The AFL today announced it had signed a Memorandum Of Understanding (MOU) with the Federal Government guaranteeing the AFL season will continue, should Australia’s bid for the soccer World Cup be successful. AFL CEO Andrew Demetriou said he was pleased that all outstanding issues had been resolved and the AFL, along with the Australian Rugby Union (ARU), National Rugby League (NRL), Football Federation Australia (FFA) and the Federal Government, had all signed off on the binding agreement which ensures the bid lodged by Australia would be FIFA-compliant.

Mr Demetriou said the MOU recognised that it was fair and reasonable that other football codes continued to play their seasons should Australia win the soccer World Cup. He said the AFL has consistently supported Australia’s bid and the code had agreed to give up use of the MCG, Skilled Stadium at Geelong, Subiaco Oval, Gold Coast Stadium and Adelaide Oval during the World Cup. “We have consistently supported Australia’s bid for the World Cup as we have with other major sporting events.

The World XVIII and South Pacific squads have been named for the June 2010 NAB AFL Under 16 championships in Australia. This is the first time international squads have been invited to compete and although the inaugural teams are likely to be in for a torrid time on the scoreboard, in coming years the concept should provide an excellent pathway to the AFL as well as an incentive for international leagues to promote youth.

The players named have been selected but have not necessarily confirmed their involvement, as it will be subject to players making the journey Down Under. The full lists are given below. Including the multi-cultural component, there are 21 countries represented.

The Essendon Football Club along with Cricket Victoria and supported by Primus Telecom, last week launched the GLoBALL initiative, which, "aims to provide positive engagement opportunities for international students and new migrants to interact with the broader Victorian community through sport by providing free cricket and football activities year round."

Through the program, thousands of international students and newly arrived migrants will have the opportunity to attend up to three AFL matches. The first intake attended last round's match in which Essendon defeated the Hawks.

According to the Bombers' media release, "beyond matches, program participants will have the opportunity to be involved in tours of iconic facilities, will be buddied up with AFL and cricket supporters on match days, and will enjoy practical skill sessions and other social events."

A website has also been set up, suggesting some activities newly arrived migrants and international students might like to be involved in.

Kevin Sheedy, legendary AFL coach and future coach of the 18th AFL club, Greater Western Sydney, has put forward the idea of an 11-per-side tournament to replace the NAB Cup, the AFL's pre-season series. And he reckons it could have an international flavour:

"It might encourage other countries to find 15 young players in say USA, Japan, Great Britain, Ireland or South Africa. They could come out and have a crack at it".

Sheeds has said the Rugby 7s in Hong Kong was his inspiration, although he has been heavily exposed to international Australian football, where the concept of reduced numbers games has been regularly applied for many years, especially across the United States and Europe. His idea also is very similar to a proposal put forward by worldfootynews.com to the AFL and also partially published online. So certainly then some of us here think the concept has plenty of merit.

As foreshadowed recently on WFN, the AFL today announced the appointment of a full time AFL International Development Manager. Former Fitzroy, Collingwood and Hawthorn player, Tony Woods, takes on the role.

The 40 year old previously had extensive experience in his role with Austereo, as well as establishing the commercial base for the Gold Coast FC and more recently with Collingwood. From debut to retirement his AFL football career spanned 1989 to 2002.

The AFL's David Matthews stated that "This is a significant strategic appointment for the game. It is the first full-time dedicated international role at AFL Head Office".

"In recent years, with relatively modest budgets we have worked with international affiliates, AFL Clubs, Government and corporate partners to test the game's potential and identify priority international markets".

Recently we reported that David Matthews (pictured), the AFL's General Manager, National & International Development, was shifting from Melbourne to Sydney to take on the role of General Manager, Market Development - see Game Development head shifts to Sydney. We had a quick chat to Matthews to see how this might impact the AFL's burgeoning involvement in international development of the sport.

First up we asked if other Game Development staff such as Josh Vanderloo, who has worked closely with international leagues, will also be shifting. The answer appears to be no, and in fact there could be an expanded international section. "(We're) about to appoint a full-time International Manager based at the AFL in Melbourne reporting to me as part of (the) Department".

A growing international flavour is likely to help give credibility to the game in emerging markets like western Sydney - something we've argued the case for at WFN since we first began. So with Matthews' move to the Sydney area, will that accelerate? Matthews confirmed that the "(international) profile will keep increasing".

