For more
information contact:
Stuart
Rackham
Media and
Public Relations Director
Dallas
Magpies Australian Rules Football Club, Inc.
Phone: (214)
477-3277
E-mail:
stuart.rackham@brinker.com
The Dallas Magpies Australian Rules Football Club seeks to avenge its only league loss from last year when it begins the 2004 Mid-American Australian Football League season May 15 against the defending champion St. Louis Blues.
The
game between the league rivals will begin at 2 p.m. at Crowley Park in
Richardson.
Last
year, the Magpies, in its first year in the MAAFL, and Blues were locked in a
tight struggle all season for the league crown. Both teams finished with
matching 4-1 records, but the Blues took the crown on percentage points, thanks
mainly to a thorough drubbing of an undermanned and wounded Magpies squad.
On April 26, 2003, the
visiting Magpies were trampled by a St. Louis stampede. The Blues, showing no
mercy, running up the
score foran out to a 68-point
home win, propelling themselves to the championship and an automatic berth in
Division I of the United States
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Australian Football
League National Championship United States Australian Football Championships.
The
bitter league defeat marked only one chapter in a growing rivalry between the
two teams.
The
Dallas-St. Louis rivalry was further stoked on May 17 when the teams met again
in a non-league match on a neutral field during the Kansas City Classic
tournament. St. Louis, which before the game took pleasure in exercising the
bragging rights won earlier in the season, fell to the Magpies, which snuck
away with an 8-point come-from-behind victory.
A
65-yard drop punt, kicked through the goal posts by captain Stuart Rackham with
less than 30 seconds to go, stole the match and propelled Dallas to an at-large
berth in the Division 1 USAFL Nationals. The win also earned Dallas the No. 5
seed in the country, while St. Louis dropped to No. 8. The USAFL rankings
committee had spoken, and St. Louis wasn’t pleased with the perception that it
was not the top team in Mid America. With St. Louis and Dallas being the only
two members of the MAAFL to make the Division 1 tournament, it was not a
surprise when the teams were split at the national tournament, with Dallas in
Group A and St. Louis landing in Group B. Neither Dallas nor St. Louis won
their respective group to move on to the National Championship game, which
meant the season’s rubber match was not meant to be.
The
MAAFL kickoff will be a crucial game for both squads as they try to get a leg
up in the 2004 league race and the coveted automatic Division I bid. This time
the Magpies have the home field advantage, and that coupled with the
disappointment of being runners-up for the 2003 MAAFL championship should give
the Magpies an edge in this heated rivalry.
Magpies
2004 MAAFL Schedule:
May
15 — vs. St. Louis
June
5 — @ Chicago
June
26 — vs. Cincinnati
July
24 — @ Nashville
Aug.
28 — @ Atlanta
Sept.
11 — vs. Milwaukee
About
the Dallas Magpies:
The
Dallas Magpies are a 501(c)3 non-profit organization, dedicated to fostering
national and international amateur sports competition as well as promoting a
cultural exchange between Americans and Australians. The Magpies participate in
the Mid American Australian Football League, a division of the United States
Australian Football League and also have a player, Brandon Blankenship,
competing on the U.S. National team in
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internationalInternational
competition. The team is active in promoting the Australian national sport and
Australian culture through clinics at area schools and by sponsoring events
such as the annual Australia Day and ANZAC Day celebrations in the Metroplex.
For
more details on organizing a school clinic, playing footy with the team or
supporting the Dallas Magpies Australian Football Club, visit www.dallasfooty.com or e-mail
the recruiting department (recruiting@dallasfooty.com).
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