Seattle Grizzlies Australian Rules Football Club: Blog Posts

Watch Live Footy and Support Grizzlies

Matt Muller

If you plan on signing up for the live footy streaming service, please use the link below as the club will get a referral fee:
http://www.afl.livesport.tv/?WT.mc_id=affseattlefooty

Seattle Grizzlies ARFC Appoint New President

Ed Fayette

Seattle Grizzlies would like to congratulate Damon Wills on his appointment to Club President. At a meeting this last weekend, club leaders decided unanimously to appoint Damo to the position given his previous record of service to the club and his motivation and desire to propel it onwards to bigger and better things.

Damo's first orders of business as President will include revitalizing the current club management structure in order to better focus on key club development areas such as sponsorship, training management, recruitment and social club activities. Also on the agenda: leading the Grizzlies on to their first Division I USAFL National Championship title.

Stepping aside after more than 13 years as President is club co-founder and hall-of-fame member, Matthew Muller. In addition to helping found the club, Matty has worked tirelessly (and without pay) for more than a decade turning it from a small group of ex-pats "having a kick", into one of the top competitive clubs in US Footy. All the while maintaining focus on it remaining not just a football club, but also an active social organization, raising funds for special needs (helped raise over $12,000 for the 2009 bushfire relief), and ensuring the Grizzlies always remained a club open to all-comers.

During his tenure, Matty led the Grizzlies to a 2008 USAFL Div II National Championship, a 2nd place 2009 USAFL Div I finish, as well as three regional tournament and six PNW conference championships to include the 2011 Portland Stumptown Throwdown.

Though Matty will maintain an active role with the club, he is stepping aside from President duties in order to focus more time on family, as he's got a little one on the way in just a short month or so. The Grizzlies would like to send a heartfelt thank you to Matt for his hard work over the years, and to his missus Linda for allowing him to do so!

Cheers, Damo and Matty.

Ed Fayette

Captain, Seattle Grizzlies

Footy on the Tele

Ed Fayette

If you haven't got footy on the brain by now it's time to start... And what better way than watching the NAB Cup in the wee hours of the morning along with your mates at the Kangaroo & Kiwi with some (low-cal) beverages?

Matches start live tonight at 1145pm with a round robin between the Tigers, Roos and Hawks. Full upcoming schedule of games is available at afl.livesport.tv.

As Ian Cleary would say: "FOOTY!!!"

2011 US Footy Championships Updates

Ed Fayette

The Grizzlies have arrived in Austin and are busy preparing for their matches this weekend. To stay updated on results throughout the tourney you can check the official USAFL website www.usfooty.com.... Or, for up to the minute updates on all things Grizzly, follow our official twitter feed @seattlefooty. Cheers!

AFL Finals Action Live at Kangaroo & Kiwi

Ed Fayette

In addition to their live coverage of every match of the 2011 Rugby World Cup, our sponsor pub the Kangaroo & Kiwi (kangarooandkiwipub.com) have informed us they will have the tele's showing Geelong v. West Coast LIVE at 9:20 pm this Friday, September 23, immediately following the AUS v. US Rugby WC replay. If you're looking for some grub before the match be sure to get there early to have a look at the new Rugby WC menu... Min's new lamb sandwich is out of this world. Oh, and did we mention that Boags is back?

In addition, they will be pre-empting all live rugby matches on Friday, September 30th in honor of the 172nd-ish Annual Seattle Grizzlies Live AFL Grand FInal Live Coverage Night Party and Feed at the K&K (SGLAFLGFLCNP&F@K&K for short). As always, it's going to get packed real quick so get there early for a good spot. Grizzlies will be on site selling raffle tickets and hosting giveaways of what will surely be some high quality gear. This is one of the Grizzly's top fundraising efforts of the year, and our last big push before Nationals so we hope to see each and every one of our supporters there!

That said, why anyone cares about the finals anymore now that St. Kilda has been eliminated is beyond me... Regardless, i'll see you there.

Grizzlies Lend Legs to Seattle Gaelic Football Club

Ed Fayette

On June 14, 2011 in what has become an annual tradition, the Seattle Grizzlies loaned players to the Seattle Gaels for exhibition matches versus Portland, Oregon and Vancouver, British Columbia during the annual Green Lake Gaelic Games.

