What are those Aussies up to?

Given my interest in International affairs I contacted AFDA Director of High Performance Piers Truter about their recent Championships as well as 2010.  My primary purpose for contacting him was to determine whether or not it was time to get excited about the next International meetup.

Our first chance to get an idea of who from Australia will make the trek to Europe will be on July 1st 2009.  The July 1st deadline is a non-binding deadline by which teams with an interest in Prague must make their intent known.  The early lead time also allows AFDA organizers to determine whether qualification tournaments are needed.  While AFDA National Championships were on April 23rd Piers stated that “The April results are not considered in this decision.”  The deadline will also allow AFDA to lobby for additional bids should they need them.

The second deadline for teams is in October where they will need to pay a team fee and presumably learn when qualification tournaments will be.  Piers has indicated that the tournaments will likely occur in “early 2010 (Feb-May).”  The picture from the Australian side isn’t as straight-cut as for North American and European teams.  The cost involved for Australians traveling to Europe is enourmous and so the thought of Prague isn’t even in the minds of most players.

All this begs the question:  With many players unable to justify the expense will there be an amalgamation resulting in teams similar, in strength, to the National teams in Vancouver?  Will there be any Australian teams attending?

comments powered by Disqus