A major feature of the AFL's involvement with international footy has been the annual overseas tour conducted by the AIS-AFL Academy side.  The AIS (Australian Institute of Sport) is a Federal Government initiative primarily aimed at raising the standard of Australia's Olympics hopefuls, so it was always a slightly odd connection to include an Australian football contingent, but one that was no doubt carefully orchestrated by the AFL for the monetary assistance, elite training and attraction for elite young sportsmen.

That relationship has come to end.  It was announced last Monday that the 2013/2014 intake will be the last to hold the AIS-AFL Academy title. 

On a beautiful Saturday in Cairns recently, I was told about three women playing for New South Wales at the 2013 Women’s National Championships. The three ladies in question had all come a long, long way to be there, having started their Australian Rules football journeys many years before back home in Ireland. I was given the chance to meet them and have a chat as we watched the Division 2 Grand Final.

 It was the New South Wales Assistant Coach, David Yole, who introduced me, but not before a couple of words. “They have all played well this carnival,” he said. “They are three great young women.” Then he proceeded to call them up to meet me. It is difficult to conduct a true interview when sitting in a grandstand, and the crowd periodically screams their approval at a mark, goal, tackle or burst of speed. So, it is true that the questions asked that day did not have complete answers.

We agreed to fill in the gaps via social media when the girls returned to Sydney after the carnival. But the questions can be found below with the individual responses of Una Mckay, Sandra Ryan and Christine McCutcheon, who are not only known here in Australia as members of their Sydney teams and the state squad, but also members of the Irish Banshees international team back in their homeland.

To me, these answers made fascinating reading as they give a great analysis of the thought processes involved, and the opportunities, sacrifices and successes faced along the way for almost any sports player, but particularly women chasing their dreams of playing Australian Rules football.

The AFL today announced the Indigenous All Stars would be selected to represent Australia in the 2013 International Rules Series, to be played in Ireland this October.

AIS-AFL Academy Head Coach and former Sydney Swans games-record holder Michael O’Loughlin will coach the side, with the senior coaching panel to be made up of Rodney Eade, Tadhg Kennelly and Andrew McLeod.

AFL Deputy CEO Gillon McLachlan said the AFL had explored the concept of the All Stars representing Australia after senior indigenous players across the AFL player group had sought greater opportunities for the All Stars to come together as a team.

“To the best of our knowledge, the All Stars representing the AFL in International Rules against Ireland will be the first All-Indigenous team to represent a national sporting code at senior level overseas since the first cricket team toured England in 1868, more than 150 years ago,” Mr McLachlan said.

“It is our belief the All Stars coming together, with the commitment made by senior indigenous players across the competition, will reinvigorate matches between Australia and Ireland provide us with a great opportunity to regain the Cormac McAnallen Trophy.

The AFL today announced the 2013 World Team squad which will compete at the Under 16 NAB AFL Under 16 Championships in Sydney in July.

The 2013 squad will showcase the skills of talented international youngsters from South Africa, England, Ireland and Denmark, as well the best upcoming AFL multicultural players from across the nation. Disappointingly no international representatives from the US, Canada or Asian nations will be part of the team this year.

Premiership player and former Carlton captain Anthony Koutoufides has been named head coach of the World Team. "The World Team provides international and multicultural AFL players with elite training, personal development and AFL talent pathway opportunities," said Koutoufides.

The international broadcast schedule for the AFL Round 11 can be seen below. All times are correct at the time of publishing and WFN takes no responsibility for changes to the schedule.

As of this week NZ free to air station Sommet Sports is officially up and running with respect to showing all the AFL matches live (see schedule below).

Round 11 will see Brisbane, Fremantle, Hawthorn, Port Adelaide, Richmond and the Western Bulldogs all having the week off.  Every club will have one of the weeks Round 11 - Round 13 as a bye.

The international broadcast schedule for the AFL Round 9 can be seen below. All times are correct at the time of publishing and WFN takes no responsibility for changes to the schedule.

The failure to launch AFL match coverage on free to air TV in NZ as scheduled by Sommet Sports has been a lowlight of the AFL's recent efforts to promote the code  in NZ. We are hopeful that the launch may come soon - it now appears Sommet Sports are broadcasting their test page, are showing some test programs and hopefully the launch and AFL coverage will begin soon.

The international broadcast schedule for the AFL Round 8 can be seen below. All times are correct at the time of publishing and WFN takes no responsibility for changes to the schedule.

The failure to launch AFL match coverage on free to air TV in NZ as scheduled by Sommet Sports has been a lowlight of the AFL's recent efforts to promote the code  in NZ. We are hopeful that the launch may come soon - it now appears Sommet Sports are broadcasting their test page and hopefully the launch and AFL coverage will begin soon.

A rather odd article appeared in the Herald Sun today.  It quotes AFL CEO Andrew Demetriou speaking at an American Chamber of Commerce function in Melbourne.  The headline read "The AFL admits it will not become an international sport".  That's pretty blunt and depressing for supporters of the growth of our great game.  But is that really what he said?

Yes and no.

The international broadcast schedule for the AFL Round 7 can be seen below. All times are correct at the time of publishing and WFN takes no responsibility for changes to the schedule.

The failure to launch as scheduled by Sommet Sports has been a lowlight of the AFL's recent efforts to promote the code via free to air TV in NZ. We are hopeful that the launch may come soon - the latest comment on Sommet Sports Facebook page is that "we are still waiting for a third party to come back to us and therefore we do not have any further update regarding our up coming launch. We will update you as soon as we have further information."