World Footy News

The French capital city of Paris is fast becoming a hotbed of Australian football. With the powerful Paris Cockerels having given rise to their sister club the Paris Cockatoos, and the Cergy-Pontoise Coyotes becoming a power in the north-east of greater Paris, Antony, a suburb south of Paris might yet become a fourth club in the city.

Steve Ryan coached the Paris Cockerels from 2014 to 2016 before joining the Texas-based Houston Lonestars club, contributing as a coach to a club regarded as one of the best organised in the United States. Having returned to live in the south of Paris with his wife, Steve is now a part of the group driving the Antony Blues. As Steve states, “I’ve been shaped by two great clubs in the Paris Cockerels and Houston Lonestars.” Now he is busy using that experience, and that of the other people involved in the project, to build a new team.

The Abu Dhabi Falcons cannot realistically reach the 2017/18 season finals. Unrealistically, however, it is a different story. If they were to toast the Dubai Dragons in the final round in the same manner they did the Dubai Dingoes last round and the Dingoes miraculously defeated the Multiplex Bulls, the Falcons could get there. But the chances are so small as to be immeasurable. However, the win was a huge reward for the Falcons.

After the double-header in Dubai, the Dragons further enhanced their flag favouritism again after downing the Multiplex Bulls and the Falcons put together a comprehensive thrashing of the Dingoes. With one round to go it appears that the Multiplex Bulls are safe in second place (apart from the aforementioned miracles) and will once again challenge the Dragons for the 2017/18 flag.

After two miserable seasons – finishing seventh in 2015/16 and eighth in 2016/17 – the Tiwi Bombers would be dancing and singing for joy after getting into the finals after their win against Waratah in the final round. No matter what, this season has been a success already for the Tiwi crew. But nobody knows better than the Bombers – all they have so far is the key to the kingdom. A true fairy tale would see them use the key to open the premiership cabinet.

The Bombers’ win against Waratah was set up with a blistering seven goals to one opening term and by half time a 51-point lead. Whilst Waratah rallied briefly to take the third term and hint at a fight-back, it was a bridge too far and the Bombers steadied to bring the game home, and bring their fans to a delirium of sorts. It was a high-pressure match with plenty at stake for both teams, and the Tiwi Bombers proved that they have what it takes to absorb finals-like pressure. Three wins in three weeks would see a second Bomber flag, so they can certainly dare to dream.

The Brisbane Lions pulled off another gutsy win on the road in front of 6,200 football fans against Carlton at Ikon Park by 22 points. At the start this match was a real hard defensive struggle and this explained the very low scoring in the first half of the match, but the game opened up a bit more in the second half with the Lions able to get on the scoreboard with five goals to the Blues two goals. The Blues first goal of the match came with less than four minutes left in the third term.

Image Source: Twitter @lionsaflw

The opening term between Carlton and the Brisbane Lions was a tough, hard and defensive struggle for both teams. In the first quarter there were heaps of one on one contests everywhere on the ground. Neither of the teams were able to score a goal, despite the Lions who had 12 inside 50s to the Blues 5 inside 50s. The Blues were under immense pressure all over the ground, but their defense held up well as the football came inside their defensive 50. The Lions were only able to score a solitary behind in the first quarter.

The Adelaide Crows were able to get over the line against the Western Bulldogs by 7 points in an absolute heart stopper of a match at Norwood Oval in front of 4,900 die hard football fans. Erin Phillips made her highly awaited return from a quad injury this afternoon in perfect conditions and what a wait it was as Phillips single handedly was able to get her Crows over the line with 4 goals in a ripper of a performance.

This match was a physical contest with heaps of pressure and very high intensity. Also it was a great match by two superstars of the AFLW Katie Brennan and Phillips.

Image Source: Twitter @Adelaide_FC

Hot on the heels of the AFL’s latest pre-season showpiece – the AFLX – Denmark has already taken a lead and will have their own DAFLX competition. Founder of the Odense Lions, and more recently the drive to bring the Aarhus Bombers back to glory, Morten Merhøj, has been one of the forces behind a new dimension to footy in Denmark.

According to Morten, “to make sure the many members in Odense keep interested in the sport despite not being able to play in DAFL Premier League because we are too many (but not talented enough to have two competitive teams), I came up with FAFLX [the “F” being for Funen, the island Odense is located upon).”

