The northernmost Australian football league in the world will begin its first official season this weekend, with the Foster's Premiership kicking off in Reyjavík, Iceland. The 9-a-side features three sides, named the Bulls, Dragons and Eagles after three of the four traditional guardian spirits of Iceland.

The Bulls will go into the season as early favourites, after winning the pre-season English Pub Cup played on the 1st and 2nd of May. Icelandic Australian Football League president Friðgeir "Fritz" Ásgeirsson says the tournament was a great success, and gave a number of players the opportunity to have a competitive hitout before the season begins.

"We were very lucky with the weather and everyone had a good time. We see this tournament as a warm up for the league and a great opportunity for the new guys to try out the sport and get a hang of things. That went very well, the new guys were excellent and we are very optimistic for the future of Aussie Rules in Iceland. I’d be very surprised if we didn’t see some of the new guys at the European Championships in Denmark/Sweden later this year,” Fritz said.

The English Pub Cup also created some interest in the Icelandic media, with this report appearing on the national TV broadcaster RUV, and a number of articles in the local press. The Iceland Ravens made a strong debut at last year's EU Cup, and with some hard-working and passionate locals onboard look set to become a force in European footy.

The South Dublin Swans have won the the SMAT’s.com super 9’s ARFLI preseason competition for 2010. The tournament was part of the inaugural Dublin ANZAC sports carnival and saw seven Irish club sides joined by the Aberdeen Dingoes (Scotland) and from London, the Irish Exiles. The nine sides were drawn into three pools with the pools winners advancing through to a round robin final.

Whilst the slow approach of the European summer brings the start of the footy season for most European and North American leagues, the University year is coming to the end. Among the growing crop of college footy clubs outside Australia, the University of Birmingham Sharks have completed the first season in their history, recording 4 wins out of 5 matches.

Thanks to Tim Smith for this report.

The Wolverhampton Wolverines played their first-ever match last Saturday, taking on the University of Birmingham Sharks. Although the Sharks won the match 126-58, Wolverines founder Ian Mitchell was upbeat about his squad's debut performance. "My lads played really well and learnt a lot. It was fairly close until the Sharks took the game away from us in the 4th quarter, after we had put them under great pressure and won the 3rd."

Stand-out performers for the Wolverines were Sam Findell with 4 goals, Ben Yeates who took some great marks under pressure and Tom Archer who was solid at fullback.

Besides hoping to schedule a few more friendlies during May, the Wolverines will meet the Liverpool Eagles in their first league game this Saturday, with all teams in the Central & North West League coming to Manchester for the round, including the debuts of the clubs from Peterborough and Hull.

Oslo's Australian football team, the Oslo Crows, defeated Swedish team the Karlstad Eagles by 39 points at Ekebergsletta in Oslo on Saturday.

In windy, rainy conditions the home team kicked 10.9.69 to Karlstad's 4.6.30, with Paul Swanston bagging three majors for Oslo.

The win was a great result for a team that featured many Norwegians with limited experience with Australian football, including several first-gamers. Best players for Oslo were Erik Svela, Nathan Roxby, Paul Swanston and Amund Lundesgaard.

Setanta O’hAlpin (pictured left) and Tadhg Kennelly (right) have both started the AFL season in highly impressive form but as yet are the only Irish players to have played senior football in the AFL in 2010. Kennelly has been instrumental in the Sydney Swans shock rise to first place in the ladder after six matches, winning five and only losing a tight contest to premiership favourites St. Kilda. Setanta has kicked 16 goals for Carlton including a personal best 5 goals against arch rivals Collingwood last week and has been in career best form.

With an "awesome display of guts, determination and sheer skill", the mighty Huddersfield Rams outclassed six opponents from around England & Wales to take out the UK National Carnival in Portmsouth on Saturday April 24th.

In only their second year, and proudly wearing Western Australian State-of-Origin jumpers until their new kit arrives, the Huddersfield Rams brought the cup back to Yorkshire for the first time in the tournament's history.

The Rams won six games out of six to battle through to the final, before seeing off the hosts the Portsmouth Pirates. Rams captain Danny Armitage picked up the Golden Boot award for the tournament with an outstanding performance of 18 goals.

Club founder and president, Karl Haigh said “I’m so proud of the effort put in by the lads – both in the build up to and duration of the carnival. Considering that we came here last year and did not win a game, to come here in 2010 and go on and win the thing is amazing.”

The 9-a-side National Carnival is the last pre-season tournament before the regular season begins, this year hosted in Portsmouth by the Portsmouth Pirates with the Southampton Titans, Bournemouth Demons, Bristol Dockers, Sheffield Thunder, Cardiff Double Blues and the Rams all vying for the Cup.

This report courtesy of the Huddersfield Rams AFC.

The European Australian Football Association has appointed the first-ever full-time regional manager for the sport of Australian rules football in Europe, with Peter Romaniw the successful candidate.

EAFA Chairman Gerard Murphy says four candidates were interviewed in a marathon session on March 2nd. "Peter has been working with the AFL in a development role with coaching, umpires, administration and volunteers. He has degrees in Sports Administration and Sports Science, has previously worked overseas and speaks fluent Ukrainian."

"With such a large emphasis at both the Zagreb and Frankfurt Conferences being placed on umpiring, coaching and junior development and accreditation, the Commission are sure that Peter will be a wonderful asset to Australian Football in Europe," Murphy says.

Romaniw brings to the position a broad range of experience in both Game Development and politics, having previously worked as a Multicultural Development Officer with the Richmond Football Club and AFL Victoria, as well as Community Liaison Officer to the Australian Federal Minister for Sport.

He is also involved in a volunteer capacity with the Ukrainian World Congress International Sports Council, and worked as an observer to the 2004 Ukrainian Presidential Elections.

Whilst Gerard Murphy says the details are still being finalised, Romaniw is expected to take up the position in the coming weeks. WFN wishes him well on his appointment.

In this age of growing footy throughout the world, the challenges facing the organisers of the largely amateur-status sport are many. Finance, player availability, available venues etc. One of the things you don't expect to come up against too often is Mother Nature.

In another sign of the fast growing numbers of footballers in Germany, the inaugural season of the three team Bavaria League (BL - Bayernliga in German) kicked off on April 1st.

The weather provided the April Fool’s joke, as intermittent snowfalls throughout the day and sub-zero temperatures greeted the players and officials in Munich’s Hirschgarten. However, neither the cold nor the discovery that day of a 500 kilogram World War Two bomb a couple of torpedo punts away could dampen the spirit and enthusiasm of the two competing teams, the Sendling Blues and the Pasing Hawks.

The new league, Germany's first regional league, has been set up by the Munich Kangaroos Football Club, which was founded in 1994 and has had some success in the national competition, the Australian Football League Germany (AFLG).