2017 Australian Football International Cup Explained

Tourney Name:	Australian Football International Cup
Year:	2017
Other Titles:	AFL International Cup 2017
Country:	Australia
Dates:	5–19 August 2017
Website:	http://www.afl.com.au/internationalcup/
Num Teams:	26 (18 Men's, 8 Women's)
Count:	3
Matches:	65 (45 Men's, 20 Women's)
Prevseason:	2014
Nextseason:	2024

The 2017 Australian Football International Cup (also known as the AFL International Cup 2017 or IC17) was the sixth edition of the Australian Football International Cup, a triennial international Australian rules football competition run by the Australian Football League (AFL).

It was contested between 5–19 August 2017, with games played in Melbourne.^[1] All three previous men's tournament champions (Ireland, New Zealand and Papua New Guinea) participated in the tournament.^[2] Previous women's winners (Ireland and Canada) also competed in the tournament. Papua New Guinea achieved its 3rd men's title and Ireland achieved its 2nd women's title.

Background

Teams

The 2017 AFL International Cup was played in Melbourne from 5 to 19 August, with 18 men's teams and eight women's teams competing.

• Men's teams: Canada, China, Croatia,† Fiji, France, Germany,† Great Britain, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Japan, Nauru, New Zealand, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, South Africa, Sri Lanka,† USA.
• Women's teams: Canada, European Crusaders,† Fiji, Great Britain,† Ireland, Pakistan,† Papua New Guinea,† USA.

† Team made their tournament debut

The European Crusaders was a combined team made up of women from Britain, Croatia, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Poland and Sweden.

In the table below, the numbers in parentheses refer to the team's Unofficial World Rankings by World Footy News prior to the competition.^{[3] [4]}

Men's

width=50%	Division I	width=50%	Division II
(9) (13) (14) Great Britain (7) (4) (5) (3) (2) (6) (8)	Pool A (19) (12) Pool B (15) (21) (16)

Women's

width=50%	Pool A	width=50%	Pool B
(2)	European Crusaders (4) (3)

Format

For the first time, the men's fixture was played across two divisions. Division One played four matches against other teams within the division and were ranked from one to ten, with finals to follow between the top two placed teams on the ladder, the third and fourth placed teams, and so on.

The men's Division Two competition and the women's competition saw teams split into two pools of four with each team playing matches against the three opponents in their pool before competing in semi-finals and grand finals based on finishing positions within the pool.

The women's grand final was played at Etihad Stadium as a curtain-raiser to the Round 22 clash between Carlton and Hawthorn. The men's grand final was played at the Melbourne Cricket Ground as a curtain-raiser to the Round 22 match between Collingwood and Geelong.^[5]

Venues

The majority of the matches were played at Royal Park in the Melbourne suburb of Parkville. The inclusion of a "Community Round" allowed matches to be played as curtain-raisers to local suburban, amateur and country matches. Additionally, the International Cup introduced a "School Round" to be played on 9 August, with games played at suburban and country schools.^{[6] [7] [8]}

Fixtures for the tournament were released by the AFL on 18 July 2017.^{[9] [10] [11]}

Men's tournament

Division 1

Ladder

width=20		width=240	TEAM	width=20		width=20		width=20		width=20		width=40		width=40		width=60		width=40
1		4	4	0	0	272	95	286.32	16
2		4	3	1	0	319	135	236.30	12
3		4	3	1	0	296	153	193.46	12
4		4	3	1	0	239	152	157.24	12
5	Great Britain	4	2	2	0	192	158	121.52	8
6		4	2	2	0	231	203	113.79	8
7		4	1	3	0	139	175	79.43	4
8		4	1	3	0	88	181	48.62	4
9		4	1	3	0	78	268	29.10	4
10		4	0	4	0	61	397	15.37	0

Finals

Division II

Pool A

width=20		width=240	TEAM	width=20		width=20		width=20		width=20		width=40		width=40		width=60		width=40
1		3	3	0	0	172	90	191.11	12
2		3	2	1	0	194	63	307.94	8
3		3	1	2	0	63	180	35.00	4
4		3	0	3	0	70	166	42.17	0

Pool B

width=20		width=240	TEAM	width=20		width=20		width=20		width=20		width=40		width=40		width=60		width=40
1		3	3	0	0	154	31	496.77	12
2		3	2	1	0	172	47	365.96	8
3		3	1	2	0	47	125	37.60	4
4		3	0	3	0	32	202	15.84	0

Play-Offs

Final standings

width=20		width=240	DIVISION 1
1
2
3
4
5
6	Great Britain
7
8
9
10
width=20		width=240	DIVISION 2
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8

Women's Tournament

• • • • • European Crusaders

Pool A

width=20		width=240	TEAM	width=20		width=20		width=20		width=20		width=40		width=40		width=60		width=40
1		3	3	0	0	236	18	1311.11	12
2		3	2	1	0	178	58	306.90	8
3		3	1	2	0	233	49	475.51	4
4		3	0	3	0	0	522	0	0

Pool B

width=20		width=240	TEAM	width=20		width=20		width=20		width=20		width=40		width=40		width=60		width=40
1		3	3	0	0	168	11	1527.27	12
2		3	2	1	0	177	61	290.16	8
3		3	1	2	0	73	103	70.87	4
4	European Crusaders	3	0	3	0	0	243	0	0

Play-Offs

World Teams

Women's World Team

See also

• Australian Football League
• Australian Football International Cup
• Australian rules football around the world

Notes and References

1. Web site: AFL International Cup 2017. AFL.com.au. 1 April 2017.
2. Web site: Big stages for 2017 International Cup GFs. AFL.com.au. 12 April 2017.
3. Web site: Unofficial World Rankings. World Footy News. 1 July 2017.
4. Web site: World Rankings post London Footy Carnival - World Footy News. www.worldfootynews.com. 20 July 2017.
5. Web site: 2017 AFL International Cup fixture released. World Footy News. 18 July 2017.
6. Web site: International Cup 2017 Fixtures – AFL Europe. www.afleurope.org. en-GB. 2017-07-20.
7. Web site: 2017 AFL International Cup fixture released. www.afl-asia.com. en-CA. 2017-07-20.
8. News: Ballarat schools to host AFL International Cup games. O'Connor. Tim. 2017-05-29. The Courier. 2017-07-11. en.
9. Web site: Men's Division 1 Fixtures. 18 July 2017. AFL.com.au.
10. Web site: Men's Division 2 Fixtures. 18 July 2017. AFL.com.au.
11. Web site: Women's Fixtures. 18 July 2017. AFL.com.au.