The AFL tonight confirmed the fixture for week one of the 2014 Toyota AFL Finals Series, to be as follows (all times are local):

Friday September 5

Second Qualifying Final, Hawthorn v Geelong Cats at the MCG, 7.50pm


Saturday September 6

First Qualifying Final, Sydney Swans v Fremantle at ANZ Stadium, 2.45pm

Second Elimination Final, North Melbourne v Essendon at the MCG, 7.15pm (series ticket match)


Sunday September 7

First Elimination Final, Port Adelaide v Richmond at the Adelaide Oval, 2.50pm

We will publish the International Broadcast Schedule once it is confimed. 

 
AFL Chief Executive Officer Gillon McLachlan said the AFL had determined that the highest teams on the ladder deserved to have the greatest consideration where possible when weighing up the fixture structure and match locations for the opening week of matches in the 2014 Toyota AFL Finals Series.

Mr McLachlan said the AFL had consulted the Swans, as the first-ranked side on the ladder, on its preference to play Friday or Saturday in week one and the Swans had advised the AFL they wished for consideration to be given to being scheduled on Saturday, to ensure a seven-day break leading into their first final.

The Swans were therefore scheduled as a day game on Saturday September 6 at ANZ Stadium, which would also allow Fremantle to return to Perth that evening after the game, while the Second Qualifying Final would be played on Friday night at the MCG between Hawthorn and the Geelong Cats at the MCG.

“It was the AFL’s view that the two qualifying finals between the top four teams deserved to be played as the opening two matches of the finals series, so that the losers of these matches had the longer breaks leading into week two of the finals series than their prospective opponents,” Mr McLachlan said.

Mr McLachlan said the potential crowd for the North Melbourne v Essendon Elimination Final required the match to be played at the MCG. This match was scheduled for Saturday evening as the winner would play the loser of the Hawthorn / Geelong Cats match the previous evening.

The First Elimination Final between Port Adelaide and Richmond was scheduled as a day game for Adelaide Oval on Sunday September 7 as the winner of this match would meet the loser of the Sydney Swans / Fremantle encounter.

Mr McLachlan said he wanted to thank all football supporters for their commitment to the game in the 2014 season, with AFL crowd figures for the home and away season scheduled to eclipse the 2013 tally with three matches still to be played tomorrow.

“All ticket prices for every match of the 2014 Toyota AFL Finals Series have been frozen at last year’s prices, to ensure that fans of each of the eight clubs can have the best chance to see their team in action,” Mr McLachlan said.

“We congratulate all the teams that have made the eight and look forward to an exciting finals series given the quality of the football that has been on display through the first 23 rounds,” he said.
ends ...

The AFL finals kickoff Friday night in Melbourne with the two Qualifying finals and two Elimination finals to be played this weekend.

The full international broadcast schedule can be seen below.

With the 2014 AFL International Cup complete here are the Men's World Footy Rankings, the unofficial world rankings according to worldfootynews.com

Rises/falls have been calculated compared with our last complete release, for 26th April 2014 after Denmark defeated Sweden (there were no more matches that qualified by our criteria prior to IC14).

Canada and Japan are the big risers. Canada has climbed 6 places, winning four of their five IC14 matches, where fortunately for them the rating gap of each opponent was less than +/- 2.95 and as in three of these matches Canada achieved +40 point wins the rate exchange was the maximum of + 3.00 in each case. Their only loss was to their perennial nemesis USA where they lost only 1.04 rating points. The Northwind gained a total 10.91 rating points over the course of the tournament. No doubt the Revolution will be keen for another 49th Parallel Cup battle to climb back above their Northern foe.

Japan won three from five, two of these winning matches reaped maximum +/-3.00 rate exchanges whilst they dropped only 0.46 rating points in the loss to Tonga seeing the Samurai climb from 19th to 16th place. Japan added a total of 6.78 rating points during the Cup.  Japan had previously played a lot of teams well up the ladder and their rating points had suffered as a result, so their rise can be seen as something of a correction.

The biggest faller was Peace Team, and although not competing in this year’s IC, each of Japan, Sweden and France added enough rating points to climb above them.

Ironically Fiji started the Cup on 40.18 rating points and finished with exactly the same 40.18 rating points but slipped one place as Canada climbed above them.

Congratulations Papua New Guinea on winning a great grand final match and rising to #2 behind Australia on the WFN World Rankings.  And well done to Pakistan and Indonesia who join our rankings (if only provisionally so far) for the very first time.

