AFL gets a grass roots competition in Europe for U16's

[Swans4ever]

AFL goes from strength in Europe with the Axios cup being held in France for players between 10 and 16yrs of age - with 14 teams participating from 13 countries it appears AFL is getting a grass roots foothold. So much for no one being interested in this game outside of Australia!

Afterglow – A look back at the Axios Euro Cup in Bordeaux

22/10/2013

Wesley Hull

The following is a series of questions and answers discussing the recent Axios Euro Cup in France. Locally, Alban Schieber and Frederic Zohar worked tirelessly with their team to put together the event in Bordeaux. In the afterglow of the event, here is their take on what the Euro Cup was, how it came together and how successful it was. These answers are provided by Alban Schieber, unless otherwise indicated.

How many teams and from what countries?

“There were 14 teams in total from 13 different European countries. Unlike the previous events, most of the teams came from the continent.” (Norway, Finland, France, Spain, Italy, Austria, Croatia, Cataluña, Iceland, Ireland, England and Crusaders + France and Crusaders women teams).

“England won their third Euro Cup defeating France in the Grand Final 92 – 15 while in the women game the Crusaders defeated France and won their first title. “

How many players or participants were there in total?

“We had in around 320 players in Bordeaux, comprised of 280 boys and 40 girls.”

What was the format for the competition?

“During the morning we had the seeding round. Groups were made with a favourite and two challengers. The base for the games was two 15 minute quarters. The only favourite who lost in the morning was Ireland, defeated 34 – 33 by France.”

“At lunch time each team had a break of an hour and a half to rest or have a look at the women’s game, which France lost to the Crusaders 26 – 45.”

“In the afternoon, we had the classification games and the finals. The games were two halves of 20 minutes. The plate winner was Austria who won their first game in the competition. Ireland was the bowl champion. England, France and Croatia were on the podium.”

For anyone unfamiliar with the tournament, how many matches and how long each match is played?

“There were 25 games, 12 of them were made of two halves of 15 minutes and 12 were made of two halves of 20 minutes. The last one was the women’s game made of four 20 minutes quarters.”

How many Australians are involved?

“The only Australians involved were umpires or members of the AFL Europe committee. No Australians were allowed to play with the national teams.”

How did you promote the event on the day?

“To promote the event we had over 2 500 posters and 8 000 flyers given in all the local shops in Bordeaux and Saint Médard en Jalles. We also had bigger posters in Saint Médard en Jalles set up by the city council. Finally we had a few articles in the press thanks to our press release sent all over the sport media a few months before the event. We even hit Youtube with a fun clip to generate interest.”

What were your overall impressions of the event, was it a success?

Frederic Zohar (co-organizer and president of the Bordeaux Bombers):

“It was a success because everybody was where they were supposed to be at the right time. We had over 100 volunteers on the day and it was crucial that everyone knew what they had to do and that they were autonomous.

During the day, when we had everything on track, I felt on the top of the world.”

Alban Schieber: “After three weeks of rain we had a really nice weather on the day which was great to get some crowds over. We believe that there were 1 200 people, unrelated to footy, who watched the Grand Final. The biggest success was to see everybody with a smile on their faces. I had tears in my eyes when I saw the crowd during the final cheering and laughing.

On the next day we received text messages from many coaches and captains saying that it was the best Euro Cup organized so far. Which made both Frederic and I really proud.”

What were the biggest successes of the tournament?

Frederic Zohar : “There are two major success in this tournament: the first one is a sport success with the French team getting to the Grand Final (best performance ever) and the organization of a French women’s footy team ; the second success is that thanks to the city council we had a great venue with four real ovals and posts which gave us the best venue the Euro Cup ever had !”

What were the drawbacks or areas that could have been better?

Frederic Zohar : “The only missing thing from a media point of view was TV. Unfortunately no TV journalists showed up. Apart from that we had some issues with the protocol as some of the presentations didn’t go with the scheduled time. Last thing was we were hoping for more sponsors. The overall budget on the day was 76 000 €. With more sponsors we could have ensured wider media coverage and a better promotion of the game.”

