AFL Around the World

06/10/2014

EURO CUP RESULTS | Congratulations to the Denmark Vikings and the Ireland Banshees, respective men's and women's 2014 Axios Euro Cup champions!

Denmark defeated Croatia by 24 points in the Men's Final under lights, making up for the heartbreaking loss to Ireland in the decider in 2012. In the Women's Final, Ireland won by 5 points over local rivals England in a close contest.

The Euro Bowl (9th placed Men's team) was claimed by France after they defeated Austria and the Euro Plate (13th placed Men's team) was won by Norway who defeated Spain in the final.

Here are the final rankings of all of the teams:
Men's:
1. Denmark
2. Croatia
3. Ireland
4. Germany
5. Wales
6. England
7. Sweden
8. Italy
9. France
10. Austria
11. Scotland
12. European Crusaders
13. Norway
14. Spain
15. Netherlands
16. Catalunya

Women's:
1. Ireland
2. England
3. Scotland
4. Denmark
5. France

Another great tournament has come and gone and the future continues to look bright for Footy in Europe and the rest of the world.

02/10/2014

EURO CUP | The 2014 Axios Euro Cup is on this weekend!

The 9 a-side tournament is due to take place this Saturday at the London Irish Rugby Club from 9:00 to 6:00, with 16 European nations competing for the Euro Cup, Plate and Bowl in the Men's tournament.
A record 5 Women's teams will also be competing for the Women's championship! AFL Around the World will keep you updated in the lead up and the aftermath of the tournament.

24/08/2014

Vengeance is sweet! Papua New Guinea have knocked off Ireland to claim the Men's International Cup!

Two late goals saw the Mosquitoes emerge three point victors in a thrilling contest:
Papua New Guinea 6.9 (45)
Ireland 6.6 (42)

24/08/2014

Congratulations to the Canada Northern Lights, winners of the Women's International Cup!

They defeated Ireland by 26 points in the Grand Final yesterday:
Canada 5.8 (38)
Ireland 2.0 (12)

23/08/2014

The big day has arrived, with the Men's and Women's Grand Finals of the International Cup taking place this afternoon!

Women's:
Ireland vs Canada Northern Lights
Punt Road Oval, 2:10 p.m.

Men's:
Papua New Guinea vs Ireland
MCG, 4:50 p.m.

Who do you think will win?

Four proud teams will fight for AFL International Cup glory in today's Men's and Women's Grand Finals. http://www.afl.com.au/news/2014-08-23/grand-final-glory-up-for-grabs

22/08/2014

IC14 FINAL ROUND | The final round to determine the placings at this year's International Cup was scheduled today.

In the men's draw, New Zealand just pipped South Africa to claim bronze, while Canada beat Tonga to finish top of Division 1, and Sweden took out the Division 2 title.

In the women's tournament, it was the USA Freedom who took out the bronze medal, beating Canada's Midnight Suns.

Here are all of the results:

Men's:
3rd vs 4th:
New Zealand 6.8 (44) def. South Africa 6.7 (43)

Division 1:
5th vs 6th:
Canada 9.7 (61) def. Tonga 7.6 (48)

7th vs 8th:
USA 4.11 (35) def. by Nauru 8.6 (54)

9th vs 10th:
Great Britain 5.7 (37) def. Fiji 2.7 (19)

11th vs 12th:
Pakistan 2.2 (14) def. by France 13.10 (88)

Division 2:
Sweden 10.14 (74) def. China 4.2 (26)
Japan 12.19 (91) def. Finland 1.0 (6)
India 1.2 (8) def. by Indonesia 9.6 (60)

Women's:
3rd vs 4th:
USA Freedom 17.15 (117) def. Canada Midnight Suns 0.0 (0)

5th vs 6th:
Fiji 1.3 (9) def. Tonga 0.5 (5)

Congratulations to all of the teams on a fantastic tournament! In my limited experience, the Cup was filled with enthusiasm and great attitudes, no matter the scoreline.

Don't forget though, tomorrow is Grand Final Day! The Women's Final between Ireland and the Canada Northern Lights takes place at Punt Road Oval at 2:10 p.m. and the bounce of the Men's Final between PNG and Ireland at the MCG is at 4:50 p.m. Be sure to get along for what should be two great matches!

20/08/2014

IC14 SEMI FINALS | The men's semi final round of the International Cup took place yesterday at Royal Park and the finalists of the Men's competition have been decided!

Here are the results:
Semi Final 1:
Papua New Guinea 12.3 (75) def. New Zealand 4.4 (28)

Semi Final 2:
Ireland 8.5 (53) def. South Africa 4.4 (28)

Division 1:
5 vs 12:
Canada 9.15 (69) def. France 2.3 (15)

6 vs 11:
Tonga 21.21 (147) def. Pakistan 1.0 (6)

7 vs 10:
Nauru 7.7 (49) def. Great Britain 5.3 (33)

8 vs 9:
Fiji 3.2 (20) def. by USA 12.7 (79)

Division 2:
India 1.2 (8) def. by Finland 3.7 (25)
Indonesia 4.8 (32) def. by Sweden 9.6 (60)
Japan 5.4 (34) def. China 2.5 (17)

So these results mean that the men's final will be played between Papua New Guinea and Ireland. The other teams will play another match as well to determine their final placings. Good luck to all of the teams, especially the finalists!

16/08/2014

IC14 RESULTS | Yesterday, Round 3 of the International Cup was completed, with many interesting results determining the Semi-Final match-ups.

