Birds of prey tear up Tigers

The Baltimore/Washington Eagles were able to build on the momentum of their win of the friendly match in North Carolina by beating the visiting Tigers 17.7 (109) to 4.4 (28). The victory over the North Carolina Tigers in the first EAFL game of the season puts the Eagles squarely on top of the standings for their next match against the Boston Demons.

The Tigers came up for battle, but the Eagles struck early and often, dominating possession out of the ruck while racking up eight goals in the first quarter.

The Eagles, last year's division II champion at Nationals in Las Vegas extended the team's current win streak to eight (including the friendly a month ago in North Carolina). The next big challenge for the club will be to host the Boston Demons who are traveling to DC on Saturday, June 23rd.

The Tigers severely damaged their chances of competing in division one at the Nationals this year by racking up not one, but two Eastern Australian Football League losses on Saturday. After dropping the first match to the Eagles, the Tigers took on the Philadelphia Hawks.

After a fairly even first quarter during which former Philadelphia coach Andy Lochhead noted that the Hawks were fielding a largely inexperienced squad, missing veteran defenseman Greg Hodur, midfield standout Liam McGroaty, and fellow Aussie and former team captain Pete Tingate, Philadelphia began pulling away.

With a final of 11.16 (82) to 4.11 (35), North Carolina had opportunities, but not accuracy, as it often squandered chances wide, or short, allowing the Hawks backline to make the plays.

EAFL 2007 LADDER

TEAM GP W L PF PA % BWE 1 1 0 109 28 389 PHI 1 1 0 82 35 234 NCT 2 0 2 63 191 33 BOS - - - - - - NYM - - - - - -

EAFL 2007 SCORES & GAME SYNOPSIS

BWE 17.7 (109) to NCT 4.4 (28) - EAFL GAME #1 PHI 11.16 (82) to NCT 4.11 (35) - EAFL GAME #2

BWE PERFORMANCE IN 2007 EAFL GAMES

Name Goals Name Played Florence 6 21 players 1 Carroll 5 - - Marshall Tyndall 3 Elliott Wheelock, R. Worner 2 - Borchardt Stanley Thompson 1 - -

Contact with the motherland

My wife, who takes photos at the games I play in (when she is able to attend), posts the photos at the flickr site. It seems an Aussie gentleman from Adelaide stumbled across Kelly's shots, unaware that the game was played stateside and invited her to post as part of a group that post footy pictures.

Seeing as the players are more skilled and the action more intense in Oz, I think you will find that Cory has had better opportunity to get some great shots of the game (this is not a knock on my wife, who I think is an excellent photographer, it's just harder to make a club sport look on par with the pros).

If you like these pics, then, by all means, visit Cory's flickr site. There are other shots of the AFL in action there.

In other news, the Eastern Australian Football League (EAFL) kicks off this Saturday for the BW Eagles against the North Carolina Tigers in Poolesville, MD. It is a rematch of a friendly played in Durham, NC about a month ago.

Additional notes from the BWE Home office -

Eagles and Supporters,

Welcome to the start of the EAFL footy season for the Eagles. After traveling to North Carolina just a few short weeks ago, the Tigers return the favor and head north to take on the Eagles in Round 1 of the EAFL comp. As an added bonus, the Tigers will also take on the Philly Hawks in game two of the day.

Add to that a children's clinic that will be run between games and you have a full day of footy to take in. Please contact Chris Adams (christopher_ p_adams@hotmail. com) if you or your little one would like to participate. For more information on Chris' efforts with the USFooty Kids program, please see www.dcfootykids. blogspot. com.

We will be in picturesque Poolesville, MD for the day. The field is adjacent to the Capitol Polo Ground (where the Metro Grand Final was played last year). The map to the ground is below.

http://maps. live.com/ ?v=2&sp=Point. qhgztk8jgg71_ Poolesville% 2C%20Maryland% 2C%20United% 20States_ __~Polygon. qhh40d8jgm8p_ qhgs6p8jgjbr_ qhgvxp8jg6h9_ qhh9q98jg81m_ qhh4xd8jgmp8_ qhh40d8jgm8p_ Footy%20Ground_ ___%230000FF_ %23008000_ 2pt_Single_ Solid_qhh1yz8jgg bw&encType= 1

The entrance to the ground, on the map is at the intersection of Hughes Road and Sugarland Road. We will have signs pointing your way as you come up along River Road from the Beltway.

