World Footy News

Asia’s biggest-ever Australian rules football tournament has been confirmed for Thailand in July as the sport continues to expand in the region with competition for the trophy sure to be intense. Ten teams in the China Reds, United Arab Emirates Heat, Hong Kong Dragons, Bali Geckos, Jakarta Bintangs, Tokyo Goannas, Malaysian Warriors, Singapore Wombats, Vietnam Swans and hosts the Thailand Tigers will compete for the coveted Asian Australian Rules Football Championship at the Patana International School on Saturday July 14, the Singapore Wombats aiming for their third-straight Asian title.

The UAE Heat, representing the clubs playing in Dubai and other cities, and Vietnam, combining the Saigon and Hanoi clubs, will be making their debuts in the tournament this year, with Dubai tipped to give regional powerhouses Bali, Hong Kong, Jakarta and Singapore a real push in the tournament.

The 2007 Central European AFL Championship will be held in Vienna, Austria next Saturday, 9 June 2007. Teams representing Austria, Croatia, the Czech Republic and Finland will take the park, with the event starting at 10am and the grand final to be played at 5pm.

For all information about the location and directions for the CEAFL Championships, click here to read the flyer or visit the Vienna Kangaroos website.

In more great news for international Aussie Rules the Australian Football League's General Manager of National & International Development has revealed to WFN that the AFL is looking to stage a World Club Challenge in 2009, with a new stadium in Florida the leading candidate to host the event. What could make the tournament stand out from previous international tournaments is AFL backing and the prospect of major prize money.

This week, the Reading Kangaroos were looking to bounce back from their first defeat of the season by the Regents Park Lions last week. Welcoming the Balham Hawks to Fortress King's Meadow, the Roos gave an awesome performance of accurate kicking, great support and hard running to get the right side of the footy for the whole match, winning 180-21. The full report can be found here.

A very encouraging element to the game was the presence on the sidelines of Ollie Williams from local station, BBC Radio Berkshire. Getting his introduction to the fantastic sport of Aussie Rules Football, Ollie gave live commentary on the match, interviewed some players and coaching staff and took some great photos - the audio and photos can be found on the BBC Radio Berkshire site.

The first (and so far only) footy team in Holland, the Flying Dutchmen played their first match in almost two years on May 19th, teaming up with the Strasbourg Kangaroos for a friendly against German club the Rheinland Lions in Cologne. Seven players from the Netherlands and eight from Strasbourg made the trip across, going down to the Lions 52-34 in a curtain-raiser to the AFLG match between Rheinland and Hamburg.

Two loosely related kicking articles in the past few days have us thinking about further inroads for our game overseas. The first on AOL Sports site wonders aloud if Aussie rules punters in the NFL could be a great promotional tool for NFL overseas. The obvious answer is that it will raise the profile of NFL but the opposite may also be true, that Aussie Rules will gain greater exposure by pure weight of numbers in the US.

The second article in the Times Online covers the comments of Welsh Rugby’s kicking coach Neil Jenkins bemoaning the head start that Aussie kids have in Rugby’s kicking game “ Our boys kick at that age, but are messing about. The Aussies do it properly because of Aussie Rules.” This may be the perfect argument in Rugby playing countries for parents to encourage their kids to take part in Aussie Rules development programs.

Martin Clarke’s rapid rise to senior AFL ranks continues at an unprecedented rate as far as Irish imports are concerned. Collingwood yesterday confirmed on their website that the 19 year old rookie has been promoted from the rookie list to the senior list.

It is thought that he will not play this week against Fremantle, but now he is on the senior list can be selected at anytime. He continues to work closely with Nathan Buckley and was working on fast leading and kicking drills with him while the media’s eyes were on Buckley at training yesterday, as Buckley continues to edge closer to his own senior debut for the year (returning from injury). It may turn out that they run out together the following weekend for the Queen’s Birthday clash on June 11th.

The short history of the Australian Rules Football League Ireland (ARFLI) is an interesting one with a mixture of extreme highs but also a few low points in what is a unique country for Aussie Rules. On the upside the national side went several years undefeated and claimed the inaugural International Cup back in 2002, and remained very competitive to finish fourth in 2005. The number of clubs also grew quickly from the first beginnings around the turn of the century, but the numbers have ebbed and flowed in the country which has both the advantages and disadvantages of the similarity between Australian and Gaelic Football. With the 2007 season getting underway with five clubs we chat to new ARFLI President Ciarán O' Hara about where he intends focussing the League's efforts.

Daniel Tincknell, who played in NZ for Auckland University Under 17s, Reserves and Seniors in the Auckland League is now playing for and working full time as a Development Officer for the Subiaco Football Club (WAFL). His major responsibility is development in his district. Prior to this he worked part time as a trainee for Fremantle and the WAFL. Daniel’s father, Colin Tincknell, was the second CEO of the NZAFL in the early part of this decade and Daniel, who had previously helped his father by volunteering with football related issues in WA, was able to continue and expand his efforts in NZ. This is a great story of footy's global growth ultimately supporting the game back in Australia.

World Footy News has covered the journey of Irish import Martin Clarke since his transition was first rumoured last year. It was today speculated in a Real Footy article that he could become the fastest of the Gaelic converts to a senior list and to a fully fledged AFL match.

A permanent home for USFooty and Australian Football in the United States may currently be under construction in the City of Lauderhill, Florida. Broward County is currently constructing a stadium with 5,000 covered seats for cricket (and football) at a cost of $30m as part of a sporting complex that will include three full size cricket (football) grounds. According to the Ft Lauderdale's Fighting Squids' Joshua Goodstein, the County plans to place goal posts on the field and is working towards hosting the 2009 USFooty Nationals. If the renderings are anything to go by this will be a beautiful world class facility that will have the ability to host major events including USFooty Nationals, AFL games and possibly the 2012 AFL International Cup (Editor: probably just speculation but you never know).

On the Friday before East vs West game, Broward County hosted a tour by USFooty officials, who by all accounts, were very impressed. The scheduled open date is mid-December 2007, and according to Goodstein, both the Broward County Parks System and USFooty continue to work together in order to bring footy events to this state of the art facility.

An article by Age reporter Andrew Ryan appeared in Thursday's Age titled AFL should target mainland Europe.

In the interesting opinion article, Ryan, who apparently has umpired last year's AFL Germany grand final between the Munich Kangaroos and the Rhineland Lions and a friendly between Munich and Madrid, is critical of the annual AFL exhibition match at the Brit Oval and the International Rules series and calls for some lateral thinking from the AFL in marketing the game in Europe - particularly in Denmark, Germany, Austria and Hungary, areas where fledgeling competitions exist.

Ed - an insider tip is that there's actually been some talk about this "behind the scenes" as well. Whether the Age writer was acting on a tip-off about an announcement which might come up this year is unknown - but news regarding more AFL attention to Europe might (note - we said might) make the headlines later this year.