Attending the games, and pictured left to right above, were Grizzlies Alex Jessup, Ryan Kastl, Aran Parker, captain Ed Fayette, and former captain Josh Anfinson. Despite some difficulty adjusting to the "minimal contact" nature of Gaelic Football, the Griz grasped the game (and it's awkward volleyball shaped footy) rapidly, and quickly stood out among their fellow players.

A big thanks to the boys at the Seattle Gaels (www.seattlegaels.com) for having us out once again, we look forward to smashing up their opponents with them again next year, and wish them best of luck at the GAA Finals later this year.

Winkler/Choate - who is the biggest loser?

Matt Muller

At our first MetroFooty game on Saturday night, a pair of scales appeared at the end of the game and soon after Winkler was down to his lime green jocks. It was definitely a cool night and Aran showed (or not?) that it was.

Dan Choate and Aran Winkler are great mates and have made a bet that one of them will be a bigger loser (of weight) than the other by the May 28th MetroFooty game. The winner will win a grand total of $1 from the opponent.

Weights from Saturdays weigh in were:
Choate - 232.4 lbs
Winkler - 219.4 lbs

Ryan Kastl makes Revo squad

Matt Muller

Congratulations to Ryan Kastl, who has been selected as part of the 29 man "US Revolution" squad heading to Australia in August for the 2011 International Cup. Ryan has worked extremely hard over the last couple of years to get to where he is today and we wish him all the best. Stay tuned for details on fundraising events we'll be putting together to help Ryan pay for the trip. We're sure Ryan will do his country and the Grizzlies proud.

More details at:
http://www.usafl.com/node/18754

2011 footy season begins in 3 weeks!

Matt Muller

The 2011 Seattle Grizzlies season is only 3 weeks away. Time to dust off your boots and start your running!

Training
Training dates have been added to the website. We'll be training on 4 Saturdays, starting on March 19th at 9:30am in Greenlake before moving to our regular Tuesday or Thursday nights depending on when our MetroFooty game is.

MetroFooty
Thanks to Stearnsy again for getting all of our MetroFooty dates squared away with the City of Burien. We tried to keep a similar format to last year, with Monday or Friday games every 10 days through end of June, with a break in July and then more footy in August and September as we lead up to Nationals. Unfortunately early season Friday nights were not available so we will be playing a few MetroFooty games at 5pm on Saturday afternoons. Dates are on the web and below.

Season Kick Off Event - Saturday April 9th at 6pm sharp
In previous years we've had a MetroFooty Draft Day to kick off the season. This year we'll be kicking off the 2011 Season with a friendly competition amongst grizzlies players, supporters, wives, girlfriends, etc at the local Seattle Curling Club.

Curling starts at 6pm sharp. $40 per person regardless of whether you are curling or not. (some special exceptions). $40 will cover the cost of Curling for 4 hours, beer, wine and food. More details to come.

Start organizing your teams of four and RSVP below now!

Find out more about Curling here:
www.curlingseattle.org
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W3U5tj7ldds

18-a-side Games
We had some great feedback from our 2010 season that we did not commit to enough 18-a-side games prior to Nationals. For 2011 we hope to play at least five 18-a-side games against Portland, Vancouver and San Diego in August/September as we get ready for Nationals.

Away Trips
The 2011 Nationals are in Austin, Texas on October 8/9. In the lead up to the Nationals we will be travelling to San Diego the weekend of August 6/7. San Diego flew to Seattle in 2009, so this will be our return trip to them. More details to come but start saving your $'s.

