ABC Radio National’s The Sports Factor ran a good story on the progress of FootyWild in South Africa and mentioned the International Cup, in their weekly program last Friday morning at 8.30AM. Audio and Transcripts are available clicking the link in the first line of this story. Lets hope The Sports Factor follows this up with a report on the International Cup itself.

In other mainstream media news, veteran Melbourne football writer, Mike Sheahan, who previously could perhaps have been labelled a sceptic on international footy, appears to have had a conversion experience with his visit to Royal Park last week. Writing in the The Herald Sun he compared the standard exhibited by the more established nations as equivalent to Victorian Amateur League B grade – a very respectable standard indeed and encouraged readers to get along and see the games for themselves.

While it is not unusual to find the odd Australian Rules football related story in overseas media, it is extremely rare to find sections in news or media sites dedicated to the sport. Happily this situation is slowly changing.

Earlier this month on August 7th, the AFL celebrated the 150th anniversary of what many believe to be the first match of Australian Football between Melbourne Grammar and Scotch College which was held on August 7th 1858.

Though there are minor historical discrepancies, the match is about as close as the sport's governing body could get to reliving the early history of the game while at the same time promoting the spectacle of modern day professional AFL football.

Scott Clayton, widely regarded as one of the top talent scouts and list builders in the AFL has been recruited to the GC17 team aiming to secure the 17th AFL licence for the Gold Coast. The team also recently signed former West Coast premiership player and current Collingwood assistant coach Guy McKenna to a two year deal to coach the initial squad, most likely in the Victorian TAC Cup Under 18s in 2009 and VFL in 2010 (yes, the Gold Coast is in Queensland, not Victoria, but the players will have to get used to travelling anyway). It seems like a smart move by McKenna, as if he is deemed to be doing a good job it probably puts him in pole position to land a contract to be the Coast's inaugural senior coach, without particularly damaging his credentials if they look elsewhere. Colours and mascot are likely to be named in the next few week, and GC17 has already achieved its target of signing up 20,000 non-paying "members".

Of interest to international footy fans is that Clayton, currently at the Western Bulldogs and formerly with Brisbane, has recently been scouting talent in Fiji for the Doggies (see Cloak and dagger but international recruiment on the burst), so we know he's prepared to think internationally, which will hopefully increase the chances of some international players getting on the GC17 list. A press release from GC17 follows.

Today marks 150 years since the first recorded match of Australian Football was played and to celebrate, the AFL has declared it ‘Kick Around Australia’ day. All Australians have been encouraged to join in the celebrations by wearing their football colours to work or school and having a kick of the footy. It initially seemed there would be no official international aspect to the day, but the AFL has teamed up with the Australian Defence Force to ensure that our servicemen and women overseas will be able to join in today’s celebrations. Kits containing all the essential tools for a football match have been sent to defence bases around the world, so that defence personnel will be able to have a kick of the footy with the rest of Australia.

Still imagery of Defence Force personnel playing football at various bases around the world will be available the ADF site. Vision will be fed to the television networks at Parliament House.

SCHOOL OF HISTORICAL STUDIES Free Public LECTURE

Beverly Knight, Director of the Essendon Football Club, shares her experiences and observations of the game of Australian Rules football in a free public lecture, celebrating cultural difference in sport. In her 15 years as an official of the Essendon club, Beverly Knight has seen massive change in the game’s treatment of racial vilification, sexism, and the masculine culture that dominated the AFL and VFL. She will discuss her involvement with AFL and Indigenous Australians, as well as her views on the game’s origins in this, the game’s 150th year.

Elisabeth Murdoch Theatre, University of Melbourne - Wednesday 6th August 2008 6:30pm.

ENQUIRIES - Gabrielle Murphy - School of Historical Studies
www.historical-studies.unimelb.edu.au

Recent AFL Commissioner Colin Carter has returned to a position on the board of the Geelong Football Club. He left Geelong in 1993 to join the AFL Commission, serving there until early 2008. Amongst more widely known activities such as the report "Establishing the basis of future success" (adopted by the original VFL commission in 1985 as its strategy for competition equalization, ground rationalization and growing the national competition), Carter is also regarded as a key driver who pushed the AFL towards greater international involvement.

The GC17 group, aiming to be granted the 17th AFL license, have begun signing young players under the AFL concessions to allow them to build a second Queensland team. So far three 17 year olds have been signed up - two from the Gold Coast and one from Cairns in the state's far north (it's encouraging to see talent coming from up there - we once likened the start up of Aussie Rules in Cairns to that of international efforts).

More details of GC17's recruiting follows...

Australian football is turning 150 and Australia Post is celebrating by issuing a single 50 cent commemorative stamp that features the earliest known engraving of a game of Australian football.

The engraving, entitled “Winter in Australia: Football in the Richmond Paddock” by Robert Bruce, depicts a game at Richmond Paddock, the parklands that today sit adjacent to the MCG. This image was first reproduced in the Illustrated Melbourne Post on 27 July 1866.

While the teams featured in the image are unknown, it depicts football as it was played in those early days, from 1858 until the mid-1860s. During this time, the game was played on rectangular fields and sometimes with a round ball, as shown in the engraving.

The playing area at Richmond Paddock changed proportion and size between 1858 and the mid 1960s, finally becoming an oval in the 1880s.

The outside chance of Tasmania being granted an AFL licence looks likelier with the bid announcing a $4 million, three-year sponsorship deal.

The announcement comes as the Gold Coast (GC17) and Western Sydney syndicates have yet to announce a major sponsor for their bids and while at least two Melbourne based AFL clubs, the Western Bulldogs and Richmond Tigers are still without a sponsor for 2009.