“Looking back, it was the first time we organized such an event and we had some things we could have done earlier to prevent the last week of hard work under pressure.”

What kind of sponsorship/support did you have?

“On one hand, we had about 10 000 € sponsors in cash. Most of them were local and the two major ones were l’Ombrière, a vegetable farm, and the Regional council. On the other hand, we had loads of sponsors exchanging merchandise or staff members for advertisements. For example, we had security and physiotherapists for free.”

How many volunteers and what did they do?

“We had about 100 volunteers on the day. Most of them were doing the boundary and goal umpiring or working in the bars. But we also had volunteers welcoming the crowd, taking pictures, co-ordinating the food services, recording the game to have a full streaming coverage of ground 1 and taking care of the teams. All of them were professionals coming as volunteers on the day. It was definitively a great day thanks to all of them. The Bordeaux Bombers, our local club, was looking after the logistic and had a really tough day.”

How much local business support?

“The whole budget was secured thanks to local businesses or institutions. The budget of 76 000€ came from Bordeaux’ businesses and institutions or from the revenue raised on the day.”

What level of international support did you receive?

Frederic Zohar: “Our ambassador in Australia, Daniel Jackson, couldn’t come on the day as he was playing in the AFL finals the weekend before. But he sent us a jumper signed by the whole Richmond Tigers team for the raffle we organized. We also had our brother club the Boxwood Hills Football Club on site which was a great way for me to thank them. “

How difficult was it to organise logistically and financially?

Frederic Zohar:

“To set up real ovals wasn’t a piece of cake as no one had ever done that in France before. But our grounds were definitively looking like Australian ones thanks to the public services of Saint Médard en Jalles. Also with more money we would have had less problems to organize it.”

Alban Schieber:

“We did everything we had in mind in September 2012 and even a bit more. We had an ecological event and we managed to have the first Euro Cup making a profit!”

[Raiderdave]

:_<> :_<>



no piccys ?
gee I wonder why

probably because they were played in public parks next to jungle jims & people walking their dogs through so they could pinch a shit off


the desperation to look bigger then it is .. is a disease with fumblers
tiniest sport on the planet
tis fumbles & bumbles

[Swans4ever]

:_<> :_<>



no piccys ?
gee I wonder why

probably because they were played in public parks next to jungle jims & people walking their dogs through so they could pinch a shit off


the desperation to look bigger then it is .. is a disease with fumblers
tiniest sport on the planet
tis fumbles & bumbles

And doesn't it hurt that ever year AFL is growing overseas - it hurts and the pain won't stop will it RD!

[Raiderdave]

:_<> :_<>



no piccys ?
gee I wonder why

probably because they were played in public parks next to jungle jims & people walking their dogs through so they could pinch a shit off


the desperation to look bigger then it is .. is a disease with fumblers
tiniest sport on the planet
tis fumbles & bumbles

And doesn't it hurt that ever year AFL is growing overseas - it hurts and the pain won't stop will it RD!

:_<> :_<>

those three words in a row in a sentence
VFL.... growing & overseas :_<> :_<>


closely followed by
highly exaggerated figures

:_<> :_<>


remember their claim that 20,000 people fumble bumble & miss in Sth Africa

they were challenged on this
& they folded
200 would be more the number

same for their numbers in NZ
25,000 ......... down to 2500

PNG
oh well .... theres lots of players there..... how many is lots

ahhh

lots

>

:_<> :_<>

VFL can put on all the staged events it likes OS & out & out lie about its participation levels like it does in NSW & QLD
the sport is going ... nowhere

& that's the painful reality

[Swans4ever]

Where were they challenged? Last figures from this year said 20k participants - At least it's not like RL and Victoria - 50k schools kids have a rugby league experience but have less than 500 juniors - only 2500 seniors and juniors across the state. But somehow they make this into 50 k school kids - yet no one knows where this comes from - because no ones had ANY involvement with rugby league at school!

