World Footy News

With a controversial summer behind it, the British footy season is about to begin in earnest with the new Aussie Rules UK seniors competition opening up with the Southern and Wales leagues on April 28th and the Northern league on May 5th, with the BARFL's first 2007 match also on April 28th (not confirmed) but the rest starting on May 5th. After a frenzy of meetings, emails and phone calls, the two separate leagues appear to have settled into their final configurations for 2007. We untangle the complicated web of which clubs ended up where and how the year is scheduled to unfold, and reveal that there is a glimmer of hope of the two sides working together in future.

Aussie Rules UK and Wales

The off-field battles for the allegiances of clubs across the UK have been well-documented in ARUK and BARFL to battle for regional Britain?, ARUK league to feature 5 divisions and New season approaches but British regional football far from settled. With ARUK determined to run a senior competition across regional Britain the question was whether they could generate sufficient new clubs and take enough from the existing British leagues to make their plans viable. After some initial down-sizing of expectations it appears they have achieved critical mass in three regions - Wales, the North and the South. Wales was always likely to be a strength with Aussie Bryce Stone returning to his Welsh ancestral roots keen to establish footy there and teaming up with ARUK's Brian Clarke before leaving Australia. Joining new boys Swansea, South Cardiff, Cardiff and Newport will be Swindon, formerly from the BARFL Regional League. The five team Welsh season opens with two matches in Cardiff, while Swindon have the bye. The Welsh season is scheduled to run most weekends through to a grand final in late July.

The ARUK Southern Division lists Bournemouth, Southampton, Brighton, Sussex and Thanet. Brighton and Sussex were formed by the existing BARFL Swans club, which continues to field teams in the BARFL's London leagues, as discussed in a recent story. The club aims to grow a strong base across the region. The Swans, more than most, have been in the eye of the storm as they had initially backed unity between the rival organisations only to see an immediate split. Nevertheless the Swans have walked the tightrope between the rival leagues and have managed to maintain a balance, continuing to back both in 2007. The other new sides in the south are Bournemouth and Southampton, with the BARFL's Thanet changing from the Bombadiers to the Bombers and switching to ARUK. They have a first round bye as the southern season kicks off in Bournemouth, following a similar design to the Wales league.

Settling on the Northern Division was a torrid affair, with four teams finally emerging in ARUK. The Middlesbrough Hawks from the BARFL had previously been affiliated with the Scottish League but were split in two to form Middlesbrough and Hartlepool. At one stage it looked like both sides would fall over and any attempt to reform as one side were allegedly being blocked and it looked like footy may have gone from one team in the region to two then none! There were reports of some murky politics and in the end the Scots and other key players decided that someone had to ensure footy prevailed and so supported the split. Newcastle Centurions and the Durham Swans are the new sides joining the north. The Manchester Mozzies was at one stage proposed to join but after careful deliberation have stuck with the BARFL. Having declined ARUK's invitation things became very heated when ARUK instead attempted to form a second Manchester side, named the Manchester Bees. The Mozzies' President was furious at what was seen as an attempt to undermine her club and ultimately Sport England were included in the broadside which questioned whether they were supporting the undermining of BARFL clubs. We mention this as it was one of the hottest topics in UK footy and who knows, maybe a BARFL club complaining directly to Sport England just may have been a catalyst that lead the body to take more notice of what was unfolding (more on this below). We accept that in mentioning any of the behind the scenes politics we'll be heavily criticised in some quarters but that isn't a good reason to sweep things under the carpet, and anyone who reads sports news will understand that the politics is considered a legitimate topic the world over, and in fact important that it be discussed in the open where possible. However apologies to a couple of clubs we interviewed as we have decided not to report their comments as we don't want to see them being threatened with legal action as unfortunately happens in this arena. At the end of the day, if ARUK and AR Wales can hold together the new teams they've started as well as those from the BARFL, and if the BARFL can also run a successful season, then despite all the pain British footy will have undergone a sizeable expansion. The Northern league starts on May 6th with all four teams playing in Hartlepool, with matches every second week until the grand final in August. At this stage it looks like a rival Manchester side is not scheduled for the league, and the Leeds side that appeared to be setting up independently and which had yet to commit to the BARFL or ARUK decided to give it away (perhaps a move that will save them plenty of stress).

BARFL changes

To the BARFL season now and where do the above changes leave them? In London the Premiership and Conference Leagues are scheduled to go ahead mostly unchanged from 2006, with the Premiership featuring The Swans, Wimbledon, North London, Wandsworth, Putney and the dominant West London. The Conference fields a second Swans side (City), Balham, Regents Park, Clapham, a combined Hammersmith and Fulham, Shepherds Bush, and the one major change, the Reading Roos, who were a Regional league club in 2006. The season was scheduled to open up on April 28th with the Swans versus Reading in Reading (yet to be confirmed), with the rest of the Premiership and Conference matches on May 5th.

In the Scotland League, affiliated with the BARFL, the loss of Middlesbrough will see the Scots drop back to four teams, with two in each of Glasgow (the Sharks and Magpies) and Edinburgh (the Bloods and Bodysnatchers). The SARFL's Eddie McAvinchey told WFN they will concentrate on those clubs and trying to start a future side in a third city such as Sterling.

