This Saturday, October 6th, the Ontario Australian Football League will showcase its best two teams in the 2007 OAFL Grand Final. Special OAFL guest, AFL legend Kevin Sheedy will also be present at the event as he is currently in Toronto to get a first-hand look at the development of Australian Football in Canada.

The day will begin with an exhibition match between the Canadian National Team, The Northwind and the touring "Convicts" Australian Football team. This game is sure to be an entertaining curtain raiser and will showcase some of the OAFL's best players.

The two teams vying for the 2007 OAFL Premiership are the Toronto Eagles and the Etobicoke Kangaroos. Both clubs have had fantastic seasons, with both finishing on top of the OAFL ladder with 13 wins and 1 loss in the regular season. The Etobicoke Kangaroos are looking for their first championship and are 0-1 in Grand Finals since coming into the league in 2003 while the Toronto Eagles are looking for their 11th OAFL premiership since the leagues inception in 1989. Details follow.

The USAFL has released the draw for this year's nationals in Louisville, Kentucky, with the competition expanding to four divisions for the first time.

There will also be a women's tournament with around four teams, one team from Canada heading down (the Calgary Kangaroos), a tour match between The Convicts and the US Revolution, and ex-AFL mega coach Kevin Sheedy in attendance.

The 10th year of the competition looks set to be the biggest weekend of US Nationals yet.

1 San Diego Lions (10 #1 Votes) (6-0)
2 Denver Bulldogs (5-1)
3 BW Eagles (5-0)
4 NY Magpies (4-1) (UP from 5)
5 Golden Gate Roos (1-1) (DOWN from 4)
6 Chicago United (5-1)
7 OC Bombers (1-4)
8 Boston Demons (2-2)
9 Minnesota Freeze (3-1) (IN)
10 Seattle Grizzlies (3-0)
Also receiving votes Atlanta Kookaburras (4-2) (OUT), Milwaukee Bombers (3-7), Nashville Kangaroos (6-1).

The No. 1 San Diego Lions have cemented themselves as favorites going into the USFooty National Championship Tournament in Louisville KY on October 13 and 14. The Lions also finished top of the Unofficial USFooty ladder with 6 wins, no losses, 24 points and a percentage of 301. The Lions impressive regular season included going 2-0 in their home and home series with the Orange County Bombers, a convincing win over Golden Gate in San Diego and taking out the 2007 Western Regional Tournament by beating No. 2 Denver Bulldogs by 9 in Denver. The Lions have been led all year by former president and 2006 joint Best and Fairest, Brendan McDonald who finished top of the USFooty goal kicking list with 17 goals, an average of just under 3 goals a game. Also contributing to the cause is current President Adam Cannane, J Cameron, S Shenk and last year's joint Best and Fairest Justin Valley. Nipping the Lions' heels all season has been the Denver Bulldogs. Denver also had a very impressive season finishing with 5 wins and just one close loss to the Lions. Denver finished 3rd behind the unranked Nashville Kangaroos on the Unofficial USFooty ladder with 20 points and a percentage of 485. Denver have been led all year by former USFooty President and 2007 East vs West stand out Rich Mann.

Chicago United (number 6 in the WFN USFooty rankings) secured the 2007 Mid-American Australian Football League Premiership on Saturday with an emphatic 103 to 57 win over the Milwaukee Bombers. The victory over Milwaukee secured Chicago a Division 1 invitation for the USFooty National Championship Tournament.

Chicago finished the 2007 regular season an impressive 5 and 1 record, with their only loss to the Seattle Grizzlies in Seattle. In MAAFL play Chicago had a 4 and 0 record, ahead of Milwaukee, St Louis and Nashville who all finished 2 and 2. Cincinnati took home the wooden spoon with an 0 and 4 record in the MAAFL Championship Division.

Chicago United (ranked 6th in the US in our regular poll) will host the Milwaukee Bombers on Saturday in the last game of the USFooty regular season. This game will decide the Mid-American Australian Football League Premiership as Chicago has a one-game lead over Milwaukee with a lower percentage. The winner, and MAAFL Premier, will also get an invitation to Division 1 of the USFooty National Championship in Louisville KY.

