The Grand Final is set.  2014 Premiers Hawthorn taking on the vastly improved West Coast Eagles at the MCG this Saturday afternoon Melbourne time.  For the past 10 years, World Footy News has collated an extensive list of Grand Final Parties around the world to help viewers find them. And with the 2015 AFL Grand Final being just over 1 day away we are calling for clubs around the world to send details of your party to us, so that fans of the game in your country/city can watch the big game with you. 

You can either post details as a comment below (you must register before you are able to post a comment or login via Facebook) or email troy@worldfootynews.com - all these details will be collated as per previous years.

 

The third week of the 2015 Finals series kicks off in Perth Friday night with Fremantle hosting Hawthorn.  Saturday night also in Perth the West Coast Eagles host North Melbourne.  The two winners through to next week's Grand Final.

 Once again viewers around the world can access matches live or delayed on a number of TV networks or stream the telecast via subscription to Watchafl.com.au. 

The broadcast schedule for this Finals Week 2 can be seen below.  .

 

The second week of the 2015 Finals series kicks off in Melbourne Friday night with Hawthorn hosting the Adelaide Crows in the Second Semi Final at the MCG.  Saturday night in Sydney the Swans host North Melbourne at Homebush Stadium. Once again viewers around the world can access matches live or delayed on a number of TV networks or stream the telecast via subscription to Watchafl.com.au. 

The broadcast schedule for this Finals Week 2 can be seen below.  .

 

Tijs Lejeune is a Year 12 student in Canberra. For his English subject he was asked to write a paper which reflected his area of sporting or community interest – in this case his desire to learn more about the multicultural and international aspects of Australian Rules football - recognise a challenge faced by the code in its growth and look at possible solutions.

 

Tijs’ use of the metaphor of the extinct Dodo on Mauritius is a powerful metaphor for the negative growth of our game if suitable care is not taken. Whilst Tijs expresses some views which are not necessarily endorsed by World Footy News or the broader AFL, it is a very interesting take on a possible future of our great game.

 

 

I don’t want to sound all doom and gloom, but I look at how the dodo became extinct and worryingly I see some similarities with the AFL. Factors like: undisturbed for so long on the island of Mauritius, no natural predators for so long, restricted to a small inhabitable area and the inability to escape when danger confronted it.

In a season many people at Essendon would rather forget, there were a few little gems here and there which lifted spirits and gave a pointer to a far better future. One of those was the initial form of young 19 year old Irish recruit, Conor McKenna. After being recruited late in 2015 as an international Category B Rookie, few had many high expectations regarding his debut season.

But the youngster got a taste of the “big league” back in the NAB Challenge matches pre-season. He had some touches, but is best remembered for his dual 50 metre penalty infringements which gifted St Kilda a goal. An inauspicious start, to be sure, but as his season progressed, so did his game sense, contribution and impact on his adopted game.

The first week of the 2015 Finals series kicks off in Perth with the West Coast Eagles hosting Hawthorn. Once again viewers around the world can access matches live or delayed on a number of TV networks or stream the telecast via subscription to Watchafl.com.au. 

The broadcast schedule for this Finals Week 1 can be seen below.  Please note scheduling for the newly announced TVNZ coverage are included.

 

The final home and away round of the 2015 season kicks off at Docklands Stadium with Richmond hosting North Melbourne. Once again viewers around the world can access matches live or delayed on a number of TV networks or stream the telecast via subscription to Watchafl.com.au. 

The broadcast schedule for this round can be seen below.

 

Arguably the biggest story in Australian sport this week was the amazing effort of former Parramatta Eels Rugby League player, Jarryd Hayne, bamboozling opponents in his new found code, American Football. In trying out for a contract with the San Francisco 49ers, his run, agility and power left experienced players in his wake and made the code’s recruiting people think that maybe there are more Aussies that possess the skills to succeed in the American national game.

In the days since his break-out game other potential Rugby-League and Rugby-Union players have been touted as the “next Hayne”.

Code-hopping in itself is not new. The AFL’s recent experiments with Karmichael Hunt and Israel Folou were well documented, though both ultimately fell short of their intention. They were local stories moving from one Australian code to another. But trying another code in another country is arguably harder. This is territory that past AFL players have dabbled in with Ben Graham, Sav Rocca and “Diamond Jim” Tilbrook some of the better known VFL/AFL players who have cracked the American national game.

Friday night footy at the MCG kicks off Round 22 with Geelong hosting Collingwood.  The Cats battling for a place in the finals. 

Once again viewers around the world can access matches live or delayed on a number of TV networks or stream the telecast via subscription to Watchafl.com.au. 

US viewers will be pleased that the Sydney vs St Kilda match is to be shown live (assuming Jason Holmes is selected again for St Kilda this week) on FOX Soccer Plus. 

The broadcast schedule for this round can be seen below.

 

Australian football has undergone steady and at times impressive growth around the world over the last decade or so. This is mostly but not entirely started by expatriate Australians who sow some seeds and then either tend to them or have enthusiastic locals continue the experiment.

But another important player in this is the Australian Football League. For some countries their contact has been negligible, but for most it has been useful and at times a strong source of encouragement, funds or other support. And every three years the AFL’s contribution is at its most visible in the form of the International Cup. Given their importance as the catalyst with most potential to drive rapid growth it’s always good to try to understand the role the AFL sees for itself, who the main people are and how they fit into the larger AFL administrative body itself. This is our first update on that front for several years.

Grant Williams and the AFL international structure

With many changes in recent years worldfootynews.com thought it timely to catch up with a key figure in Grant Williams, AFL General Manager Community Football Operations. Grant is pictured far left with AFL colleague Pete Romaniw (right) and former AFL Asia interim President Grant Keys (centre). We started by asking him where he fits into the international scene and where he’d like to see it go.