The second day's play at the DCU Sportground in Dublin has been completed, with the higher seeds triumphing in each match, though not without some strong challenges.

Sweden defeated Croatia in the first match of the day, despite the Croatians making a good contest of it. The next match then saw Great Britain comfortably account for Germany in the first-ever encounter between the two nations.

The evening's play ended with Denmark threatening a major upset, leading the Irish at every change before the Warriors were able to overtake them in the last quarter. The Vikings will surely be disappointed, after similarly being overrun in the last quarter of the round 1 match against Great Britain.

Full match reports with best players and goal kickers are now available on the tournament website:
Warriors deny Vikings again
Bulldogs reach their First Final
Elks win over Knights

The GB Bulldogs have now booked a spot in Saturday's final. Their opponent will likely be Ireland, although there is still another round of group matches to play and a win for Croatia over the Irish could change the standin ...

The 2013 Solomon Islands AFL Grand Final is set to go this Thursday afternoon. With the White River Demons set to take on the more fancied Central Eagles in the big game - starting 4.30pm on the KGVI School Oval.

The Central Coast Eagles went down narrowly last year in the 2012 Grand Final by 4 pts to the Rove Magpies. Undoubtedly they will be keen to go one better this year.

Coach of the White River Demons, Mick Nunan declared the “White River Demons are in good form and if we play to our ability we’ll beat the Central Eagles and win the 2013 SIAFL Grand Final. We’ll know for sure after the game this Thursday 4.30 at KGVI School Oval.”

Nunan went onto say that he expects it will be a hard, fast and clean game, with the Central Eagles the favourites to win, and the White River Demons going in as underdogs.

Central Eagles, lead by their courageous Captain Coach Sulu, are the most experienced and dominant team in the SIAFL, but they haven’t dominated the season as they would have expected, with close games and some losses with all other teams in the competition. They will be keen to win their first premiership and formalise their status as the ‘nambawan’ team in the SIAFL.

White River Demons are being led by Mick Nunan, whose recent form has been less than inspiring, but who will present a major threat if he turns up ready to play and kick goals. The Demons are also beneficiaries of the young and very talented Larvenstar Puia, who is primed for big things and is being spoken of as a potential recruit for Australian AFL teams.

Both teams are in their last week of training before the big game on Thursday 8th August at 4.30pm at the King George VI School Oval, opposite Tongs. This is primed to be the best SIAFL Grand Final yet, with some very talented players on both teams. Anyone interested in seeing a free-flowing display of physical skill and courage, from both older men who should know better; and younger men with a point to prove, should come down and enjoy the game.

For more information call the SIAFL National Development Officer Job Vulita on 8641971.

Up and coming young gun from the White River Demons, Larvenstar Puia, in training this week for the Grand Final. ...

Our unofficial World Rankings have been updated following day one of the European Championships in Dublin and the 49th Parallel Cup Match in Edmonton.

Read on to see the latest rankings.

 Rank       Nation        Rate     Games Played

1. Australia
2. Ireland              54.78      41
3. PNG                54.66      29
4. New Zealand     53.00      33
5. Nauru               51.17      22
6. South Africa     49.03      22
7. Great Britain     48.84      46
8. United States    46.61      37
9. Tonga              44.73        9
10. Fiji                  40.18         9
11. Denmark         38.38       43
12. Sweden           37.41       26
13. Canada           37.08       37
14. Germany         36.78       13
15. Peace Team    36.46       11
16. France            36.09        8
17. China              34.36       11
18. Japan             30.39       24
19. Finland           29.02       13
20. India               28.45       11

Provisional nations played less than 8 internationals.

• Croatia          41.69      5
• Iceland          35.64      4
• Timor Leste   27.40       6

Dormant Nations, over four (4) years since last played.

• Samoa         41.85      18

Note that Sweden has risen to 12th at the expense of Germany who has fallen to 14th.

United States have crept to within 0.23 Rating Points behind Great Britain.

Day Two of European Championships throws in another first in International Footy, ie. Great Britain and Germany meet for the very first time. ...

