World Footy News

Desmond Kaumu, from Papua New Guinea, has won the Under 18s best and fairest in the Cairns (Queensland, Australia) Australian Football League. The following report is based on information from Scott Reid in PNG.

A recent interview with the AFL's Ed Biggs reveals their plans for international Australian football and their thoughts on the IAFC.

Good news for Australian football in Samoa, with plans for a development officer to be appointed.

Australian Rules football has slowly begun to spread around the world, particularly gaining momentum in the last decade. But the development of the game outside of Australia partly depends on the strength of the game within. The sport has a long history in Darwin, the capital of the Northern Territory in Australia. This weekend sees the first ever AFL premiership season match played there.

The British Australian Rules Football League (BARFL) finals are coming up, and are being promoted in conjunction with the website Active Antipodean. Their press release follows. In addition, this weekend also sees the BARFL Regional and Scottish League Grand Finals. The BARFL website has all the details.

The Western Regionals are being held in San Diego this weekend. This is the second leg of the series, to help determine seedings for the United States AFL 2004 Nationals, to be held in Atlanta in October. With each of the attending five teams playing against every other team once, the Regional should be a fair measure of the relative strengths of the teams. The draw follows.

Australian Rules football has made great gains around the world in recent decades, but Africa has remained largely untouched. South Africa is the exception, and the targeted growth is certainly exciting.

There has been a report that an All-Australian amateur football side may tour Ireland later this year.

Australian football in Fiji started with the building of a solid administrative framework, but not much actual footy. Recently, a change of direction has been promised.

West Coast USA was slower to take to Australian football, then it looked like it might outshine the East. Now the game is at the crossroads in the giant state of California - will it hit rock bottom or is the sky the limit?

Every year the AFL clubs seem to find themselves hitting the headlines for the wrong reasons, but clubs outside of Australia are by no means immune to controversy either.

Australian football continues to grow in a country where it already has a well established base.