News — MAAFL

Nashville were only able to muster up 7 players to make the trip up to Chicago. This resulted in a forfeit and the crowning of Chicago United as MAAFL premiers.

The travellers and Chicago put together two teams and played a heated match to get a good run in leading up to Nationals. The United jerseys won on the day and sent Drakey off to retirement with a win (with only his beloved Wrigleyville missing out on a Metro premiership the only blemish in his career).

Milwaukee and Chicago had a strong hit-out in what hopefully will be the warmest weekend of the season. Milwaukee made the drive with only 10 players, Chicago grateful that no-one had to come through O’Hare had a full squad to select from. The result was two strong teams were selected and a competitive game of 18s was on the cards.

Right from the get-go there was no thoughts of Chicago vs Chicago or Milwaukee vs Milwaukee with both sides going in hard regardless of who their opponent was. Good, hard, MAAFL footy played at its warmest.

The combined side wearing the United jumpers outlasted the guys wearing the Bombers jerseys with the only loser of the day being whoever gets to wash the jumpers.

Congrats to those of you that actually made the trip up to Minnesota this past weekend. The challenge began way before the first bounce, however full credit to the 15 of us that took the field against Des Moines and Minnesota in the afternoon. Their ability to focus on the task at hand knowing full well that we were behind the eightball in terms of being undermanned from the outset.

Our first game against a determined and constantly improving Des Moines outfit turned out to be an inspiring win with a number of players stepping up to cover the losses to mother nature. Jayson Schmelzer, Mark ‘Gunner’ Gzynski and Graham ‘Crackers’ Brennan led the way up forward consistently finding a lot of ball and more importantly rewarding themselves and the hard work up the field to work Des Moines into the ground.

Slow starts have plagued us this year, the lads stepped up against a full strength Freeze outfit and restricted their scoring in the first half. The back line must have thought the Freeze had 22 players on the ground, but to their credit withstood the avalanche, however we were unable to apply any scoreboard pressure at the other end, however opportunities were few and far between. At half time: CAFA 0.0.0 and MN 1.6.12 With some of our key position players preparing to endure a night with the package back in Chi-town, our makeshift team with 5 Des Moines players stepping into help us out, held their heads high. But in the end, with little rotations available to us in the middle, saw their midfield shift gear, increasing their inside fifty forays, and the scoreboard began to tick over for them. Eventually running out winners 5.9.39 to 0.1.1. The scoreboard really didn’t tell the true story, i have no doubt CAFA can avenge this game at Nationals, something to look forward to! MN have set the bar pretty high, they will field 2 solid teams this year, we need to continue to build on our fitness and make sure that MN don’t have a chance at Nationals this year.

That said we now switch into overdrive, and set ourselves for the Milwaukee Bombers who will no doubt come into Chi-town full of confidence after beating us recently in Madison on a postage stamp!

In picture perfect conditions down at the lakefront and with the DirecTV blimp circling above, the Columbus Jackaroo’s and Chicago United played out a great contest of Aussie Rules footy. Columbus took care of Nashville easily at home a few weeks ago and were keen to sink their teeth into United. With relentless pressure on the ball from both sides, Chicago kicked away and won by a scoreline that didn’t reflect the quality of the contest on the field.

The Chicago backline did not give an inch all day and was highlighted by best on ground David Deutz on the Columbus holding the Columbus spearhead Ward to a single goal. Although the ball found its way into the Jackaroo’s fifty regularly it was quickly returned back up the field to Chicago’s advantage. With the Chicago full forward Oscar being tied up by the big full-back and Chet earning 20+ marks and rebounds the Chicago midfield and pockets excelled to put the goals on the board.

So a great win for Chicago and a great showing at Brownstone Tavern by both teams passionate about the game and who both look forward every year to playing against each other and celebrating after together.

Final Scores:

Good signs ahead boys! In a year through injury, travel schedules all affecting training and attendance at games I saw progression last weekend, we managed to put our first W up on the board, and losing to MN & C’bus. Yes you could argue a loss is a loss, and while no one likes losing, we have to take positives from each game.

Way back in Louisville, we were underdone but can honestly say we gave it our all, yes we didn’t end up on top, but were gallant. The following week against a strong New York outfit, my main interests were with our structure and movement. And for periods of the game we were able to match it with a Div 1 team.

Columbus really cut us up, I could see after the game the disappointment in your faces that these guys had beaten us for just the second time. In all seriousness we should remain confident that will beat these guys at Nationals should we come up against them. The heat, lush grass and the dying wind in the last quarter, worked against us, but even under duress we were able to instill panic into them after winning the third quarter. Another one that possibly got away.

Last weekend was a tough weekend, we took 18 blokes up to Madison for three games: Minnesota, Columbus & Kansas City. Once again some really good individual efforts, EZ, Wolfy, Xavier, Pedro, Hayesey, Sars & Pat ‘no more study’ Defors showing us the way in determination and skill to keep us in every game and keep going when there was literally nothing left in the tank! We should be very proud of our effort.

Saturday May 21 saw the boys from the Ontario Football League in Canada head down to Chicago to take on the combined United side in what was be a cracker of a day of International Aussie Rules football. First game kicked off between Chicago and Hamilton at 2pm, with the main game between Chicago and the OAFL Steam at 4pm with post game celebrations at the Brownstone Tavern.

The weather gods held back and the dandelions blew strong down at Waveland field to provide a great afternoon of AFL football in the Windy City.  With the BBQ sizzling away and a live(ish) DJ it was a festival atmosphere on the lakefront.

Two games were played between Chicago and a number of players from the mid-west (Des Moines, Milwaukee, Minnesota, St Louis).  Both were hard fought and provided some spectacular highlights.

Game 1 between Hamilton/OAFL and Chicago/MAAFL (2:15pm)

Game 2 between OAFL Steam and Chicago/MAAFL (4:15pm)

Post-game celebrations were held at the Brownstone Tavern to witness Brian Hoyt receive the Blue Jacket (for his efforts in defense) and Jason “Pony-Boy” Wilhelm take the coveted Golden Goose.