More like a black hole than a sun, players who are out of contract are drawn to lucrative contract offers from the Gold Coast Suns. The Suns are allowed to offer up a contract to one player from each existing club that have a player out of contract as of the end of this season.

All Australian Defender Nathan Bock and exciting young defender Nathan Krakouer are the first two of these transfers to have signed with the Gold Coast SUNS for its inaugural AFL season. More will be announced in the coming weeks.

Last year it was Sydney Swan Tadgh Kennelly who returned to Ireland and led his county Kerry to the All Ireland GAA Gaelic Football final against Cork – and ultimate victory to win the Sam Maguire Cup.

This year, it remains to be seen if a win can be achieved; however, former Collingwood player Martin Clarke has helped his County Down side to make the All-Ireland final for the first time since 1994.

Once again this year World Footy News is collating a list of all the Grand Final parties around the world. To have yours added to the list please leave details using the "Post a Comment" feature below or email me by clicking on my name above (you'll need to register with the site).

Last year we had approximately 10,000 views to this list - so make sure that those looking to get to your party can find your event.

Please note: The information is entered here in good faith. worldfootynews.com is not responsible for any incorrect information posted to this story. Wherever possible attempt to check ahead to make sure the party you are planning on attending is still going ahead and has room for you. There have been cases of sell outs and late changes e.g. when a venue could not secure a telecast.

Round 22 is here and Canadian Mike Pyke is in the thick of it for the Swans. With Shane Mumford struggling with a strained knee and possibly in doubt even for the first week of finals - Mike Pyke looms as the ruck key for the Swans in a battle for a home final.

List changes today announced by AFL Football Operations Manager Adrian Anderson today are set to allow more opportunities for internationals to be added to AFL club lists. The AFL Commission has approved these changes to the AFL Player Rules to widen the ability of clubs to be able to attract and develop talent during the expansion period while Gold Coast and Team GWS join the national competition.

Mr Anderson said the Commission’s meeting in Melbourne today had approved recommendations from the AFL Player Movement Working Party, as part of the annual examination of the competition's draft and trading rules. He said the changes would come into immediate effect for the 2010-11 off-season, covering:
- Rookie List Rules.
- The ability for clubs to attract Athletes from other sports to the AFL competition.
- Eligibility Rules around Rookie List, International, International Scholarship and Three-Year Non-Registered Players.
- The introduction of an Inactive List, allowing players to take a 12-month leave of absence for exceptional and compelling circumstances, without taking up a list spot.

The Australian Government's major overseas aid program is AusAID, which is described on its website as "the Australian Government agency responsible for managing Australia's overseas aid program. The objective of the aid program is to assist developing countries reduce poverty and achieve sustainable development, in line with Australia's national interest".

For many years the program has funded, amongst many other positions, Australian football development roles in selected countries such as South Africa and Australian Youth Ambassadors to Tonga and elsewhere. In recent months this funding has attracted criticism from media in Sydney, notably by writers with strong leanings to other football codes.

So are taxpayers getting value for the money spent? Are recipient countries having valuable aid wasted on football?

The AFL is currently allowing fans to vote on possible rule changes for season 2011. The voting is not binding, meaning the AFL may go against the votes, but a strong response is likely to sway them.

You can take part in the voting at: AFL rules - your say. The poll started last week but only remains open until this Wednesday, so hurry if you have a strong opinion.

This article completes the list of games that have been included in our (unofficial) worldfootynews.com World Rankings from 1994 through to the present. Here we show the matches from the start of the 2008 International Cup up to July 30th - just before the Canada versus USA match and the inaugural European Championships.

At the completion of the North American and European matches that are being played this week, we will include the results in our Rankings and present them as the Rankings against which we will reference in future, i.e. they will be our first recognised use of the new scheme. However, if good reason is shown that the system needs changing then it can be.

Hawks players Michael Osborne, Brent Guerra, Clinton Young, Brent Renouf, Carl Peterson and Ryan Schoenmakers and Assistant Coach John Barker, were joined by 13CABS drivers and their families for a football carnival to celebrate 13CABS Multicultural Harmony Day at Waverley Park today.

The drivers and their children, many of whom had never picked up a football before, participated in a skills clinic in the afternoon, which included with a focus on team values of respect and responsibility. Hawks forward Michael Osborne said the afternoon was particularly important, especially in the wake of an assault on a taxi driver in Springvale less than 24 hours ago.

The AFL Commission announced yesterday that it had granted Team GWS a licence to become the 18th team in the AFL competition, starting in 2012. The announcement of the licence being granted was made Thursday after the formal signing of an agreement with the NSW Government and the RAS for a $60 million redevelopment of the Sydney Showgrounds – the home ground of Team GWS.

The inclusion of Team GWS has potentially very big ramifications for footy internationally. Coach Kevin Sheedy has previously flagged his intentions to seek international footy talent and backed that up this year with the recruitment of Bayanda Sobetwa from South Africa.