World Footy News

When he suited up for St. Kilda in 2015 Jason Holmes became the first American-born and raised player to play AFL footy since the league’s beginning in 1897.

Jason Holmes is a Chicago, Illinois (USA) native who played U.S. college basketball at Mississippi Valley State (Itta Bena, Miss.) and at Morehead State (Morehead, Kentucky). St. Kilda took a chance on him after a strong showing at the April 2013 AFL combine in Los Angeles, California.

Spending 2014 and most of 2015 at Sandringham, Holmes played the ruck in St. Kilda’s final three games of season 2015 (debut - rd 21 vs Geelong, a 97-97 draw) and in the last two matches in 2016. Having to either be delisted or elevated, Holmes signed a one-year extension through 2017 after running through his three-year rookie deal.

The CAFL season in South America continued on the weekend with the DC Aguilas up against the Bogotá Bombers. In a great game, and a showcase of what Australian Football is all about, the Aguilas held on in a classic. Paddy Smallwood from the CAFL (Colombian Australian Football League) shared the details of the clash, set against a grey and damp Bogotá backdrop.

“The league came alive on Saturday with an enthralling contest. The Aguilas jumped out of the box with six goals to two to take a handy four-goal quarter time lead in cold and wet Bogotá conditions. Sam Miller up forward was causing massive headaches for the Bombers and slotted three goals. The second quarter was a better contest with the Bombers pushing back hard and being on top for large parts of the quarter, but ultimately inaccuracy cost them and they went to the main break three goals down.”

With just on round left to play for the ALFA Lions, they have managed to claw their way back into the top four of the CNFA competition in France. Their 65-point victory over the Toulouse-based Aviators has seen them leapfrog the Paris Cockatoos into fourth place. However, from here they will need some divine providence or similar to play in this season’s finals.

Certainly, the win against the Aviators was just what the Lions had to do. In the end, the Lions won 95 to 30 and grabbed the maximum five points from the match as well as a percentage boost. But all of that will be for nought if they cannot defeat the Paris Cockerels in the nation’s capital next round on April 14th.

As it is, the Lions must be watching the result of the postponed match between the Cockatoos and Toulouse Hawks with huge interest. They will be barracking wildly for the Hawks to win at home to keep the Cockatoos under pressure and just outside the top four going into the final round. But that won’t be enough. They will need to either defeat the ladder leading Cockerels in a huge final round upset or hope that the Cockatoos go down in an even bigger upset to the Perpignan Tigers.

Visiting teams have learned this over the years – Cazalys Stadium in Cairns is wind affected. The howling southerly gales that travel up the valley from Innisfail heavily assist the northern end of the ground and make scoring at the other end difficult. Not so last night, with scoring heavily assisted by the tide rather than the wind.

(Picture: Jack Bowes leads the way for the Suns)

With Tropical Cyclone Nora nearing landfall at Kowanyama on western Cape York, and threatening coastal communities around the Gulf of Carpentaria, the cyclonic rain settled happily over Cairns. With freestyle and backstroke races an equally viable option on the Cazalys Stadium surface, the football went ahead as planned making a whole new spectacle that even the AFL hadn’t bargained on.

The opening centre bounce was wisely replaced by the opening ball-up, otherwise they’d have never found the ball again. However, from then on the Gold Coast Suns and North Melbourne Kangaroos sloshed it out in front of a very enthusiastic, albeit mostly bedraggled crowd. Those who braved the conditions should be commended, and they witnessed a hard slogging affair from two committed teams. During the first quarter, neither gave an inch and adapted relatively quickly to the conditions.

Western Bulldogs are the 2018 AFLW premiers, which was set up on the back of a strong superb second half of football played by the daughters of the west. It was heartbreaking for the Brisbane Lions who were unlucky again to go down in the AFLW Grand Final two years in a row. This grand final was a tale of two halves, as the Lions played a great first half of football and then were quiet in the second half where the Dogs became played dominant football in the premiership quarter. It was a very tough high intensity match of women’s football played by both teams this afternoon at a wet and slippery, Ikon Park.

Image Source: @MichaelCWilson

The Edmonton Australian Football Club in conjunction with AFL Canada is introducing Australian Football into the Canadian University Championships. These games actually go under the banner of KIN, or Kinesiology Interscholastic Conference Games and are held annually across Canada..

Currently there are two university football clubs in Canada, Concordia and the University Of Calgary. They will be the backbone in introducing football to the other groups. There will be 500 kinesiology university students playing footy according to AFL Canada president Lachlan http://Griffiths.It will be an indoor co-ed touch version of footy. It is hoped that this taste of footbaoll will encourage players to return more serious at the next KIN scheduled for next fall.

 

The Grand Final of the 2018 AFLW Season will be played tomorrow (Saturday, 12.35pm Melbourne time) at Ikon Park in Parkville with the Western Bulldogs playing the Brisbane Lions.

The full international broadcast schedule can be seen below.  The matches will be streamed live on the Watch AFL service and shown live on TV in the Asia/Pacific region on Australia Plus and on Fox Soccer Plus in the USA.  In Russia the match will be shown on delay.  

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.

 

The Far North Queensland city of Cairns is about to host a very special football match. The AFL Premiership season for 2018 starts this weekend across the nation and Cairns is in the exciting position of hosting one of the Round One fixtures with the Gold Coast Suns hosting the North Melbourne Kangaroos at Cazalys Stadium on Saturday evening.

With the Suns’ home at Metricon Stadium at Robina being seconded into the grand scheme of the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games, the club has been forced to find options across the lands to play home fixtures. Cairns has been given the biggest, tastiest cherry of all with the honour of an opening round – traditionally one of the best attended rounds in a season with fans having endured their six month break from footy and desperate to get to a match.

Round 1 of the 2018 AFL Season kicks off tonight (Melbourne time) at the MCG with reigning AFL Premiers Richmond hosting Carlton.

The full international broadcast schedule 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.

 

 

 

 

In one of the most remarkable finishes to an NTFL grand-final, the Southern Districts Crocs have desperately held on by a solitary point to defeat the Darwin Buffaloes. It is the closest result in the NTFL Premier League since 2015/16 when St Mary’s held of Wanderers by two points. The previous occasions where a premiership was decided by just one point were in 1981/82 when Wanderers defeated St Mary’s and in 1971/72 and Saints downed the Buffaloes. A draw in 1932/33 was decided by a larger margin a week later when Waratah defeated Buffaloes.

The game looked to be on the way to being sealed by quarter time when the Crocs raced away with a seven goal to one term. Not to be denied, the Buffaloes charged back in the second quarter to bring the difference back to a goal by the main break.

Following recent media coverage of the state of footy in Tasmania, and statements about the subject by a number of high profile Tasmanians and other passionate football identities, AFL Chief Executive Officer Gillon McLachlan today visited Hobart where he met with the Premier of Tasmania Will Hodgman and AFL Tasmania CEO Trisha Squires.

The following statements were made by McLachlan following the meeting.

 

Standing in the eastern goal square at the Holloway’s Beach Sporting Complex, located on the northern beaches of Cairns, former Melbourne Demons’ champion Aaron Davey simply points to the other end of the field and says, “look at that!” He is referring to a football field chock full of kids of all ages – girls and boys – kicking footballs, laughing, listening to coaches, showing off to their team mates and generally having a blast.

It showed all the health and vitality of a strong club going places – part of the vision that new senior coach Davey has for his new team. “That’s the future” he adds. He is right. Davey knows only too well that for the Cairns City Lions to rise from the depths of a forgettable 2017 and sustain strength and success into the future, the club has to now foster the young kids who will take over when Davey and others have moved on.