World Footy News

Australian Rules football leagues are springing up all around the world, but what chance does a junior player have of making it to the very top? worldfootynews.com takes a look from the statistical side.

The University of Canterbury Cougars are Premiers of the Canterbury AFL after defeating the Eastern Blues 7.11 (53) to 4.12 (36) on Saturday at QE11 Stadium, Christchurch.

Many historians have sifted through the early years of Australian Rules football, and often found it difficult to establish exactly when and where the game was played. In modern times, the sport's spread around the globe has often been largely under-estimated, but also sometimes exaggerated. As best that worldfootynews.com can determine, there is no repository of knowledge that will accurately show just how many countries, clubs, teams and players play Australian Rules football outside of its ancestral home, Australia. As such, worldfootynews.com is undertaking the daunting task of a World Footy Census. This is also the best time, given that it is near year's end and between seasons for most leagues around the world. But we'll need the help of the clubs.

Over the past few weeks this World Footy News reporter has posted a series of reports on International Rules. Though favourably disposed to the hybrid game and a believer in its possibilities, I had not seen a live Test since 2001 in Adelaide. In 2003 only the Rugby WC was available on TV in the UK, and mercifully I didn't have access to witness Ireland's whitewash of Australia in the IR First Test last week. So it was with anticipation that I ventured to the Cusack Stand of Croke Park with family and friends from Australia, Wales and Ireland.

Geelong star Ben Graham has quit the AFL to pursue a punting career in the NFL with the New York Jets.

The North Fremantle Amateur Football Club are in the final stages of a remarkable World Tour. A large party of players and officials have visited the United Kingdom, Ireland and the United States, in a great initiative that exposes their young men to different cultures, whilst also giving them the rare chance to play teams from other countries. No doubt many more Australian Rules football clubs will follow their lead in years to come, as the game continues to grow outside of Australia, and clubs think about developing their players as both footballers and well rounded individuals. Details of who they played and how they fared follows.

The powerful West London Wildcats club has won the first Dublin International Tournament, which saw England's most dominant club take on the Ireland National side, and the new boys in British Australian Rules footy, the Scottish Puffins.

The AFL Cairns is experiencing great success these days, but the history of footy there goes back to the 1950s, when it got its start in a way that will be very familiar to many new clubs in many different countries.

Last Sunday Ireland thrashed Australia 77 to 41 in the First International Rules Test. With many AFL stars missing injured or essentially too tired to tour, doubts are raised about the future of the hybrid game. However 46,370 spectators saw the First Test last Sunday at Croke Park, and around 60,000 are expected this Sunday for the Second Test, so public interest is strong. The matches are also televised in Ireland and Australia and attract a great deal of media coverage. The blow-out was an anomaly in 20 years of close contests. It has long been said the greatest threat to the IR series is Australian dominance not Irish, and such a shock result is therefore more likely to raise Australian commitment than dampen it. As Australian Rules and Gaelic football both continue to expand around the world, this coming together at the highest level, the International Rules concept, looks set to stay. But what does the future hold - simply maintaining the current series, or expansion to other countries?

As part of their preparation for the 2004 season, the St Kilda football club undertook a two-week training camp in London, an innovative approach which the Saints believe greatly helped them to their explosive start to the year just played.

Such was the success that the Saints are doing it again, but this time heading to Potchefstroom, South Africa, taking advantage of world-class training facilities as well as the chance to expose the players to the challenges faced by the South African people.

World Footy News' Aaron Richard talks with St Kilda coach Grant Thomas.

The Canterbury Australian Football Leagues (CAFL) is based around Christchurch, on New Zealand's South Island. The league features four men's clubs, with hopes to expand to six. Anecdotal evidence suggests that footy is quite popular with girls in New Zealand schools. Recently the CAFL held its first women's game.

Readers may be surprised to know that there is a lot of player interchange and playing of compromise/international rules between the growing number of Gaelic and Australian Rules football clubs in East Asia. The following report is not exhaustive and focuses on Hong Kong, Singapore and Tokyo.