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.

The Victoria Lions football club started 2007's AFL Canada season with expectations of getting the side going again. Things started relatively well, with planning starting in late January or thereabouts, moving on to things like recruitment and fundraising. The first training brought out around six people, with numbers peaking at 12 in late April. After that, attendance petered off to the starting six, then less, then the same four people in different combinations for a few months, then nothing. Basically, people lost interest all over again and it began to be quite clear that this season hadn’t worked out either. Why? There’s quite a lot to it really, most of the problems are the same ones facing other Canadian amateur sports.

A great review of the Nashville vs. Baton Rouge match recently played can be read at CBS Sportsline’s Spin on Sport. Columnist Clay Travis attended his first ever USAFL match with a buddy and gives a full account of the experience. This is exactly how many Americans end up playing Aussie Rules by just turning up to a park and watching the game played. Once they get an understanding of what initially seems chaotic they can't help but be drawn to it.

For the record the final scores were Nashville 15.15.105 to Baton Rouge 6.7.43.

The recent US versus Canada women's international in Vancouver received some great coverage on Melbourne sports station SEN. The US Freedom's coach, Wayne Kraska, was interviewed by Tony Schebeci for 15 minutes back on August 16th. During the chat they discussed the women's programs in both countries, the upcoming US Nationals in Louisville, and Kraska also mentioned the possible tour by his squad to correspond with the 2008 International Cup in Melbourne. Pleasingly Schebeci invited Kraska to report back to the show during the US Nationals, so it should provide further awareness of the game's international progress.

You can find links to the interview on Women's Footy here.

Melbourne's The Age newspaper reported today that the Victorian state government was "on the verge" of providing financial backing for an exhibition match in Los Angeles, likely to be held at UCLA on January 20th next year. The article, in Craig Hutchison's Pssst column, also mentioned that if the match can become a regular event in the AFL's calendar it was a possibility to become a NAB cup match in future.

Full article reprinted below (not available on the Age website).

New York Magpie (3) forward Luke North took control of the game against the Milwaukee Bombers last Saturday (8/11) with a 5 goal bag and a best on ground performance as the Magpies defeated the Bombers 75 to 25. North's haul included one of the goals of the year so far as he dodged around bomber defenders and put a wrong sided snap through for six points.

In a beautiful day for the footy, the Mid-American Australian Football League Milwaukee Bombers hosted the Eastern Australian Football League New York Magpies at Brown Deer Park in Milwaukee WI. At game time the temperatures were in the low 80s with a breeze and the sun shining through a few clouds in the sky. The Bombers started the game out pretty even with the first quarter ending with the Pies having a one point lead at the end of the first 1.2 to 1.1. However, in the second quarter the Pies showed their class and kicking 4.3 to the Bombers 2 points. In the second half the Pies were able to extend their lead to get an easy win 11.9 (75) to 3.7 (25). Through out the game the Bombers had moments. There was a great diving mark that ended with a goal and Patrick DeFors showed some excellent skill. However, the New York Pies forward line of North and Shane Batty (who had 3) had too much class. North and Batty now share equal 4th on the USFooty goal kicking table with 9 goals a piece.

For video highlights of the game go to You Tube (note the F-word gets a lot of repetitions in the sound track).