Last week in a Herald Sun article, Hawthorn President, Jeff Kennett questioned the rationale and the AFL's commitment to growing the game outside of Australia. "I don't know why they do it. AFL football will never be an international game. To be quite honest, I would rather my players, if they were asked, didn't go on the trip. It's an unnecessary risk. I think it's just a junket for the officials of the AFL and the media.''
Mtutuzeli Hlomela (Mtutu), the South African Captain at the 2008 International Cup, who has greatly contributed to the development of the game in South Africa responded to Kennett's comments with the following letter.
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 USAFL develops Aussie Rules in the USA not just by promoting playing of the sport across the country - it actively promotes umpire accreditation too. Umpiring? Yes! After all, you can't have a game without umpires. From early on, promotion of umpires has been a priority, with hosting of umpire clinics as early as 2000 and the USA was the first ever country to send an umpire to the International Cup in 2002.
The United States Australian Football League (USAFL) is pleased to announce that H.E. the Hon Kim Beazley, Australian Ambassador to the United States, has accepted an offer to become the USAFL Patron. This marks a significant step forward in the USAFL’s efforts to further develop partnerships with key Australian government officials in the US. 
Dan Lehane is a 17 year old New York native who is in his fourth season with the New York Magpies. Dan has been selected in the World 18 team that will compete in the under 16 2011 NAB AFL U16 National Championships in Sydney, Australia during the week starting July 11.
Austin Crows wingman Jesse Leos (pictured left with Mark "Bomber" Thompson) has made the trip to Australia this year to play with the Barwon Heads football club in the Bellarine Football Leauge. After some preseason games and his first two regular season games in the reserves, Leos has this week been picked to play in the senior team against Torquay at Torquay.