And finally a bit of speculation as to whether his shift could suggest that the 2011 International Cup might move to New South Wales as part of the Greater Western Sydney drive. But Matthews but that theory to bed. "My move is irrelevant as far as venue concerned".

A quick scan of the AFLQ teams this week will show up a number of names that WFN readers will recognise. The most significant being the amazing lineup in the Brisbane Lions reserves team.

The Lions will play Broadbeach this weekend. From the backline - we see Niall McKeever the Irishman at fullback, Donald Barry from PNG at half back flank, Tiernan Carbry from PNG in a foward pocket, Pierce Hanley from Ireland and the Japanese born Sean Yoshiura both playing on the ball and PNG's Amua Pirika and John James on the extended bench.

At Labrador they have PNG's Emmaus Wartovo and Stanis Susuve lining up and making his senior debut this weekend for the Western Magpies is American Bryan Dragus.

Collingwood and Essendon captains Nick Maxwell and Jobe Watson are among the 88 AFL footballers playing on Anzac Day who have signed personal and heartfelt messages of support on their guernseys for the more than three thousand Australian Defence Force personnel serving on 13 overseas operations and in support of Australia’s Border Protection.

The gesture is part of the Anzac Day Message to the Troops service, which is hoping to generate an unprecedented 10,000 messages of support for Australian troops. Victoria Cross recipient and Young Australian of the Year, Trooper Mark Donaldson VC said that troops overseas will receive a real boost after reading messages of support from Aussies back home.

“AFL football has become a great Anzac Day tradition and the Message to the Troops campaign is an ideal platform for AFL fans to show their respect and pay tribute to the many service men and women who are currently serving overseas.

We don't normally have commentary on Australia's National Rugby League (NRL), but current events are worth a mention. Despite the rising presence of a third code, soccer, the NRL is still clearly the AFL's biggest rival in terms of sponsorship dollars, media coverage and television ratings.

So it came as quite a shock to the sporting landscape today as the NRL announced its Victorian beach head, the Melbourne Storm, had been caught cheating the salary cap and had been penalised in an unprecedented way. Let me emphasise, this is Rugby League, not Australian (Rules) Football. For the Storm having been found to have systematically rorted the system for 5 years, the NRL has:

• stripped them of the 2007 and 2009 premiership titles
• stripped them of the 2006, 2007 and 2008 minor premierships
• wiped their 2010 premiership points
• banned them from earning any points this season
• fined them $500,000 and demanded they repay $1.1 million in prize money

The ramifications are enormous. The premierships will now be officially considered not awarded in 2007 and 2009. In an AFL context, it would be like Geelong being stripped of their titles from the past 3 years. Or if Sydney or Brisbane, AFL footholds in traditionally less strong Aussie Rules markets, were stripped of their titles and consigned to almost certainly spend time at the bottom of the ladder. Questions as yet unanswered:

Australian football's international growth has been most impressive over the past decade, aided by several threads such as the internet, television coverage, the growing Aussie Diaspora, and increasing enthusiasm from the AFL.

Of course there are always challenges along the way. The more common ones include finding ovals to play on, explaining to locals that it isn't Rugby Union, Rugby League or soccer and then convincing them to play, and travelling long distances to find opposing teams.

But recently two more unusual roadblocks have popped up - one very human and the other very much Nature.

In China, AFL Development Officer Andrew Sawitsch has been tasked with getting Auskick-style clinics running in Shanghai, and has had some recent success in five schools already. However his efforts were for a time curtailed by Chinese customs officials who were obviously suspicious of this new game and impounded 500 footballs, Auskick backpacks and hats. Fortunately the items were set free, but not before a month had passed.

An even bigger headache goes by the name of Eyjafjallajökull. On April 17th Great Britain was due to play Denmark in Farum, Copenhagen. As always it was a big effort to arrange a large travelling squad from across the Kingdom to travel and play a full scale international. But as the weekend drew near it became obvious they had an insurmountable problem - Iceland's erupting volcano was shutting down airports across northern and western Europe. Ultimately there was no choice - the match was cancelled. Hopefully the situation will be all clear in August when nations converge on Denmark and Sweden for the inaugural European Championships.