The Austin Crows players and fans participated in there second annual Habitat for Humanity Build Day on a hot July summer Saturday. Habitat for Humanity is a Christian based non-profit organization that organizes the donation of materials, man power and expertise to build homes for families in need.

The house in south east Austin was in its 2nd day of construction. The Crows duties for the day included, pre-build complaining about how hot it was, commenting on the amount of sunscreen on Blake's face and plenty of trips to the water station. The main duties included squaring up the house by bracing it (as the walls had been raised on the 1st day of construction), wrapping the house with tar paper and insulation, lifting the trusses on to the roof and securing them in place, and then more complaining about how hot it was.

Canadian Mike Pyke’s extraordinary journey from international rugby to the AFL will continue for at least the next two years. The Sydney Swans today announced that he has signed a two year contract with the Club. Pyke, who has 20 rugby Test caps for Canada, first came to Australia in June 2008 to trial with the Swans. A few months later he was signed as an international rookie and in 2009 he went on to play his first senior game.

He started season 2010 on the rookie list but has made enormous progress since being called into the senior side in round seven as a replacement for injured ruckman Mark Seaby. Pyke, 26, has now played a total of 20 games and is developing into a valuable big man for the Club - and a trailblazer for athletes converting to AFL from the rugby codes.

The USA have defeated Canada in a come from behind victory at the 49th Parallel cup in Toronto on Saturday. After trailing at half time, the USA Revolution restricted the Northwind to a single goal in the second half, storming home to win by 5 goals.

The USA U23's also comfortably defeated Canada by over 10 goals, whilst in the Women's game Canada managed to reverse the trend defeating the US by 3 goals.

49th Parallel Cup - Men's

	1/4	1/2	3/4	Full Time
USA	1.4 (10)	2.5 (17)	6.9 (51)	9.12 (66)
Canada	2.1 (13)	4.1 (25)	4.2 (26)	5.2 (32)

Umpires' MVP: Dustin Jones (USA)

Goals - USA: Dustin Jones 3, Danny Hansen 1, Ryan Kastl 1, Stephen Moore 1, Andy Vancia 1, Andrew Werner 1.
Goals - Canada: Aaron Falcioni 3, Ash Steir 1, Oliver Hayward 1

Best - USA: Donnie Lucero, Brandon Bludan, Chris Candelaria, Andrew Werner, Jason Newquist, Luke Memeth.
Best - Canada: George Dimacakos, Jimmy Oertel, Kevin Minaker, Tasos Dimacakos, Frank Luisser, Manny Matata.

The US Revolution yesterday took out the 2010 49th Parallel Cup with a solid 34 point win after the Northwind led at half time.

In other results the OAFL Awfuls' poor kicking let them down in a 17 point loss to the Boston Demons that saw them kick 2.15, the Canadian Northern lights upset the favoured US Freedom by 23 points and the US Under 23 side easily defeated the Canadian Under 23 team by 68 points.

Next weekend Canada's national Women's team hosts their American counterparts. Our thanks to Jake Anson for sending us the following report reviewing the national team's evolution over the past few years.

Canada national women's team first played in 2007, in two matches against the USA Freedom at Thunderbird Stadium in Vancouver, BC. At that time, adult women's footy in Canada was in its infancy and each of the Canadians were participating in their first football matches. This initial Team Canada - dubbed 'the Eagles' - contained players only from Calgary and Vancouver, of whom a third were under 16 years of age. Canada lost both matches by substantial margins, but gained valuable experience in playing the Americans.

The three years since have seen substantial growth in the number of women playing footy across Canada, and their skill base. In 2009, AFL Canada decided to re-brand the national women's team as 'the Northern Lights', to bring a recognizably Canadian identity to the team. Women's footy is now played across the four most-populous Canadian provinces, with clubs established in Canada's five largest cities - Calgary, Edmonton, Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver. A yearly Canadian National Championship has been established for women, and youth girls footy development programs have commenced in Alberta, British Columbia and Ontario.

Last week both the New York Magpies and the Columbus Jackaroos received local media coverage. The Magpies got good press in the Wall St Journal which has worldwide reach while the coverage of Jackaroos young gun Robert Ward in the Columbus Local News was no less impressive and perhaps will be of greater value in bringing the sport to the adventurous sports lovers of Columbus (and bringing those locals down to the sport).

This week Toronto will host the latest chapter in the long running battle between the local Canadian Northwind team and the US Revolution from south of the border. The last match in the official 49th Parallel Cup series was won in 2009 by the American team (by 50 points) with the Canadians looking for revenge this year on home soil.

The schedule for the day can be found here.

One of the major events of the OAFL footy calender is just about upon us. And can you believe the hype this year? Early on in the piece there was talk that perhaps the game would not go ahead, but alas it has, and will, this Thursday at Humber South College at 2pm.

Not only is this game the main draw card of the day, but there is a lot going on with exhibition netball matches, a Rookies Challenge game, junior game and for the first time ever on Canada Day, a womens match!! Going to be a real top notch day!

The main game is scheduled a mere month before the Team Canada "Northwind" are set to take on the US in the 49th Parallel Cup on Saturday July 31st, as well as getting some much needed experience before they head to Australia in 2011 to take on the best in the world in the International Cup. What better way for Northwind to prepare than to play against some of the best the OAFL has to offer.

US Freedom coach Wayne Kraska is proud to announce the 2010 US Freedom team. A pool of 60 players went through the tryout process including tournaments in New York and Denver. The US Freedom is the United States national Women's Australian Rules Football team.

The following players will be representing the USAFL in the 49th Parallel Cup against Canada on July 31 and Aug 1.

The Sydney Swans' Canadian Rugby Union recruit, Mike Pyke, is continuing to impress in only his second season of Aussie Rules. After being elevated off the rookie list to debut in 2009, Pyke has added 6 games to his 8 AFL matches last year.

With injuries and suspension to other ruckmen the former Rugby International was thrown into the deep end earlier this year, manfully leading the Swans' ruck but struggling to exert sufficient influence. He is now back in a more appropriate role, supporting Sydney's Shane Mumford, but often taking on 50% of the rucking duties. Averaging 17 hitouts along with 2 marks, 2 tackles and 7 disposals is a pretty impressive return in just his second year at AFL level which is also only his second year ever in Australian football.

The 200cm, 104kg athlete is coming to the end of his contract and although the 26 year old is not ruling out a return to Rugby, he's hoping for a contract extension - it seems highly likely it will be offered.