USA Revolution’s players contest for a mark (catch) during the last Australian Football International Cup in 2005. (Robert Cianflone/Getty Images)
The third Australian Football International Cup will be staged across five days in Melbourne, Victoria, and Warrnambool from Aug. 31 to Sept. 4.
The former president of the USAFL (USfooty) league, Mark “Wheels” Wheeler, is Australian-born and grew up playing footy in the state of Victoria, told The Epoch Times about the standard of USfooty.
“There are currently players running around in USfooty who, if they went through the AFL clubs rookie system, are good enough to compete at the highest level in Australia.
“The majority of our guys are six foot plus. Our International team looks like a football team,” said Wheeler during the 2005 Tour.
“Our coaching and umpiring accreditations are the same as they have in Australia as set by the AFL standard—it’s a consistent level world-wide.”
Footy is played in US from coast to coast. Formed in 1997 the USAFL, includes approximately 55 clubs, drawing on players form clubs with names like the Arizona Hawks, Boston Demons, Denver Bulldogs, and the New York Magpies.
At the last Cup, in 2005 the Revolutions’ Jeff Purcell said: “Most of the guys who pick the game up fastest are the ones who played soccer as kids.”
“I started playing in 2000, I was living in Phoenix, Arizona and found a team that was forming…that was the end of my soccer career and the beginning of my footy career,” said the television producer.
“We’re a big strong team,” said Purcell of the US team. “We don’t have the background…we don’t grow up playing footy. The Irish grow up playing Gaelic football they have a little bit of a head start. The Swedes know about Aussie Rules and they might even have a kick when they’re kids. We don’t have that. Our most experienced guys have maybe six or seven years experience.”
Over 16 teams will contest for right to be world champions of all the teams outside Australia. The honor of that title is contested every three years in Australia. The Australian-styled—colloquially called Aussie Rules or simply footy—football is played by over 30,000 participants worldwide.
Countries represented this Cup are Canada, China, Denmark, Finland Great Britain, Ireland, Japan, Nauru, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, South Africa, Sweden, USA, and the Peace Team comprising Israeli and Palestinian players.
The USA Revolution meets Denmark in the first round group series structured in the soccer-styled World Cup format on Aug. 27 in Melbourne.
