Freedom

After six months of travelling the world and spreading the word about footy and the upcoming International Cup as the AFL's International Ambassador, Brett Kirk has returned home to Sydney.  As part of his journey he visited several USAFL clubs and conducted various coaching, umpiring and training sessions including New York, Boston, Denver, Arizona and Los Angeles.  He is now taking time to share his experiences as he continues to promote the International Cup.  In an interview with the AFL when asked where, of the places he spent time, he thought Australian Football had real potential, Kirk made the following comments.

The AFL has released the draw for the International Cup to be held in Sydney and Melbourne August 12 – 27.  There will be 18 countries competing in the men’s competition. Round one will be a seeding round used to determine two divisions. Teams have been split into six groups of three with each team to play the other two teams in its group in lightning match format of 2 X 15 minute halves. Based on the results of round one the top twelve teams will be placed in Division 1 and the remaining six will make up Division 2.

During her recent trip to the USA, the Prime Minister of Australia, Julia Gillard, dropped in to pay a visit to to the New York Magpies at thier sponsor pub, The Australian in Manhattan, NY.  The purpose of her visit in New York was to thank the Australian expat community for their fundraising efforts for the recent flood victims of Australia.