Major Australian bank NAB are looking for multilingual footy fans to broadcast the 2013 AFL Grand Final live in languages other than English.

As part of their "Footify" project to grow the game throughout Australia, they hope to have the Grand Final broadcast live in at least 10 different languages, and are looking for suitably skilled fans to apply to do the job.

If that sounds of interest to you (and presumably there are a fair number of WFN readers who might qualify) then all the information is available here ...

Sweden's win over Croatia on day two of the European Championships has lifted them to 11th Ranking above Denmark. Ironically the win against Croatia has left the two nations with identical rating points (39.55) although Croatia has two more matches to qualify to be fully Ranked.

WFN World Ranking post day two EC13 follows

Provisionally Ranked Nations - played less than 8 international matches

Dormant Nations - over 4 years since played last international

The AFL today released the seventeenth AIS-AFL Academy squads.

The 61 players will receive an AIS-AFL Academy scholarship and will come together four times over the next 12 months for training camps. Both squads will also travel overseas again, one to NZ and one to Europe.

The Level One squad was selected following the NAB AFL Under-16 Championships. They will be coached by AFL Engagement and Talent Co-ordinator Chris Johnson.

Key Level One dates:

Melbourne - September 25-29

Gold Coast - November 21-28

New Zealand - January 17-28

AIS-AFL High Performance Coach Michael O’Loughlin will coach the Level Two squad. Players in this squad are eligible to be drafted in 2014.

Key Level Two dates:

Melbourne - September 25-29

Gold Coast - November 21-28

Melbourne - January 5-9

Europe - April 5-20

The AIS-AFL Academy commenced in 1997. Since that time, 33 graduates have played in a premiership, 25 have been named an All-Australian at least once, 18 have won their club’s best and fairest, 11 have been the number one selection at the NAB AFL Draft, four have won the NAB AFL Rising Star and three have won the Norm Smith Medal.

In 2013 there are 204 AIS-AFL Academy players on AFL lists. These players have played a combined 13,827 AFL games and have kicked 9507 goals.

National and International Talent Manager Kevin Sheehan said the Academy program prepares players for the rigours of AFL football.

“The players will experience elite training and mentoring that will help their development both on and off the field. Both squads will also represent their country overseas which is unique in our game.

“We are constantly striving to give the players the best preparation for life as a professional athlete,” he said.

The 2013-14 AIS-AFL Squads

Level One

NSW/ACT: Dylan McDonald (Murray Bushrangers/Albury), Jacob Hopper (Murray Bushrangers Leeton-Whitton), Jock Cornell (Murray Bushrangers/Mangoplah-Cue), Callum Mills (Swans Academy/North Sydney Swans)

South Australia: Maris Olekalns (North Adelaide/Broadview), Luke Partington (Port Adelaide/Tumba Bay), Stephen Tahana (North Adelaide/Gaza), Aaron Francis (West Adelaide/Loxton North), Ryan Burton (North Adelaide/PHOS Camden), Tim Sullivan (Glenelg/Port MacDonnell)

Queensland: Didymus Blanket (Cape York)

Vic Country: Darcy Parish (Geelong Falcons/Winchelsea), Darcy Tucker (North Ballarat Rebels/Horsham Saints), Rhys Mathieson (Geelong Falcons/Bell Park), Josh Dunkley (Gippsland Power/Sale), Jacob Weitering (Dandenong Stingrays/Mount Martha), Kieran Collins (Dandenong Stingrays/Langwarrin), Sam Skinner (Gippsland Power/Moe), Joshua Schache (Murray Bushrangers/Seymour), Gach Nyoun (Dandenong Stingrays/Narre Warren North Foxes)

Vic Metro: Nick O’Kearney (Calder Cannons/Keilor), James Parsons (Eastern Ranges/Norwood), Tom Wilson (Sandringham Dragons/East Sandringham), Dylan Atkins (Sandringham Dragons/Mordialloc-Braeside)

Western Australia: Kade Stewart (South Fremantle/Katanning), Callum Ah Chee (South Fremantle/Kelmscott), Yestin Eades (Swan Districts/Midvale), Greg Clark (Subiaco/Sorrento Duncraig)