Men's:
Ireland 10.6 (66) def. Nauru 6.3 (39)
Pakistan 14.17 (101) def. India 1.1 (7)
Tonga 21.10 (136) def. Japan 2.3 (15)
France 16.14 (110) def. Indonesia 0.4 (4)
Canada 20.10 (130) def. Sweden 0.0 (0)
Fiji 7.7 (49) def. Great Britain 4.9 (33)
China 3.8 (26) def. Finland 3.4 (22)
South Africa 8.11 (59) def. Papua New Guinea 7.8 (50)
New Zealand 10.11 (71) def. USA 2.1 (13)

Women's:
Canada Northern Lights 9.13 (67) def. Fiji 0.2 (2)
Ireland 10.10 (70) def. USA Liberty 1.0 (6)
USA Freedom 9.11 (65) def. Tonga 0.0 (0)

So, whilst every result was important, some deserve a special mention. South Africa scored a big upset over Papua New Guinea, booking their place in the semi-finals. Fiji showed their improvement, knocking off Great Britain, China beat Finland in a thriller to claim their first win of IC14 and Pakistan thrashed rivals India to claim the Dosti Cup.

Everything is set up for a fantastic semi-final stage of the tournament and it isn't too long now until the Champions of the 2014 International Cup are decided!

16/08/2014

CANADA vs SWEDEN | This was my second International Cup match, and overall, it was a very enjoyable experience, with great enthusiasm shown by players and fans alike.

The score:

Canada 20.10 (130)
Sweden 0.0 (0)

Even though this was a 130 point of thrashing by the Northwind of the Elks, the match was far more competitive than the scoreline suggested. Prior to the bounce, the national anthems were played, sung and applauded with gusto and set the tone for the day. What soon became apparent however, was the extra skill and class of the Canadian players when compared to their Swedish counterparts. Precision kicking and strong marking were on display, and with their deadly accuracy in front of goals the Northwind soon put the result beyond doubt. Sweden was far from disgraced, however, its' players attacking the ball hard and winning plenty of possessions, but too often being unable to use the ball well.

Canada was simply ruthless, and before every centre bounce, calls of "30 seconds" would ring out across the ground, imploring their players to focus and give it their all, no matter what stage of the game it was. Some of the goals kicked by Canada were worthy of AFL level highlights, a fantastic dribbler from tight in the forward pocket the pick of the lot. To the Elks credit, they kept fighting and did not take a backwards step, but were ultimately unable to string together enough possessions to create goal scoring opportunities. All in all, it was an enjoyable match of good standard and I would gladly watch these two teams go at it again.

Be sure to take a look at the photo album from the match, and give me any thoughts you have on my two match reports so far.

16/08/2014

Once again, sorry the quality isn't great, I make do with what I have.

Stay tuned for the match report soon!

15/08/2014

NZ vs CHINA | So I attended the New Zealand vs China match on Wednesday at St Kilda's Linen House Centre, to get a look at the International Cup for myself, take some photos and report back here.

In case you missed it, the New Zealanders were far too strong for their Chinese opposition, winning by 193 points. Despite this, the game was still played enthusiastically by everyone involved, and at not one stage did the Chinese players drop their heads. What was obvious to me, was that New Zealand generally had bigger bodied players, and really used this to their advantage firstly in the middle of the ground, to get the ball going forward, and secondly in their forward line, where the Chinese really had no suitable match-ups for the plethora of tall options the Hawks possessed. In spite of this, China still threw their own weight around and attacked the ball desperately, which deserves special mention. It was clear that the New Zealand players were more experienced and accustomed to the game and used this fully to their advantage, maintaining possession and rarely allowing China out of their own half.

China managed to take a mark inside 50 during the first quarter, and looked like they would manage a shot on goal, but much to the disappointment of the crowd, the player played on and lost the ball. From then on, there were few opportunities for the Dragons to score. One thing that struck me, though, were the outstanding efforts of Chinese players to distract their opposition when having shots on goal. It seemed as if the whole team would call out anything and everything to get inside the head of the player lining up for goal. Things like that make the experience of watching footy on an international stage just that but more special.

I will hopefully be heading down to Mordialloc tomorrow to catch the Canada vs Sweden game, and will give you my thoughts and hopefully some photos of the match too.

14/08/2014

IC14 RESULTS | Yesterday Round 2 of the International Cup took place. Thankfully, there were some closer matches this time with teams of more even abilities going head to head. Here are the results:

Men's:
Nauru 6.14 (50) def. Great Britain 4.5 (29)
Ireland 17.9 (111) def. France 0.2 (2)
Fiji 32.16 (208) def. Indonesia 0.0 (0)
Japan 9.4 (58) def. Pakistan 3.4 (22)
South Africa 13.4 (82) def. Tonga 2.5 (17)
Papua New Guinea 33.18 (216) def. India 0.0 (0)
New Zealand 28.25 (193) def. China 0.0 (0)
Sweden 13.13 (91) def. Finland 2.2 (14)
USA 8.13 (61) def. Canada 2.8 (20)

Women's:
USA Freedom 9.10 (64) def. Canada Midnight Suns 1.2 (8)
Canada Northern Lights 19.11 (125) def. USA Liberty 0.0 (0)
Ireland 9.9 (63) def. Tonga 1.2 (8)

The final round of group matches takes place this Saturday as part of Community Round.