The first game will start at noon. Kids clinic will begin between 1:30 and 2:00 and the Tigers/Hawks game will take place shortly there after or roughly 2:45pm. Eagles players should be at the ground by 10:30 to help with setup.

If we have the numbers on the day of we will also attempt to have an Ausball game.

Please note that this ground has been lent to us with the provision that we leave it as we found it. If we ever want to use this site again we have to take utmost care of it, meaning no garbage left behind and everyone needs to be considerate of the surrounding neighbors. Read between the lines but no BBQs and keep the drinking to a minimum if you just can't wait until the evening.

And speaking of the evening - we'll be heading back to the rooftop deck at RnR Lounge located at 717 6th Street N.W. Washington DC 20001. This is right next to the Verizon Center. Plenty of parking across the street in the Gallery Place garage or take Metro to Chinatown/Gallery Place on the red, yellow or green lines. Under 21s can get in but cannot drink to state the obvious.

Thanks all and I look forward to seeing you all out this Saturday!


Rob Brunton
President, Baltimore Washington Eagles
www.baltimoredceagles.com

Feel free to drop by the field and root us on if you're in the neighborhood.

Baltimore Bohs wilt in the heat

The 90 degree heat worked against Baltimore on Saturday. See below for the story from the Baltimore/Washington Eagles Web site -

NORTHERN VIRGINIA SECURES FIRST WIN AGAINST RAGING BALTIMORE
Northern Virginia Ties The Ladder Up With Come From Behind Victory; 13.7 (85) to 9.4 (58)
Saturday, 02 June at West Potomac Park, Washington, DC - (Story contributed by Dave Schall)
After running into field space problem followed by more field space problem, the Eagles clamped down on a field Saturday that had to end regardless by 11:30a.m. What they crammed in a two and a half hour time frame was one game of Ausball, a full-team practice run and 3/4 of a close Metro game that saw Northern Virginia fight back to be in contention on the ladder against a strong Baltimore side.

With the stars aligning and both teams fielding nine of their own players, both teams took to the field hard in a heavy and humid environment. The scores were rapid and the action was non-stop as Baltimore took an early lead. Some great work by players like Mike LeValley, Steve Florence, PJ Anderer, and Danny Carr put the Baltimore side on the board and at the same time, stumping a hungry Northern Virginia offense.

For the second quarter, Northern Virginia shifted things into a whole other gear. Spearheading the effort, veteran players James Boyd, Greg Borchardt, Kevin Stanley and Cord Chase all made the plays that needed to be made and brought things a lot closer and more difficult for Baltimore. Stealing a two-point margin, the third and final quarter would prove to be anyone's game.

Luckily for Northern Virginia, Aaron Tyndall, RJ Wheelock and even first-time player Ryan all played some of the best football this Metro year has seen. The hits were hard, the talk was great and the goal kicking was nearly spot on every time. Ending the game, the players from both sides had given it their all and clearly have their eyes set on a second round of intense Metro competition as well as the upcoming EAFL games against North Carolina and Boston.

>>QUARTER SCORES:

TEAMS	1Q	2Q	3Q	4Q
NVA	2.3 (15)	7.5 (47)	13.7 (85)	X
BAL	4.2 (26)	7.3 (45)	9.4 (58)	X

>>GOAL SCORERS: A.Tyndall - NVA (5); S.Florence - BAL, J.Boyd - NVA (3); M.LeValley - BAL, D.Ryan - BAL, K.Stanley - NVA, G.Borchardt - NVA (2); D.Carr - BAL, D.Thompson - BAL, G.Wheelock - NVA, C.Chase - NVA (1); 4 Opposition Rushed Scores.

