The AFL’s Professional Approach to Developing European Footy

After 21 years of Australian Football in Europe, now that the game has reached its traditional ‘majority’, the AFL has adopted a professional approach to conquering Europe. The formation of the European Australian Football Association in January 2010 has been followed by an AFL-supported appointment to the Association. Peter Romaniw (pictured) has been selected, and now commenced work, as European Regional Manager.

The AFL has now developed a resource-committed approach to game development of the Australian game in a continent which already has Australian football from Helsinki in the north to Madrid in the west, further south to Milan and to Prague in the east. No longer is Europe forgotten due to either traditional connections or exotic fantasies.

The Croatian Knights have proven their 9-a-side class by winning the Euro Cup, held in Parabiago (Milan), Italy. The 1 day tournament featured 15 men's sides: Austria, Catalonia, Croatia, Czech Republic, England, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Scotland, Spain, Switzerland, Wales and the EU Crusaders (additional players from several countries).

In Europe's first women's international Ireland's Women 6.14 (50) defeated Italy's Women 6.4 (40), in hopefully the first of many such matches. A more detailed report can be read here.

Croatia have a strong history in men's 9s but with European Champions (16-a-side) Ireland debuting a strong challenge was on the table. Croatia and Ireland cruised through their pool matches, although uneven team numbers saw Eire's Warriors have to play one more game, before meeting in a semi-final. England looked dominant in their half while the Netherlands were steady in getting though to their semi-final. Then came the upsets.

worldfootynews.com has closely followed Mathias Biron's progress since assisting the young Danish player to make it down to Australia for the 2010 NAB AFL Under 16 Championships, in which he performed well for the World XVIII. Since returning to Denmark, the 18 year old (pictured front row at the far left) has represented his country at senior level during the Vikings' gallant run in the inaugural European Championships (the full field version not to be confused with this weekend's Euro Cup 9-a-side tournament). WFN caught up with Biron to discuss the benefits of the World XVIII experience.

"I think that I learned a lot in the weeks that I was there. We had some really good coaches that taught me many new things at the training sessions. I improved a lot on those two weeks, not only because of the training sessions but also the matches taught me a lot. I learned to manage the pressure before a match, but I also learned many things on ground. To play against the Australian teams, we obviously didn’t have a chance, but it taught me how I should play and what I should work on. I think that you always learn a lot from players that are better than you".

Irishman Michael Quinn has been awarded the Cater medal for the Best and Fairest of the Bendigo Bombers, the VFL affiliate for Essendon. It is a huge boost for the County Longford native who has struggled in his two outings for the Bombers in the AFL this season. Despite this he has consistently impressed in the lower grade.

The notion of Aussie Rules being played in Europe is no longer new but until now it has been an entirely male environment. This weekend Milan will host the continent’s first ever women’s international match of Australian Football.

The Euro Cup, an annual 9-a-side tournament, has been going since 2005. Every year Aussie Rules continues to expand, and that growth is reflected in the increasing numbers of teams taking part.

This year that expansion goes across genders as well as borders with both Ireland and Italy fielding women’s teams as well as men’s.

This article courtesy of Nic Townsend, photos courtesy of Daniela Scalia.

While Australia is being treated to a second Grand Final this weekend, on the other side of the world, another big day of footy will also taking place: the Euro Cup. This year the annual 9-a-side Australian Football tournament will be held in Milan, Italy.

The competition has only been running since 2005, but in that time it has grown dramatically in terms of nations competing and players participating, and its growth is reflective of the growing popularity of the game in Europe.

The 2010 Euro Cup will be contested by 15 countries. Wales and Switzerland will be taking part for the first time where they join other emerging football-playing nations such as Austria, France, Catalonia, Spain, the Netherlands, Italy, the Czech Republic, and Scotland. England, Ireland, Germany and Croatia, who are all relatively well established, will also be involved.

This year’s Euro Cup will also feature the first ever women’s international in Europe, between Italy and Ireland.

This article courtesy of Nic Townsend.

Considering the contribution Greek Australians have made to Australian rules football, and that leading figures in the game including current AFL chief Andrew Demetriou are of Greek or Greek-Cypriot background, it is perhaps surprising that until now the game has not been exported back to Greece.

Behind the match were AFL Multicultural Development head Nick Hatzoglou and members of the Hellenic-Australian Cricket Federation, on tour in Corfu. The lead-up to the game included Auskick clinis in local primary schools, as well as some recruitment of local sportsmen to take part in the match.

The following article by Mike Sweet originally appeared in Australian Greek community newspaper Neos Kosmos.

Saturday 21st August saw the second leg of the 2010 Bute Series between Scotland and Wales take place at Victoria Park in Glasgow. The weather conditions for the game were good with sunshine and a slight breeze.

As in the first match both teams were up for it straight from the first bounce with some tasty tackles going in from the outset. The first quarter was again a very tight battle with the Welsh having the best of the early play. The game at this stage was evenly balanced and after Wales had taken an early lead Scotland managed to peg a couple of goals back to go into the quarter time break only 5 points behind.

The ARFLI grand final takes place this Saturday between the last years beaten finalist the South Dublin Swans and the Belfast Redbacks. Both sides came through from the eastern conference with the Redbacks enjoying a magnificent semi-final victory against perennial finalist the Leeside Lions. The Swans booked their place in the final after the Clare Crows forfeited their semi.

This weekend at Portobello Rugby Club, Edinburgh, the Scottish Australian Rules Football League (SARFL) Grand Final will be contested between 6 times winners Edinburgh Old Town Bloods and the Glasgow Sharks. The following courtesy of the SARFl's Douglas Hunter. This promises to be a hard fought contest between two evenly matched teams. Edinburgh have been the stand out team in the league this season and go into the final with no defeats and are slight favourites having been unbeaten during the league season. Glasgow have been improving with every game and are the league’s top point scorers with two high scoring and impressive wins over the Aberdeen Dingoes. The match will begin at 2.30pm on Saturday the 18th. Prior to the match there will be an exhibition match at 12.30pm between the Aberdeen Dingoes and a SARFL select team. This match is an opportunity for Scottish players to push for a place in the national team for the Aussie Rules Euro Cup in October and a two test series against England, also in October, which should add to the intensity of the match. This promises to be the most exciting Grand Final yet, so come along and join in the fun and excitement of Aussie Rules, Scottish style.