World Footy News

Australian rules football is coming to South-Western England, with the formation of a new club in the port city of Plymouth. The CSSA Plymouth Seagulls have been holding training sessions and hope to soon kick off a year of friendly fixtures before joining the AFLB Southern Division in 2011.

The Seagulls have been training for three months, with 19 players registered so far, and a core group of 11 every week. In addition to those, they have had several rugby players say they will be down once their season is over. A committee has been voted in, and a major sponsor located in the Civil Service Sporting Association (CSSA).

Coordinating the Seagulls is Will Sykes, an Australian who moved to England to play cricket in 2004, and settled in Plymouth. Sykes previously played for Swan View FC in Perth, as well as a stint with the Swan Districts FC colts in the WAFL.

Sykes says he has been very pleased with how quickly they have developed a core squad. "We train every Sunday at 11am in Central Park in Plymouth. As the summer months move in, we will be moving to the rugby club Plymstock Albion Oaks, who we have built a briliant relationship with, where we have access to their training gear and playing ground. We will then be looking to train two nights a week."

"The immediate plans for the club are to play a few friendlies this year with clubs from around England and build the squad before entering the Southern League next year. We have had a lot of support from teams around England with Portsmouth and Southampton offering to face us in a friendly game already. The club is progressing at a rapid rate, with the players taking to AFL brilliantly, I can honestly see a few of the lads challenging for Dragonslayers positions hopefully next year."

Sykes says the impetus for creating the club came via Facebook, when he was contacted asking if he wanted to play for the first incarnation of the Seagulls. "Brian Clarke contacted me about 18 months ago asking if I wanted to play for his side the Seagulls when he was arranging a team. Nothing came of that side, but after my girlfriend and I went to Dublin to watch the International Rules series in October I came back itching to get back into footy and started sending emails. I started with Brian who replied and told me he was back in Australia and to contact Karl Haigh from Huddersfield Rams. I emailed Karl and he called me straight away and he has been brilliant ever since, helping with ordering our kit, getting our name known and answering any questions I might have."

"We have managed to negotiate a brilliant sponsorship package with our major sponsor, the Civil Service Sporting Association, along with talks in progress with various other businesses around the city of Plymouth. The sponsorship committee also has various ideas to raise funds for the club incuding a calendar later in the year."

The Seagulls are having a custom jumper made by Xblades, based on one of the designs worn by the Flying Boomerangs in their international tours. Sykes said the players chose the design as it kept an Australian connection to the club, and stood out a bit from the jumpers of the other southern clubs.

On a local level, there has also been some interest in starting clubs further out in Cornwall, with Sykes in contact with Liam Marsh to see if a regional league could be set up. "There seems to be alot of interest for Cornish clubs via the Facebook pages set up, so a South Western League would be a great acheivement if we could get it up and running," Sykes says.

The club's website is currently under construction, but in the meantime anyone wanting to get in touch with the Seagulls can do so via their Facebook page.