The number three ranked (WFN USFooty Top 10 Polls) Baltimore Washington Eagles (BWE) have won the 2007 Eastern Australian Football League Premiership, suggesting they are the best team on the East Coast for 2007. The Eagles have won 11 games in a row, which includes a 5-0 record in 2007. The EAFL Premiership was finalised last weekend with the Eagles beating the Philadelphia Hawks 98 to 17 in Philadelphia to finish 4-0 in EAFL play. The New York Magpies (5 in the poll) finished second with their only loss being to the Eagles at home. Boston (8) finished third after losing to the Eagles in Washington and failing to hold off the Magpies' last quarter come-back in New York last weekend. The Hawks finished fourth with one win over the North Carolina Tigers in Washington DC. After their strong finish to 2006, BWE still had plenty to prove but knocking off New York will surely make the USFooty community take notice.

After fifteen highly entertaining rounds of Australian Rules Football the 2007 Ontario Australian Football League regular season has ended, making way for the 2007 OAFL Finals series to begin. Five of the nine teams will now compete for the Conacher Cup to become the 2007 OAFL premiers, while the remaining four will be forced to watch from the sidelines. The five teams competing for this year’s premiership include last year’s premiers the Toronto Eagles, the Etobicoke Kangaroos, the Broadview Hawks, the Toronto Downtown Dingos and the Hamilton Wildcats.

Saturday night saw the announcement of the Atlanta Kookaburras' "Team of the Decade" to coincide with the USAFL's anniversary celebrations. It was also a time for reflection and acknowledgement of those that have made the Kookaburras one of the more revered clubs in the US.

Former club President and club founder Mike Powers and current President Wayne Kraska heralded over proceedings recalling who, what and when things had happened since 1998 when Mike had first organized training sessions at Dobbins Air Force base in Marietta GA.

With the help of club historian Marty Hyder many stories of the past were touched on from how the team was named to how the Nationals came to Atlanta and why it was such a success. A surprise for some maybe was Steven Thomson who only played in 2001 was named Head Coach of the team.

Details of the full team can be found at the Atlanta Kookaburras website.

On October 6th 2007, AFL Canada will be hosting the touring Convicts Australian Football Team from Australia, as part of the Ontario AFL's Grand Final Day. The Australian Convicts are a team made up of players from varying levels of amateur from all around Australia whose charter is to promote and develop Australian football internationally, while having a good time seeing the sights. The combination of these two games promises to make this year's OAFL Finals Day one of the greatest spectacles of Canadian footy on the 2007 calendar. Date: October 6th, 2007 Time: 10:00am Location: Humber North College, Toronto, Ontario worldfootynews.com welcomes Salv Capoferri as our new reporter for Canada.

The message seems to be slowly getting through (at least in New York and Philadelphia) that the Aussie punters in the NFL are from Australian Football and not Rugby. The number of times the guys are referred to as a “former Australian rugby player” have much decreased over the last couple of years. Listening online to some of the audio during the NFL preseason games, it seems that many of the announcers are doing their homework on the game. Not all of them though, as the great John Madden still managed to link Rocca with Rugby on a Monday night football broadcast that went live across the nation. But even then the Philadelphia Eagles message boards had many posts by US fans mocking the sports casting senior citizen’s gaffe.

The latest evidence that the media at least are becoming aware of the difference can be seen in an article yesterday in Wilmington, Delaware newspaper, The News Journal:

Reno Mahe doesn't have all the facts straight yet, but he thinks he'll be ready to return punts -- in prime time. Mahe said Wednesday he caught punts kicked by "the Australian rugby guy" -- Sav Rocca -- at the NovaCare Complex in preparation for Monday night's game against Washington. Rocca, of course, isn't exactly a "rugby guy." More like a legend of Australian rules football. The Eagles hope Mahe is more accurate about his synopsis that catching punts is like "riding a bike."

Lets hope there is a flow-on effect, and with a greater understanding of the game, more Americans will seek out Australian Football locally.