World Footy News Australian Football World Rankings

(as at end of 23rd August 2014, completion of IC2014)

Rank	Team		Points	Games	Rank Change
1		Australia	-		steady
2		Papua New Guinea	57.66	34	+1
3		Ireland	56.68	49	-1
4		New Zealand	55.09	38	steady
5		Nauru	53.30	27	steady
6		South Africa	49.63	27	steady
7		Canada	47.99	42	+6
8		United States	46.30	42	steady
9		Great Britain	44.69	54	-2
10		Denmark	43.67	47	steady
11		Tonga	41.93	14	-2
12		Croatia	40.35	8	-1
13		Fiji	40.18	14	-1
14		France	39.09	13	+1
15		Sweden	38.53	35	+1
16		Japan	37.17	29	+3
17		Peace Team	36.46	11	-3
18		Germany	34.09	16	steady
19		China	28.84	16	-2
20		Finland	27.45	18	steady
21		India	23.01	16	steady
Dorm.		Iceland	35.64	4	**
Prov.		Indonesia	32.66	5	*
Prov.		Pakistan	32.35	5	*
Prov.		Timor-Leste	27.40	6	*
Dorm.		Samoa	41.85	18	**

* Nations marked in grey with an asterisk have played less than eight (8) matches under our criteria, and currently hold provisional ranking points, but are not yet officially ranked.

** Countries that have not played a qualifying full field match for 4 years are considered dormant and no longer ranked.  Countries that have not played for more than 8 years are no longer listed at all and if they resume it is considered a fresh start.  Samoa must play by 05/09/2016 to stay on the list. In 2013 Spain fell off the list based on this criteria. ...

AFL club Collingwood today announced that Irish pair Marty Clarke and Caolan Mooney have opted to return to Ireland and, possibly, Gaelic football (But we also hear the Belfast Redbacks might be able to find a spot or two on their list in 2015).

Clarke will be fondly remembered after two stints with Collingwood and a career of 73 matches. The Irishman, with his counter-attacking bent and lengthy kick, made a certain impression when he debuted in 2007.

The call of home drew the popular Clarke back to County Down at the end of the 2009 season and he was absent through the grand final years of 2010 and 2011, but a welcome return in 2012 saw him play a further 27 matches across the next three years. Unfortunately, due to form and injury, he was able to play just one match in 2014.

Mooney followed Clarke’s lead to leave County Down for the life of a professional Australian footballer with Collingwood. With the asset of withering pace, he played four matches in 2012, his first season. Two more appearances followed in 2013 but his progress stalled this year and he was unable to add to his six match tally.

“Marty played some excellent football over his time and he can be proud of making the transition from Gaelic football to Australian Rules. At his best, he gave the side real zip and punch,” Collingwood director of football, Rodney Eade, said.

“He was a very popular figure and we wish him well, as we do Caolan, (they) gave us all that they had in their time at the Westpac Centre.”

Marty Clarke:

Debut – 2007

Matches – 73

Disposals – 16.9 avg

Goals – 19

Caolan Mooney:

Debut – 2012

Matches – 6

Disposals – 4.5 avg

Goals – 2 ...

The All Australian selection committee met this week to finalise the selection of the 40 players in the running to be named in the final All Australian team.  Each panel member named their best 22 players (not named in position) and the final 40 were selected from that list. 

One notable omission was Pearce Hanley, the Irishman who has had a great season for the Brisbane Lions despite his team not performing so well.  His stellar season has been widely acknowledged across the football media spectrum.

Some consolation for him today though as the Brisbane paper The Courier Mail broke that story that his 17 year-old brother Cian Hanley would join the Brisbane Lions.  The younger Hanley though won't feature for a while as he just recently suffered an ACL injury in the All Ireland Minor semi-final playing for County Mayo.

As other Irish players Marty Clarke and Caolan Mooney head home and the luckless Tommy Walsh may also be nearing the end of his Aussie oddessy, Cian Hanley could be joined by more Irish rookies as clubs see the payoff that can come from the Irish conversion.

All signs were that Sean Hurley who trialled at the AFL Combine last year and with Fremantle will return to the WA club for the 2015 season. Padraig Lucey who just finished playing with Ireland in the International Cup could be recruited from his involvement with The Recruit reality TV series.  And Connor McKenna and Paddy Brophy have both been invited to the 2014 AFL Combine in Melbourne where AFL clubs will take a close look at their abilities. 

Also don't be suprised if Hawthorn have another look at Conor Glass who had a very low key trial with the Hawks last summer.

  ...

While this weekend sees the annual ‘Big Meat Pie’ footy carnival – the event will be tinged with sadness at the news of the passing of former Regional Assistance Mission to the Solomon Islands (RAMSI) Special Coordinator Graeme Wilson.

