World Footy News

The Central European footy scene has seem some exciting expansion in the past year or two, with a number of local competitions founded, inlcuding the Czech, Croatian, Dutch, Finnish and Italian domestic leagues profiled by WFN over the past few months.

In Austria, the Vienna Kangaroos and the Graz-based Styrian Downunder Dogs will play a seven match series for the national championship, kicking off in Graz in May.

Ben Chick from the Kangaroos and Martin Schittegg from the Downunder Dogs spoke to WFN about their plans for the upcoming season.

Chick says the two Austrian clubs will play each other over the summer in a structured season for the Austrian Championship. "The opening game will be in Graz, which coincides with the Styrian Downunder Dogs having a stand at the local 'Feiertag des Sports' (Festival of Sport) in Graz, a local government-sponsored sporting initiative that gets a decent number of attendees every year. We are also playing an exhibition game at the Bad Aussee 'Kir-Tag', which is an annual festival in Bad Aussee that draws large numbers of people from all over Austria."

"There are also a few friendly matches in the planning stages against teams from Prague. We'll meet halfway between Prague and Vienna and have a club game."

Further south in the province of Styria, Martin Schittegg says the Downunder Dogs are looking at ways to promote their club and the sport. "Specifically in Graz, we're currently working on some projects to increase our profile. We're preparing some articles for various magazines and at the end of May we'll have a stand at the 'Feiertag des Sports', including a small playing field where we can do some advertising for Australian rules football."

"The aim is to show those who already know about Australian Football that it's being actively played in Austria, and that they have the opportunity to come and join us, and to raise some interest among those who are interested in learning about a new sport or who maybe have played other kinds of football."

Martin first learnt about the sport of Australian Football four years ago, seeing games on TV while spending a few months traveling through Australia with his wife. "In Perth we went and saw a game live at a stadium, and at that point I had caught the footy virus. Back home in Austria I looked on the internet, but found no signs that this sport was played here."

Later, he found a report online in conjunction with the AFL Grand Final, with a short article about the Vienna Kangaroos. "I got in contact with them and took part at training. From then on, I've been trying to build up a club in Graz."

"Since then we've had a few highs and lows, and after 2008 wasn't very successful for us, I was going to pack it all in. For work or family reasons we didn't have enough players at training, and that meant that most of the others struggled to keep up their motivation. I decided to keep at it though, and last year we developed a great team, who have also helped me a lot with the organisation and since then it's been going great."

"We've got a Facebook page and website, and right now we're seeking suppliers for playing kit and t-shirts. Since the start of March we've been holding fitness training, and the first session with the footballs will be this Friday - everyone's pretty keen for this!"

"In Graz we currently have a pool of around 18 players, on average we get about 8 to 10 of those along to training. Since I first started the team three years ago, we've only had Austrian players. Start of May we'll be holding our first training camp, so far we've got fifteen players registered."

"We haven't been able to do much in the area of school sport, at least not in Graz. However, starting next semester we are hoping to start working together with the University of Graz to offer an Australian Football course. We've also recently made contact with the Graz Sports Office, through this we could organise Australian Football summer and holiday programs for school students and youths."

Back in the capital, Ben Chick says the Vienna Kangaroos also have about 20 players on paper, but getting them all out at the same time can prove difficult. Regular games will hopefully mean more player numbers and exposure, and the creation of further clubs in Austria a high priority, with the Kangaroos already looking at a second team in Vienna.

Schittegg says "through our Facebook page and website, as well as word of mouth, we're hoping that we can motivate people in other cities and provinces to actively play this sport. With the exhibitions in Bad Aussee (Upper Styria) and Kössen (Tirol) that we've already mentioned, there will also be opportunities to see us live."

In order to help coordinate development efforts, the Kangaroos and Downunder Dogs are negotiating the creation of an Austrian national governing body for the sport, which the two clubs hope will be in place by the end of the year.

Chick says the National team will attend the EU Cup, but this might be their only appearance for 2010. "We are predominantly concentrating on the internal competition this year and keeping national commitments to a minimum."

In this aspect, the Austrians look to be part of a growing trend for clubs to shift away from the tournament-based scene from previous years to a focus on local grass-roots development. Whilst the tournament circuit still has an important role to play in footy's European development, it's great to see so much action on a domestic level, Europe-wide.

For more information on footy in Vienna, visit viennakangaroos.com, or for Graz visit styriandownunderdogs.com.