The Greater Western Sydney GIANTS have topped 10,000 members on the eve of their first 2013 NAB Cup matches at Blacktown International Sportspark this Sunday.

As they prepare for just their second year in the AFL, the GIANTS membership now stands at 10,026, compared to 4,671 at the same time last year.

The announcement came as the club unveiled a new membership package, the Global GIANTS, for AFL fans around the world.

GIANTS Head Coach Kevin Sheedy said the club was on track to surpass its 2012 membership total of 10,241.

The AFL today announced the launch of a new international subscription service, AFLTV, offering overseas fans unprecedented viewing access to AFL matches.
Developed in conjunction with Rightster, the online video distribution and marketing specialist, AFLTV is an innovative subscription service providing access to live and on demand AFL games to fans outside of Australia and New Zealand.

This is the only international service that offers exclusive access to every single 2013 Toyota AFL season match live and on–demand across multiple devices - desktop, phone and tablet - with a range of new purchasing options designed to accommodate the differing needs of international AFL fans.

The Australian Football League (AFL) today confirmed that it has selected Rightster, the online video distribution and marketing specialist, to launch live AFLTV; an innovative subscription service providing access to live and on demand AFL games to fans outside of Australia and New Zealand. This is set to be the only international service that offers access to every single AFL match live and on–demand in the coming season.

AFL is the highest-level professional competition in the sport of Australian Rules football and serves as the sport’s governing body, overseeing all aspects of the game. As the most popular sporting league in Australia, the AFL consists of 18 teams spread over five states in Australia. In a drive to distribute its online content to a wider audience and build interest in Australian Rules Football outside Australia and New Zealand, AFL called on Rightster for its expertise in maximising the reach and revenue potential of online video, as well as its remarkable track record in building larger audiences for the online video content of major content owners in the sporting industry.

It has come to our attention that Livesport.TV will not be available for international viewers to stream in 2013 with the message "Unfortunately http://LIVESPORT.TV will not be showing the 2013 season of the AFL online" on their website.

It appears the AFL have taken the international online streaming in-house with their own AFL.TV service.  Pricing is not available at this stage for packages but streaming of the NAB Cup matches will be free.  The AFL website offers the following:
 
 

With the end of 2012 worldfootynews.com has its annual reflection on the year gone by.  In many ways non-International Cup years are much quieter than their triennial counterparts.  Typically there are far fewer international matches played as nations and players count the cost of travel and have less pressing need to hone their squads.  But still, happily, there has been plenty to report from across the world, in fact too much for us to do justice to (even with over 400 articles published), so apologies to all those that feel they had a worthy story that didn't get the attention it deserved.

Undoubtedly the biggest ongoing success story in 2012 was the South Pacific.  When once it was only New Zealand and Papua New Guinea that gained much attention, now there has been a steady stream of good news from Fiji, Nauru, Vanuatu, Solomon Islands and Tonga.  But NZ and PNG also had big news stories, especially with the AFL announcing the first ever overseas match for premiership points will be played on ANZAC Day 2013 in Wellington (NZ), and Gideon Simon (PNG, pictured) becoming the first player who learnt the game outside of Australia to make it onto an AFL list.

Despite less press the Irish also dominated the international side of Aussie Rules, with numerous players now successfully making careers in the AFL, whilst back home the men's and women's sides took out the Euro Cup double.

Here's a skim through of some of the highlights from this author's perspective.

Over the years there have been numerous players make the trek down to Australia to play their chosen sport of Australian football.  The experience invariably leaves them a far better footballer thanks to the higher standard and continuity of weekly training and playing.  It's also a great life experience, and all the better if they can obtain work and become embedded in the local culture.

With all that in mind Australian Jaye Macumber (pictured on right of photo), coach of Canada's Northwind at the 2011 International Cup, is calling for more international players to make the move and he's willing to help.  He's especially enthusiastic about the prospects of locating them with country clubs which are often able to offer employment and need players.

 

Following the 3-Test Series between Fiji and Nauru the WFN World Rankings have been updated. This is the first update since the completion of the 2011 International Cup and includes the recent win by the United States over Canada.

As mentioned in recent articles, Fiji have now played the required 8 games to be fully ranked in our unofficial system, entering at 11th. Nauru move into 5th, displacing South Africa. Samoa have not played an international match for over 4 years and so fall back to provisional ranking only.

Please note also Canada and USA have now played 36 matches each but no change occurred in their respective Rating Points after their last Match in August.

Read on for the full list and note that the full World Rankings pages have been updated.

For those Australians who have wondered what it would be like to undertake the big tour of Europe and possibly see a little Australian Football as well I would like to try and make it a little less daunting.
 
In 2010 my wife and I took the trip of a life time to tour Western Europe. After much research we chose a VW rental camper and staying at caravan parks as the optimum mode of travel - for convenience, flexibility, comfort and affordability. Ease of parking and driving on narrow congested roads were prominent considerations. With finances settled,  we flew into Frankfurt Germany and took possession of our vehicle. Cautiously driving out of the yard I indicated a right turn by switching the window wipers on and immediately stalled the van. Nervously I continued, adapting to driving on the right, reversed vehicle controls, unfamiliar road signs, differing road layouts, a new GPS and my wife’s directions.  Surprisingly, everything quickly fell into place as we travelled down the nearby “Romantische Strasse” (Romantic Highway), a road linking a string of walled medieval cities. Soon, we would be completely relaxed, executing a massive clockwise spiral into Austria, Italy, France and Spain.

The Australian Football season in Europe was mostly coming to an end. Searching the internet there were few games available to visit matching our rough itinerary.

AFL club the GWS Giants made headlines when with the AFL's assistance they lured Israel Folau from the NRL. As a publicity stunt it was an early success as Folau generated headlines and general interest that no other squad member could have whilst the Giants were limited to playing in the NEAFL.

Now it appears the adventure is over with the Giants confirming it at a media conference this afternoon with Folau and coach Kevin Sheedy and CEO Dave Matthews. He has now announced that he will 'retire' from the AFL. The Age reports that he is on the verge of rejoining the NRL via the 2013 wooden spooners the Parramatta Eels (coached by Ricky Stuart).

"It is understood the Eels have made contact with his manager and will be keen to snap him up to bolster their backline after finishing with the NRL wooden spoon in 2012."

The GWS Giants statement is below.

As Brett Northey remarked about my new book about footy, Australian Football The People’s Game 1958-2058 (wallawallapress.com), Kevin Sheedy suggests that in the future when ‘the Los Angeles Coyotes play the London Wolves for four points’...

Where will footy be in its bicentenary year, 200 years after the world’s oldest form of codified football had its rules written down?  Will there be an international competition?  Or, more modestly, will many international players play in the new Australasian Football League, which will include teams from Auckland and Wellington?  If it is the second, then this will be a kind of reprise of 150 years ago when New Zealand won several matches at the 1908 Jubilee carnival, celebrating the game’s first 50 years.

Here's some thoughts of my own, and a call for discussion from our readership.