The Cincinnati Dockers Australian Rules Football Club will begin their 14th season at the annual John Harrell Memorial Cup tournament in Louisville, Kentucky on Saturday, May 8th. The matches will start at 1:00 PM, and will take place at Champions Park on River Road in Louisville.

Cincinnati is coming off a stellar 2009 season which saw them win their second consecutive United States Australian Football League (USAFL) Division 4 title in Mason, OH, and their fourth league championship overall. In that tournament, the Dockers won all 4 of their matches to win the crown. Following that finish, the Dockers have high hopes of achieving a three-peat.

The tournament itself will be divided into two groups, A and B, and have some special rules. Matches in group A will feature 12 players on the field per team, while matches in group B will have 9 players on the field per team. Games in this tournament will consist of 2 20-minute halves. Cincinnati will be represented in both groups, and will compete against squads from the Nashville Kangaroos and the Columbus Jackaroos in each group.

Tyler Kamerman no doubt has the American frontier spirit, but at the same time he upholds that great Aussie desire just to have a kick of the footy. His return to his home state left him without a footy outlet, so he started his own. While he is not the first member of the mobile American nation to take the Aussie Rules seed and transplant it to new fertile, virgin ground, he is the first to do so in his home state of Iowa.

The Des Moines Roosters first materialized last year when the US Nationals divisions were announced, and those of us not so familiar with US geography had to check out where exactly Des Moines was. It turns out it is a geographical hub of a semicircle that is ringed by other USFooty cities Minnesota, Milwaukee, Chicago, St Louis and Kansas City.

To find out more about the USFooty new kids on the block, we spoke with Tyler this week.

The AFL has selected the World XVIII squad (Under 18s) to compete in the Under 16 championships against Australian states. worldfootynews.com will have details of other country selections soon, but for now, Canada's representatives...

AFL Canada is pleased to advise that 4 players have been selected by the Australian Football League to be part of the 30 player squad to represent the inaugural Under 18 World XVIII that will compete in the NAB State under 16 championships to be held in Melbourne & Sydney, Australia from June 27th - July 11th.

The initial 4 players selected were Riyad Karacic (Etobicoke Kangaroos, pictured left), James Duggan (Toronto Dingos) in Toronto Ontario, Clayton Lund and Andrew Roosdahl both from Vancouver, British Columbia. Unfortunately James Duggan will not be able to attend and he has been replaced by John Elliott (pictured right) also of the Etobicoke Kangaroos.

The players will travel to Australia prior to June 27th and attend a week long training camp and practise games in Melbourne before heading to Sydney where they will compete in Division 2 against New South Wales, Queensland, Northern Territory, Tasmania and a Pacific XVIII team.

USFootyNews.com is counting down the 2010 Preseason Top 10. At Number 8 is the Boston Demons.

The Boston Demons are my dark horse pick for the 2010 National Championship. Keep an eye on the boys from Boston, they mean business.

In 2009, they spent much of the season on the road which helps to explain their 2-4 record during the regular season. At Nationals, however, the showed some glimpses with a draw against the 2008 National Champions, the Vancouver Cougars, and 1 point point loss to Golden Gate.

Head Coach, Scott Nicholas, was encouraged by the performances and is hopeful for 2010. "A very disappointing feeling but also a very encouraging one. We feel that we are getting very close to having the team we want that will give Nationals a real shake."

Boston's Andrew Stratford takes a leap at the 2009 EAFL Tourney in Philly. Photo: Rob Oliver.

The following press release indicates a possible exciting TV program that promises to bring an American youngster to the AFL Draft Camp. On first viewing it all looks very speculative, but the accompanying video quickly shows that this is a serious endeavour.

We reprint most of the release below. It is somewhat disjointed but in short American Footy Star, created and produced by former F.I.F.A. sports agent Miro Gladovic; who will host a U.S. based, athletic talent competition in search of the next Australian Football League (AFL) star. The kick-off event will take place at the residence of the Australian Consul-General Saturday evening, May 8th, 2010 in Brentwood, CA, to celebrate the sport of Footy while introducing Australian Football to new fans here in the United States.

One lucky American athlete will be selected from the inaugural Dallas, Texas Footy Combines, and will win a trip to Australia and have the opportunity to be mentored by the AFL celebrity judges and be invited to the AFL “2010 Rookie Draft Camp.” Australian and American celebrities along with AFL representatives and sponsors will be on hand to show their support and love for Aussie’s national pastime.

One of the important but easily overlooked issues for the growth of international Aussie Rules is providing good coaching, and perhaps even more importantly, good umpiring. Whilst expat-Aussies often help kick start clubs and leagues, long term it is crucial to get locals involved in these important roles - and Australians often have a thing or two to learn about the laws of the game too.

Australian football in Canada recently received a boost with two weeks of official accreditation occurring across the country.

Bryan Dragus came to the Westen Magpies (in AFL Queensland's top league) this year after big wraps had been put on his game in the few limited chances he had to show his talent in the Golden Gate league last year. After two good performances he has been named in the Mapgies' side on the forward flank for their round three clash against Redland tomorrow.

It's early days for Dragus, but he looks like he could be a big weapon for the Revolution at IC11 should he be available. The AFLQ site featured Dragus in an article ahead of his debut this week, we have reproduced the article below.

USFootyNews.com is counting down the 2010 Preseason Top 10. At Number 9 is the San Diego Lions.

2009 was certainly not the best season in the Lions' history. They finished under 500 (to non-Americans that's a win-loss ratio under 50%) after a disappointing Nationals campaign. However, it is not always about the Ws. According to Lions Head Coach Simon Schenk, "As is the case in footy, the barometer for success is not always wins and losses. Last year was a very rewarding season at the Lions. For all our games about 80% of our players were Americans, and in one of our 4 quarter games we fielded an entirely American side. In most of our games 15-16 out the 18 on the field were Americans. This is a great testament to the club in their efforts to not rely on Australians, and to really foster the American influence. Our board is also comprised entirely of Americans. So great stuff."

Photo: The Lions in the Yellow and Maroon take on arch rivals the OC Bombers.

World Footy News this week spoke with Alex Benjamin the creator and host of the Nashville Kangaroos ARFC Webcast channel on Justin.TV website. Alex’s trailblazing coverage of the USAFL and the AFL from an American standpoint is approaching its second anniversary on the channel this weekend.

How did your channel and show start?

In my fifth season as being a goal umpire for not only the team, but for the USAFL (US Footy), I felt that the sport was not getting the recognition that it deserved and also being a die-hard supporter of the team, I thought of branching out from doing the goal umpire duties to another venue, thus the channel.

As for the show itself, that came out of invention after the 2009 Nationals in Mason, OH, when my good friend, US Nationals Umpire Secretary Lisa Albergo (spoke about it) and I thought “Wouldn't it be nice to do a show with AFL and USFooty?” So, we took the initiative and began USFooty/AFL Weekly.

David King (who shares the name with former North Melbourne player - but is not THAT David King) is the latest Aussie rules footballer to be signed to a punting contract for an American Football (NFL) club. Coming close on the heels of the signing by the Green Bay Packers of Chris Bryan, the New England Patriots have signed their own Aussie. Jy Bond is the other Aussie in contention for a spot and has signed with the New York Giants.

King is likely to have to go through a full preseason and compete against either a drafted punter or another punter brought in by the Patriots. The former Aussie rules player was one of a number of Aussie who attended punting camps in the US in 2009.