Denver. So all was going as most would have expected in this years Western Regional challenge.

The big test was always going to be for the Lions to win in the mile high city, and win they did. A tight tussle saw the Lions get up by nine points over the Bulldogs in a famous away victory. The Lions now sure to maintain their number one ranking going into the 2007 Nationals in Louisville, Kentucky in October. The Bulldogs have some fine tuning to do with planned matches against Las Vegas and Kansas City coming up – but this encounter will leave them with a clear picture on what they need to do between now and October to challenge the current champions. Full scores and match write ups to follow as they come to hand.

The Hong Kong Dragons defeated the Bali Geckos 43-34 in a tight Asian Champs final yesterday, pulling ahead in extra time after scores were level at full time. Full results and report soon, in the meantime there is an interesting report of the final available from Thailand's English-language newspaper the Bangkok Post.

Update: The link is now invalid. Here's a few snippets from Alan Parkhouse's article:

The Hong Kong Dragons hung on to win their first Asian Australian Football Championships in a thrilling grand final at the Patana School grounds in Bangkok yesterday. The Dragons won a nail-biting grand final which went into extra time against the Bali Geckos in a match that had the noisy crowd of more than 1,000 on the edge of their seats.

It was a fitting finale to the biggest Australian Rules football tournament ever held outside Australia, which saw 10 teams from Asia and the Middle East in action on the plush grounds of the Patana School grounds in suburban Bangkok, trying to kick goals and behinds through the bamboo goalposts.

As the full time siren approached Bali kicked a behind to level the score and take the match into extra time. Two five minute halves of extra time were then played.

After the extra 10 minutes, with the crowd cheering loudly for the popular Bali side, the Hong Kong boys scored a scrappy goal with two minutes to go, followed by another behind on the siren to take a well-deserved 43-34 victory.

The votes are in from across the United States as we reveal the latest WFN USFooty Top 10 rankings. The reigning US Nationals champs, San Diego, have retained top spot, but there have been some movements lower down.

In a major upset, Germany have defeated Sweden in the first match of the Northern European Tri-Series in Berlin, to claim their first win in a test-level international. The Black Eagles led Sweden 9.8 (62) to 0.2 (2) at half time, before the Elks staged a major comeback to go down 11.11 (77) to 11.6 (72).

The draw for the Asian championships has been announced, with 20 pool matches scheduled between 10 sides on two grounds in one day. The tournament will also feature Australian rock legends "the Fauves" and has received coverage on Australian national radio station Triple J as part of "This Sporting Life", the program of legendary sports reporters Roy and HG. The AFL's Footy Record will also feature the Champs this weekend, which might help a few of the footy fans out there still unaware of international footy's existence to come on board.

The draw can be viewed in PDF form here.

The Geelong football club recently signed their second player under the AFL’s New South Wales Scholarship Program. Ranga Ediriwickrama, born in Griffith (NSW), but of Sri Lankan heritage, is a graduate of Sydney’s Westbrook junior football club. Impressively, he is Westbrook’s third player to catch the eye of an AFL club, with Michael Johnson and Josh Fenaroli signed under the same scheme, by Hawthorn and Carlton respectively. He is currently playing for Pennant Hills.

The Scholarship Program requires AFL clubs to select at least one and no more than two NSW sportsmen between the ages of 15 and 17 yearly. Each scholarship, which can last up to three years, sees the player given coaching and monetary assistance by their AFL club, in return for the club getting priority to draft the youngster once they are eligible. The program is designed to give greater strength to the AFL’s push into NSW.

It appears the Geelong Football Club will have to train on a baseball diamond this week before its big match against Collingwood, due to Skilled Stadium's poor condition (see Geelong turn to baseball diamond). It is not unusual for footy teams in North America to also train and even play on fields designed for baseball.

Last month an article appeared on the Inside Toronto Website bemoaning the fact that Aussie Rules had ‘given the boot’ to a neighbourhood 50-and-over mixed slo-pitch baseball league after 28 years of play in Colonel Samuel Smith Park. The article can be read here: Australian football trumps softball in Sam Smith Park.

The baseballers in Geelong shouldn’t have too much to worry about though, as the Cats will surely be keen to get back to the Kardinia Park ground as soon as possible. In the mean time let’s hope no one trips over the pitchers mound!