The biggest change will of course be in the Regional League. This had steadily grown through to 2006 but with the loss of Swindon and Thanet to ARUK a new way forward was needed. The BARFL decided to make a positive out of adversity and address several issues at once - the need for a more social league for "veteran" and less serious players, the need for the bigger clubs to have somewhere to field a third team, and a method to still support the Regional league teams now facing a depleted schedule. The BARFL's answer was to create a Social league that provides a framework for all of the above issues to be resolved. It will feature the regional sides Bristol, Nottingham and Manchester, as well as West London's third team (Ealing), and the possibly new entities South London and Bounds Green. A further addition is a match between the International Cup bound British Bulldogs against Manchester. Travel problems have been addressed by the stronger London clubs undertaking to support their regional colleagues by playing more of the away games, and the Scottish sides will play some representative games against Manchester. Other friendlies are also in the works. It seems the majority of BARFL clubs have united to support each other in 2007, though getting full agreement was no doubt difficult. Whether the new system will work or whether the ARUK losses have stopped the BARFL from running viable Regional clubs remains to be seen. Although the BARFL still dominates in senior playing numbers (their matches are full-field not 9-a-side on smaller grounds, so each BARFL club will naturally need to be larger), certainly ARUK appears to have established a key beach-head in the UK. The off-field upheaval in Australian Football in the United Kingdom over the past 6 months is unprecedented in our brand of football around the world, but depending on the outcome, perhaps not likely to be the last such case.

Unity a possibility?

Now to a glimmer of hope. A major issue for Australian Football in Britain is funding and governing body status. The BARFL has long been recognised by the AFL as the governing body in the UK, and it runs the two London leagues, the Regional league, and is recognised by the Scottish league. But after the emergence of Aussie Rules UK with juniors recently and now running two 9-a-side competitions in regional England and the similar Aussie Rules Wales starting up, the question of which body the British government recognises comes to the fore. This is an important question when it comes to funding and it's our understanding that ARUK has been building towards achieving such recognition. The BARFL had not yet sought to obtain it due to the numerous requirements which would be onerous on top of the day-to-day efforts their volunteers make running their leagues. It's fair to say there has been a fair bit of bad blood between the two organisations recently but there is some small cause for hope.

WFN understands that Sport England have asked both parties to find a way forward. They apparently don't want to recognise ARUK alone given that the BARFL is the traditional body accepted by the AFL (and it also still represents the majority of senior players in the country). They would like both sides to develop a model that will allow one body to oversee football which both the AFL and Sport England can recognise. Previously the AFL has asked ARUK to recognise the BARFL and work through them, but that always seemed unlikely. Both sides will have to give something up for the sum to be greater than its parts. A beautiful union between the BARFL and ARUK is perhaps unlikely, but not impossible. Maybe some kind of commission could be appointed that has representation from or is acceptable to all parties, in a similar way to which the AFL Commission was appointed by AFL clubs many years ago to reduce inter-club rivalries hurting the game, with the Commission appointing the AFL Executive such as the CEO. A democratic process of appointing a committee is not new to the BARFL, but will both they and ARUK be prepared to relinquish a degree of control?

The incentive for both sides is the possibility of UK government funding, although this may be a modest sum initially. A spin-off of the process is that it may require a break into separate governing bodies for England, Scotland and Wales, as the regions of Britain are increasingly returning to individual countries in terms of governance (this might explain why another website appears to have made a unilateral decision to call the BARFL the EARFL). Given the trend of re-badging of leagues with the AFL prefix, could we see AFL England, AFL Scotland and AFL Wales? It must be said that developments are only in their early stages, with Sport England recently calling all parties together for a face to face discussion of the issues. Some kind of agreement will be very difficult to procure and a key question will be whether all sides are prepared to put footy first - though you can be sure the public statements will indicate that. Let's hope progress is made, because after nearly twenty years of steady growth, Australian Football appears to have the critical mass needed to move into a promising new phase in Britain, and if all parties work together the next few years could be very exciting. Good luck to all teams as they get down to the on-field action in 2007.

So to summarise the off-season changes, the league structures for 2007 and compared with 2006 are:

BARFL - London Premiership	BARFL - London Conference	BARFL - Social League	SARFL - Scottish League
North London Lions Putney Magpies The Swans Wandsworth Demons West London Wildcats Wimbledon Hawks	City Swans Clapham Demons Fulham Hawks Hammersmith and Fulham Regents Park Lions Shepherds Bush Raiders Balham (new) Reading Roos (gain - N1)	Bristol Dockers Nottingham Scorpions Manchester Mosquitoes Ealing Emus (gain - N2) Bounds Green (new) South London (new) Lost (N3) - Thanet Bombardiers Lost (N4) - Swindon Devils Lost (N5) - Reading Roos	Edinburgh Bloods Edinburgh Bodysnatchers Glasgow Magpies Glasgow Sharks Lost (N6) - Middlesbrough

Notes:

N1 - from BARFL Regional League
N2 - from BARFL Conference
N3 - to ARUK South
N4 - to AR Wales
N5 - to BARFL Conference
N6 - to ARUK North

ARUK - Northern Division	ARUK - Southern Division	ARUK - Wales Division
Middlesbrough Hawks (from SARFL) Newcastle Centurions (new) Hartlepool Dockers (new - N7) Durham Swans (new)	Brighton Black Swans (new - N8) Sussex Swans (new - N8) Bournemouth Demons (new) Thanet Bombers (gain - N9) Southampton Titans (new)	South Cardiff Panthers (new) Cardiff Double Blues (new) Swansea Magpies (new) Newport Tigers (new) Swindon Devils (gain - N9)

Notes:

N7 - formed from split of SARFL's Middlesbrough
N8 - Sussex fielding 4 sides across BARFL and ARUK
N9 - from BARFL Regional League

Potential side that decided not to form - Leeds
Possible additional future ARUK side - Manchester Bees


More details of the leagues can be found at:

BARFL website

SARFL website

ARUK on SportingPulse