World Footy News

The New York Magpies sealed top spot, and with it the Eastern AFL premiership, defeating the Florida Redbacks in Sarasota, Florida. This closes the first ever-season of the EAFL, WFN's Troy Thompson giving a season review.

The 2005 AFL Grand Final is fast approaching, with four teams from four states still in the running - West Coast (WA), Adelaide (SA), Sydney (NSW) and St Kilda (Vic). A great tradition around the world is for Aussies to get together for Grand Final parties at pubs and clubs - anywhere that has a telecast of the game.

If venues or clubs would like to send us a very short piece of information on any such event they're having we'll put up a summary next week.

After their successful tour of South Africa in February 2005, the Convicts are set to do it all again in South America in February 2006. The Convicts Tour will feature two matches in Buenos Aires against the Argentine national team in what will be the first ever match between Australian and South American teams. The tour also includes sightseeing in Chile, Uruguay and Brazil, including a visit to Rio de Janeiro.

The Australian Football League Germany grew to 5 clubs in 2004 with the commencement of the Düsseldorf Lions, and in that year over 120 players pulled on the boots in the course of the season. This year they're on track for as many as 150 having played at least one match and have at least two potential new clubs for the coming seasons. However, despite having more players actually playing than Spain (who attended the International Cup) and Sweden (who've started playing internationals against Denmark), the Germans have generally kept to themselves, with only 'scratch' national teams having played any outside opposition.

World Footy News spoke with German footy pioneer Malte Schudlich about how the scene is developing in this relatively reclusive footy nation.

The new boys in US footy, the Bakersfield Barbarians, are all set to have their first match, with the Orange County Bombers and a rejuvenated Inland Empire set to travel to the Californian city in October for some matches.

Now that the dust has settled and another International Cup has been decided, it seems timely to review how each country went compared with 2002 and up against expectations.

In the BARFL London Premiership Grand Final held last Saturday, September 3rd, the West London Wildcats overcame a three-goal defecit at the last break to the defeat the Wimbledon Hawks by seven points, 9.14.68 to 9.7.61.

In the Conference Grand Final, the Shepherds Bush Raiders hung on for a three-point win against the Clapham Demons, 11.12.78 to 11.9.75.

Full match reports are available here.

In the Regional Premiership held on the 23rd of July, the Nottingham Scorpions 10.9.69 defeated the Bristol Dockers 8.6.54 for their first ever flag.

The Australian is Australia's major national newspaper and on 18th August 2005 ran a story previewing the Round 21 AFL match between Sydney and the Kangaroos. The first half focused on the non-Victorian domination of recent AFL grand finals, but of interest on the international front was a discussion of Aussie Rules as an important potential product in promoting "Brand Australia", and was put in the context of the upcoming match in Los Angeles between the two sides.

The Ontario AFL, one of the biggest leagues in the world, outside of Australia, is gearing up for the 2005 finals. Toronto Downtown Dingos will be favourites to go all the way having finished top with just one loss. The league has also announced its major awards and all-star team.

The Tokyo Goannas have joined forces with Japanese players from local sides, the Samurais and Go-Kongs, to play as the Japan Goannas at the 6th Annual Asian Australia Rules Football Championships.

The 2nd US Collegiate Invitational is coming up, and the event is being used to promote a new plan for college footy, aimed at taking Aussie Rules a step further. Australian football in the US is growing steadily but many of the recruits are already in their 20s when they take up the game, and with so many new skills to learn, they often don't reach their peak until around 30. An obvious place to attract younger players is the university system, which is also a key part of professional US sports. The USAFL has funded a report, by Belmont University Sports Administration masters student, Adam Bishop, into how to develop the college game, and it will be presented to the ANZACC National Business Conference, being held from September 9 to 11.

10am this Sunday, 11th of September will see the Paris Cockerels and Strasbourg Kangaroos clash in the first club match between two French sides beyond scratch games played in the late 90s. The match will be a friendly held as a closer to a training session at the Hall Omnisport Rugby Grounds in Cergy-Pontoise for the French side heading to London for the 9-a-side EU Cup.

The Paris Cockerels have played occasional games in recent times against opposition as the Brussels Saints and in the Central Europe AFL championships, but have not played a match thus far in 2005. The Strasbourg Kangaroos are reportedly hoping to join the AFL Germany to give them the possibility of regular league play, situated as they are on the German-French border and closer to three of the five German clubs than to the French capital.