MetroFooty Schedule
Saturday, April 16 @ 5pm - Metrofooty 1 in Burien
Monday, April 25 @ 7:30pm - Metrofooty 2 in Burien
Saturday, May 7 @ 5pm - Metrofooty 3 in Burien
Monday, May 16 @ 7:30pm - Metrofooty 4 in Burien
Saturday, May 28 @ 5pm - Metrofooty 5 in Burien
Monday, June 6 @ 7pm - Metrofooty 6 in Burien
Saturday, June 18 @ 5pm - Metrofooty 7 in Burien
Friday, July 29 @ 7pm - Metrofooty 8 in Burien
Friday, August 19 @ 7pm - Metrofooty 9 in Burien
Friday, September 9 @ 7pm - Metrofooty 10 in Burien
Friday, September 22 @ 7pm - Metrofooty 11 in Burien

18-a-side Schedule
June 25 - Portland Tournament
August 6/7 - at San Diego
August 13 - Portland at Seattle
August 27 - vs Portland in Chehalis
September 17 - vs Vancouver team(s) in Seattle
October 8/9 - Nationals in Austin, TX

Full Schedule

Click to enlarge

Seattle GF Night featured on "Stateside Footy"

Matt Muller

Footage shot by our very own Jeff "Fingers" Purcell is featured on "Stateside Footy". It begins at about 26:45 into the video below:

Australia Day Event - January 22nd

Matt Muller

As part of the Seattle Australia Day event at Seattle Center the Grizzlies will be conducting a number of kids footy clinics. Come join in on the festivities. The Public daytime event from 10am - 6pm is FREE.

Seattle Australia Day
January 22nd 2010
Seattle Center, Fisher Pavilion
A lot more info at www.aussieinseattle.com

Public day event - 10am-6pm
• Free access, open to the public
• BBQ & Cake Competition
• Kids Activities (jumping castles, crafts, face painting, footy demonstration, etc)
• Bands/music
• Beer & Wine garden with Australian beverages
• Food
• Raffle

The Nighttime Event
QLD Relief Fundraiser - 30% of food sales will go towards the fund.
Jan 22nd Seattle Center – Fisher Pavilion

The cost is $30 which includes free light food until 7.30pm and 4 live music performances.

There will be a bar selling only Australian Beer and Wine!

Great Australian Music will be performed throughout the night by various Aussie and local musicians. American singer, Hank Cramer, will bring some traditional Aussie Country and Folk classics, Down Under Cover will deliver the Aussie rock classics, Sabriena Simon & Ace will give us the Aussie blues and roots classics, and rumor has it that the evening may end with some ACDC classics – which may get a little rowdy!
Tickets can be bought here on Shindigg

Seattle Grizzlies on Evening Magazine

Matt Muller

The Seattle Grizzlies were featured on Evening Magazine on Monday September 20th. You can watch the story here:

If you're interested in playing Aussie Rules, please contact us:
http://www.seattlefooty.com/ContentPages/ContactUs.aspx

If you're just interested in supporting the Grizzlies you can sign up for our supporter email list here:
http://www.seattlefooty.com/ContentPages/Supporters.aspx

And if you want to see how the pro's play it in Australia, our "Superbowl" which is called the "Grand Final" will be live from Australia this Friday night at 9:30pm (doors at 6pm) at the Kangaroo & Kiwi Pub:
http://www.seattlefooty.com/Events/View.aspx?EventId=159

Zach Johns Update - August 28th

Zach Johns

Just a final update on footy in Perth.

We made the finals in the 3's 4's and 5's of amateur footy in Perth. I played with the 4's. We just barely reached the finals on the final game of the regular season loosing by two points. We had a 7 point cushion we could lose by as it went to percentage if we lost.

Unfortunately we lost in week one of the finals. We played a strong team and were dominated on all areas of the oval.

It was good fun running with the amateur club CBC Fremantle. As for now, I look forward to returning to Seattle and joining up with the Grizzlies shortly. See you all soon.

Zach Johns Update - July 29th

Zach Johns

Yo fellow Grizzlies.

Just a quick update on footy here in Perth.... It's been an interesting ride here as far as footy goes. I trained with five teams since Nov. The majority of that time was with Claremont (Nov to Feb). I trained with another WAFL club for about a week, but it didn't work out there. My stint with Boddington was short lived. I played one game there and decided it wasn't worth it to drive down into the country several days a week for a team i didn't feel committed to.

