Sheedy & Silvagni at the US Nationals

Legendary Coach, Kevin Sheedy, spent his first two weeks of retirement from coaching footy doing what he loves most – coaching footy. Sheedy’s trip to North America included opening the Toronto Stock Exchange, meeting with sponsors of 'The Northwind', Canada’s national football team, watching the Northwind vs. Convict match-up and the Ontario Australian Football League Grand Final, helping USFooty Kids National Coordinator Denis Ryan with a High School clinic, giving a pep-talk to the Seattle Grizzlies prior to their Division II Grand Final match up, and consoling the San Diego Lions after their tough loss in the Division 1 Grand Final. If the first two weeks of Sheedy’s retirement are anything to go by, he's not going to have much time for fishing and golf.

Kevin Sheedy and AFL Fullback of the Century Steven Silvagni were guests of honor at the USFooty National Championships on October 13 and 14, 2007. Sheedy and Silvagni spent the Saturday and Sunday walking around between the four fields hosting the four men’s divisions and the single women's division. On Saturday night the two presented awards to the USAFL Revolution Team of the Decade and the USAFL Team of the Decade. The latter squad, half of which were Australians, included former AFL players Cameron Trickey O’Brien and John Ironmonger. After the Divison I Grand Final, Silvagni and Sheedy presented awards to the best and fairest players, the Divisional Runners-up and the Divisional Champions. The two seemed to get the most pleasure presenting the women’s awards.

World Footy News got the opportunity to sit down with both Sheedy and Silvagni during the weekend. According to Sheedy, "It has been a fantastic trip, opening the Toronto Stock Exchange and doing school clinics with Denis Ryan. It is great to see USFooty and AFL Canada promoting Australian Football and Australia." Sheedy noted one important difference between Australia and America: "No one argues with the umpires. They just get on with the game."

Overall, "It is great to see how excited everyone is about being here and playing footy. There were 700 to 800 people at the function on Saturday night. The competitive spirit is great. There is women's footy, even the Kentucky netball players were out there playing." As a Fort Lauderdale Fighting Squid walked into our tent sporting a blue and white jumper with a prominent squid on the front, Sheedy said, "I can't believe how many different jumpers there are this weekend." Silvagni was impressed with the passion. "I've been surprised by how hard the game is. It is serious. Everyone is passionate about what they are doing."

Like many people that have heard about the new cricket and football stadium being built in Fort Lauderdale, Sheedy is very excited about the possibilities. "I met with Mayor Kaplan of Lauderhill a couple of years ago and it is great to see his vision being realized. It is like a fort being built in the St Laurence River." Sheedy said referring to early American history. "It makes a statement. Footy is in North America and it is here to stay. The AFL is taking notice. I hope we will see fields like this built around the country – in the North East, the South West and the North West."

This was Sheedy’s second visit to the Nationals and he was very impressed with how things had advanced since Atlanta in 2005. "The standard of the games is up over what I saw two years ago. I was impressed with the play of Seattle and they are playing in Division II. The only thing has been the fields, but you can't help that given the drought that this area has had."

Sheedy is very excited about the prospects of the footy in the US, but it is clear that things have to improve at the junior level. "What Mike McFarlane is doing in Vancouver and what Denis Ryan is doing in Baltimore is very important for growing the game." Noting that USFooty has been going just 10 years, "Just imagine this in 25 years."

- Chris Adams
(1020)