World Footy News

The Norwegian local Australian Rules football competition has moved into power mode now as the major national competition heads towards its 2015 decider. The Kenguru Cup pits the three main Norwegian teams – Oslo East, Oslo West and Ås Battlers – against each other over five rounds of battle between May and August.

With four rounds completed it is the Oslo West team leading the way with four wins ahead of Oslo East (last year’s winners) on three wins and Ås Battlers locked with East on three wins. For Oslo West it is an historic occasion, already having been the first to qualify for this year’s final for the first time. This follows successive last placed finishes over the past couple of years.

The final round in two weeks gives Oslo West the chance to hone their skills and put plans into action whilst Oslo East, last year’s winners, and Ås Battlers fight it out to be the other finalist. It will make for a fascinating final round, especially given the both East and Ås will be keen to win both of their matches to secure a finals berth and putting huge pressure on West to keep performing well.
The season started well in Round One for B Ås Battlers. In the three team “round-robin” style format they won both matches on the day to hold top position. West defeated East to have one win and consign East to last place. But East reversed the roles in Round Two, defeating both opponents whilst Ås Battlers lost both. By the end of Round Two all teams were locked together with two wins apiece for the season, Ås Battlers narrowly holding top spot on percentage.

Round Three saw the West team make their break, edging ahead of the field with two wins. East defeated Ås Battlers to leap into second place and keep the battle for that spot interesting going in to the fourth round.

By Round Four the all-powerful Oslo West team had snared two more wins to sit comfortably at the top of the table, secure in the knowledge that they could not lose top spot. But this time Ås Battlers defeated Oslo East to lock the teams together again on three wins apiece and ensuring that their Round Five result would decide the opponent for West in the Grand Final.

The final round of the Kenguru Cup season will be played in Ekeburg, Oslo on 21st August followed by the Grand Final on 4th September at a venue to be decided.

Of note this season has been the playing of at least one woman per team across the competition in a positive move to further grow women’s competition across the Norwegian competition. Whilst it might be some time before a regular women’s competition get off the ground, the chance for women to play at the existing level is an excellent springboard.

As well as the finale to the Kenguru Cup over coming weeks, the national footy scene in Norway is about to heat up with a national team looking to Umag, Croatia, for the Axios Euro Cup in October following by a trip to Portugal for the annual Algarve AFL 9’s tournament at Vilamoura.

Kenguru Cup: Round 4 Results

Oslo West 31 d Oslo East
Ås Battlers 48 d Oslo East 40
Oslo West 34 d Ås Battlers 32