World Footy News

The Denmark Australian Football League is one of Europe's oldest and strongest Australian football establishments, finishing fourth at the inaugural International Cup in 2002. After the disappointment of missing IC05, a lot of work and preparation has been done to place the Danes back on the footy map.

With a team built around a solid core who have come through Europe's oldest juniors competition, the Vikings have been consistently on the winners' list, defeating arch-rivals Sweden and newer test adversaries Germany this year and last, although the Irish proved too strong in their 2007 test.

The Vikings will be back to show they are a force to be reckoned with this year, under the guidance of veteran coach and long-time Danish footy identity Jim Campion.

Campion played club football for teams in the border region of Victoria and New South Wales during the 80s and 90s, appearing with Yarrawonga, Mulwala and Tungamah. In the city, he also pulled on the boots for Kew in the VAFA.

Campion tells us that the Vikings will be a smaller, running side. "Skill level is pretty high amongst most of the players with juniors starting to filter through to the senior ranks. The Vikings will play a very attacking, running brand of football who are prepared to take risks. No real standouts, but players have a pretty solid knowledge and understanding of one another with the Vikings coming from 3 of the DAFL clubs. We have a good mixture of experience and youth, with about 8 veterans from the 2002 campaign and several players coming through the junior program."

"Our aim is to be competitive in all our matches and to demonstrate the steady progress of development in Denmark by displaying an entertaining brand of football."

"All the pools are tough, but we feel our group will be particularly hard. We're expecting South Africa to be the obvious big improvers, considering the investment in the country over the years by the AFL. We would not feel disgraced with a 3rd in our pool, as long as we are competitive in all matches."

The Country and Australian football

Denmark is a small nation of around 5 million in northern Europe, with its only land border to Germany. It forms something of a bridge culturally and historically between continental Europe and Scandinavia. In Australia, it is perhaps best known for its royal family, with Tasmanian Mary Donaldson married to the heir to the Danish throne.

The Danish AFL has been in existence since the early 1990s, with member clubs spread from the Jutland peninsula (the only part of Denmark on the European continent), the capital Copenhagen on the island of Zealand and the province of Scania in southern Sweden.

The league has gone through numerous restructurings, currently featuring a Premier League running across the country and into southern Sweden, as well as local feeder competitions. The oldest and largest juniors program is run by the Farum Cats, who now boast a very strong senior lineup, featuring young, fit and talented home-grown footballers.

A number of the Swedish Elks play in the DAFL Premier League with Helsingborg and Port Malmo, including Swedish captain Andreas Svensson.

Strengths and Weaknesses

According to Campion, the main strength is the evenness of the team, with no dependency on any one player. "They function well as a team, with all players more than familiar with one another's’ strengths, weaknesses, style and habits. All have regularly played either together or against each other over several years and with the proximity of clubs have been able to train together more often than most nations."

He also rates the backline led by Troels Ottesen as very solid, with 5 of the defence players coming from the one club.

The main weakness could be depth of the squad. Injuries and unavailability of key players have reduced the side's potential and marred the preparation to the tournament. Several key players including Danish football icon Morten Engsbye and Icelandic-born captain Pall Finnsson were reportedly struggling to get fit for the tournament.

Players to watch?

As Campion sums it up, the big three to watch will be Morten Engsbye (if fit), Jens Djernes and Pall Finnsson (fit or not).

Form Guide

The Danes won both tri-series matches against Sweden and Germany in 2006, then repeated the feat in 2007. They also had a comfortable win over Sweden earlier this year.

However, they went down to the Irish in Århus last year, and were beaten by the West London Wildcats earlier this year when the British club were on their traditional pre-season European tour match.

Bottom Line

An inexperienced Chinese side shouldn't pose too many problems for the Vikings, but the USA and South Africa will probably test them. The key could be how much the Lions have improved since 2005 - if the Vikings can defeat South Africa in their pool match, they could possibly push as high as 5th or 6th in the final rankings.