Graeme Wilson was born in 1953 (December 15) and played 14 VFL Games for South Melbourne across 1974-76. His calling outside of and post football saw him become a ‘career diplomat’ – includig landing in the Solomon Islands where the 2006 elections had seen parts of the capital city, Honiara, burnt to the ground. Head of the RAMSI mission from Jan 2009 he oversaw the successful conduct of the 2010 local elections. However he still loved his footy and was helping coach Auskick programs (now adapted as SolKick) – and in 2010 he oversaw his Solomon Sharks making their way to Tonga for their international debut at the 2010 Oceania Under 16s tournament. Wilson had seen a benefit in using the Auskick and AFL programs to help build a sense of ‘nation’. We reported on his finishing up in the role back in 2011.

(Above) Graeme Wilson and Solomons 2011 South Pacific representative Anthony Joel at Blacktown - 2011.

Subsequently he found himself in South Africa as Australia’s High Commissioner and it is there, in Pretoria, that he passed on Tuesday after a short illness. As South African Presdient Jacob Zuma stated "High Commissioner Wilson was a remarkable person, a true gentleman and ambassador for his country.” I only communicated with him over a brief period but can reiterate that he was certainly a gentleman and massively proud of his Solomon Sharks - condolences to the Wilson family.

And so – tomorrow – Saturday September 6th sees the big annual match of the ‘Nationals’ vs the ‘Barbarians’ at King George VI School. A big day including live music, bbq and drinks – footy all afternoon and more. Last year the Nationals won comfortably on the scoreboard (80 to 19)

...

Here we've put together some statistics on the 2014 International Cup as well as past tournaments.  Some are important numbers, some are useless trivia.

Feel free to suggest some other numbers.

The Numbers

0 - the lowest score (shared by six teams) at IC14

1 - time NZ has won the Men's

2 - times is the most Men's Cups won (both Ireland and PNG)

3 - nations have won the Men's IC (Ireland, PNG, NZ)

4 - South Pacific nations finishing in the top 10 at IC14

5 - times the event has been held

6 - years since Samoa attended

7 - nations have attended the Women's IC (not double counting Canada and US development squads)

8 - nations have attended every IC (see Australian Football International Cups to work out which ones)

9 - years since Spain attended

12 - Pakistan's finishing position on debut at IC14

16 - Indonesia's finishing position on debut at IC14

17 - venues used across Victoria for IC14

23 - nations (or entities) have played in the Men's competition across the 5 IC

35 - most goals kicked in a match at IC14 (Nauru against Indonesia)

144 - highest Women's score (Canada Northern Lights over Tonga) at IC14

147 - shortest listed player (in cm, Therese Tupper, USA Liberty) at IC14

150 - shorted listed male player (in cm, Frenky Warumu, Indonesia) at IC14

192 - tallest listed female player (in cm, 'Otolose Tenifa, Tonga) at IC14

198 - tallest listed player (in cm, Neil Casey, Canada) at IC14

199 - tallest listed player (but as an emergency, Inoke Ratu, Fiji) at IC14

208 - tallest listed player at IC08 (Matts Wurmbach, Sweden)

220 - biggest win at IC14 (Nauru over Indonesia)

227 - highest score at IC14 (Nauru over Indonesia)

3.7 billion - approximate population represented at IC14 (out of 7 billion on Earth; the most populous countries not attending, in order were, Brazil, Nigeria, Bangladesh, Russia, Mexico, Philippines, Vietnam)


* We accept there could be mistakes, especially misprints in the official Record, e.g. we suspect Nauru's youngest player,listed as 9 years old, might not be correct (though they are a tough people!).
...

The movie that brought footy around the world to Australia is now going offshore. Aussie Rules the World will be shown in London and Zagreb in the next two weeks. Details below or go to www.aussierulestheworld.com

You can also purchase the DVD here. ...

Every year since 2005, World Footy News has promoted an extensive list of Grand Final Parties around the world. And with the 2014 AFL Grand Final being played in just a few weeks we are calling for clubs around the world to send details of your party to us, so that fans of the game in your country/city can watch the big game with you.

You can either post details as a comment below (you must register before you are able to post a comment or login via Facebook) or email troy@worldfootynews.com - all these details will be collated as per previous years.

NORTH AMERICA

Atlanta, GA

Atlanta Kookaburras Grand Final Party

Where: The Albert Pub, 918 Austin Ave NE, Atlanta, Georgia 30307

When: Friday, September 26th, 10.30pm

Cost:$25 per head. (Group discounts available pre purchased)

On Offer: Food, drinks, door prizes, a huge time and the live broadcast of the greatest game in the world. The AFL Grand Final, who will be Premiers in 2014?