Tasmania: Jake Sushames (North Launceston)

Northern Territory: Michael Hagan (Darwin)

Level Two

NSW/ACT: Isaac Heeny (Swans Academy/Cardiff Hawks), Liam Griffiths (GWS Academy/Ainslie), Nicholas Coughlan (GWS Academy/Murray Bushrangers/Albury)

South Australia: Billy Stretch (Glenelg/Henley), Mac Bower (Norwood/Payneham Norwood Union), Jesse Watchman (West Adelaide/Blackwood), Sam Durdin (West Adelaide/East Murray)

Queensland: Lachlan Weller (Suns Academy/Broadbeach), Liam Dawson (Lions Academy/Aspley), Matthew Hammelmann (Lions Academy/Morningside),

Vic Country: Jaden McGrath (Bendigo Pioneers/Kerang), Jackson Nelson (Geelong Falcons/St Mary’s), Patrick McCartin (Geelong Falcons/St Joseph’s), Daniel Capiron (Dandenong Stingrays/Edithvale-Aspendale), Tom Lamb (Dandenong Stingrays/Edithvale-Aspendale), Hugh Goddard (Geelong Falcons/Geelong Amateurs)

Vic Metro: Liam Duggan (Western Jets/Bacchus March FNC), Angus Brayshaw (Sandringham Dragons/Hampton Rovers), Jake Lever (Calder Cannons/Romsey), Darcy Moore (Oakleigh Chargers/Kew Comets), Peter Wright (Calder Cannons/Moonee Valley), Sean McLaren (Sandringham Dragons/Hailebury College), Duom Dawam (Western Jets/ Point Cook)

Western Australia: Jarrod Pickett (South Fremantle/Jandakot), Clem Smith (Perth/Wesley College), Bradley Walsh (Peel Thunder/Rockingham), Ryan Lim (Claremont/Hale School), Jermaine Miller-Lewis (South Fremantle/Armadale), Matthew Ah Siu (South Fremantle/Bullcreek), Sam Bevan (Claremont/Hale School)

Northern Territory: Nakia Cockatoo (/NT Thunder/Southern District ...

Canada - TSN2

The third day's play at the DCU Sportground in Dublin has been completed, with each match going to plan according to the seedings.

Saturday will see Ireland vs Great Britain play off for the European Championship, with Sweden vs Denmark for 3rd place, and Croatia vs Germany for 5th.

Match reports and stats to co ...

Helsingborg Saints are well on their way to starting Sweden’s first women’s team.

With six enthusiastic female members and more joining up each week, Saints player Jacob Lantz feels it won’t be long before Sweden has a female Euro Cup team, and there might even be a Swedish or Scandinavian appearance at the Women’s IC14.

It all started when Lantz was discussing ways to introduce the sport to more people in Helsingborg and draw larger crowds for home games with club founder Ingmar Lundquist and coach Leighton Rowsell. The decided to try starting an 8-a-side touch footy competition and encouraged their friends to come and have a go.

Unfortunately, the first game was cancelled due to bad weather but the week after, 8 people showed up: 3 women and 5 men. The training grew in popularity until they had enough players to field two teams.

One of them was female rugby player, Mikaela Ohlsson, who was taking a break after injuring her ankle. She enjoyed touch footy but wanted to play the “real” game with the guys, so Lantz spoke to her about starting a female team in Helsingborg and trying to get a Swedish women’s team to compete at the Euro Cup. Ohlsson was keen and decided to hold a women’s training event on the 30th of July. She brought along some of her friends and in total there were 6 women who came along.

The training session was held on the oval alongside the Helsingborg Saints senior team and after a crash course in Aussie Rules, the girls got to try their new skills out in a mixed game with the guys. Lantz was impressed by their skills, especially the tackles and marks, and one of the newcomers, Kerstin Lövendahl, kicked a goal from 30m out. Everyone enjoyed themselves and the girls are all looking forward to next week, when Lantz says three more girls are joining.