[NRLCrap1]

Hey Dave! When RL first began it would have played on such venues as well! From acorns grow oak trees......

[Swans4ever]

:_<> :_<>



no piccys ?
gee I wonder why

probably because they were played in public parks next to jungle jims & people walking their dogs through so they could pinch a shit off


the desperation to look bigger then it is .. is a disease with fumblers
tiniest sport on the planet
tis fumbles & bumbles

And doesn't it hurt that ever year AFL is growing overseas - it hurts and the pain won't stop will it RD!

:_<> :_<>

those three words in a row in a sentence
VFL.... growing & overseas :_<> :_<>


closely followed by
highly exaggerated figures

:_<> :_<>


remember their claim that 20,000 people fumble bumble & miss in Sth Africa

they were challenged on this
& they folded
200 would be more the number

same for their numbers in NZ
25,000 ......... down to 2500

PNG
oh well .... theres lots of players there..... how many is lots

ahhh

lots

>

:_<> :_<>

VFL can put on all the staged events it likes OS & out & out lie about its participation levels like it does in NSW & QLD
the sport is going ... nowhere

& that's the painful reality

Talented South Africans bolster Aussie AFL ranks
7.30 SOUTH AUSTRALIA BY MIKE SEXTON
UPDATED MON 1 JUL 2013, 8:14 AM AEST

PHOTOThabiso Phakedi and Thembinkosi 'Dhino' Zwane
Football teams are always on the hunt for talent but no other club has gone to the extreme lengths of the Jamestown-Peterborough Magpies.

The club in South Australia's mid-north has recruited two players from South Africa to bolster its ranks.

Thabiso Phakedi and Thembinkosi 'Dhino' Zwane are spending the winter at Jamestown as part of an exchange between the club and AFL South Africa.

According to the Magpies captain, Bernie Kelly the players have bolstered his struggling side.

"They have got excellent skills. Thabiso, in particular, has done well down back, holding off one of the league's leading goal kickers a couple of weeks ago," he said.

As well as adjusting to the wintry conditions, the new players are finding the game is played differently on Aussie turf.

"Back home when we play there is more space and free-running footy, but here it is more contested footy," Dhino Zwane said.

"Here you don't seem to have much space."

Second only to Australia
PHOTO
Phakedi and Zwane at training

The players are a product of the AFL's push into South Africa, where the league claims it now has the highest participation rate beyond Australia with an estimated 20,000 players.

Thabiso Phakedi is from a township 500 kilometres from Johannesburg and Dhino Zwane is from Durban.

Both grew up playing soccer, but in their late teens went to Australian Rules coaching clinics and fell in love with the game.

They were selected for the South African Lions side that competed in the AFL International Cup in 2011.

The South African program is co-ordinated by Tony Kelly, who grew up in Jamestown before he moved to Cape Town.

He suggested some of the Lions team could further their talents by spending a season in Australia and helping his old club gain some talented recruits.

The people of the mid-north have banded together to provide board and food for the two players and work experience on farms and in local businesses.

The agreement is only for one season, but Kelly believes it could lead to an ongoing relationship.

"It would be excellent if we could do this every year," he said.

"We are struggling to get them (players) from everywhere else so if we can start pulling them from South Africa that would be excellent."

WRONG AGAIN RD!

