Rival international tournament planned for 2008
- Thursday, March 24 2005 @ 01:43 am ACDT
- Contributed by: Brett Northey
- Views: 3,450
Welcome to World Footy News Saturday, September 21 2024 @ 09:44 am ACST
The greatest growth in international Australian Rules Football in recent years has been in the island countries surrounding Australia. Their location makes this no surprise, but until the 1990s, there was no real sign of the developments to come. Now two strong countries have emerged, with New Zealand and Papua New Guinea numbers exploding, and several new nations have begun the struggle to establish the sport.
Greece have won the Australian Football Multicultural Cup for 2005, defeating traditional rivals Turkey by 14 points in the final. Eight sides, representing Melbourne's Croatian, Turkish, Greek, Vietnamese, Italian, Israeli, Lebanese and Aboriginal communities were on show, with the day held in great spirits in keeping with Harmony Day.
World Footy News has often been criticised for its informal association with Brian Clarke's IAFC. Although we have argued that the only real linkage is the display of their logo and the volunteer work done by this author, the case has obviously not been made strongly enough. And clearly this author was sympathetic to their cause. However, it is our opinion that WFN has been held back by this perception. In this editorial we wish to make the clear distinction and in fact make it clear that even those loose ties have now been cut. I have thought long and hard about whether to air our reasons, but in fairness to all our supporters, and all the people I have lobbied on behalf of Brian Clarke, I feel they deserve an explanation of how this decision has come about over the lifetime of WFN.
WFN takes a look at a few of the clubs and leagues that never quite made it, as well as some who haven't made it yet, but have never given up.
The AFL website has gone through major redesign. Of extra interest to world footy news readers will be the section under Game Develoment / International Leagues - it's now much easier to find, even if it hasn't been expanded in some time!