US Nationals Day 1 results.  Courtesy usafl.com

Day 1 of the 2013 USAFL National Tournament has drawn to a conclusion with a number of teams clearly set with their eyes on the finals. In Division 1 the Denver Bulldogs, Calgary Kangaroos, Austin Crows and New York Magpies have all finished day one with two wins each.

First up tomorrow, the Denver Bulldogs take on the Calgary Kangaroos at 9am and the Austin Crows and New York Magpies will take the field at 10am to decide who make it through to the final at 4pm.

The women's division is a little interesting this year with seven teams. Denver are on top of Pool A (made up of 3 teams), however Pool B (made up of 4 teams) currently has the San Francisco Iron Maidens and Minnesota Freeze Blue team on top with 2 wins each and they will play each other first up Sunday to earn direct pass to the final. The loser from the mornings match will still have a chance to make the final if they are able to knock off Denver in a crossover semi-final..

Press release from the USAFL: The United States Australian Football League’s (USAFL) National Tournament returns to Austin this weekend, October 19-20. The tournament is expected to attract more than 1,000 athletes from all over North America for the two-day event being held at Onion Creek Soccer Complex, south of downtown. This is the second time the tournament has been held in Austin with the first in 2011. After much success and positive feedback the vote was unanimous to return.

Both men and women will compete throughout the weekend, with four men’s and one women’s division – 39 teams in total. The top division favorites are the New York Magpies and Calgary Kangaroos who both missed out on the division title last year after it was vacated when the Dallas Magpies were disqualified.

The following story courtesy usafl.com

The USAFL is excited to announce there will be an AFL contingent attending the 2013 Nationals.  St. Kilda Saints Captain Nick Riewoldt will be in Austin on Sunday, October 20 for the finals and participate in pre-game ceremonies and awards presentations.

Riewoldt’s newest teammate American Jason Holmes who signed a 2-year international rookie contract with the Saints earlier this month, will also make the trip to Austin.  Holmes journey to the AFL began in April at the secondAFL US Combine in Los Angeles.  After the combine Holmes returned home to Chicago where he began training with the Chicago Swans in hopes the AFL would call and he would be prepared to take advantage of the opportunity.  His hard work has paid off and he is excited to begin his AFL career.

Richmond will be the first club in AFL /VFL history to have a female president after Peggy O’Neal was voted into the role at a board meeting this morning.

O’Neal has spent the past eight years on the Richmond board. She takes over from Gary March, who officially stood down as president at the Jack Dyer Medal last Monday night.

O’Neal, who was born in Virginia in the United States, has spent the past 24 years in Australia. She currently chairs the Club’s risk and compliance committee, is a member of the governance committee, and also chairs the Tigers in Community Foundation.

American Jason Holmes is described at the AFL Draft combine in Melbourne this week as 203cm, 104kg , born 28/10/89 - Potential key position player/ruckman from Moorehead State in Kentucky ( the Ohio Valley Conference of the NCAA Division I-AA) with a multiple sports background in basketball, soccer, NFL, baseball and golf. Was introduced to AFL at the USA Combine in April 2013. Left-footer who looked natural with the ball by hand and foot. 

The USAFL has released the pools for the men's 2013 National Championship Divisions. Division 1 has no reigning champion as the Dallas Magpies who won the 2012 title and were subsequently stripped of the title have been suspended from competition at the National Championships this season. Canadian team the Calgary Kookaburras will again compete in Division 1 at this year's US Nationals.

Pools are:

A new USAFL advertisement will screen during the US coverage of the 2013 AFL Grand Final today. You can catch the video below.

Toronto based Northern Lights player Renee Tong has found a novel way to help raise so money to compete in next year’s International Cup: A contest where the winner is awarded $10,000 towards their athletic dream.

The competition is being run by Canadian wellbeing and supplements company Genuine Health. Each entrant writes about their athletic dream and the $10,000 prize is awarded to the athlete with the highest number of votes. The competition ends on August 31st.

Renee hopes that with help from the international football community she will win the competition and be able to travel to Australia to compete in the International Cup. As well as travel and accommodation costs for Australia, also hopes to use the money to travel across Canada to national competitions so she can gain more experience and become a more competitive player. The prize money will also cover the training, nutrition and physio programme she has set to lead up to IC14.

If you would like to help Tong achieve her dream of playing for her country, please click here to vote for her and read her story here.

More information about Tong’s aspirations and her Australian Football journey so far can be found in this article in local newspaper Inside Toronto.