World Footy News

Europe's 9-a-side EU Cup is just around the corner, with the tournament taking off at the Slavia Sports Centre in Prague on the weekend of the 11th and 12th of October.

12 teams will compete, with England, Catalonia, Sweden, Finland, Austria, France, the Netherlands, Czech Republic and Germany returning from last year's tournament in Hamburg. Scotland will also return, having competed at the first EU Cup in London in 2005.

Croatia will make their EU Cup debut, after impressive showings at the CEAFL and the Central European Tri-Series over the past few years.

The EU Crusaders will again be the banner of the cup's 12th side, featuring reserve players from other teams and players from other locations in Europe. This year, the mix might even include some new blood from Poland and Latvia, hoping to kick start clubs in their respective countries.

In the first of three articles previewing the EU Cup teams, we spoke to the teams from Germany, the Netherlands, Finland and defending champions Sweden.

Sweden

A couple of late withdrawls have hampered the Swedish Elks' preparation, but the core of the "New Sweden" will play in Karlstad on saturday 4th October, with Falun and Karlstad playing a three-way lightning tournament against the Oslo Trolls.

Although being the last hitout, some key players have chosen to rest rather than risk injury the week before going to Prague.

To replace those who have pulled out, a new crop of players has emerged. Two first-gamers will play, as well as two backing up after the Stockholm AFF Grand Final two weeks ago.

Kevin Anderson tells us Sweden are using the EU Cup as a development tournament. "Only one player is backing up after the IC in Melbourne, but there is a great balance between new recruits, australian knowledge and fitness. Sweden will run all day and party all night."

"We are not expecting to make it back to back wins. Perhaps the quarter finals, but we have drawn the EU Crusaders. That could prove an interesting match."

This year also saw the first-ever VB Cup held in Karlstad in May, the national Swedish club championship tournament. Eight of the eleven Swedish clubs were able to attend, the most Australian football players to date in the one place at the one time in Sweden.

The Netherlands

Although footy has been played in Holland on and off for a while, with the appearance of a Dutch team at the 2005 EU Cup, the Dutch Australian Football Association wasn't formally established until 2007.

Interest was generated to the point where enough players were present to allow De Vliegende Hollanders, aka the Flying Dutchmen, to compete in the 2007 EU Cup. Results were encouraging and the DAFA continued to promote the game and recruit players, gradually drawing more interest from Dutch players.

2008 has seen increasing growth in Australian football in the Netherlands and the Flying Dutchmen have played home and away games against the Rheinland Lions (Germany), Putney (UK) and the Paris Cockerels. Regular training sessions have seen a sharp increase in player numbers, including a significant number of local players, whose performance has been outstanding.

The team representing the Netherlands in the 2008 European Cup will including a significant number of local players, which is encouraging for the growth of the sport in the Netherlands. Expectations are that the team will perform well.

The next step for the DAFA is establishing a local Dutch competition. Interest continues to grow and indications are that this will be realisable in 2009. The DAFA have also recently secured a major sponsor, Tuckerbox, supplier of quality English and Australian Foods and goods in the Netherlands.

Finland

Finnish footy stalwart Heikkilä Kimmo tells us the Icebreakers are struggling somewhat for numbers, the same problem that they faced getting to the International Cup.

He tells us "After the IC players are injured or out of money. But we have a good team with 11 players - 4 Finnish players from the IC squad, plus 2 Finns that couldn't make it to the IC, a few Australians and one from New Zealand." They're still in the hunt for a few extra players, but Kimmo is hopeful they still might bring a full squad of 15 to the cup.

"We have been training twice a week after the IC, but we train in a public park without lights and nights are getting darker and darker."

Regarding their expectations and players to watch, he simply says "Our aim is do better than last time in the EU Cup. We have good players and I would watch them all!"

Germany

The Germans are building a reputation as one of the most solid leagues in Europe, with an all-German national team who finished runners-up in last year's EU Cup. The Black Eagles haven't had a chance to play a full test match this year, with their tri-series against Denmark and Sweden suspended for this season due to the other two nations preparing for the IC.

As AFLG president Malte Schudlich tells us, coordinating the national team has also been a challenge with the large distances between clubs. "Due to the geographical location of the five (now six) AFLG clubs, we are not able to regularly train together. Preparation therefore focused on a two day training camp in April, and a practice match against an all-Australian AFLG all stars side."

"The cancellation of the tri-nations with Denmark and Sweden was a bit unfortunate. We invited Spain and France to play a tri-nations, but after initially positive feedback from Spain, we did not get any response. France was still restructuring and also has problems of finding a suitable ground in Strasbourg to play 16 or more per team. We plan to play with Denmark and Sweden again next year."

"Each club nominates their best Germans. National Coach David Mudge follows their progress throughout the season, both by watching live and being in regular contact with the other coaches. We are trying to make sure to players from all clubs are in the team, even if this means we need to leave a few, possibly better players at home. Further, players are picked due to their availablility, which usually also depends on whether they can afford the trips."

As mentioned before, the team is all-local. Says Schudlich, "We have two non-German passport holders, of which I believe one is playing in Prague, but will apply for him being counted as German. He grew up in Germany basically all his life, and it is only due to the strict citizenship law in Germany that he is still considered a foreigner. In nearly all other participating countries he would have the country's nationality."

The Germans aren't making any big claims on where they'll finish. Schudlich says "Last year we finished second. However, there are some strong sides in the lineup, and I remember winning against teams like Spain was quite difficult. So I guess it depends a bit on how we feel on 11 Oct. However, top six would be nice."