Lantz wants Australian Football to grow as much as possible in Sweden and he hopes that the addition of a women’s team will help it happen. To further encourage the female game, he wants to talk with nearby rivals Malmö with the idea being them starting a women's team too to give the Lady Saints some competition.

Any ladies interested in joining the Saints or playing women’s football elsewhere in Sweden can join the Lady Saints’ Facebook group here.

...

AFL Northern Territory and Netball Northern Territory in conjunction with Federal Minister for Sport and Recreation Don Farrell today announced an ongoing commitment of Federal funding totalling $900,000 over a three year period to support grass roots sport development by both codes.

AFLNT CEO Tony Frawley welcomed the decision to confirm the ongoing funding that has been set in the Federal budget and will go toward the continued development of AFL in the NT specifically AFLNT’s community enhancement football programs in Central Australia.

“We have worked hard to secure this funding for AFLNT and Netball NT. The funding announced today will secure the future growth of our sport in Central Australia for a further three years, “The funding will also underpin our overall structure in Central Australia which continues to go from strength to strength,”

Frawley pointed out that the funding will be dedicated to support the ongoing growth of the game in Central Australia, particularly at the grass roots level. “The funding will continue to provide access to our game for all Central Australians.”

The funding will also support the rising stars and talent program of the Northern Territory Football Club, with CEO Jarred Ilett extremely pleased that the funding will allow the club to widen its footprint in Central Australia.

“The funding enables us to cement our presence in and around Alice Springs and provide opportunities for those players within that area to be a part of our program and further enhance the talent pathways we have developed ...

American Eric Wallace is a chance to step up to the North Ballarat VFL senior team this weekend. Wallace has been named on an extended ten man bench for Sunday's clash against the Collingwood VFL team.

Wallace showed good form last week against Coburg (see video below) and with 10 games under his belt in the development league this would be a huge step up in his monumental climb to one day play in the AFL.

Some of Wallace's countrymen attended training with North Melbourne yesterday as crew from the USS Lassen learnt about Australian football from the North Melbourne players.

...

The following media release from the AFLNT details the upcoming national schools AFL championships being held in Darwin. This carnival is a great breeding ground for future AFL stars, and for many the schools program is every bit as important as regular competition.

Commencing Sunday, TIO Stadium will host around 500 students from around Australia for the annual School Sport Australia 12 and under, 15 and under Boys and 16 and under Girls Championships.

School Sport NT CEO Helen Taylor is extremely excited at the prospect of hosting the championships again in 2013. “We look forward to hosting a successful event in the NT as AFL has always been close to our hearts, with numerous participants going on to the big time more recently Jake Neade and Jed Anderson to name two.”

“We have heard that the Victorian team especially are keen to escape the cold but are excited about the prospect of playing at TIO Stadium for the first time.

The Championships not only provide a great sporting spectacle but are expected to provide a great economic benefit to the NT with over 20 teams from across Australia converging on Darwin.

“The broader benefit to the Territory is that over 200 parents are expected to spend the week in Darwin with their children which will reap some economic outcomes for the NT.”

A special addition to the School Sport Australia Championships in 2013 is the inclusion of a Remote NT Invitational 12 and under team. “This is a great opportunity for those children in remote parts of the NT to participate in the Carnival and will expose them to the School Sport Program early to hopefully have them further develop to be part of the 15 and under Program in years to come.”

AFLNT General Manager of Community Football, Anthony Venes advised that this is a great boon for Territory footy and Territory Sport to have such an event here at TIO Stadium. “The School Sport Australia Championships provided a great opportunity and talent pathway for children particularly in the 15 and under age groups to gain entry into our U16 talent programs.”

“The Championships also provide 27 student umpires the opportunity to ply their trade in full competition and further develop their skills under the tutelage of our Umpiring Manager Mark Noonan.”

From the 15 and under Boys program there will be a School Sport Australia All Australian Team selected that will travel to South Africa.

The NT15 and under Boys will kick their championship campaign off on Sunday against Vic Country at 2:30pm followed by the Opening Ceremony at 4:15pm, which will be formally launched by NT Minister for Education Peter Chandler. ...

