World Footy News

Round 17 of the 2018 AFL Season kicks off Thursday night Adelaide time at Adelaide Oval with the Crows hosting the Cats.   

The full broadcast schedule for the round can be seen below.

In addition to the TV networks you can also subscribe to the Watch AFL service that will give you live access to all the matches and more (outside Australia only).

You can access that service by clicking on the link here or the Watch AFL promo shot on the left to register and by then paying the subscription fee.

Right now Watch AFL is offering a Mid-Season Pass a big discount on the regular season pass. This pass includes all AFL Premiership season matches, the Finals Series plus access to FOX FOOTY content.

 

 

Australian Football Sri Lanka and North Dandenong Junior football club presents Sportsman Night + $1000 draw to raise funds to develop football in Sri Lanka.

Australian Football Sri Lanka Inc. is committed to growing AFL within the Sri Lankan community, both in Melbourne and abroad.
Featuring guests Dyson Heppell, Aaron Heppell and Joffa. 

Tickets are $50 including an all you can eat Sri Lankan buffet.

 

This weekend in London, the annual London Pride Parade takes place and AFL London and its teams will be there in all the colours of the symbolic rainbow to celebrate. The clubs themselves have outdone themselves this year with a dazzling array of jumpers and club logos which represent the league’s and the club’s commitment to the LGBT community. The following article from AFL England at www.aflengland.org details the event from the AFL London perspective. An exciting assortment of club logos can be found at the end of this article.

Each June, LGBT Pride Month attracts millions of participants around the world. AFL England wants to recognise and celebrate the part that LGBT people play in the footy community, both in England and around the world.

This year, AFL London will become the first AFL league to march in a pride parade, as they take part in the Pride in London festival on July 7th, with the weekend also being marked by a special ‘Rainbow Round’ of fixtures in the capital.

Back in 1987 when legendary Richmond midfielder (called a centreman back then), Maurice Rioli retired, he left a hole in football. He raised the bar on what indigenous footballers could bring to our game and many wondered if we would ever see his ilk again. Then in 2008 Cyril Rioli arrived. No one can absolutely measure who was better - uncle or nephew - but Cyril lit up the game in ways reminiscent of Maurice - maybe not in style, but certainly in impact. Cyril's announcement yesterday to retire as a Hawthorn player and AFL great brings to an end another great Rioli career - though it will not surprise to see the id from the Tiwi Islands return to the NTFL with his former club - the "Green Machine", St Mary's.

Here is a video clip from the AFL showing the top ten highlights of Cyril Rioli's wonderful career.

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With the second round of the SEWARFL (combined Southern England and Welsh leagues) played on the weekend, the teams from the SEAFL enjoyed a successful day out at Southampton on a hot and largely cloud-free day. Aided by the inability of the Cardiff Panthers to attend, the “home” teams also managed to be ultra-competitive on the field as well.

The gap created by the missing Panthers meant that each of the SEAFL teams drawn to play them came away with a forfeit result, meaning three wins from three matches. That in itself would have been a valuable result for the Southampton Titans, Portsmouth Pirates and Sussex Swans, but better followed.

The opening match of the day saw the Chippenham Redbacks start in a positive way, downing the Sussex Swans by 30 points. It was an important win for the Redbacks in the context of their own season. Prior to this win, their best result had been a draw against the Titans in the opening SEWARFL tournament. This win will rejuvenate the team and become a foundation block for the rest of this year and beyond.

Round 16 of the 2018 AFL Season kicks off Thursday night Sydney time at Etihad Stadium with the Sydney Swans hosting Geelong at the SCG.   

The full broadcast schedule for the round can be seen below.

In addition to the TV networks you can also subscribe to the Watch AFL service that will give you live access to all the matches and more (outside Australia only).

You can access that service by clicking on the link here or the Watch AFL promo shot on the left to register and by then paying the subscription fee.

Right now Watch AFL is offering a Mid-Season Pass a big discount on the regular season pass. This pass includes all AFL Premiership season matches, the Finals Series plus access to FOX FOOTY content.

 

 

Harley Vague caught up with Canada Northern Light's player Caroline Leduc this week.  See the interview below.

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In the only AFLG match for the weekend, and the final match of Round 7 after the Dockers/Lions and Kangaroos/Giants matches were played last weekend (see A Week Is A Long Time In Footy – AFLG), the Berlin Crocs were too powerful for the Dresden Wolves. On the scoreboard, the Crocs feasted on an undermanned Wolves team to secure a 162-point win.

In terms of ladder implications, the match actually stands as a bye with the Wolves only having seven of a mandatory nine players for the scores to count. Whilst that robs the Crocs of the full percentage advantage from the game, it probably matters little in the grander scheme of finals placings. The Crocs still sit in third place, a game and hefty percentage behind the Hamburg Dockers and Munich Kangaroos with each team having just two matches left before finals.

The Wimbledon Hawks have finally managed to get a win on the board after a tough season. Their weekend clash against the London Swans was their big chance to avoid the wooden spoon this season. Whilst they still sit in last place, they are now equal on wins with the Swans and only seven percentage points separate the teams. From here, both teams would be hoping to upset one of the top three teams.

However, more likely, it will come down to battle to lose by the lesser margins from here and keep percentages as positive as possible. Playing at home, the Hawks ended up winning comfortably by 22 points, leaving the Wimbledon crowd grinning proudly.

The saying goes that if you look a shark in the eye, all you see is a cold, calculating, lifeless stare in return. Just why you would want to look a shark in the eye is an entirely different matter. However, the Kingdom Kangaroos did just that last weekend when they took on the Glasgow Sharks.

Already suffering from a lack of preferred player numbers on the day, things got worse for the Kangaroos as injuries to those still standing decimated their list. But this is where the Sharks were at their predatory best. Premierships are not about being the “nice guy”. They are built around the 100% commitment of every player for the full four quarters, week in week out. And, that is as it should be.

The Roos kept fighting, but their adversary was just too good and took every advantage available to them as they built towards another flag. Whilst there is plenty that the Roos can rue after the game, they can also take heart that some of the problems they encountered on the weekend are rectifiable and a full list come finals time will see a vastly different herd of kangaroos in the paddock.

 

Michael Ryan reports on the St Kilda website about the debut for another young Irish talent with Darragh Joyce playing for the Saints in their exciting win against the Melbourne Demons. In a solid first game, Darragh had 10 possessions. Wearing #39, the new Irish Saint also contributed a creditable team-oriented five one percenters and also kicked a behind. It was a promising start and a great platform on which to build his future.

As a fresh-faced 19-year-old, Darragh Joyce uprooted his life and left his family in Ireland to pursue an unlikely dream, and it will all be worth it when he runs out in the red, white and black for his AFL debut this Sunday. 

It started with a simple email, then a kick in Dublin’s Phoenix Park, followed by a 17,300km journey to the other side of the world, and now finally, the Irishman gets his chance on the big stage.

Sam Murphy’s journey from American football walk-on to state league Aussie footballer has been a fun and eventful odyssey. The ruckman from the Los Angeles Dragons made his debut two weeks ago for the West Perth Falcons in the WAFL, becoming the latest American to thrive in local footy.

Originally from Fairfield, Connecticut, Murphy spent most of his youth competing in American football and was a letterwinner at Fairfield High School. When his family relocated to Los Angeles, Murphy spent a year at the highly-touted Oaks Christian football program, which is known for sending players to national powerhouses like USC and UCLA.