World Footy News

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.

In a major upset - significant in result, but gargantuan considering the margin, the South Sweden Saints defeated favourites the North Copenhagen Barracudas by 102 points last Saturday to give themselves a home final against the Copenhagen Hawks in Port Malmö next weekend and eliminate the Barracudas from the DAFL Premier League finals entirely.

Saturday evening also saw the DAFL individual player honours awarded, with the Sitch Medal for best and fairest awarded to Jutland's Frederik Schulin.

Over the past couple of decades traditional sports in Australia like Aussie Rules have found themselves in competition with new non-contact games like touch football (effectively touch Rugby). Social games such as that aren't likely to threaten the mass appeal of Australian football at the highest level, but they can undermine player numbers. As more people play them, particularly enjoying the flexibility of shorter games on weeknights in mixed sex environments, there can be a slow leak of numbers from traditional sports. Furthermore the players and their families become more familiar with related sports such as Rugby Union. The AFL's answer is Recreational Football.

The AFL's Community Development Manager Ed Biggs, who was also Tournament Director for the 2005 Australian Football International Cup, has responded to World Footy News' review of the event - see Opinion: Report card on IC2005 for our article. In his detailed email Ed also mentions the AFL's own review of the tournament and tantalisingly suggests that they hope to see as many as 20 nations competing in 2008.

Reports in last weekend's Sunday Times newspaper in the Western Australian capital Perth suggest that the grand finalists from this year's WAFL (Western Australian Football League, the state league feeding into the West Coast Eagles and Fremantle Dockers) will play an exhibition match in the Indian city of Mumbai (Bombay) the weekend after this year's AFL grand final. Also mentioned in the article is the possibility of Perth hosting the 2008 International Cup, although this is still at the rumour stage.

Although it has its problems, South Africa is a wonderful place to visit - the spectacular high veldt, the wildlife, the people and culture of the Rainbow Nation, as they call themselves (a rainbow of different colours and cultures). But there is something more that can be gained than just the usual tourist experiences. Getting close to the people and really feeling the warmth of their welcome is something that can seem out of reach - but footy can get you there.

One of the keen spectators at the 2005 International Cup was Kevin Sheehan. He is well known to most Australian Rules fans as the expert clubs and media turn to for guidance when it comes to the annual AFL draft. There is no better person to talk to about the prospects of international players making the big league, and worldfootynews.com did just that during the Cup.

The Barassi International Youth Tournament board will soon announce major sponsorship for next year's event with strong rumours suggesting the VFL Club (Virtually Forgotten Legends) will be joining the Barassi Tournament Board in presenting the 'VFL Club Barassi Youth Tournament 2006'.

Papua New Guinea boasts the biggest Australian-football playing stocks of any nation outside Australia, but fell one step short at the 2005 International Cup. Their real strengths lie in their junior programs, with a burgeoning squadron of players in the age range of 12 to 16 years and 80% of their 2005 International Cup squad under 20 years of age. World Footy News spoke with Andrew Cadzow and Walter Yangomina about where the next step will take the footy scene in PNG. Pictured is 2005 Captain Rex Leka.

The AFL has quashed plans by the Geelong Cats to play a pre-season AFL match in New Zealand next year, making it unlikely that the club will undertake a training and development camp in the Pacific nation.