>>PLAYERS: BAL - J.Worner, D.Carr, K.Smith, P.Anderer, S.Frearson, M.LeValley, S.Florence, D.Thompson, D.Ryan, A.Pritchard, T.Goodman; NVA - R.Wheelock, J.Boyd, G.Wheelock, D.Moore, K.Stanley, G.Borchardt, A.Tyndall, C.Chase, G.Hamshar, Ryan ???; Umpires - D.Smith, M.Bishop, J.Engwerda, G.Elliott, C.Carroll; Scores - D.Schall, J.Mott

Baltimore remains ahead on percentage points -

METRO 2007 LADDER

TEAM	GP	W	L	PTS	PF	PA	%
BAL	2	1	1	4	151	113	134
NVA	2	1	1	4	154	155	99
DC	2	1	1	4	125	162	77

Photo for this story provided by Kelly Fowler.

Metro Preview: Bohemians to take on NoVa in DC on Saturday

A quick hit on what Metro Footy is - in the United States, various metropolitan area teams such as the two I have played for - Philadelphia Hawks (originally the Crows), and the Baltimore/Washington Eagles set up metro leagues. Metro is like scrimmaging - the team splits into three or four smaller teams, (sometimes more, depending on numbers) in order to play nine on nine, or eleven on eleven footy in order to sharpen skills.

Currently the BWEagles have three metro teams - Baltimore, Washington, and Northern Virginia. Tomorrow the 1-0 Baltimore squad will face off in a steamy match along the Potomac in Washington DC against the 0-1 Northern Virginia squad.

Baltimore has the experience, but NoVa has the younger team with the greater speed. Will that be enough for Virginia to break into the win column?

Week one of the Metro season saw DC beat NoVa 14.13 (97) to 10.9 (69). In the next match, Baltimore dominated DC 14.9 (93), to 4.4 (28). Can the Bohemians keep their momentum up against last year's metro finalist after beating last year's champs?

As long as the Bohemians can slow the game down with clean marks and handballs, they will have every chance to win the game. If they let the game turn into a footrace, then it favors the younger Virginia squad.

METRO 2007 LADDER

TEAM	GP	W	L	PTS	PF	PA	%
BAL	1	1	0	4	93	28	332
DC	2	1	1	4	125	162	77
NVA	1	0	1	0	69	97	71

Footy 101

Welcome to my Footy blog. This blog, I hope, will serve a dual purpose. I am hoping to educate my fellow Americans on how Australian football works, as well as report on the game in the United States.

Australian rules Football is a cousin, or brother of American football, both being originally derived from Rugby. Currently, footy more closely resembles rugby than its American counterpart, however, both offer fast paced, full-contact action...one of the big differences being the lack of protective equipment in footy.

The field, shown right, is also (obviously) different. The playing field may be as much as 135-185m long and 110-155m wide. The centre square is 50x50 with a center point where the ruck plays (this would be like a more physical version of the center in basketball). There is also a curved line 50m away from the goal line. Adjacent goal posts, of which there are four, are 6.4 metres apart.

If a player splits the middle set of uprights on a kick, that's worth six points (a goal) towards the final score. The outer uprights count for one (a behind). Also counting for a behind: and ball off the posts count for one, if a defender touches or kicks the ball resulting in the ball passing through any part of the posts, or if the offensive player touches the ball with any part of his body above the knee before it goes between the goal posts.

Typically, most American teams parallel the season played in Australia, playing from March through Nationals in October (the AFL in Australia holds the Grand Final, their version of the Super Bowl at the end of September).

There is a very in depth entry at Wikipedia outlining the rules of the game, please, if you want to learn more about the rules, do visit - I even ganked some of the above from that site. I will get more into the rules myself at a later date.

For now, I'm going to address what a newcomer to the sport is likely to see. For the unfamiliar, the sport looks more like a hybrid of soccer, rugby, and basketball and is difficult to follow at first. The game is fast-paced, looks chaotic, and is violent. As non-sensical as the game looks when you first come to it, once you begin to get familiar with it, you begin to see strategies unfold, and notice that teams play different styles of ball.

Currently there exist almost 50 club teams with over a thousand participants playing the sport in North America under the banner of the USAFL - United States Australian Football League. That doesn't include affiliated youth and women's clubs.

Anyone out there interested, I would love to hear from you at kevinmjsmith@gmail.com, or just post a message in comments. Thanks.

Top photo, courtesy of the Philadelphia Hawks, bottom photo taken by Kelly Fowler.