With the news of another Australian Rules football club coming to life in St Petersburg, Russia, another club has also emerged closer to the current Russian “heartland” of the game in Moscow. The Lazy Koalas are the latest addition to the footy scene and their co-founder, Mikhail Artemyev, was kind enough to answer some questions about the club’s creation.


Mikhail began by saying that “the second in August 2014 is considered to be the founding date of the new Australian Rules football club the "Lazy Koalas". In Moscow there are 5 or 6 teams and there is also one team (we know of) in St. Petersburg. From the moment we created our team, we were able to take part in two cups under the auspices of AFL Russia.”

The team is always looking for opportunities to play, but sometimes the weather or other factors intervene. “Competitions are held in Moscow every 2 to 3 months, but due to adverse weather conditions during the period from December to April, the team only trains on individual plans of each team.”

Today, 1st January 2015 the Adelaide Advertiser (page 65, Sport Section) published an article about the search for footy players in Europe extending beyond Ireland.
The Advertiser's distribution readership covers all of South Australia and beyond to Broken Hill in NSW. Following is that article:

THE AFL is set to cast their foreign draft net beyond Gaelic footballers to find new talent in local leagues playing the game elsewhere in Europe.

Four Irish rookies were signed up for the 2015 season by AFL clubs in Australia including Essendon, Geelong, Fremantle and West Coast.

Back in November of 2013 the Fremantle Football Club very nearly signed Sean Hurley as an international rookie. Even Fremantle's List Manager, Brad Lloyd, was open to the idea after Hurley had impressed with his size, skill and desire to learn. History says, however, that the club decided to wait.

But there was no waiting this year as the Dockers pounced on the 196cm potential key position player. Inspired by his hero, Tadhg Kennelly, Hurley continued to develop and was snapped up by the club in October.

According to the Fremantle Dockers website, "In 2005, 13-year-old Sean Hurley was watching the Irish news when he saw countryman Tadgh Kennelly celebrating an AFL premiership with the Sydney Swans.

Images of the former Gaelic football star Irish dancing on top of a stage have remained in Hurley’s mind till this day.

“Everyone in Ireland was watching that,” he said.

 

As the current football season in France heads into its winter break, teams can take stock of what has happened and what faces them when matches are scheduled to resume on 21st February.  Some fascinating results have littered the first half of the season, and many more are sure to occur before the finals are reached. Here is a team by team account of the season to date.

 

 

Cergy-Pontoise Coyotes – Currently sit on top of the ladder with three wins from three starts. Tough, close games against Lions and Firesharks show they have the ability to rise, but yet to meet fellow finals aspirants – Hawks, Cockerels, Bombers – so will have to work very hard after the break to stay ahead of the field. Their next match, the first in February after the break, is against the Bordeaux Bombers and could be a deciding factor in where the Coyotes go from here.

Ryan Davidson from afl.com.au has continued his look at the recent AFL Europe Talent Combine, focusing on the hugely talented Irish player Darragh Joyce. In recent articles World Footy News has looked at the English player Sam Willatt and Dane Mikkel Kjoge, but according to Ryan’s article, Darragh might be the best of the Irish talent at the combine.

 

Part-time Gaelic footballer Darragh Joyce looms as the next Irishman to make the switch to the AFL, with at least two clubs keen to obtain the teenager's signature.

 

The 18-year-old, who is star junior hurler, was a standout at the recent European combine in Dublin, with his skills and game awareness impressing club recruiters.

 

 

Hawthorn and the Sydney Swans are two clubs that have made enquiries about the 192cm County Kilkenny product, with the Hawks recently visiting his family home.

In an announcement released by AFL Europe, the Champions League event for 2015 will be held in Amsterdam, Netherlands, at a venue to be advised at a later date.  The dates for this event will be March 21st and March 22nd.

 

According to AFL Europe General Manager Ben MacCormack, “It’s with great pleasure that we announce the details for the inaugural AFL Europe Champions League – 2015 – Amsterdam. Following a number of years with the majority of our major events being held in the UK and Ireland we are pleased the Amsterdam Devils have taken on the challenge to co-host the Champions League with AFL Europe. It’s a great chance for them to further develop the sport in a market with huge potential.”

 

 

 

Ryan Davidson from afl.com.au reports that former Collingwood player, Marty Clarke, has returned home to Northern Ireland after finishing his career with the AFL club. But now a new challenge confronts him. The following is Ryan’s story.

 

Former Collingwood defender Marty Clarke has revealed he was diagnosed with a rare energy-sapping disease as he fought to save his AFL career in the second half of 2014.

 

 

The 27-year-old is happily back home in Northern Ireland adapting to the cold northern hemisphere winter, but he's also adapting to living day to day with Addison's disease.

Hot on the heels of his performances at the International Cup and his appearances on the reality TV show "The Recruit", Padraig Lucey found himself snapped up by the the Geelong Cats as a Rookie B list player.

As reported in a previous article on this site, "not only has he been a contestant on the FOX 8 television show The Recruit, he has also come from a successful International Cup performance for Ireland. In his five games, Padraig booted 14 goals, including impressive bags of five against highly fancied Nauru and a huge six goals against France. He also featured amongst the best players for Ireland in many matches.

According to the Herald Sun article by Adam Baldwin, “Geelong’s ruck crisis is set to see it turn to an Irishman who was last week delisted from a reality television series.

The Herald Sun can reveal Padraig Lucey — a part-time pool lifeguard from County Kerry — will join the Cats on a two-year deal."