AFL Victoria yesterday announced that the long running VWFL would be discontinued and clubs would be moving to a more localised structure as the massive growth of women's footy is accommodated.

The announcement follows

SIREN SOUNDS ON VICTORIA WOMEN’S FOOTBALL LEAGUE

Victoria’s female football pathway will have a new look in 2017 with a host of new women's competitions to be established in local leagues across the state.

The community league competitions will replace the current Victoria Women's Football League (VWFL) competition, providing a more localised structure for clubs into the future.

The VWFL’s 47 clubs and 60 teams will be integrated into neighbouring community league structures, with a further 80 clubs registering an interest to join their local women’s competition in 2017.

AFL Victoria CEO Steven Reaper said that the extraordinary growth in women’s football across all levels in the state has allowed community leagues to launch their own female competitions.

“Since 2015 we have experienced a growth of 100 new female teams each season which is an indication of the sheer enormity behind Australia’s fastest growing sport,” he said.

“It’s fantastic to see both regional and metropolitan community leagues embrace women’s football with many already establishing Youth Girls divisions in their region.

“Localised resources will now also help further develop the game in each region which will add further support and focus to women's football.”

After consultation with community leagues, clubs have embraced the new competition structure with 10 leagues to manage women’s football competitions in 2017, including all six metropolitan community leagues.

“When AFL Victoria took over the management and governance of the VWFL, it was always intended that when the competition had outgrown the resources needed to properly manage all divisions from head office, clubs would transition back into community leagues, not dissimilar to the evolution of the Youth Girls competitions from AFL Victoria to local level,” Reaper said.

“We are delighted with the positive response from community leagues, with some local clubs already looking to have senior men's and women's teams in the one competition.

“This new structure will provide a number of benefits to clubs, including better access to umpires and localised resources which will also help with fixturing and ground allocation.”

Established in 1981, the VWFL has played an important role in the female talent pathway both on and off the field and has been the starting point for many players, coaches and administrators for more than 35 years.

“The VWFL has a rich and important history in the development of female football,” Reaper said.

“The VWFL and all involved have played a major role in developing women's football and have assisted in realising the long held dream of a national women's competition.

“It is with that in mind that AFL Victoria is undertaking a number of projects to preserve the history of the VWFL, including the formal documentation of the VWFL’s history including a hard cover publication, as well as installing a VWFL honour board at AFL Victoria’s head office.”

The VWFL’s integration with AFL Victoria has led to the positive establishment of the Swisse VFL Women’s state league which has produced over 90 Victorian draftees to the inaugural NAB AFL Women's league in 2017.

In addition, the VWFL’s legacy has led to a revamped staffing structure which now includes a dedicated Female Football Talent Manager, a comprehensive women’s Academy program and now a local competition structure that will help build the foundations for a strong talent pathway and participation base for the next generation of female stars.

“While it is an end of an era, this is the next step in the evolution of women's football in the state, which is an exciting time for all involved,” Reaper said.

“AFL Victoria would like to thank our VWFL partners in CFA, JMS Hospitality and Melbourne Football Club for all their support of the league in 2016.

“We would also like to thank Adrian Fisher as the VWFL’s Umpire Coordinator and all the clubs and committees who have put in many hours to ensure their club could compete in the VWFL.”

AFL Victoria will continue to work closely with community football leagues over the coming months to ensure a smooth transition of the new competition structure.
...

The following is an extract from the article at www.newyorkmapgies.com

...

Lee Gaskin reports on the www.afl.com.au website that Port Adelaide are set to be the next club to place an African born player on their list with the opportunity given to Ugandan born Emmanuel Irra.

PORT Adelaide is set to have the first Ugandan player on an AFL list, with midfielder Emmanuel Irra training with the Power.

The versatile 22-year-old has been granted permission to train with the Power ahead of the national, pre-season and rookie drafts.

If Irra is not selected during the draft process, the Power is free to list him as a Category B Rookie since the club earlier nominated him for its next generation academy.

Irra joined the Power for its first pre-season training session featuring the entire squad at Alberton Oval on Monday.

He has played 38 SANFL games for South Adelaide since graduating from Sacred Heart College.

He and his family fled war-torn Uganda and arrived in Australia when Irra was 11 in 2005.

At 183cm and 82kg, Irra is a powerful midfielder who can bust through tackles and uses the ball well.

Under the new AFL rules, clubs can list players as Category B rookies from the AFL's indigenous and multicultural academies.

The Power's senior players joined for a one-hour session with the club's first to fourth year players, who have been training for the past two weeks.

