The 2012 Foxtel Cup announced

For those who understand a bit of French, here is a French TV expose on the French Australian Football nationalteam and local club, Toulose Hawks, an intro into the game and how it's developing in France: http://www.worldfootynews.com/article.php/20111229162653288

Cat No revelation there and thats what makes this all the more deplorable. Why this suggestion is met with such hostile adversity here on Roar is beyond me? I can only deduce that the denial coming from Roar contributors and their mods is due to an overly sentimental affection many seem to hold for our Kiwi neighbours. The essence of what I am in fact suggesting, is clearly evidenced by the recent GC and GWS forays into what are hardly AFL heartlands - but did that stop any top down aggressive, commercial expansion on the part of the AFL, No it did not. Many a respected opinion has been expressed throughout our footy community, challenging this most recent expedient and commercially cynical expansion for the same reasons I have grave concerns about the AFL's NZ focus; this is simply an extension of the former that's all. This is of course the rule across all codes. The Force in Perth, the Storm in Melbourne, the Rebels in Melbourne, not to mention the many Kiwi brands that have benefited from this sort of top down model to growth. You may believe me to be a ranting, raving lunatic but mark my words, the AFL are not focusing on NZ due to any burgeoning talent criteria or potential cultural affinity they may have for our game and if you believe they are then you would have to be a simpleton to be perfectly frank. All the best for X'y to eah and every one of you fellow bloggers and I hope to be around - hopefully not as the sole protagonist in this respect, come 2012.

Republican whatever is happening in NZ, in the scheme of things, it's absolutely miniscule, you'd be lucky if Australian football was in the top 40 most played sports in NZ.

thanks ABF - I was referring to the dimensions of the ground as opposed to the seating capacity, but I can see now that it's an oval shape - I don't think this game will sell out! (I suspect entry will be for free and it will be case of families and friends) I understand your warning about Wellington! Might give a whole new meaning to "allowing for the wind"! Might give the local boys a bit of an advantage.

Cattery, the ground can seat 38,000 and is oval shaped. A word of caution, if there is one city that's (climate wise) unsuitable for AFL then that city is Wellington!

Fair enough however the broken record syndrome applies as much if not more to the many Roar contributors who tout NZ as a new footy frontier and at our expense. I am only responding to this over represented opinion.

Republican. Enough. No more posts on your enemy: New Zealand. This isn't a political correctness thing, it's not an editorial thing, it's a broken record thing. Say something interesting, not the same old clap. Thanks, Roar Mods.

Ok, thanks, I'm getting my unis mixed up - but I'll repeat that I really can't see Sydney Uni being competitive against the Canberra clubs and the the two AFL reserves teams. At least two of the Canberra clubs have player wages of $500k+, which is a fair bit of that sort of competition, and this allows them to just be competitive against the AFL reserves sides, but I can't see how Sydney Uni would have the players to get to that level.

East Sydney were amalgamated with Uni of NSW about 10 years ago; they play at the Uni of NSW campus in Kensington. Sydney Uni is a club based at the campus on Broadway - the No 1 Oval there is very small but the wings are very wide. They'll play several NEAFL games at Henson Park, which is closer to AFL dimensions. University of Western Sydney has never had an AFL club (they certainly didn't when I studied there in the early 1990s), but the Giants reserves will be playing as UWS next year.

Not much to add except cheer cheer the black and the white! up the maggies!

Here's a story in the Fiji Times about the AFL combine held in Fiji during the AFL Youth Oceania Cup, under the banner: AFL Scouts look for Fiji X-factor: http://www.fijitimes.com/story.aspx?id=188868 And here's a video of the combine, and some of the impressive results being achieved by footballers from PNG, Nauru, NZ, Tonga and Fiji: http://bigpondvideo.com/AFL/409998// It's very exciting, some of these kids are getting better results than our combine at home, and this is precisely what it's all about. PNG's co-captain, Jason So-ong scored 29 out of 30 in the clean hands test. Yoshi Harris, of Nauru, (GWS international scholarship holder), scored 18 of 20 in the kicking test and 80cm in the vertical leap test, better than what anyone got at this year's combine. The Tongal captain, Sione Tupuo, achieved 80cm as well, as did NZer Shem Tatupo (Hawthorn international scholarship holder). Last year's Tonga Captain, Peni Mahina, achieved 25 out of 30 in the kicking test. He's also a GWS scholarship holder, and if I'm not mistaken, he's Izzy's cousin. See: http://www.worldfootynews.com/article.php/20111222151620686

TW I did read about this, but it didn't occur to me that this is the same ground as what the Phoenix use. Is the ground big enough?