Here is the latest article from Norway, courtesy of the Oslo Crows, which details the latest round of the Kenguru Cup. Certainly sounds as if it was a great event, and another great leap forward for Norwegian footy. Our thanks to David Stone and the team at the Oslo Crows for this story.  

Round 3 of the 2013 Kenguru Cup was without question the highest quality Australian football ever played on Norwegian soil.   Three constantly improving teams – Oslo East, Oslo West and Ås, squared off in front of a modest crowd at Storebrand Stadion, and showed just how far Australian football has progressed in a short time.  

Ladder leaders Ås were desperate to retain their stranglehold on the competition, and two wins from their two games would put breathing space between them and Oslo East.

Ås approached their first game with Oslo West with strong intent, and simply beat West to the ball. They wanted it more, and it showed. West’s larger squad was not well organised in the first half, and manning up was a large problem. Players like John Debenham just didn’t seem to have an opponent for much of the half, and with returned ruckman Amund Lundesgard dominating the ball-ups, Ås strolled out of the middle with ease.  

They had put a big gap on West before half time, and while the second half was a definite improvement from the westside squad, the damage had been done early. Ås galloped away to a straightforward win, 9.4.58 to 3.4.22  

Game Two pitted the two top of the table squads against each other, and despite being undersized, it was East that came out firing. The ageless Pearce/Roxby duo was prolific, and Brage Blomdal was tireless in the middle. Newcomer Darren Allbeury continued his good form, and at half time East owned an 11 point advantage. Ås was going to need to do better than just match East goal-for-goal if they were to come out of the game victorious. The goals certainly flowed in the second half, but Ås simply couldn’t shut down the variety of avenues to attack that East had established. Marius Wold and Andreas Kristoffer Berge were in on the act, and East ended up narrowly outscoring Ås in the second half. Final score, Oslo East 9.6.61 defeated Ås 7.1.43  

On that form, it could have been expected that East would cruise past their crosstown rivals in the final game. After all, in game one the westies had been nowhere near good enough to compete with the team that East had just beaten.  

Football is a funny game, and the walk in the park some had expected for East never happened. West played with FAR more desire and heart from the first minute, and used its height advantage to stretch the East backline to its limit. Talls Matt Stirling, Ben Marks and David Stone were accumulating marks around the ground, Atle Mengshoel Brevik was rock solid at full back and second gamer Håkon Molvig was playing a sensational game in the middle. His physicality and fitness was keeping the normally unstoppable Pearce quieter than usual.  

When the much improved Klas Alexander Harris and then Ben Marks goaled just before half time, both from precise set shots, scores were dead level at 4.2.26 each. The goal spurred West, who kept their momentum going in the second half. Momentum was with them, but a cluster of poor decisions in front of goal and costly errors down back let East wrestle back the initiative. Having weathered the storm, East showed its class with three quick goals against the tide, and suddenly it was over. The narrow margin meant that East, while equal on points, remains behind Ås on percentage.  

For West, this was the game that got away. Unfortunately for them, the premiership points table doesn’t care for who could have or should have won, and the cold numbers after round 3 show West languishing on the bottom of the table, despite a much improved effort against East.  

The quality of football in all three games was outstanding, however the enthusiasm for how great the games had been was a little tempered by some injuries to several players. Oliver Tomic, Adam Pearce, Erik Bjureus and Atle Mengshoel Brevik all sustained injuries during play, and it’s hoped that all recover quickly.  

Next up is round four in Oslo. Can West finally get back on the winners’ list? Will East or Ås manage to break clear at the top of the table? Time will tell. Until then, training continues, as does preparation for Euro Cup and Algarve 9s.  

Pictured: the Ås Battlers FC

...

The final day's play of the AFL European Championships is underway. Croatia confirmed their status as an up-and-coming Euro footy nation, holding off Germany in game one after the Eagles outscored them in the first term. In the 3rd place playoff, Sweden came out of the blocks strongly against Denmark, before the Vikings overran them and regained some of the pride lost through heartbreaking losses against GB and Ireland in the group round.

