WSMV Channel 4

In October, over a hundred of Canada’s best women’s Australian Rules Football players will be in the nation’s capital to fight for the national championship title.

AFL Ontario club, the Ottawa Swans Australian Football Club, has won the bid to host the 2013 Women’s Canadian National Championships Oct. 11 to 13.

Australian Rules Football, also known as AFL or footy, is played widely in Australia through professional and recreational leagues. Internationally, especially on the women’s side, the sport has been rapidly growing.

“To say the team is excited is an understatement,” said Swans captain Lisa Dalla Rosa. “Knowing that this October we will be playing on our field, with our club, sponsors and city cheering us on will be great motivation not only for the tournament but for the up-coming season as well.  We cannot wait to host players from across Canada.  This is fantastic for women's footy in the capital."

The Ottawa Swans Australian Football Club was formed in 2006 by a group of Australian expats, and became a member of AFL Ontario and AFL Canada in 2007. The club has adopted the same name as the professional AFL club the Sydney Swans.

Both women’s and men’s teams play in the Ontario AFL, playing at home at the Rideau Carleton Raceway in Ottawa and travelling to Toronto to face competition.

Our thanks to Chris Adams for the following submission (and for all his efforts in footy development) .

Saturday Morning Footy began in Washington DC in 2006 and over that time has counted among its moms and dads, NFL players, AFL players, NBL players, IMF executive board members, US cabinet secretaries, congressional staffers, journalists, and authors. The program has also provided a home-away-from-home for Australian military and foreign affairs personnel and their families while they are in the Washington DC area. Big shout out to the F-35!

In celebration of 4 years of Stateside Footy TV, the USAFL have released an article on their website commemorating the work put in by the show’s legendary commentator and producer, Bill Robert.

SSFTV started filming USAFL games in July 2010 and aired their first episode a month later in August. The 4th season of the show is due to be aired from next month. To date, 40 episodes have been filmed and the show has been aired on 81 public access channels across 21 states, and has been viewed online by over 20,000 fans.

For a quick fix of “Australian made, American played”, take a look at the show’s flashy new USAFL promotion video which will feature during breaks in the 2013 show.

For more information on Bill Robert’s contributions to the game in the USA, please read the original article written by Boston Demon and USAFL VP Mike Sheppard.

Alberta is a province in Western Canada that is in the encouraging position of having two cities hosting Australian Football clubs. The following article is from Jason Arnold and Chantal Spindler of the men’s and women’s teams who report on the interesting formation, proud achievements and exciting developments of the Edmonton Australian Football Club.

It’s been an active off season for the Edmonton Australian Football Club.  The club’s teams, the Edmonton Emus (women’s) and the Edmonton Wombats (men’s) haven’t let the long winter slow them down.  They’ve been conducting weekly training sessions, since mid-October.  Significant recruitment efforts have seen the EAFC double their numbers and record a constant 40+ at training.

The club was established as the ‘Edmonton Emus’ in 2008 by Tristan Waldock, who coached the women’s team for two years.  The Wombats (men’s) officially joined the following year in 2009, initially led by Hamish Martin, then led by Brad Havin upon Hamish’s return to Australia.  The Edmonton Australian Football Club was then formed.

After much hard work in the off season 2012 was a breakthrough year with the Wombats enjoying successes at the Kelowna Cup (Western Canada’s first tournament of the season, hosting teams from Vancouver, Calgary, and Edmonton) and being super competitive in the Stampede Cup against Calgary later in the season.  Off the back of great performances by their National reps, the Emus had their first win over the Calgary Kookaburras at the inaugural Capital Cup.
 

If you build it, they will come.

That was the motto used five years ago when the fledgling Montreal footy club was desperate to get visiting teams into town and build a unique 9-a-side event that put the spotlight on rookie Aussie Rules players.

Armed with the lure of a European-style city like no other in North America, for the very first time some applications for the 2013 tournament had to be refused as the tournament’s 4 women’s and 8 men’s slots filled in record time. Teams from New York, Ottawa, Boston, Baltimore and Halifax all committing to take on Montreal’s spread of home teams in the AFL Quebec Preseason Cup. An estimated 150+ players will be on hand for what will be Quebec footy’s finest hour.

Coach Leigh Barnes has announced that the USA Freedom will be holding a training camp from May 31 to June 2 in the San Francisco Bay area, in preparation for this year’s Parallel Cup, which will be held in Edmonton, Alberta, on August 3.

As well as existing squad members, the camp is also open to new players, and women from across the USA have been encouraged to attend. The coaches have indicated that the camp will consist of a mixture of football training, team building exercises and special events.

At the end of the weekend, the coaching staff will select a senior squad and a development squad to take to Canada. In addition, Barnes also hinted that they would be using the opportunity to look for potential representatives in advance of next year’s International Cup.

The 2nd official AFL US Combine been completed in Los Angeles. Three athletes, David Grzesiak (pictured below)  from the University of Wisconsin, Matt Sauey from the University of North Florida, and Cliff Ederine from the University of Eastern Washington, broke the standing vertical jump record of 85cm with 86cm leaps to become the best ever performers in 18 years of testing.

As we mentioned last year these athletes are much older than the athletes usually tested at AFL Combines. The overall performances of the group really impressed the six AFL club representatives in attendance.

The full list of athletes to be tested at the AFL Combine starting in LA today can be seen below.

Illinois basketballer Sam McLaurin has some impressive highlights (seen in the video reel below) both at his former college team Coastal Carolina and his current Illinois Fighting Illini team.  Standing at 203cms the 23 year old is a potential AFL ruckman and will be put through his paces in LA from April 14-16 in the second official US Combine.

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