The ladies from Champagne Football interview some of the internationals at the IC11 closing Gala Event in Melbourne.

Follow the adventures of the Irish Australian Rules Football teams in Australia for the AFL International Cup 2011.  This youtube slideshow created by Irish blogger Peter Ross follows the Irish teams' time in Australia from the opening ceremony to their post game Grand Final celebrations in the MCG.  Peter's wife, Melbourne born and bred Dr. Tammy Verlaan-Ross was the team Chiropractor. 

Her participation was supported by the Chiropractic Association of Ireland, the official healthcare provider of the Irish team. Ireland's men (the Warriors) defeated reigning champions Papua New Guinea to win the Cup for the second time in their history and the women (the Banshees) also won, defeating Canada in the first ever women's Grand Final. 

 

This year's International Cup for the first time was broken into two divisions. The video below contains the full match between the Fiji Tribe and the French Coqs.

Today's video shows the Irish team celebrating their new Champions status on the MCG moments after the final siren went to end the 2011 International Cup.

Ireland celebrate

A behind the scenes look at how the South African Lions warmed up before their match against the US Revolution at the 2011 International Cup.

Melbourne community TV station Channel 31's "The Local Footy Show" went international covering Game Day 7 at Royal Park. Much of the coverage focuses on the NZ team and interviews with Victorian Premier Ted Bailleau, Brett Kirk and Will McKenzie among others.

The Volunteers, the Specialists, the Honchos, WFN and other Media…

The International Cup is a major logistical as well as football exercise. It featured several hundred players and officials playing at three main sites, Blacktown International Sportspark, at Royal Park and the MCG as well as one day of matches spread around Sydney. Local volunteers are crucial for a tournament with over 500 players and two weeks of matches. While the AFL provided organisational support – and, crucially, insurance for the international teams – the key people are the volunteers. It is a given that the players arrive with the support of coaches, managers and in some cases trainers, the international volunteers, but the local volunteers are equally important.

The International Cup was at its best like a festival of footy with a celebratory spirit and all the camaraderie expressed when the teams shook hands after the matches, notwithstanding two melee moments.

Celebrations were many, team and individual.

Team events included the French surfing millipede, while some supporters carried the bigger than big flags. The French women supporters adopted imitation moustaches in the spirit of Harpo Marx at the Grand Final.

The regular British number one guernsey dog was at the IC as it was in 2008, joining the players on their last lap of the ground.

The International and Passionate Game  

This is the first of two articles on themes in IC11. It takes up the subject of the diversity suggested by the word ‘international’ in our global world and the way in which footy differs from soccer and other sports in its capacity to transcend individualism. If journalism is ‘history’s first draft’, this is in between… a brief reflection.

An article ‘Behind the International Cup Two… The Volunteers and The Lighter Side’ will follow later.

The International Game

There are even more stories in international footy than there are in the big city. The Cup IS very international, as it reflects the way people move in the global world.

With the 2011 AFL International Cup still fresh in our minds this author has reviewed each of the 23 competing teams, offering some brief personal thoughts on how each side went relative to expectations.

The article also summarises the finishing position and seeding of each nation, and compared it with the worldfootynews.com staff consolidated prediction (votes of the authors) published just prior to the tournament.

On August 26th the Women's and Men's Division 2 International Cup competitions wrapped up with victories to Ireland's women (over Canada) and Fiji's men (over France).  Both nations then received their trophies in front of the gathered crowd at Ransford Oval in Melbourne.  Here's a few more pictures from the afternoon's celebrations.

When a footy evening includes a video presentation depicting the Japanese tsunami, Christchurch earthquake and a reminder of a murdered team manager on the eve of a tournament; it's obvious it's not your run of the mill footy evening.  The International Cup Gala Dinner on Friday August 26th paid tribute to two memebers of the Japanese Samurai's lost earlier in the year, and to the NZ Hawks who attended despite the Christchurch earthquake - and of course the tragic death of PNG's Peter Meli.

Although the IC11 Grand Final the following day officially concluded the competition, for most teams the Gala Dinner was the opportunity to relax and soak up the camaraderie of international footy, as the players and officials let their hair down, relaxed, mingled, and sung and danced just a little.

Highlights of the night included the naming of the World Teams, the DFAT player of the tournament nominations and the awarding of International Merit Awards.