Original story can be found at: http://www.afl.com.au/news/2016-11-21/ugandan-emmanuel-irra-training-with-port-adelaide ...

The following article comes from Alex Andryushin as he reports on the final leg of the AFL Russia Unity Day Cup, taken out this year by the St Petersburg Cats. Such has been the growth of the game in Russia that St Petersburg can now truly mount a case for a long term rivalry. Also, having two teams again in Moscow sees the game developing further in the national capital. 

On a freezing day of November 4th, three Russian teams played the final tournament of 2016 – Unity Day Cup – on the Moscow State University pitch. It was a home ground for two capital city teams – “Slavyane” & “Lazy Koalas” - and the third one came from Saint-Petersburg – “St.Petersburg Cats”. It was a snowy day with -2°C on the thermometer, but the competitors were ready for such unpleasant weather.

 In the opening minutes of the first game (Slavyane vs Cats) the home team got a quick 7 points, scoring a goal and a behind. The Cats, however, found strength to fight back and dominated the rest of the match, scoring a goal every 3-4 minutes and playing a decent defensive game. After two periods of 15 minutes the final score was 66 to 9 in favour of St. Petersburg squad.

The second game of the tournament was played between Koalas and Slavyane. Both teams were playing hard, but luck was against Slavyane this day, they conceded several goals, and Koalas calmly finished the match with the score of 72 to 13. The last game was a part of long-lasting rivalry between two cities; Moscow and St. Petersburg.  

There were three cups previously in 2016: Koalas celebrated the victory in April, Cats got their revenge in May, and Koalas were stronger in September tournament. But during this cold day the luck was on the side of guest team. The Cats started the game with four goals and a couple of behinds, then Koalas narrowed the gap to 10 points. But shortly after the team from St. Petersburg maintained the control on each part of the pitch, locking up everything in defence, dominating in the middle, delivering quick passes and converting them into points.

The final score was 54 to 26 in favour of the Cats, and they were declared the winners of Unity Day Cup. The 2016 season of Australian football in Russia is over, but teams continue to conduct training’s on a regular basis, constantly improving their skills and preparing for a next season.

  ...

AFL Canada yesterday announced they will be sending their men's and women's development teams to Europe in 2017. The women's development team the Midnight Suns competed in the 2014 International Cup alongside their official team the Northern Lights.

But 2017 will see them compete against the Irish Banshees and the Great Britain Swans who will both be warming up for IC17. A fourth team made up of the best players from the four AFL London women's clubs will also compete.

The men's development team has previously only played matches against the USA as part of the 49th Parallel Cup in the past.  But they will play for the first time outside North America against the Irish Warriors, the Great Britain Bulldogs and a fourth team yet to be named.

Games are set to be played on the 19th-21st of May 2017; with games being played on the Friday night, Saturday and Sunday.

It is a welcome push for more international footy matches outside the International Cup tournament.  The USAFL have indicated they will send a team to Europe in 2018 and Great Britain have indicated they may play in Canada in 2018.

AFL Canada’s President Lachlan Griffiths said, “We are very grateful to AFL Europe, AFL England and the Great British and Irish National Teams for coming together for this tournament next year. We have been looking to provide our players with more high quality games, and are excited by the opportunity to play against two very strong football nations."

"It is going to provide our development squad players with a first-hand look at the level of football required to compete at the International level, with the hope that these players will go on to represent Canada in future international games and press for selection at IC20”.

For more details see the AFL Canada announcement here - http://www.sportingpulse.com/assoc_page.cgi?client=1-7259-0-0-0 

  ...

It was very disappointing for international footy followers at the end of the AFL Women's draft when no international players (by IC rules at least) were selected. Kate Shierlaw and Lauren Spark were on the lists which was some vindication of the footy played in London, but they were still Aussie women.

So it would come down to the free agency period, and fortunately there would be an international foot in the door.  Firstly Collingwood added Canadian Kendra Heil to their list.  Perhaps missing out on the draft as she missed most of the 2016 season due to a serious ACL injury, Heil was also close to being drafted in 2015 (when there were just the two women's teams for the exhibition match). 

Heil is a bona-fide Canadian national who learnt the game in Canada.  Heil played for Canada in the 2014 AFL International Cup and was named in the World Team at the end of the tournament.  She played mostly up forward in the tournament and kicked two goals in her nations winning Grand Final team and was named in the best players.  In 2015 she returned to Australia to further her game playing with the Eastern Devils in the VWFL.

