In Germany, there’s 6 main teams, Rheinland, Munich, Hamburg, and Frankfurt, these make up Div 1, Div 2 is the reserves for Rheinland and Munich plus the main team for Berlin and Stuttgart.

The German national team has not yet travelled to Australia for an International Cup – however, have focussed on local development and have played a couple of years of tri-nations tournaments vs ‘local rivals’ Denmark and Sweden.

The Germans played an all local line up for developmental reasons (i.e. International Cup eligibility criteria).

This article from the Age is a really good run down on footy over there.

The key things are about the locals being the most passionate (they get to represent their country internationally), and the pretty well minimal support from the AFL. This is typical in most places.

The main thing is – that when the local vs expat ratio drops from 20:80 to 80:20, and when in some countries successful juniors and schools programmes are running….the AFL really is NEEDED to do something to ’support’. Thankfully both HQ and some clubs are getting right on board now.

Is it a pipedream?? For some driven individuals, no doubt. For many of us here at home – we discounted it as drunken expats for many, many years. But, over the last 10 years that has changed in so many ways and in surprisingly many places.

Seems like some kind of Aussie pipedream of a global AFL game, which football fans enjoy. But still it’s got some interesting reads there.

1. Four Irish blokes have returned home to Ireland. A couple were on the verge of achieving real success, and were offered contract extensions, but returned due to home sickness. A couple didn’t break into the senior side and called it a day.

2. Kennelly has agreed a two year contract with the Swans.

3. Hawthorn has signed its first international rookie, from NZ, a 14 year old basketballer – this will give him four or five years to receive specialist training in the game – which is a good solid period.

To what do we owe the pleasure?

I reckon the old ra ra guard may well be starting to take note of the steady as she goes infiltration of our game due to a growing Australian diaspora in NZ.

We have endured a Kiwi one for too long really so it only seems fare that the shoe may well about to be planted well and truely on the other ‘foot y’ – so to speak.

Oo roo

I tend to agree with Lazza that our game has been dumbed down to the point of being easily accessible to all manner of athlete, especially those at the end of their career, which does create a poor image of the code.

We certainly require some balance in this respect, however this does not mean returning to the 60’s, 70’s or even 80’s but it does require some creative tweeking in order to maintain the very skills that distinguish our game from the rest.

I believe the recent VAFA U 18 visit to NZ highlights this dilemma quite profoundly since the opposition were Kiwis who have a very small window in which to play our game, yet they appeared quite competitive despite having Union backgrounds.

I am aware that some licence was given in order to make the game appear more even however, the winning margin of the Ammos should really have been far greater and most certainly would have under the old style of play. I put this down in part, to the degeneration of any aireal contest whereby most of our game is now played at ground level and sadly often resembles a Brittish Bulldog type grovel for the pill, at best.

Cheers

The focus on not over working individuals is increasing not just off the field, but on the field – - – there’s a heap of sports science going into it. Especially the young kids coming through. There’s too often examples of kids coming into the system who have just pushed themselves too far, and too hard through their junior ‘career’. And I reckon that’s the bigger issue – the access to sports science for the elite juniors. That’s were AIS academies and the like come into it.

However, special ‘bonding’ camps still do tend to happen – - and it’s on those that you would do the equivalent of the famous (Hawthorn of the ’60s under John ‘Kanga’ Kennedy) Kennedy’s Commandos days. Hawthorn this time around are returning to Kokoda, Collingwood do high altitude camps in Arizona, St Kilda a couple of years back I think went to South Africa.

You make me smile … and older but still brings a smile to my face …you see I worked in NZ for three and a half years…

Hurry up mid get to the point… OK OK OK ..

The ACDC song … Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap….

We loved saying the Kiwis had another version .. Dirty Deeds Done with Sheep…. and you want their colours HMmmmmmmmmmmm Pip if you change the world Cheap to Sheep OHHHhhh LOL

Interestingly, the national team will change their name from the falcons to the Hawks because of this deal.

But the way the modern game is played, most of the 22 are running between 15 and 18 kilometers – marked by many sprints and then running at 50% pace during which you are expected to recover to be able to go again.

There’s no way round it – you need to get that sort of running into your legs pre-season, otherwise, you can’t see out a game – it’s as simple as that.

Now I take your point – that if players are uniformly flogged with no close examination of individual needs – some will get wear and tear injuries before the season begins (and it’s something that has become more common in the modern game – such are the demands placed on players today).

But which ever way you look at it – you have to get that sort of work into your legs, lungs and heart, othewise, you can’t play the game at this level.

A few of us talked about a recent article in the Australian on the differences in demands between the rugby codes and aussie rules – very different players, different body shapes, different physiological demands (some rugby positions get close to some aussie rules positions in physical shape).

They used the analogy that it was like comparing a 400m runner to a 3,000 metre runner (or something similar). The point being – there ain’t no use training for 400m if you have to run a 3,000 metre steeplechase – and vice versa.

Not a sports scientist but surely it should be a daily schedule slowly going incrementally up until you get to the amount you need for a full game.

http://www.worldfootynews.com/

But in fairness – aussie rules is very different to the other codes in terms of the distance most players have to run and the average speed at which they are running it – so there ain’t no way round it – but to run your guts out pre-season.

One day I might do a summary of one pre-season I did about 23 years ago which might be worth recounting.

I think 10 years from now we will look back at the footage of guys running up sand hills being flogged and laugh at how barbaric and unfocussed it was.

I wish I could track it down because what he said made sense.

Quote :

Well known for developing youthful talent for Arsenal, Arsene Wenger insists that good players be identified early.

He says “Nowadays kids have many opportunities to be exposed to football at a very young age.

This is a good thing because I think a kid at 12 should have all the basic techniques that a football player needs. If a 12-year-old still doesn’t have all the basic techniques, it might be too late for him to develop them.

In fact, many of the world’s best players are like that. Take Lionel Messi as an example, he was recruited by FC Barcelona at 12 because his football skills were already well developed by that age.”

http://www.worldfootynews.com/
scroll down to 10 Nov.

It’s also interesting that someone has started a facebook page:
AMERICANS WHO SUPPORT AFL’S SHAE MCNAMARA

The interesting thing is: if he somehow makes a success of it (and we need to be honest – it’s a big if) – but the publicity that is generated from it could be big for the game – it might inspire others – more importantly – it might inspire them to take the game up early – give themselves a chance.

Yeah I laugh at the standard comment. Watching vision from the 1970s and 1980s is fun but the play is a lot less organised – more of a kick and hope type of game – man on man who wins? – often the ball just came back.

The game today is super fast and pressurised – have to be a marathon man to last to the end, albeit interchange helps.

All converts struggle when the pressure is really on, the skills evident in training go to shite.

We have to get them earlier at 12-13, not 16-17 or older. it will happen as the pathways improve.

As for the rugby/basketball/GAA converts there are only a few anyway out of a 700 players in the AFL.

Redb

In 25 years of experimenting with Irish players, only two have made a success of it, both of whom came across as 17/18 year olds and had to work hard for three years before they debuted.

If anyone thinks its easy for these blokes, they’re wrong.

As for the more extreme examples, all trying at 24 years of age: Mike Pyke, the American basketballer and Hunt – let’s see what they are capable of before getting our knickers in a twist.

If they can manage it – good luck to them – but they’ll all have to work their @rses off to be even half a chance.

I look at the positive side of it – others might want to have a crack at it – and hopefully they’ll do so at a younger age.