World Footy News

US power club the Denver Bulldogs have won their fourth-straight national title at the US Nationals held in Milwaukee on the weekend. Denver defeated Milwaukee in the Division One Final 4.8.32 to 1.1.7, although San Diego notably also performed very strongly in the group.

In Division 2, the Golden Gate Roos defeated Philadelphia 7.3.45 to 1.4.10 - Orange County narrowly missing the Division 2 final after originally being seeded in division 1.

Division 3 saw a strong Vancouver side miss out on the final after a border-crossing delay stopped them arriving for their first match - Minnesota eventually defeating Baton Rouge 4.3.27 to 3.3.21 for the title.

Every so often a few guys stranded in a city without footy go looking for like-minded individuals and get a kick-to-kick happening. 'Every so often' is slowly but surely becoming more regular and kick-to-kick is turning to clubs looking for a game. In the past few months Europe has seen three, possibly four new teams hoping to get off the ground, with the Trolls in Oslo and Lions in Finland, the Czech Republic and the Swedish city Linköping.

St. Kilda and Brisbane will join Collingwood this off-season in organising international training camps that they hope will assist their preparations for the 2006 AFL season.

After a successful first year in its 2004 season, the Scottish Australian Rules Football League (SARFL) is building up for the finale to its second season with a Grand Final set to be played in Edinburgh on 22 October. The Scots also have big plans for the future, hoping to put a 3-year plan in place to enter the International Cup in 2008.

Nominations are now rolling in for the 2006 VFL Barassi International Youth Tournament in Canberra in 2006 and the organisers are putting the word out for any interested groups to register their interest - whether it be an elite squad or just a school team who want to visit Australia, suitable opposition will be found.

Aussie Rules is coming to Bermuda, and the Atlanta Kookaburras, Reading Kangaroos (UK) and Bermuda Department of Tourism will use the the USAFL National conference on Friday and the USAFL National Championships on Saturday to launch The Bermuda Australian Rules Football Championships to be held April 2007.

Melbourne Football Club players and officials have commenced post-season volunteer work on the Thai island of Koh Phi Phi, where they are constructing a school as a memorial to former teammate Troy Broadbridge. Troy was tragically killed in the Boxing Day tsunami last December.

The AFL Record is sold at AFL matches each week around Australia, and has an estimated weekly readership approaching 300,000. In the Round 21 edition a few weeks ago, the AFL's head of Game Development, David Matthews, wrote an article titled "The Wheel Turns", in which he discusses recent growth and hopes for new teams at the next International Cup. It appeared with a photo of New Zealand performing their Haka at the International Cup.

Divisional seedings are out (with some controversy) and the smack talk between US clubs is hotting up in the lead-up to the biggest club championship tournament in the world of Aussie Rules, coming up this weekend of October 1-2 in Milwaukee. 3 divisions of 8 teams will compete in the mens' event, with the women's championship for the first time featuring four teams. World Footy News previews the US Nationals, with some tips from the author.

It may not be Aussie rules, but wherever Gaelic footy grows it seems to benefit interest and player numbers in Aussie footy. One just has to look at Tadhg Kennelly and Jim Stynes as champion Aussie rules stars who played only Gaelic football til the end of their schooldays.

In the wake of the marvellously hard fought and stirring victory by the Sydney Swans at the AFL Grand Final, the following story from The Australian on Grand Final day is illuminating. Sean Fagan, a primarily Rugby historian whose main book is about the split between Rugby Union and Rugby League - "The Rugby Rebellion - the divide of league and union", writes how Australian football almost became the dominant code in the Harbour City by 1905.

The special relationship between the Geelong Cats of the AFL and the Farum Cats of the Danish Australian Football League will really show signs of bearing fruit with the visit of Geelong stars Tim Callan and Jimmy Bartel to Denmark and Sweden for the first week of October.