The United States Australian Football League officially got the 2015 season under way this past weekend with the Eastern regional tournament being held at the Central Broward Park Cricket Stadium in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.  2015 will see a full slate of regional (Eastern, Central and Western) tournaments held across the league; these events, and a new USAFL poll-ranking system, will help determine divisional seeding at the National Championships in Austin, Texas later this year.

While three teams (#1 New York Magpies, North Carolina Tigers and the #20 Fort Lauderdale Fighting Squids) competed as full units, numerous players from other squads made the journey down to sunny Florida for an April footy-cation.  With two 2014 national champion sides in attendance, the stage was set for a wonderful day of Aussie Rules, with sunscreen and hydration the order of the day. 

Match results of the day surprised many observers of the USAFL. 

The third AFL Women’s Draft was held at Etihad Stadium in Melbourne last night. The event was streamed live on the internet (although we had one report of the stream dropping out in Canada for around 10 minutes). Western Bulldogs and Melbourne took turns to add to their retained players from the 2014 match.

Western Bulldogs’ Number One selection Emma King from the Coastal Titans in Western Australia and Melbourne’s Number Two selection Danielle Goding were the top picks. Each team selected 16 players plus one emergency.

Canadians Aimee Legault and Kendra Heil were present and received a special welcome from the AFL's General Manager Mark Evans in his opening address. A support crew for the Canadians were present from AFL Canada. Unfortunately neither of the girls were selected but the fact that they were considered for this two team competition is a great effort and no doubt an inspiration to women and girls playing and taking up the game around the world. It should be noted that some of those selected last night have been playing the game for only a relatively short time.

The USAFL-AFL Combine is back. But this year the location has moved from Los Angeles to the IMG Academy in Bradenton, FL. This is the same venue that the AFL held their 10-day high performance training camp for the U18 Academy earlier this year. The Combine will be held in just over a week from April 26-29. This year's updated video promoting the Combine to US athletes can be seen below and has been updated with clips of Combine graduates Jason Holmes at St Kilda and Mason Cox at Collingwood from NAB Challenge matches earlier this year.

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Best known in footy circles as the place where Essendon legend Tim Watson grew up, Dimboola is a small country town in the Wimmera region of Victoria about 330kms west of Melbourne. It is a traditional wheat/sheep farming area.

The town population is around 1600.  Their footy team play in green and gold and are known as the Roos. And now it will be home for this footy season for Terence Brasch. 

At home in Oregon state, USA Brasch like many Americans discovered Aussie rules late at night on TV.  Then he got together with some mates for a kick at OSU, before finding a more regular footy fix with the Porland Steelheads.   Brash is the latest lucky participant in the USAFL's footy exchange program where the league send a promising young American to Australia to further their footballing education.  His application was successful and soon would be on his way to Dimboola.

American Footy Star program players Carl Winston III and Torrey Harkness have moved on from VFL club Port Melbourne where they missed the final list cut and have headed to the southern NSW team Temora Kangaroos in the Farrer League. They have also been joined by a third memeber of the program Eddie Ballard who had a preseason run with VFL club Springvale before also heading to the Riverina region township.

 Adding to the International theme at the club is Dominic Joyce who played for the Irish Warriors at IC14. Joyce has moved from nearby club Collingullie where he played the 2014 season.

“We’ve got some North Americans, an Irishmen, we’ve looked outside the box to try and make our league stronger and a better place to be,” Temora President Darryl Harpley told The Daily Advertiser. “(Winston and Harkness) are out here to have a crack at our great game of AFL and if they want to come and learn more at Temora for a season or more than that’s fantastic for them.”

The following is an extract from an excellent article by Justin Robertson in the Toronto Star, the largest daily newspaper in Toronto, Canada. It looks closely, and proudly, at the success of Sydney Swans ruckman, Mike Pyke, but also paints a good picture of the game of Australian Rules football in the Canadian sporting landscape.  

Australians can spend 20 years trying to win a premiership. Pyke won a flag three years into his AFL career.

Ask a rookie viewer of Australian Rules Football to describe the sport, and they might say utter chaos — and, also, a bit like rugby. Ask Canada’s Mike Pyke to describe it, and he’d say it’s one hell of a job.

Ed. - We welcome Scott Matheson to World Footy News as our newest writer. Scott is an Australian who spent many years in the USA, played in the USAFL at the Columbus Australian Rules Football Club and has held various positions on both the CARFC committee as well as the USAFL board. Scott has now returned to Australia and studies in Melbourne.

2015 is shaping up as the biggest year for American imports playing and competing in Aussie Rules in footy’s home state of Victoria.  Numerous Americans have made, or will make, the sixteen hour trek across the Pacific Ocean in order to chase some unorthodox sporting dreams.  This article profiles the players expanding the Yankee footprint in Victorian footy circles. 

The following article in the Herald Sun features the decision by the St Kilda AFL club to select their USA recruit, Jason Holmes, in their NAB Challenge teams this pre-season. Holmes, who has served an apprentice ship with the Sandringham VFL club, hopes to be the first player born and bred in the USA to play a senior AFL game.

FORMER college basketballer Jason Holmes has taken another step closer to becoming the first American convert to play AFL football with his inclusion in St Kilda’s NAB Challenge squad.

Holmes, drafted by the Saints as an international rookie 14 months ago, is one of two ruckmen in the squad to play Brisbane on Saturday.

Sandringham coach Paul Hudson, who has worked extensively with Holmes in his role as the Saints’ development coach, said his selection “typifies how far he’s come over the past year’’.