Also in the free agency period Melbourne would add Laura Corrigan (pictured) to their list.  Ireland had their own representative on board and Corrigan will be the first female professional Aussie rules footballer from Ireland. Corrigan, is originally from Cavan and (as far as we know) learnt the game in Australia after moving here about 8 years ago.   She has played for Diamond Creek in the VWFL (and more recently VFL Womens) for the past seven seasons playing mostly in the ruck or in defence. 

Corrigan was named full back in the World Team at the 2011 International Cup where she was dominant for the tournament champions Ireland and named joint best player of the 2014 International Cup tournament (along with Canada’s Aimee Legault who is currently back in Canada).

Corrigan is known to be hard at the contest.  In the 2011 International Cup she left one match in the first quarter after splitting her head open and was sent off in the 2014 International Cup grand final after taking the Canadian captain high. She told us in 2014 that she took the game up because "I had always been told I was too rough in Gaelic so I thought Aussie Rules was the game for me."

Tonight both players who lined up against each other at Punt Road in the International Cup Grand Final will train with their new club's full teams for the first time in open sessions in Melbourne.  Hopefully come Round 1 of the AFL Women's league in February 2017 both players will have the eyes of the football world on them as they debut. 

And hopefully they are the international foot in the door of this new league, with the rest of the world's best women from outside Australia coming to Melbourne in August.  Having the AFL Women's league recruit international women who have never played with Australian clubs will be the next big step for women's footy outside Australia. ...

Tom Morris from Fox Sports reports that Essendon will be looking closely at gambling on an untried American footballer as a Category B rookie, and could know very soon as they prepare for their selections at this week’s national draft. I would be the first time Essendon has travelled down the American road for potential recruits, hoping they can find another Jason Holmes.

ESSENDON is poised to take a punt on little known American football player Travis Wilson.

Wilson, who was a quarterback with scrambling ability for the University of Utah Utes in the US college system for four years, has attracted interest from the Bombers despite having never travelled to Australia, let alone Melbourne.

It’s believed his athleticism is the trait that first caught the eye of Essendon’s international recruiting network.

At 200cm and 105kg, the 24-year-old signed on with the North Coast Heat in Australia’s National Gridiron League late in 2015, although in January it was announced that the competition would not go ahead in 2016 due to a variety of Visa and venue problems.

As a result, Wilson never arrived in Australia to compete in the fledgling league.

After his college career finished, Wilson had a tryout with the Cincinnati Bengals, but it’s understood he has now set his sights on a Category B rookie spot with Essendon.

The Bombers have shown keen interest in the would-be ruckman, sending him apparel and footballs to train with ahead of a potential move to Melbourne, as seen in his below Instagram post from earlier this week.

The club has asked him to send it video footage of him kicking and marking.

Wilson broke a host of records while at Utah, including most starts (39), games played (46) and total touchdowns (75 – 54 passing, 21 rushing).

He suffered a heavy concussion that revealed pre-existing brain artery conditions that, at the time, almost ended his football career completely.

Some recent examples of clubs signing Category B rookies are Mark Blicavs at Geelong, Alex Keath at Adelaide and Jason Holmes at St Kilda.

A club can contract up to three Category B rookies, provided the player either:

— Has not registered in an Australian Football competition for three years immediately before inclusion on the Rookie List;

— Is an international player, meaning he is not an Australian citizen and has not lived in Australia for a substantial period;

— Is a former NSW Scholarship player with that club;

— Is a former International Scholarship player with that club;

— Is a rookie Zone Selection for clubs based in NSW or Queensland.

Technically Essendon can sign Wilson at any time, but must lock him in ahead of Monday’s rookie draft if he is to be on their list in 2017.

The original story can be found at: http://www.foxsports.com.au/afl/essendon-keen-on-signing-us-college-quarterback-travis-wilson-as-category-b-rookie/news-story/354021ca0c65c3941f6ecd36e2b8a960

     ...

AFL Women's League recruit to the Melbourne Football Club Laura Corrigan Duryea was this week interviewed on SEN Radio in Melbourne.

Geelong's delisted International rookie Padraig Lucey looks like staying in Australia into next year whatever happens. He could be taken by another AFL club or even relisted by the Cats. But even if that doesn't happen, Geelong's VFL coach Shane O'Bree expects he will stay.

In the Geelong Advertiser O'Bree said “As far as I know he’s loved his time in Australia, and especially Geelong, and he’s pretty keen to continue his AFL career...and if it’s not at AFL level it will be at the highest possible level, which is VFL.”

