USFootyNews.com's Jeff Blankman has interviewed San Diego Lions and US Revolution backman Brett Ullman, ahead of next month's International Cup.

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The following story is contibuted to us by Rebecca Cassidy - Public Relations Officer for the Yankeroos.

Australian Rules football has become a popular extra curricular activity for American ‘Study Abroad’ students studying at The University of Notre Dame Australia’s Fremantle Campus. The successful Study Aboard program has been operating for a number of years and sees students from American university’s such as Notre Dame, Indiana and Portland University travel to Fremantle for their ‘cultural and academic’ exchange.

Introducing them to Aussie Rules was the brainchild of local Fremantle businessman, Mr Tony Fairhead. He explains, “The initiative began in Semester 2, 2006 and has become a regular event on the students’ calendar. “The team, called the Yankeroos, is formed at the beginning of each semester. Our aim is to teach American students the rules of the game and how to play, therefore promoting Aussie Rules to the Americans.”

Mike McFarlane, co-founder of the North Delta Junior AFL and a former AFL Canada President, recently received recognition for his outstanding service to the local community. He was a Top Honour Recipient in the sixth annual Community Leader Awards.

McFarlane was interviewed for a locally published article, discussing his start in the game (during a stint in Australia in the 1980s), the beginnings of his involvement in junior development through his son's primary school, through to the NDJAFL's quest to send a Canadian national under 17 team to Australia during the upcoming International Cup.

One parent spoke glowingly of Mike and the program, "We are proud that our children are growing into healthy young athletes with a great sense of sportsmanship thanks to the many years that you have dedicated to coaching. You are an inspiration for the parents, athletes and coaches alike. Congratulations on receiving the Community Leaders Award for Coaching in 2008".

Well done to Mike and the entire NDJAFL. Such recognition along the way is not only rewarding for the individual but helps cast further positive light on junior footy development in British Columbia, Canada.

While footy lovers across the US drooled at the new stadium being built in Florida primarily for cricket but also with Aussie Rules in mind, the cost of playing there did not come to mind. When it was mooted earlier in the year that the Faststream Spring Invitational Tournament would be played at the Lauderhill stadium there were plenty of clubs put their hands up in anticipation of going down to Florida to play at this great new facility. There was much talk in US footy circles about Nationals being a certainty to be played there in coming years as well. The reality is a little different to the dream. Broward County, who fronted the vast amounts of money to build that stadium, want to see a decent return on their investment with hefty user pays fees. This prevented the tournament earlier in the year using the stadium (also due to late withdrawal of teams needed to pay the ground costs), continues to prevent the local teams playing or training here and could deter the USAFL from playing the Nationals here in future as well.

The San Diego Lions, one of USFooty's power clubs, have recently embraced (a version of) Recreational Football, a non-contact version of Aussie Rules that can be used to introduce new players to the game, get people involved that don't want the full contact and also allows mixed sex matches ("co-ed"). Often used for intra-club, San Diego recently took their rec footy team on the road to play the Las Vegas Gamblers' side.

You can check out their rec footy and full contact matches on Youtube here.

Portland Power have their first home tournament this weekend and will play as a stand-alone 18 a side team for the first time. It is a great step forward for a club that has taken it’s time to develop since it first took shape in 1998. As previously covered the club has played little brother to the Seattle club for a number of years but now is getting ready to show what they have to offer standing on their own. Attending the tournament will be Seattle Grizzlies, Denver Bulldogs and Vancouver Cougars.

Canada's premier league, the Ontario AFL, is leading the way in promoting the local clubs via a web-based footy show, featuring regular host Lockie McDonald and "panel" members Salvatore Capoferri and Emile Studham. Each episode features footage from the previous week's games, general footy gossip and plugs for the league's sponsors.

Recently, in episode four, the guys interviewed Canada's national coach, the Northwind's Mark Block. Currently also the Toronto Eagles coach and formerly the Northwind's captain at the 2002 International Cup, Block was very clear that he leads his side Down Under with the intention of winning the third Cup. Not surprisingly Papua New Guinea were seen as the biggest obstacle, and another bout with the United States was keenly anticipated.

It was also great to see the respect that Block had for a few "heritage" items from past Cups - something that will only be truly appreciated in the future. And speaking of the future, the clip also features first word of a new club forming, either the Quebec or Montreal Saints.

The episode can be viewed here, with the chat to Block starting around 18:35.

USFootyNews.com and WorldFootyNews.com have joined forces to put together the 3rd unofficial USFooty Top 10 Poll of 2008. Despite a few games across the country, according to our voters there hasn't been a lot of movement at the top of the ladder. Curiously one team has sneaked in without taking the field yet. Look for more movement when the season gets into full swing.

The first US women's footy games of the year were held on Saturday (2nd June) with the inaugural 'Duel in the Desert' tournament hosted by the Arizona Lady Hawks. With temperatures expected to rise into the triple digits it was an early start with games starting not long after 8.00am. At the event were the newly formed Denver Lady Bulldogs and the Atlanta Lady Kookaburras as well as the hosts of course the Lady Hawks, runners-up at last years Nationals in Louisville.

Long time readers of worldfootynews.com may remember one of our original writers, Jake Anson. Born and bred in Warrnambool in country Victoria, Jake has been busy since 2005, joining the growing army of Aussies out teaching the world about Australian Football. We recently caught up with Jake to learn about some great results with juniors and women's footy in Alberta, Canada.

Back in late 2005 Jake landed in South Africa where he embarked on AFL South Africa's progam of taking Australian tourists to local communities. You can read more about his experience in Aussies on the Road.

Next stop was Europe, an inevitable pilgrimage for many young Australians. But he didn't stay long.