World Footy News

Sadly the Australian Rules Football League Ireland has announced that two of its six clubs have withdrawn from the main season. Not surprisingly it was regional clubs Clare and Mullingar (Midlands). We previously reported that a question mark hung over them (see South Dublin Swans are born), and unfortunately lack of numbers willing to travel and organise has ended their seasons.

It is never good to have to report on a decline in Aussie Rules anywhere in the world. Happily growth is much more common than a loss of teams, but the Irish league is certainly struggling to maintain its regional presence. Much of the Republic's population is centred around Dublin on the east coast, and Australian Football has been concentrated there since ARFLI's inception in 2000.

Soon ARFLI numbered six clubs with interest from several other locations. However the Clare Crows, Midlands Tigers and Belfast Redbacks were all struggling on the scoreboard, and found it a difficult ask to travel to Dublin so often. Discussions on dividing the league were ultimately held back by a lack of regional teams to make the move work. To keep the Midlands and Belfast alive the two sides combined forces. In 2004 commendable efforts were made to seed a club in Galway, which would have reduced the travel burden on fellow westcoasters Clare. But not enough support could be found (Galway is showing no signs of getting started) and now the Crows have pulled out of the league. We've noted before that the high profile of the game in Ireland is not enough to overcome the similarity to Gaelic football and the engrained culture of Gaelic sports, with little reason for locals to swap codes. This is especially so in GAA heartland which is outside of the major cities. And it was the clubs in these cities that faced the greatest travel burden that can slowly wear away enthusiasm and the patience of friends and family.

The final blow for the Crows and the Tigers appears to be the loss of key organisers in Andrew Sexton and Paul Ryan. Both had put a lot into the clubs and would no doubt be very sad to see the outcome of them leaving - Sexton to take a well earned break and Ryan returning home to Australia.

The game does appear to still be strong in the capital, with three Dublin sides fighting out this year's flag with County Cork club Leeside. With a lot of people moving to and from Dublin for education and employment, perhaps if a larger footy playerbase develops in the Republic's capital, then in a few years we will see greater interest spread back out to regional cities. Perhaps smaller scale "metro" style competition will emerge locally before clubs embark on national league commitment.

It hasn't been all doom and gloom, with relative newcomers West Dublin proving competitive and the reincarnation of the Eagles into the South Dublin Swans. No doubt we all wish ARFLI luck in keeping the fires burning and hopefully the league will grow again. The league can be followed on their website.