World Footy News

Recently we reported on the first game played by the Karlstad Dragons against Gothenburg. Further north and east, two more clubs are starting up in Sweden - one based around Australian students in Uppsala and a mainly Swedish team dubbed the Diggers in the city of Falun. Both sides recently played practise matches against opposition from Stockholm, Uppsala going down 55-22 to SAFF metro club Bromma on April 21st and Falun losing 190-67 to the Stockholm Dynamite last weekend.

The match between Stockholm and the Diggers received a good report in the local Dalarnas Tidningar newspaper, including photos of match action and a rundown in Swedish of how the game is played under the title "World's toughest sport?". We haven't asked the Falun club yet how they chose the club's nickname "the Diggers", but for our non-Australian readers "Digger" is an old term for Australian soldiers originating in the first world war... Although it's also appropriate to Falun's history as a mining area.

The Dynamite are planning matches for next weekend against Karlstad and Oslo - both of which will be interesting for footy-watchers in Europe. The Oslo Trolls have a been listed as a team-in-formation for a while now, so if a playing squad can be assembled it will be the first footy match we know of to be held in Norway.

Although the process of forming a national Swedish governing body is currently on ice, on multiple regional fronts the development is going ahead in leaps and bounds, with organised junior footy in both Scania and Stockholm.

The SAFF is working towards having three fully independent local-run clubs, with a gradual decrease in both the percentage of Aussie players and the average age of footballers in the league. If things keep progressing as at present, a solid league including teams from both Stockholm and surrounding regions could be playing within a few seasons.