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?

The AFL is currently allowing fans to vote on possible rule changes for season 2011. The voting is not binding, meaning the AFL may go against the votes, but a strong response is likely to sway them.

You can take part in the voting at: AFL rules - your say. The poll started last week but only remains open until this Wednesday, so hurry if you have a strong opinion.

This article completes the list of games that have been included in our (unofficial) worldfootynews.com World Rankings from 1994 through to the present. Here we show the matches from the start of the 2008 International Cup up to July 30th - just before the Canada versus USA match and the inaugural European Championships.

At the completion of the North American and European matches that are being played this week, we will include the results in our Rankings and present them as the Rankings against which we will reference in future, i.e. they will be our first recognised use of the new scheme. However, if good reason is shown that the system needs changing then it can be.

Hawks players Michael Osborne, Brent Guerra, Clinton Young, Brent Renouf, Carl Peterson and Ryan Schoenmakers and Assistant Coach John Barker, were joined by 13CABS drivers and their families for a football carnival to celebrate 13CABS Multicultural Harmony Day at Waverley Park today.

The drivers and their children, many of whom had never picked up a football before, participated in a skills clinic in the afternoon, which included with a focus on team values of respect and responsibility. Hawks forward Michael Osborne said the afternoon was particularly important, especially in the wake of an assault on a taxi driver in Springvale less than 24 hours ago.

The AFL Commission announced yesterday that it had granted Team GWS a licence to become the 18th team in the AFL competition, starting in 2012. The announcement of the licence being granted was made Thursday after the formal signing of an agreement with the NSW Government and the RAS for a $60 million redevelopment of the Sydney Showgrounds – the home ground of Team GWS.

The inclusion of Team GWS has potentially very big ramifications for footy internationally. Coach Kevin Sheedy has previously flagged his intentions to seek international footy talent and backed that up this year with the recruitment of Bayanda Sobetwa from South Africa.

We now present the listing of the next group of games that have been included in our (unofficial) worldfootynews.com World Rankings covering the period from the start of the 2005 International Cup through to just prior to the start of the 2008 International Cup. See World Footy Rankings - eligible games and World Footy Rankings - eligible games - part two for the last two editions of this series of articles.

It's interesting to see just how many full scale internationals have been played since our nominal starting point in 1994. Over time as we get new events such as the inaugural European Championships and the Oceania Cup it's easy to forget that fairly significant tournaments have been held in the past, such as the Atlantic Alliance tournament in London in 2001 and the Arafura Games in Darwin which have periodically featured international footy sides.

One modification since our first preliminary rankings using the new system is that we will require teams to have played 8 games before entering the system in full - prior to that they will be given provisional ranking points but not a recognised ladder position.

The fourth and final article on eligible games will list matches from the 2008 International Cup through to the present.

In this continuing series we are listing the games that have been included in our (unofficial) worldfootynews.com World Rankings. Last time we outlined the basic rules for inclusion, pointed readers at related discussion and listed the matches from nominal commencement (1994) through to the start of the 2002 International Cup (see World Footy Rankings - eligible games).

Today we list the games we are using from the start of that tournament through to the start of the 2005 International Cup.

We have also been "tweaking" the system compared with what we last presented, to produce a slightly more dynamic rankings scheme, designed to allow slightly quicker movement of teams up and down the ladder, although the final parameters have not been finalised. More on that later.

The AFL today said it had written to all clubs seeking their feedback on a number proposals being considered by the AFL Player Movement Working Party, as part of the annual examination of the competition's draft and trading rules.

AFL General Manager Football Operations Adrian Anderson said clubs had been asked to respond on potential changes for the 2010-11 off-season, covering:
- Rookie List Rules.
- Attracting Elite Athletes from other sports to the AFL competition.
- Eligibility Rules around Rookie List, International, International Scholarship and Three-Year Non-Registered Players.
- Player movement from the Primary List to the Rookie List.
- Potential introduction of an Inactive List.

Here's a few photos from Round 1 of the NAB AFL Under 16 Championships, when the South Pacific side took on the World XVIII at Blacktown in Western Sydney. Thanks to Fiona Austen for the photos, and her earlier match report can be read here.

We'll also follow up with an article or two reviewing the international sides and their experience.