Republican I certainly would not advocate the leap-frogging of NZ over strong Australian Football areas such as the ACT and Southern NSW; but equally, if NZ was able to put a senior team on the park capable of defeating the Deniliquin U19s, I would be quite happy - they're not quite there yet, but they might be by the end of the decade.

Here is some NZ footy news while not new - Still worth another mention. On Saturday Jan 28 at 12.00 pm at the Westpac Stadium in Wellington an Aussie Rules match will be played between the senior New Zealand Hawks and a elite U18 AIS AFL Squad. The Hawks will be bolstered by several NZ players plying their trade around Australia. This event breaks the drought of our game getting on to first class enclosed facilities over there. IMHO That in itself is a significant move which probably overshadows the match. The ice has been broken and is likely to see more games in the future ie AFL Western Bulldogs. The game is fixtured between two A League matches at that ground. Link to Stadium. http://westpacstadium.co.nz/ My crowd estimate - who knows maybe 2000.

The Cat The old NZ 1908 chestnut trotted out again hey. Fact is - nearly all the players representing NZ were Australian. This very overstated NZ claim to some vague footy pedigree hardly trumps those with the historic pedigree and status of the ACT. The worry is that those of your persuasion think this entitles NZ to prematurley leap frog Australian demographics, which is positevely insulting especxially coming from Austrlians i.e. yuourself.

I hear Ryan Houlihan of Carlton fame is playing for a Sydney team next year ...............The Sydney Hills Eagles Football Club, has signed for 2 years, Sydney football is going ahead quite strongly ATM.

NZ have won the AFL Youth Oceania Cup (U16s), defeating Nauru 8.4 (52) to 4.7 (31). PNG failed to make the final after a shock loss to Tonga (in torrential rain), who they met in the play off for 3rd spot, and PNG had an easy 10 goal win. From these championships, an Oceania team will be drawn up to play in the NSW regional U16 championships (I believe that will include all countries except PNG, who participate in the Queensland state titles).

Here's a wonderful photo montage of the successful Irish mens and womens teams in this year's IC: http://www.worldfootynews.com/article.php/20111214214934545

Fox sports just ran a story then about the AFL combine being held in Fiji featuring the kids currently playing in the AFL Youth Oceania Cup, with the final later today. NicNat and Izzey were in tow, with a reminder that NicNat currently holds the vertical leap test record - and as I said once before - this is all about finding the next NicNat.

Some more WA footy news--- The WA Premier Colin Barnett announced on site today the exact location of the new 60,000 upgradeable to 70,000 seat stadium at Burswood. The location sits on the Burswood back 9 hole Golf Course next to the Graham Farmer Freeway and the Perth- Armadale- Bunbury Rail line. The Casino which is getting a major 750 million upgrade and now renamed by James Packer to "Crown Casino Perth" this week is close by. A new railway station complex will be built there to handle rail traffic. Also the Great Eastern Highway is nearby to the east. This artery carries the traffic from the airport into the city and is being widened to 6 lanes currently. It is great location on the river and will see likely a Ferry Service from Perth as well. The link below includes an aerial map as well. Click on the map to enlarge. Rough Schedule - 2012 - 2013 planning and design -Barnett has already put 100 million aside for this phase. 2014 - 2018 construction and completion- All efforts to open earlier will be attempted Link-- http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-12-16/burswood-announced-as-new-stadium/3735154/?site=perth&section=news Eagles news- Last season about 6 senior Eagles players like Cox, Embley etc had their own lighter seperate pre xmas training regime which they say had an positive influence on the 2011 results. They are at it again this year and are hopeful of a similar result and will join the main body of players after xmas. We do not know if this has been tried elsewhere but is typical of clubs introducing anything to get an edge