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.

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

As we move another week closer to the 2007 USFooty National Championship Tournament in Louisville KY, things are heating up in USFooty. The last few weeks has seen some big games that have had a large impact in the World Footy News USFooty Top 10 Poll. No. 1 San Diego has remained undefeated in 2007, most recently putting away Las Vegas in Vegas. No. 2 Denver has just one loss to its name and that to San Diego in the Western Regional Tourny. The big movers in the top 5 were the No. 3 Baltimore Washington Eagles who have won 11 games on the trot. Golden Gate has remained at 4 with their only loss to San Diego. Rounding out the top 5, the New York Magpies have fallen from 3 after losing to the Baltimore Washington Eagles in New York. The rest of the top 10 is Chicago United who has steadily increased its ranking to 6, the Orange County Bombers with only one win but one of the toughest schedules in footy. At No. 8 is the Boston Demons who lost by a goal to the New York Magpies in the last game of the season. Atlanta has remained steady at 9 and an excellent 4-1 record. The top 10 is held up by the Seattle Grizzlies who enter after an impressive win over Chicago United in Seattle.

Over the last couple of years we've reported on one of British Columbia's (Canada) rising young stars from the North Delta Junior AFL - Scott Fleming. He's now getting some local press at home in Vancouver, with the Vancouver Sun detailing his hopes of one day making it with Sydney in the AFL. Once his studies are over, Fleming's family are planning on travelling Down Under so the 6 footy 3 inch, 17 year old full forward can have a genuine crack at the game. In the meantime, his focus has been on his local side, the Vancouver Cougars, and consolidating his spot in the Canadian Northwind squad to head to Australia in 2008. If Fleming can get part of a season under his belt with an amateur club in Australia, he could be a star player to look out for at the next International Cup. Starting in footy at age 12, he has a head start on many of the other players he's likely to encounter at the tournament - whether he can match it with the best Aussie players, only time will tell.

See Delta teen eager to soar with Swans - Scott Fleming dreams of playing for famed Sydney club

The Baltimore Washington Eagles (4) took their hard running game to New York and defeated the Magpies (3) 11.11 (77) to 4.8 (32). The win puts the Eagles in the box seat for the Eastern Australian Football League title and a high seed in the USFooty National Championship Tournament. The Eagles finish their regular season next week against the Philadelphia Hawks and New York host their arch rivals the Boston Demons (8).

Check out You Tube for video highlights.

As young Gaelic stars continue to be drawn into the front end of the AFL system, aging veterans are moving out the other end and on to the NFL retirement plan circuit as punters. Sav Rocca today confirmed that he had been successful in making the final 53-man roster for the NFL’s Philadelphia Eagles. This sets the stage for Rocca’s arrival in the first NFL game of the year to be heralded in the media across the U.S as the oldest rookie ever to take the field.

A couple of weeks ago at the BC Footy international weekend in Vancouver the Canadian men had their first ever win over the powerful United States team, winning the 49th Parallel Cup, before going down the next day in the keenly contested exhibition match. On the other hand the Canadian women struggled against their more experienced American counterparts, losing both matches by big margins, but the youthfulness of their squad promised better things to come. Now to the juniors and it was very positive to have the next generation of stars on display. The under 17s matches saw a large squad of young men from Canada - the Wolfpack - take on a smaller travelling party from the US.