More Info?: Braden Medders 404 323 9636 Tickets at $25 can be purchased now online. Discounted tickets are available also when purchasing 4, 6 or 10 tickets. Plenty of food and drinks come with your ticket price plus free door prizes. BUY ADVANCE TICKETS HERE - GROUP DISCOUNTS? YES!! & RSVP here on the Facebook Event and invite your friends.

  ...

The Big Meat Pie Nationals vs Barbarians annual footy festival day was the place to be in Honiara across the weekend - below is a report from AFL Solomon Islands.

The stage was set at King George VI for yet another historic clash between the Solomon Islands Nationals against the combined expatriate & local side – Barbarians. A hot and dry day would see plenty of rotations and test players endeavour and willpower to win the footy for their team. With several National players unavailable for selection this year the Barbarians were hoping for an upset victory and to claim the trophy for first time.

Nationals won the toss and elected to kick to the school end with the breeze. Both teams met in the centre of the field for the official anthems and a minute silence to pay respect for two close friends of SIAFLF who recently passed, Graeme Wilson and Ed Smith. As the game got underway both teams took some time to find touch and settle into positions. Opening goal came off the boot of Nationals centre half forward Rossco Maeloboa. Barbarians snagged a quick goal a few minutes later and it was game on.

Nationals continued to use their pace to break the lines and move the ball forward in the first half. They could have secured the match had they kicked straight in front of goals but wayward kicking in the second quarter kept the Barbarians within reach. Barbarians were able to convert a couple goals of their own to keep the pressure on. The Nationals now needed to continue their work rate. Sam Bua found a lot of the footy and was instrumental in the first half setting up the Nationals along with ruckman Jermaine Akaramo who was taking strong grabs around the field and giving first touch of the footy to his midfielders.

After the halftime break, the Barbarians would have to work extremely hard to not let the scoreboard blow out. Nationals opened with the first goal but the game was evening out. Both teams showed good passages of play around the ground. Nationals were very composed coming out of defence, often switching the ball to the open side of the ground before attacking. Barbarians lacked the speed to run with the Nationals when the ball was out in space. Javvy Serere, David Holo and Ringamoto Mosese were all finding a lot of the footy for the Nationals and Jermaine continued to put the Nationals forward through his ruckwork. Chris Idu worked extremely hard on Sam Bua to keep him to only a handful of touches and Freddy Una stood tall in defence. Gut running wingmen for the Barbarians – Andrew McEvoy and Andrew Piper provided targets coming out of defence and also kept the pressure on the Nationals coming the other way. Pizza Pete was also working extremely hard to make it to the contests. Barbarians were able to score 3 successive goals to bring the margin back to 11 points but a late goal from the Nationals saw them take a 17point lead going into the final quarter.

As players tired in the blistering heat the Barbarians would have to leave nothing in the tank if they were going to win this match from here. Nationals maintained their quick ball movement and were able to find target s up forward. Barbarians struggled out of defence with Jermaine taking several contested marks across the Barbarians halfback line. Barbarians started dropping like flies with players cramping. Unable to run with the Nationals, the game was all but over for the Barbarians as the Nationals kicked away in the final quarter. All though it was a blow out in final term, the Barbarians fought gallantly against a younger, fitter and faster side. Coach of the Nationals: - Job Vulita was happy with his team’s effort considering many of their more experienced players were unable to play. Nationals declared the 2014 Big Meat Pie champions.

Final Scores: -

Nationals Best on Ground –Jermaine Akaramo
Barbarians Best on Ground – Pizza Pete

Captain of the Nationals, Ringamoto Mosese lays a strong tackle

Andrew McEvoy forced to dodge

Germain Aka and Dave Kelly contest the ruck

Danny Nugent tight on the boundary ...

It's unusual to see AFL Europe make the mainstream news in Australia but unfortunately it has done so in controversial circumstances which may have an impact on all international AFL affiliates.

The ABC has reported that the AFL-affiliated body has signed a sponsorship deal with Royal Brunei Airlines, including to fly players from Europe to Australia.  Unfortunately the airline is state-owned and Brunei is the subject of a boycott campaign in response to harsh new laws that include the death penalty by stoning for gay sex and adultery.

The AFL has now stated that:

"These laws are counter to everything the AFL stands for in regards to inclusion and diversity".

"In conjunction with AFL Europe, we are currently reassessing the appropriateness of the sponsorship arrangement and also the broader issue of the AFL's oversight of potential sponsorship deals that are put to affiliate organisations overseas."

Although AFL Europe is an independent body the AFL will presumably have a strong influence on it through their financial support, despite that being relatively modest. ...

Geelong vs North Melbourne and Fremantle vs Port Adelaide Semi-finals are on this week with the winners headed for the Preliminary finals and the losers heading to the offseason.

The international broadcast details for both matches and highlights packages can be seen below.