An extra incentive to stay might be the prospect of another crack at the International Cup which will be held in Melbourne next year.  The big fella was a handful up forward and handy in the ruck for the Irish Warriors in 2014 with little footy experience. He was also named in the World Team of the tournament at CHF.  This time around he would be looking to go one better with his team after they went down to PNG in the Grand Final at the MCG.

And with two seasons of VFL footy under his belt might be hard to stop for any international full backs. ...

Travis King from the www.afl.com.au website reports in the wake of the AFL’s Rookie Draft yesterday that Port Adelaide has, as expected, selected the first Ugandan player in the AFL. The league already had a number of players of Sudanese and Kenyan heritage, but Emmanuel Irra proudly becomes the first Ugandan.

EMMANUEL Irra has become the first Ugandan player to earn a spot on an AFL list after joining Port Adelaide as a Category B rookie.

The powerful and versatile midfielder was one of seven players given a chance as Category B rookies as clubs finalised their lists on Monday.

 Irra, 22, has been training with the Power since the players returned for pre-season and, as a member of their next generation academy, was able to join the club when no rival outfit selected him in the national or rookie drafts.

Under the new AFL rules, clubs can list players as Category B rookies from the AFL's indigenous and multicultural academies if they were overlooked in the drafts.

Irra, whose family fled war-torn Uganda in 2005, was ecstatic to have the chance to officially join the Power.

"I'm absolutely stoked. I'm pumped for the opportunity and I'm just here looking to work hard – so I'm pretty excited," Irra told the club's website.

"Officially last Monday was my first week (of training) and that was just a good eye-opener leading into ahead what's to come.

"(I've noticed) the intensity (of training), how hard guys are on each other and how specific everything is."

West Coast also made club history by selecting its first next generation academy member, Tarir Bayok, as a category B rookie.

Bayok, a speedy midfielder/forward with a Sudanese background, turned heads at the WA state draft combine by recording the third-fastest time in history (2.79 seconds) for the 20m sprint.

"The selection of Tarir Bayok is historic in that he is our first Next Generation Academy player and we're really excited about that," football manager Craig Vozzo said.

"I know Adam Selwood, our head coach at the academy, was keen for that to happen.

"Tarir is super quick. We think he’s got a lot of upside, having played for East Perth and the WA under-18s team this year."

Meanwhile, the Brisbane Lions have added Redland star Blake Grewar as a Queensland-zone selection, while Sydney has recruited Canberra product Sam Fisher as a NSW/ACT-zone pick.

Gold Coast brought in its third academy player – after Jack Bowes and Brad Scheer – by picking up defender Max Spencer, with Greater Western Sydney gaining access to versatile tall Zach Sproule from its academy as a Category B rookie.

Carlton was also allowed to bring back Irishman Ciaran Sheehan as a category B rookie after delisting the 26-year-old last month.

In other news from the draft, Essendon shocked the footy world by naming Sam Draper, a 202cm ruckman, as their number one pick. Whilst born in Australia, Draper lived for the next six years in the village of Brede in East Sussex, near Hastings. He played soccer there a a junior, mainly as a goalkeeper and remained so until this year when he joined the Reynella Wineflies in South Australia. Since then he has experienced a meteoric rise to an AFL club, just nine months after taking up the game.

His journey, whilst having spent only a few years in England, still stands as a great example that players, from England or elsewhere, can still pursue a career in Australian football.

The Essendon club has not proceeded, at this stage at least, with the pursuit of US college quarterback, Travis Wilson.

The original story can be found at: http://www.afl.com.au/news/2016-11-28/ugandan-emmanuel-irra-joins-power-as-clubs-confirm-category-b-rookies ...

The annual Nathan Blakey Movember Cup was played last weekend, hosted by the Manchester Mozzies at their Burnage Rugby Club. This year was the fifth running of the event, commencing in 2011.

The Manchester Mozzies website states that, “we would like to take this opportunity to tell you more about the Movember charity. Movember is “the only charity tackling men’s health on a global scale.” (uk.movember.com). The charity focuses mainly on prostate and testicular cancer, mental health and suicide prevention.

“Suicide is the biggest cause of death in men under the age of 35…Every hour 35 men lose their lives due to prostate cancer…Testicular cancer is the most common cancer in men under 40.”

Movember helps fund over 1,200 projects across the globe to help give men the facts about their health, change their health behaviour for the better (with regular checking of their testicles, prostate and mental health) and develop accessible health services for men.