[Swans4ever]

AND AGAIN

NZ is first step in AFL's overseas dream
Date
April 24, 2013
Read later
Sam Lienert
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The AFL's first overseas premiership-season game is just a stepping stone towards their long-term international dreams.
AFL deputy chief executive Gillon McLachlan says the league will take the sport wherever it can, with Thursday night's Anzac Day clash between St Kilda and Sydney in Wellington the ideal starting point.
"We're about growing our great game and taking our story to as many places as we can," McLachlan told reporters in Wellington.
"We'll take any opportunity we can to take our game and give the opportunity for young children to play and for people to see and participate in our game.
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"It's an important stepping stone."
McLachlan said a NZ-based team was a long-term dream and there were also potential opportunities to take matches elsewhere around the globe.
Both he and Wellington Mayor Celia Wade-Brown said on Wednesday night the first game in NZ could already be declared a success in terms of media and public interest and economic impact.
"It's already really clear that it's going to be a great success," Wade-Brown told an AFL welcoming function.
"The hotels are full. I'm sure the bars, cafes and restaurants are doing a fine trade."
McLachlan said the sport already had more than 30,000 participants in NZ but Thursday night's game, which is set to attract more than 20,000 spectators, including 4500-plus Australian tourists, would be "the pinnacle of the journey so far".
"It feels that the heavy lifting's been worthwhile," he said.
He said the next task was to keep New Zealanders hooked beyond the initial novelty factor, with the Saints to host two games per season in Wellington from next year onwards, including an annual Anzac Day fixture.
McLachlan said the AFL would continue to put strong clubs up against the Saints in Wellington to maximise drawing power and seek new ways to harness the shared Anzac Day significance.
"The first (game) always has that 'Let's go and have a look' factor," McLachlan said.
"But we have huge confidence that when people go and see our game live that that only whets the appetite.
"We think we can develop people's passions and interests in our game.
"We also think we can develop the Anzac story and, as we look towards the centenary in 2015, I really think that's a great horizon to have a look at.
"I know the Wellington City Council have already got extraordinary ambitions on what they might do in a couple of years' time."

[Raiderdave]

:_<> :_<> :_<>

yeah


those massive Bullshit stories

there isn't one organised competition for fumbles & bumbles......... anywhere in Sth Africa
but yeah
20,000 play it there .....

visiting a kid in a school in Sth Africa does not a player make VFL..... you filthy lying scum
same in NZ

look at their comps & the teams :_<> :_<>
2500 players at best ....all mostly ex pat sthn mongas living there

the rest
fudgey fudgey


this abortion of a sport has almost no foreign players outside of Australia

[pHyR3]

I can make up crap too.

The players are a product of the NRL's push into South Africa, where the league claims it now has the highest participation rate beyond Australia with an estimated 10 million players.

If theres so many players, why is your world cup a piece of crap?

[Swans4ever]

:_<> :_<> :_<>

yeah


those massive Bullshit stories

there isn't one organised competition for fumbles & bumbles......... anywhere in Sth Africa
but yeah
20,000 play it there .....

visiting a kid in a school in Sth Africa does not a player make VFL..... you filthy lying scum
same in NZ

look at their comps & the teams :_<> :_<>
2500 players at best ....all mostly ex pat sthn mongas living there

the rest
fudgey fudgey


this abortion of a sport has almost no foreign players outside of Australia

Yeah keep believing that you pitty full excuse for a human being - your a lying gutless coward!

[NRLCrap1]

this abortion of a sport has almost no foreign players outside of Australia

Then how come we have an International Cup that doesn't allow expat Aussies, Dave? Do explain that one to us!

[pHyR3]

this abortion of a sport has almost no foreign players outside of Australia

Then how come we have an International Cup that doesn't allow expat Aussies, Dave? Do explain that one to us!

notice how he said, 'almost'

[NRLCrap1]

I noticed, and he's wrong. The number of countries that play IC is proof that it's nowhere near "almost".

[Raiderdave]

this abortion of a sport has almost no foreign players outside of Australia

Then how come we have an International Cup that doesn't allow expat Aussies, Dave? Do explain that one to us!

these 300 to 400 players in this VFL world cup would represent.............. every player in these countries
that's how cockhead :_<> :_<>

all you need to do is fumble bumble & miss whilst wearing a singlet in a park OS ... & you get to represent your country at this joke of a sport
well done
top job