Like any diehard fan, when Timmy Brown was given the opportunity, he named his team the Fairfax Kangaroos and gave them the Blue and White of his favorite AFL club. What is a little bit different is that Fairfax is a suburb of Washington DC, Timmy is a 25 year old American and the Fairfax Kangaroos are an Ice Hockey team. Teams in other sports have been known to be named after AFL clubs - Lindsay Gaze's Melbourne Tigers in the NBL for example, and of course there are footy teams in other countries named for AFL clubs. There are the Nashville Kangaroos, the Golden Gate Kangaroos, the Calgary Kangaroos, the Reading Kangaroos, even the Etobicoke Kangaroos. But I'm not sure there has ever been a team in another sport in another country named for an AFL Club (although Formula One team Minardi chose the black and white stripes of Collingwood).

Playing for the Philadelphia Eagles today against Baltimore Ravens in a preseason game Saverio Rocca went up against incumbent punter Dirk Johnson. Rocca did not have good punts with his first two kicks, but followed up with some big punts after that. He was also the holder for the Eagles' successful field goal attempt.

After a gruelling training camp going head to head, and punt for punt with Johnston there was no clear leader for the position going into this game. But it appears that with Rocca proving that he can hit the big punts under serious match conditions facing the rush, his nose may be just in front for the job. Johnson averaged 43.7 yards with a 41 yard net on his three punts. Sav notched up 48.3 yard gross average and a 39.5 yard net average on his four punts.

And the former Kangaroo forward has made the ESPN highlights packages already. Rocca took a big hit following one of his punts but was quickly up on his knees to see just how far his punt went and was shortly after seen laughing about the hit on the sidelines.

The Eagles have three more preseason games in which Rocca will have the chance to further push his case to become the third Australian punting in the NFL this season along with Matt McBriar and Ben Graham. For the record the Ravens crushed the Eagles 29-3.

In the latest poll of who's who in USFooty, the San Diego Lions are still rated the number one club stateside, recently defeating the powerhouse Denver Bulldogs in Denver. Baltimore-DC, Chicago United and the Atlanta Kookaburras have all climbed the rankings after recent matches and the Minnesota Freeze have cracked the top 10 for the first time, while the Golden Gate Roos and Milwaukee Bombers have taken a slide. Read on for the full results.

The historic weekend at Thunderbird Stadium in Vancouver BC saw the US Freedom take on the Canadian Eagles in what we think is a first for footy - a women's Australian Football international. The weekend actually saw two games between the squads with the Freedom easily taking both matches. Saturday's 2 x 20min game saw the Freedom win 7.7 (49) to 0.0 (0), while Sunday's 4x15min game saw the Freedom go 14.13 (97) to 0.0 (0). For one of the founders of US Women's footy, Kathryn Hogg, it was a great weekend. "It was a big milestone for US Women's footy and for all women's footy in North America. One thing that I am proud of is that with our small pool of players, we were able to get 23 women to commit to playing. Three of them were unable to make the trip due to injuries - Denielle David from Milwaukee, Pernille Christensen from Atlanta, and Karla Mascerena-Pack from Arizona". Story is now updated with interview with Canada's women's coach Jake Anson.

In an historic day for Canadian and International football, the Canadian Northwind beat the US Revolution 45 to 32 on Saturday August 4. The 49th Parallel Cup game was played on the spectacular Thunderbird Stadium on the UBC Campus in Vancouver BC, in perfect conditions for footy. This was the Northwind's first ever victory in International football over the Revolution and the Canadian leadership was excited to have the win during a football carnival that saw around 2500 people come through the Thunderbird Stadium gates to watch non-stop footy over the two days. The weekend saw two internationals between the Northwind and the Revolution as well as the first two Women's Footy Internationals between the Canadian National Team and the US Freedom, U17 Northwind against the U17 Revolution, and local teams competing in the BC Footy Cup.

The under 17s match between Canada and the USA is yet another historic first for the Ironbank International Challenge weekend of footy in Vancouver. It will be the first junior representative team that Canada has put on the park, and probably for the US too (with the possible exception of the Barassi Youth Tournament several years ago). The young men will line up for a full contact international game of Aussie Rules. We have a look at where the players come from and how the organisers see the game in the greater scheme of developing footy in North America. Of course being the first such match there will be issues to be sorted - the US are a bit short on numbers so some of the Canadian kids face the prospect of lining up for the "enemy" - not an easy thing for a coach to explain. Still, it will be a great step forward for the game in North America and will hopefully demonstrate the value of investing in junior development. Just the very occurrence of the match on the same card as the men's and women's matches should be food for thought for the wider AFL Canada and USAFL communities.

This weekend sees an incredible list of firsts as Australian Football in North American shows further signs of maturity. Besides Canada and the United States men's squads again doing battle for the 49th Parallel Cup (and playing a further exhibition match the following day), the two day event will feature the debut of the two countries' national womens and juniors squads. The tournament is being staged as part of the annual BC Footy Cup in Vancouver (British Columbia, Canada), and will include a visit from Japan's Tsunami squad joining in with the Victoria Lions (Can) in the club competition featuring Seattle (US) combined with Portland (US), Vancouver (Can), Burnaby (Can) and Alberta (Can). We talk to the Northwind coach and review their team's matches leading up to the event, as well as speak with the Nippon AFL's Andy Carne. The tournament will take place at UBC's 3,500 seat Thunderbird Stadium, perhaps the premier venue for Aussie Rules in North America. Article by Chris Adams and Brett Northey, and updated with US Revolution (men's) squad

The first ever match by the Canadian and United States women's Australian Football teams takes place on Saturday 4th August 2007 in Vancouver. Is this the first international match, country versus country, of women's Australian Football - let us know if you can think of any others? If it is, there would be some historic symmetry - the first ever men's international cricket match is reported to have been between Canada and the US, in 1844, despite neither being amongst the leading cricket nations today. The respective coaches of the Canada and US women's footy teams gave us a preview of their sides before the historic match.

Big Sav Rocca is interviewed on Philadelphia Eagles TV as he finishes his first three days of training camp. Rocca has been in full-time training for the punting job at Philadelphia for the last 5 months and is hoping that his stronger leg is going to win him the position over veteran Dirk Johnson. Although Sav is now bidding for a spot in the United States' NFL, his background as an Aussie Rules star can only help raise the profile of the sport in America - as evidenced by Sav's interview which extensively discusses his career.

Go to www.philadelphiaeagles.com to watch the interview - at time of writing simply click on the video image at top right.

In an effort to continue to develop its ties with the Australian football community, USFooty has introduced an Australian Ambassador program with five initial ambassadors - former Hawthorn champion, Robert "Dipper" DiPierdomenico, businessmen and former Hawthorn President, Ian Dicker, former South Fremantle player and current USFooty Nationals Commentator, Rod "Grilla" Grljusich, Brownlow Medalist and former Brisbane Lions star, Michael Voss, and mangement consultant and current AFL Commissioner, Colin Carter. According to USFooty, "the mission of the USAFL Ambassador program is to promote the interests of the USAFL and the growth of Australian Football in the US. The USFooty Ambassador program is comprised of individuals who have a high profile who will help promote the USAFL in Australia and America and have the capacity to assist the USAFL board in a number of different arenas." The Ambassador Program rolls out hot on the heels of USFooty's Australian Advisory Board. USFooty's Paul O'Keeffe says the Ambassador program is meant to compliment the Advisory Board by creating a network of Australians in the football and business community who are interested in helping to develop footy in the US.