So i ended up joining an amateur club through a friend of mine in Perth called CBC Fremantle. The amateur system is run different here in AU compared to things in the states. Basically an area within the city will have a club. This club depending on depth of players, previous years performance, and numbers will have a certain amount of teams divided into grades with A (1's) being the highest level. Our club has 7 sides including two colt teams (18 and under). I've played with the 3's and the 4's since joining the club maybe 10 weeks ago. I've settled on the 4's side. I play in the middle the entire game and do well so I am happy at this level.

The guys are all in there 20's and are pretty fit and tough for the most part. So it's a good level for me and the guys work hard and are passionate about their footy.

So we have won seven straight games in the 4's and have two weeks left before finals begin. The top 6 teams advance to the finals out of 15 teams. We are currently 4th with a bye this week. With a win in two weeks we will advance to the finals. We are playing well so it looks like we will have a good run in the finals and maybe even a crack at winning a flag.

If you are "keen", here's a link to WAAFL (amateur footy in WA). You can check out the amateur system and results.

http://www.wafootball.com.au/waafl/fixtures-and-results

Best,
Zach

Seattle Invitational Tournament

Matt Muller

Our annual invitational tournament is this weekend in Issaquah. There will be some great quality footy. Vancouver were the Division 1 National Champs in 2008 and Seattle were the 2009 Division 1 runners up after winning the Division 2 National Championships in 2008. Hope to see a lot of supporters there.

Schedule:
1:30pm - Portland v Eagles/Bayhawks
2:30pm - Seattle v Saints/Cougars
3:30pm - Seattle v Eagles/Bayhawks
4:30pm - Portland v Saints/Cougars

Address: Klahanie Park
25099 SE Klahanie Blvd Issaquah WA (Map Link)

More details are here:
http://www.seattlefooty.com/Events/View.aspx?EventId=145

Seattle Grizzlies sign Nintex as a major sponsor

Matt Muller

Seattle Grizzlies sign local Aussie company, Nintex as a major sponsor

The Seattle Grizzlies are pleased to announce that they have signed on Nintex as a major sponsor. Nintex is a global innovator of software products that extend Microsoft SharePoint technology and was founded by a couple of Australians with offices in Seattle. One of the founders, Brett Campbell recently moved to Seattle and discovered the Grizzlies. Originally from Melbourne, Brett and Nintex wanted to support something Australian in the Seattle area, so it was a natural fit.

As part of the deal, the Grizzlies have designed new MetroFooty jumpers with the Nintex logo on them. The jumpers shown below will look familiar, with our regular Grizzlies jumper and a new Away/White version of the jumper that will be used starting in August of this year.

Seattle Invitational Tournament

Matt Muller

We have confirmed our field booking for the Seattle Invitational tournament on June 26th at Klahanie Park in Issaquah.

More details to come on teams attending, but mark it on your calendars now! Field address and details are at:
http://www.seattlefooty.com/Events/view.aspx?Eventid=145

New Day Northwest

Matt Muller

Did you see us on New Day Northwest?

http://www.king5.com/new-day-northwest/Aussie-Footy-Taking-Hold-in-Seattle-94831639.html

As mentioned in the segment, our next game is on Tuesday June 1st in Burien

If you're interested in playing, be sure to contact us or sign up for our supporter email list.

Grizzlies on New Day Northwest - come watch!

Matt Muller

As mentioned a few weeks ago, the Grizzlies will be on New Day Northwest this coming Tuesday, May 25th - the audience needs to be at the studio by 9:15am - taping starts at 10:15am and is done around 11:30am.

Josh, Ryan, Ed, Richo and Rich will be showing off their skills as we tell the Northwest a little bit about the Grizzlies.

If you would like to sit in the audience with a few other Grizzlies, please email newdaytickets@king5.com or call 206-448-3690. The studios are located at 333 Dexter in Seattle. Be sure to wear a Grizzlies t-shirt or footy jumper if you have one!

If you miss the show, the footage will be up on their website within 24 hours:
http://www.king5.com/new-day-northwest

Tigers v Saints Photos from Friday Night

Matt Muller

A big thanks to Jacob Lucas for taking some great shots of Friday nights MetroFooty game.

You can view his handywork here:
http://photos.jflphotography.com/Sports/AussieRules/MetroFooty-4-Tigers-v-Saints/