“But then I started looking into other clubs to join and found people in Aarhus interested in actually getting their club [the Aarhus Bombers] back on track. Then I wrote to all the players I could find on the Footy Record site who had played for teams in the area and all of the sudden we had a board and a playing group of 7-10 players.”

When the team was first forming for the 2017 International Cup Anslam Diaz as proud Sri Lankan expat in Australia was excited to the he might be able to play for Sri Lanka. But eventually as the rules were understood as to eligibility it became clear Anslam would not qualify as he lived majority of his life in Australia. 

He was obviously disappointed he couldn't play, but that did not stop him taking part.  He was at almost every training session of the Australian based players in the lead up to IC17.  He found the team sponsorship, he ran water and he was the runner for all of Sri Lanka's IC17 matches.

Diaz is pictured at the top of the photo above

Most people enjoy a feel good footy story where a football team that has fallen off the radar for whatever reasons rises again like a phoenix and returns. The story is even better when that club goes on to enjoy great success. For the Aarhus Bombers in Denmark, that s exactly what has been happening in the background – the phoenix is rising and time will tell if that success follows.

But according to Morten Merhøj, founder of the Odense Lions and currently driving the Bombers to rise again, his version of the Aarhus Bombers will be bigger and better that previous models.

“[The] Aarhus Australian Football was started back in 1996. Before then you had to travel to Aalborg or Copenhagen to play. After a meeting at the local Australian bar, the Billabong Bar, the club was founded. Many people were at the meeting, but three men was the driving forces: Grant, Jason and Dean.”

The finalists for the 2017/18 NTFL season will be decided by one particular final-round match next weekend, and the equation is simple – the winner of the clash at Tracy Oval between the Tiwi Bombers and Waratah will play finals. The loser will commence planning for next season. After weeks of jostling, a final round epic will decide fifth place.

Both teams lost over the weekend, to make things even more interesting, but the Tahs lost by less and hold the psychological edge over the Bombers after stealing fifth place from them. With all other finalists now guaranteed, the script is now perfectly written for a thrilling finish.

Waratah answered the eternal question on the weekend as to whether there is such a thing as a “valuable” loss. The answer was a resounding “Yes” with their narrow three-point loss to ladder leaders, Southern Districts, being enough to leap-frog the Bombers. Waratah were after a win, and played that way. They hurled everything at the Crocs. After a first half where the teams needed to be prised apart with a crowbar, Waratah then kept the Crocs goalless in the third term to snare a 22-point lead. However, Crocs fought back with a big final quarter to steal the match with a goal on the final siren to break Waratah hearts, but not their spirit.

The Western Bulldogs overcame the Lions in hot conditions in front of 5,300 football fans. In the second season of the AFLW the Dogs remain undefeated and the Lions have zero wins to start this season. The Dogs had been fantastic all day and their slick ball movement and gameplay all over the ground getting them get over the line. They unfortunately let themselves down in front of goal, as they were only able to score three goals for the entire match.

Image Source: Twitter @BulldogsW

It was a tight opening term with the first score a behind only coming with 6 mins left on the clock from Katie Brennan. Izzy Huntington played tough in and around the contest, as she cracked the packs and took strong marks. At quarter time the Lions led the Dogs by one point with neither team able to score a goal in the opening term. It was a real arm wrestle in the heat. Ally Anderson from the Lions was able to rack up nine possessions in the first. She was the only player able to get more than four disposals.

The Fremantle Dockers won by 13 points over the Pies in front of a massive record crowd of 41, 975 at their new home the Optus Stadium. This crowd was the biggest crowd in the history of Women's sport in Australia.

For the first half of the first quarter, Collingwood were on top in all areas especially slick and clean in their forward half. As a result, they were able to kick two goals. Emma King from the Pies slotted the first goal at Optus Stadium and shortly after Christina Bernardi was able to score goal number two for the visitors. However in a tight and open first quarter, the Dockers led by six points at the end of the first after three goals in a row.

Image Source: Twitter @freodockers

 
 

Melbourne were dominant at Casey Fields this afternoon with a percentage boosting win over the reigning premiers Adelaide in front of 3,800 footy fans. The Dees were all over the Crows who were not able to put a halt to the Dees immense pressure.

It did not start well at all for the Crows, because before the siren even sounded for the match to begin there banner fell apart on one end with the post falling off on the right due to the strong breeze and the crowd could not believe it. This trend unfortunately continued for the Crows who were unable to get on top of a Demons team that was exceptional and played top notch football.

 Image Source: Twitter @melbournefc