World Footy News

The Danish Australian Football League are one of Europe's oldest Australian football leagues, with a history dating back to the early 1990s. For the first decade of their existence they were one of only two nations in Europe with a functioning national league, with clubs spread from the Jutland peninsula, across the Copenhagen region, to Helsingborg in southern Sweden.

However, once the youthful enthusiasm powered by the excitement of a new league faded, expansion in Denmark has been hard to come by in the past twelve years, with Swedish club Port Malmö the only new side in the DAFL Premier League since the year 1997.

This season saw a new team emerge in the city of Randers in Jutland, close to Denmark's second-largest city Århus. The Randers Dockers have just completed their maiden season in the Jutland 9s, a local league with the Aalborg Kangaroos and Århus Bombers feeding into DAFL Premier League team the Jutland Shinboners.

Driving force behind the Randers Dockers is Jens Djernes, a member of last year's Denmark Vikings team at the IC and one of two Vikings selected to the 2008 World Team.

Djernes' background in Australian rules football started as a Danish exchange student in country Western Australia in 2005. "I played in the colts team for Augusta-Margaret River Hawks. And I got to play with the local school team in the country-week championships in Perth."

"When I then returned to Denmark in July 2006, I got in contact with Páll Finnsson, who was trying to get the Århus Bombers back on their feet despite a lack of players and commitment. But we really clicked, and decided to try getting the club back on a roll. Then Páll left us in 2008 after the IC, and Morten Engsbye from Farum, who is now in Århus, took over the role as coach."

"Early this year, we saw the Århus Bombers growing up to numbers around 15 at every training, and I had for a long time had the dream to start up something in Randers, as we had 4 regulars from here, driving to Århus twice a week."

In spring 2009 Djernes got the Randers club onto the pitch, and organised to have a full-sized oval and goalposts set up through the local council. Located 7km from the centre of the city, the ground measures 130m x 90m, which makes it useable for DAFL Premier League matches. The first such game played at the ground was Jutland vs. Port Malmö on June 13th.

A month prior to this, Randers had already played, and won their first home game, defeating Århus 110-91. Djernes says "Randers ended top of the Ladder, but only because of some forfeits and so on. Next year will be a more competitive season, as this year was more to find out what the potential was of the new Randers Dockers, and the new Jutland 9s League."

"In the Jutland 9's we play with the available amount of numbers. So if we have 6 per side we play, or if we have 15 per side. We always play the most players possible on the field, simply to raise the level and seriousness of the game."

"The current plan for Randers is to try and get younger players, aged 15-17, involved playing local league, so that when they go to uni, they can play in Århus, Aalborg or Copenhagen. Early this year I got a school-team going from a high-school here in Randers, which was very competitive, with 20 players showing some good potential in a school-comp in Farum. We came second."

"But in future the goal will be to have a DAFL Premier League club. I'm really committed, but it takes a lot of work. But I'm still pumped on the idea, and I'm working hard on sorting out how to get new players for next year's season."

"As for now, players from the Randers Dockers play combined with Århus and Aalborg, for the Jutland Shinboners."