The AFL wishes to advise that PlayStation®3(PS3™) owners will be able to take to the field in the winter months from the comfort of their living room.

Published by Tru Blu Games, AFL Live will be available in stores across Australia from Thursday April 21.  

Available on PlayStation®3 for the first time, AFL Live is the latest game instalment, and undoubtedly the best so far.

In the Youtube video below Kaspersky Lab show why sponsoring an AFL club is so attractive to them in doing their business in Australia.

Last year the World XVIII youth side competed at the NAB AFL Under 16 Championships for the first time, alongside South Pacific who were also on debut. worldfootynews.com considers this one of the AFL's best international initiatives as it provides a pathway for young talent and also focuses leagues on the need to bring through the next generation. Most on-the-ground costs are covered by the AFL, but although the South Pacific players seem to find funding to make their way Down Under the World XVIII appears to be less well supported.

So in 2010 we helped fund Denmark's Mathias Biron in his journey to Australia, putting in AUD$800 to help with airfares. In 2011 we're looking to assist one or two players again. We can part fund it from our modest site income, but we are also throwing open the invitation for our readers to contribute if they wish. Rather than have a tin rattle for small donations here or there, we are initially asking for pledges of commitment from anyone who would like to help so we can get an idea of how much we might raise before then discussing with the AFL the best way to use it. However the AFL have indicated they support our idea. Simply send us an email at supportworld18@worldfootynews.com with your details and pledge and we will contact you later if we go ahead.

You can read more on last year's supported player in Young Dane off to a good start and Biron's World XVIII experience put to good use.

One of the important assets a sport can have is wealthy patrons willing to invest in the game, be it team ownership, generous sponsorship or assistance with additional programs such as philanthropic work. Rob Gerard has been one such important person in Australian football in South Australia for many years, but recently he has also embraced the round ball code, and in doing so brought about a very curious merger of interests, with local Australian football state league side North Adelaide in some sense taking over the running of Adelaide United, the state's soccer side in the national A-League. Is this a dangerous precedent or just good business?

Community football clubs affected by the recent floods in Queensland and Victoria will receive $325,000 to help them rebuild following fundraising activities at the 2011 NAB Cup. The funds raised from the NAB Cup bring to nearly $1 million the contribution from AFL supporters, the AFL Players’ Association, AFL clubs and the AFL to help the rebuilding efforts after one of Australia’s worst natural disasters.

A 15 per cent contribution from the gate receipts for all round one matches of the NAB Cup (about $3 per adult ticket) went towards supporting community football clubs affected by the floods.

It appears that there is momentum slowly gathering to reduce the number of players on the field in Australian football matches from 18 to 16. For the majority of leagues across Australia 18 has been the magic number for a century or more, but with the rapidly changing nature of the sport through the last few decades, this author has long supported the idea of at least trialling 16-a-side.

The AFL are often blamed for "ruining the game" by changing rules.  While it is true they have sometimes fiddled with laws that effect the fabric of the sport, much of the changes in the game have been natural as a result of the professionalism that comes with a national competition, such as players covering far more ground, not staying in conventional positions, increased use of tactics and better quality surfaces (i.e. no more muddy bogs in mid-winter).

Some of the changes have bettered the sport, some arguably have not.  We now see far more congestion around the ball, almost like "mini-league" or Auskick.  Some of the great highlights were seeing a wingman dashing down the field looking to either penetrate to 50m for a shot on goal or pass into space for a forward.  Now they confront a flood of opponents and have no where to run.  A ball kicked out into space used to see a foot-race and then a one on one battle - now the only space is back behind the player with the ball. 

As part of the AFL's push into Western Sydney, one important thrust has been tapping into the area's many multicultural communities, with one club in particular having been a recent success story.

The Auburn Tigers were only founded in 2010, and the majority of their playing base in drawn from players of Palestinian or Lebanese background. In their debut season, they went through the fixture undefeated and took out the Sydney AFL Division 4 premiership, with 2011 seeing them enter sides in both Division 2 and Division 4.

One conrnerstone of the club is the Kassem family, with all nine brothers involved in the club, as well as their sister who has started a women's club, which counts 38 members so far, mostly muslim and playing in headscarves.

AFL indigenous and multicultural development officer Ali Faraj says ''The Auburn local government area is the multicultural hub of Australia,'' Faraj said. ''Of the 70,000-odd population, 78 per cent of the community speak a second language at home. There are 6000 Chinese-born residents, 4000 Vietnamese, as well as Koreans, Lebanese, Turkish, Somalis, Afghans, Pakistanis, Iraqis …"

''Sometimes this area gets so much negative publicity. But it's about the individuals, the people who want to get something out of life, and with the GWS Giants here now, the people here can engage with AFL and also have aspirations to play at a high level.''

With the first rounds of the 2011 International Cup to be held in Sydney's Western Suburbs, clubs like the Tigers will likely be featuring in the multicultural team(s) to be competing against the best from overseas.

For more, read Kassem family show how to win the West.

 

worldfootynews.com caught up with AFL International Development Manager Tony Woods the morning after the big AFL Fiji fundraiser in Adelaide a couple of weeks ago (Tony is pictured with David Rodan Senior, Fiji's coach).  Some of those discussions have featured in recent articles.  In this part we canvas how he has found the role, the new development officer in Europe, and for those in international footy who have had close dealings with the AFL's Josh Vanderloo, we asked about his current status in relation to the international side of the game.

Brett Kirk's International Cup world tour continues, with the former Swans captain now in South Africa, visiting townships that play Australian football. He recently departed India and we hope to bring you details of his time there soon.

For anyone new to football and not familiar with Kirk's style, there's a small package of his work below on youtube.

[youtube:tD_p0H6PyqY]

Round 1 of the NAB cup saw the new 3 team 20-minute half format. Half the clubs took the park in week 1. The preseason games allow the clubs to see how players who haven't yet made their senior AFL debut will fair against seasoned opponents and with a number of players on club lists still recovering from injuries this gives some of the internationals at clubs a chance to show their wares.

Melbourne had the best of the Adelaide teams on their own turf on Friday night showing the benefits of seasons of rebuilding a list at the bottom of the ladder. English born Brad Moran in for the Crows and Fijian-Australian Alipate Carlile suiting up for Port Adelaide.

Saturday night saw the big drawcards Collingwood, Carlton and Richmond fill Etihad stadium,  and the Pies continued where they left off 2010 in solid form. Three Irishmen took the field in Jamie O’Reilly for Richmond playing in defence, Setanta o’hAilpin at centre half forward and Zac Tuohy both lining up for Carlton. Not a great deal to report for any of them but they are up and going and in the mix for the season proper.