The established stars of the AFL competition have dominated selection in the team of the year with just seven new players nominated for All Australian selection for the first time tonight in the 2010 Four’N Twenty All Australian Team.

The top four teams of the premiership season – Collingwood, the Geelong Cats, St Kilda and the Western Bulldogs – dominated the team with a combined 14 players between them, reflecting the success of the best teams in the competition in 2010.

The journey began with the Pink footy, and for most states it travelled in style as only a pink footy can.... the symbolic journey leading up to the inaugural Australian Youth Girls Nationals.

worldfootynews.com is pleased to present our inaugural list of statistically based World Rankings using a modified version of the system proposed by Cam Homes earlier in the year (which was in turn inspired by the IRB rankings system). Note that we stand by our 2006 and 2008 rankings, but as of August 8th 2010 we now defer to our new statistical system. We emphasise none of these are official rankings as anointed by the international Leagues or the widely recognised world governing body, the AFL, but given a lack of a recognised alternative, we hope they provide a talking point and become respected enough to at least play a de-facto official role.

The honorary top spot is awarded to Australia until such time that a credible argument can be made that they do not deserve that position. Second spot goes to reigning International Cup champions and three time IC Grand Finalists Papua New Guinea. They narrowly edge out 2005 IC winners New Zealand.

There is a substantial gap to a tight bunch of three, headed by inaugural European Championship winners Ireland in 4th, followed by IC2008 surprise packets Nauru (5th) and the United States (6th). The top 10 is rounded out by the rising stars of South Africa (7th), European Championships runners-up Denmark (8th), Samoa (9th) and Great Britain (10th), who dropped valuable points with a relatively low finish at the recent European tournament.

If pre-match entertainment on Grand Final day is your thing, then you will be glad to hear the AFL has secured the world renown band INXS as it's headline musical act. We do expect however that there may be some coverage around the world that will not show this.

AFL General Manager Commercial Operations Darren Birch, said INXS is a band whose local and international success spans many decades and the AFL is thrilled to have such an iconic act involved in the grand final.

With a career spanning 25 years, INXS is undoubtedly one of the world's great bands. With more than 30 million records sold worldwide, countless awards from their peers and fans, platinum certifications, and a history peppered with outstanding achievements, the band are arguably Australia's most successful rock export.

More like a black hole than a sun, players who are out of contract are drawn to lucrative contract offers from the Gold Coast Suns. The Suns are allowed to offer up a contract to one player from each existing club that have a player out of contract as of the end of this season.

All Australian Defender Nathan Bock and exciting young defender Nathan Krakouer are the first two of these transfers to have signed with the Gold Coast SUNS for its inaugural AFL season. More will be announced in the coming weeks.

Last year it was Sydney Swan Tadgh Kennelly who returned to Ireland and led his county Kerry to the All Ireland GAA Gaelic Football final against Cork – and ultimate victory to win the Sam Maguire Cup.

This year, it remains to be seen if a win can be achieved; however, former Collingwood player Martin Clarke has helped his County Down side to make the All-Ireland final for the first time since 1994.

Once again this year World Footy News is collating a list of all the Grand Final parties around the world. To have yours added to the list please leave details using the "Post a Comment" feature below or email me by clicking on my name above (you'll need to register with the site).

Last year we had approximately 10,000 views to this list - so make sure that those looking to get to your party can find your event.

Please note: The information is entered here in good faith. worldfootynews.com is not responsible for any incorrect information posted to this story. Wherever possible attempt to check ahead to make sure the party you are planning on attending is still going ahead and has room for you. There have been cases of sell outs and late changes e.g. when a venue could not secure a telecast.

Round 22 is here and Canadian Mike Pyke is in the thick of it for the Swans. With Shane Mumford struggling with a strained knee and possibly in doubt even for the first week of finals - Mike Pyke looms as the ruck key for the Swans in a battle for a home final.

List changes today announced by AFL Football Operations Manager Adrian Anderson today are set to allow more opportunities for internationals to be added to AFL club lists. The AFL Commission has approved these changes to the AFL Player Rules to widen the ability of clubs to be able to attract and develop talent during the expansion period while Gold Coast and Team GWS join the national competition.

Mr Anderson said the Commission’s meeting in Melbourne today had approved recommendations from the AFL Player Movement Working Party, as part of the annual examination of the competition's draft and trading rules. He said the changes would come into immediate effect for the 2010-11 off-season, covering:
- Rookie List Rules.
- The ability for clubs to attract Athletes from other sports to the AFL competition.
- Eligibility Rules around Rookie List, International, International Scholarship and Three-Year Non-Registered Players.
- The introduction of an Inactive List, allowing players to take a 12-month leave of absence for exceptional and compelling circumstances, without taking up a list spot.

The Australian Government's major overseas aid program is AusAID, which is described on its website as "the Australian Government agency responsible for managing Australia's overseas aid program. The objective of the aid program is to assist developing countries reduce poverty and achieve sustainable development, in line with Australia's national interest".

For many years the program has funded, amongst many other positions, Australian football development roles in selected countries such as South Africa and Australian Youth Ambassadors to Tonga and elsewhere. In recent months this funding has attracted criticism from media in Sydney, notably by writers with strong leanings to other football codes.

So are taxpayers getting value for the money spent? Are recipient countries having valuable aid wasted on football?