The event is named in honour of former Manchester Mozzies player Nathan Blakey who passed away a week before the inaugural Movember Cup at just 28 years of age. The event was named in his honour for his commitment to growing the game in a variety of roles including player, coach and umpire. 

This year’s event saw six men’s and two women’s teams. The Manchester Mozzies and University of Birmingham fielded two teams each along with teams from the Huddersfield Rams and the Wolverhampton Wolverines. The women’s exhibition match was played after the men’s matches.

The Huddersfield Rams took out this year’s final downing the host, Manchester Mozzies. All teams place a high degree of import on this event, and the Huddersfield Rams are proud to take the title to finish their 2016 season on a high. 

  ...

While in Australia the Chappell-Hadlee One Day cricket series kicks into gear today – over in the land of the long white cloud attention may be directed elsewhere. Not by everybody mind you – but for AFLNZ it’s the big day of the year for the Auckland AFL with their Grand Final.

Waitakere Magpies take on the University Blues at Aucklands QBE Stadium (not that you would know it by checking “What’s on” via the stadium website!!) with ball up 2pm (local time) today. The scene is set for a monster game – the defending premier (Uni Blues) defend their crown against the thus far undefeated Magpies. The script writers have penned the dream encounter. In fact the Magpies will contest their 7th Grand Final in 8 seasons – lead this year by skipper Shane Tyson-Leat. The Uni Blues have perhaps had to do it the hard way this year, coming from 4th.

Undefeated Waitakere won their way through to the big one with a solid 16 pt win over the North Shore Tigers in the 1st Semi Final. The Maggies have won 11 straight this season which puts all the pressure on them to make it the perfect season. Footy fans know all too well just how fickle the footy gods can be.

The Maggies were well served last week by the very experienced former skipper Dave Rattenbury, along with Carlos Donnell-Brown and Dan McGregor.

In the other Semi Final – the way it turned out Mt Roskill Saints took on the Uni Blues for the 2nd consecutive week with the results falling the Blues way each time.

The round 10 result saw the Mapgies smash the previously undefeated at home Saints by 80 points. The Semi Final was another matter entirely, and it was largely that the Blues were more efficient in front of goal to come away with a hard fought 9 pt win. Coach Chris Mundell identified Liam Beattie as BOG, along with Chris Bailey, Darren Vernon and defender Harrison Marks. The Saints on the other hand had been well served by competition B&F winner Will Dickinson, along with their captain and comp B&F runner up Sam McKenzie.

This will be the 3rd straight Grand Final appearance for the Uni Blues will the Magpies last featured in the GF in 2014; an unsuccessful crusade to topple todays opponent so revenge has a chance to be served. ...

Hutt Park Wellington plays host today to the Wellington AFL 2016 Grand Final. First bounce at 3pm will see the Wellington City Saints engage in battle with the Eastern Suburb Bulldogs who have played in every grand final for the last 10 years and are gunning for a FourPeat.

For the Saints, it is former player and 2nd year coach Gregor Kempt has the task ahead of him of undoing the Doggies. The Saints have focussed over the time on developing a great culture and building player numbers. Key senior players for them today will include Jason Cox and Conner O’Fee, along with a lot of enthused and talented youth that add excitement to the combination. The Saints squeezed into the Grand Final ahead of the Hutt Valley Eagles.

The Bulldogs under coach John Jackson are led on field by skipper James Terry. All season their defensive pressure has held supreme – and have conceded just over 2 goals a game as they build an almost impenetrable defence. Some of the keys have been Shane Wineera, Luke Shervey, Matt Lewis, Micheal De Fazio and Hugh Wilson. The midfield has been well served via Stan Chung and 4 time Grand Final BOG in Peter Halstead.

The Bulldogs clearly go in as raging hot favourites – undefeated not only in end results in season 2016 – but also yet to drop a quarter. Clearly all the expectation lies with the Bulldogs – however the Saints have nothing to lose and enter the contest as the hunter.

A footnote – Peter Halstead is also an accomplished soccer player for the Miramar Rangers. At age 32 he is extending his AFL NZ focus this season and is participating in the AFL New Zealand Premiership where he has been drafted into the Northern Suns line up. At 190cm Halstead plays in the ruck – and has been playing in the Wellington AFL for about 5 years and also played while in Sydney completing a Master of Physiotherapy course. Halstead has set his sights on getting to Melbourne next year for the 6th AFL International Cup. Northern Suns picked him with their first pick for the 2017 Premiership – having retained 12 players from last season. /p> ...