In the big one, the Irish pulled off a last second miracle, winning by the narrowest of margins to add yet another major title to their trophy cabinet. Commiserations to the GB Bulldogs on the heartbreaking defeat!

The official match reports from the final day's play in the 2013 AFL European Championship are on the dublin2013.org website, and can be found directly via the following links:

Ireland Win Thrilling GF
Vikings Slay Elks for Third
Knights Secure Fifth Place ...

Melbourne based women’s football club VU St Albans Spurs have announced that they will undertake an international tour in 2014. For next year’s end of season trip, the team will head to America to play against local teams, including the New York Lady Magpies, the Boston Lady Demons and the Baltimore/Washington Lady Eagles.

The club will be the first senior women’s team in Australia to play in an international setting. By doing this, they hope to further challenge the boundaries of women’s football in their own country, as well as help promote and develop the women’s game overseas.

As well as a little sightseeing in two of America’s most iconic cities, the Spurs will take part in joint training sessions with the local teams and join the women’s metro league tournament in New York. So far the preliminary itinerary is as follows:

• September 12th- 17th 2014: Depart Melbourne to Los Angeles. Take part in training sessions with LA based team

• September 17th- 22nd 2014: Depart LA and arrive in New York. Train and tournament to be played on Saturday 20th September

• September 22nd 2014: Tour ends ...

The VFL's Williamstown Seagulls held their inaugural Asian Community Football Day this weekend, with VAFA side the Southern Dragons taking on the Williamstown Asian All-Stars as a curtain-raiser to the match between the Seagulls and AFL club Geelong's reserve side.

Instigator for the event was Grant Dooley from Williamstown FC, who previously had also worked as Consul General for Australia in the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou, where he helped establish the South China Australian Football League together with other local clubs and the assistance of Tony Woods and the AFL.

Williamstown FC last year announced a $10,000 sponsorship of the South China AFL, which will go towards development of the competition and recruitment of young Chinese athletes to join their clubs.

The day was hailed a great success - the Dragons eventually triumphing by 4 points, despite the All-Stars having Chinese import Chen Xiaoliang take the field for them - and Dooley hopes the event can become an annual fixture on the Williamstown FC calendar. Read on for a report from the AFL Victoria website.

Williamstown's inaugural Asian Community Football day has been hailed a success after a highly entertaining day at Burbank Oval. With a big crowd building for the Geelong vs Williamstown clash, two All-Asian football sides went head-to-head in a curtain raiser with a difference.

The Southern Dragons, who play in the Victorian Amateur Football Association, fielded one side, pitted against the Williamstown Asian All-Stars.

Despite having Chinese import Chen Xiao Liang in their midst, the All-Stars were unable to cause an upset, eventually falling by just four points.

Xiao Liang, 20, is spending time in Australia to learn more about Australian rules after showing promise in the South China Football League.

The match was followed by a super clinic at half time of the VFL blockbuster, which gave anyone looking to learn the skills of Australian Rules to come down and give it a try. Dancing dragons also grabbed the crowd’s attention and lightened up a cold and windy afternoon.

The Asian Community Day was the brainchild of Williamstown Director Grant Dooley and AFL Victoria VFL Academy coach Darren Flanigan, both of whom have played a significant role in developing the South China Football League.

Williamstown last month announced a $10,000 sponsorship of the league, a significant contribution to help develop the competition and encourage young Chinese athletes to take up the game.

Dooley, who has helped develop football clubs and leagues in Hong Kong, Indonesia and now China, through his work in Foreign Affairs, said the event was only the beginning.

“For me, sponsoring league is about giving back and at the same time hopefully lifting our credentials amongst the Asian community here,” Dooley said.

“One of 10 Australians is now from an Asian background and we need to find a way of integrating and helping pass on our love for the game.”

“Today is about being what a real community football club should be.”

“This is just the first year. We didn’t expect a huge turnout but rather to show what can be done, and hopefully next year it can be bigger again.” ...