IFAF World Championships: Australia’s Outback gridiron team are out to make history

Jim Tucker
The Courier-Mail
July 09, 2015 10:39AM


CONOR Foley and brother Bernard, the Wallabies five-eighth, will tick the first leg of a rare family double early tomorrow morning when Australia’s Outback gridiron team takes on South Korea in Ohio.

Reaching the IFAF World Championships in Canton as a versatile running back is the pinnacle of his short career in a sport which hooked Conor, 27, when he started watching American football’s intricacies on TV.

Both wear the No. 10.

“Wearing the green-and-gold is such an honour and the idea that Bernard can do the same at a Rugby World Cup later this year is pretty special,” Foley said from Ohio yesterday.

“Our parents (Michael and Margaret) have it pretty good ... a trip to the US this month and England a few months later.”

Far from the hoopla of Jarryd Hayne’s bold venture with the San Francisco 49ers to force a spot in the NFL at the professional level of the game, every player on the 45-man Outback roster has raised money for airfares and expenses to play at this amateur level of the game.

Team USA are two-time world champions, unbackable favourites and have the widest net to harness recent graduates from colleges from Division I to Division III who are not heading to the NFL.

Favre? Yes, the name should ring a bell. Dylan Favre, the nephew of Green Bay Packers legend Brett Favre, will steer the American challenge from quarterback.

Scrimmaging against the Americans on the national holiday, July 4, was an eye-opener in itself for Conor and co at the University of Akron.

“Fast. That’s the first word I’d use. Americans play this sport from the youngest age and their ability to read the game quicker at a better, deeper level was obvious,” said Foley, a New England Patriots fan.

“It’s how the game should be played and I think all the Australian players got a lot out of the opportunity for drills, walk-throughs of plays and practising fast.

“You get the picture that Americans know their sport. We went out to a Buffalo Wild Wings for dinner here and one or our wide receivers and our kicker both wrote a phone number on a piece of paper for the waitress. She crumbled up the kicker’s phone number for sure.”

The Foley boys Conor, Bernard and Mark grew up in suburban Kenthurst in Sydney where a few hectares of backyard created their field of dreams.

“It was a big stadium for the old backyard Tests. The cricket pitch got shifted because we kept breaking windows and we kicked through the trees as goalposts,” Foley recalled.

“I take a lot from how Bernard has handled his rise for the NSW Waratahs and Wallabies. He’s taken last-minute kicks to win games for both so coolly it’s looked like he was at training.

“I’m a bit more excitable on the field.

“When rugby slowed down after Colts rugby at Gordon, lower grades at Sydney University and two shoulder ops, I gave gridiron a go because it’s something I’d always enjoyed watching from a younger age on TV.”

Brother Bernard is excited by the different football flavours to the family.

“Conor has always been very supportive of me and it’s great he gets this opportunity in a sport he’s passionate about. I’m sure he uses plenty of his rugby background,” Foley, 25, said.

“It’s amazing we can both get to represent Australia in the same year and hopefully both at World Cups.”

Scratching his head through the rule book and finer details at the Sydney University Lions in his rookie year of 2013 turned into last year’s bold adventure for Conor with the Dresden Monarchs in the German Football League.

Brisbane’s athletic Outback quarterback Jared Stegman tuned up his arm by playing with the Uppsala 86ers in Sweden so the opportunities to play American football abroad are more varied than many think.

The Koreans are a mystery to the Australians. This seven-nation world championships can only have one outcome with the Americans pitted against Australia, France, South Korea, Brazil, Mexico and well-drilled Japan at the stadium attached to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio.

The 12 games of the July 9-18 tournament will be live-streamed through ESPN 3 and BigTimeSports.com, starting with Australia’s game against South Korea from 2am Friday morning (AEST). The games will also be archived on USA Football’s YouTube Channel.

http://www.foxsports.com.au/us-sport...-1227435152451