World Footy News

The Czech Australian Football League last year kicked off its first domestic season, with the Czech Lions squad divided into two teams dubbed the Marauders and the All-Stars.

In 2010 the CAFL has announced that Prague local league will expand to four teams, with the creation of the Prague Dragons and Prague Kings. The Marauders have been renamed the Prague Cats, and the side that played as the All-Stars in 2009 will run out as the Vinohrady Hawks.

CAFL president Mike Gouteff spoke to World Footy News about the development plans for footy in the Czech Republic.

Gouteff says that since Aussie Rules is still in its infancy here in the Czech Republic, their current focus is ensuring this year's expansion to four teams is successful and that each team will be viable on an ongoing basis.

"We want to be sure they will be around and competing for years to come. We will make an assessment later in the year based on how recruitment and development went as to what we realistically can achieve."

"Whilst we would obviously like to continue to expand the league year on year, the problem is that as everything is run on a volunteer basis and people have other commitments. We really need to increase the number of off-field people with the capability and time to help push growth."

The Czech teams have a strong international contingent, with players from South Africa, New Zealand, England, Ireland, Slovakia and Belarusas well as the Australian expats and Czech locals.

Filling the roster of the teams will require each to have around 15-20 players, making a good recruitment strategy a neccesity. The new-look 'Prague Cats', formerly the Marauders, are aiming their recruiting drive at Prague Technical University (CVUT) and Charles University, where presentations to be held in the coming weeks before lectures.

Regarding the next step for the CAFL, Gouteff says that while they see junior development as an essential future goal, the focus will remain on making the senior league a success.

"If the sport is to grow and have a long term future here then junior development is essential. However, right now our goal is to try and build a decent base of Czech players from which we can grow."

"Once we have some more experienced and committed Czechs who would be capable of running development programs we can possibly expand into this area, but for now it is something that is probably a few years away."

The Czech Lions national team are currently planning their 2010 program, aiming to play at at four-nations tournament in Milan against Italy, Croatia and Scotland in July, a one off against Germany in August and the EU Cup in October.

Gouteff says that the Lions still have some ground to cover before they could make the trip to the International Cup. "Unfortunately the Czech Republic does not yet have the critical mass of local players to put together a competitive team for the International Cup. We are at very much a developmental stage and the IC would be a much longer term goal for us."

With new or expanded domestic leagues also kicking off in Italy, Croatia and the Netherlands this year, the future's looking bright for Australian rules in Europe.

The 2010 Czech domestic competition kicks off in April. For more information on the Czech Australian Football League, visit cafl.cz.