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.

The Wolverhampton Wolverines will make their long-awaited debut on May 1st this year, with the home game against the Birmingham Uni Sharks to be the first-ever Australian rules football match in the city of Wolverhampton.

Wolverines founder Ian Mitchell says "We are playing at our home ground, Wolverhampton RUFC at 2pm. There is potential for this game to turn into a 3 or maybe even 4-way tournament, as I've asked Hull and Peterborough, the other two new teams in the region, to join us."

"We have started to train with the Gaelic Football side in Wolverhampton, St Mary's GAA, which will hopefully be beneficial for both clubs, in terms of sharing players, transferring skills and adding to numbers at training sessions. It is that club's 50 year anniversary this year and so we hope to celebrate that with an international rules game at some point over the summer."

The Wolverines are this year competing in the social division of England's new-look Central & North West league, together with the developing sides in Liverpool, Hull and Peterborough. The league will kick off on May 8th, with all clubs heading to Manchester for huge day of British Aussie Rules.

Finland's footy scene has grown rapidly over the past few years, with the Finland AFL being founded in 2006, the first domestic clubs being created in 2007, the Finland Icebreakers national team coming to Melbourne for the IC08 and the inaugural FAFL national league kicking off in 2009.

In 2010, the Helsinki Heatseekers, Salo Juggernauts and Turku Dockers will soon kick off the domestic competition's second season, with a small chance that the Espoo Roos will re-form and a new club in Vaasa will take the field.

Recruitment of new players has been very strong over the northern winter, with the clubs counting around 100 players on paper, with only 6 Australians. All three Finnish clubs have also been hard at work taking the game to local schools.

Finnish footy stalwart Kimmo Heikkilä spoke to WFN about the upcoming 2010 season.

With the combined efforts of a local enthusiast and the Welsh ARFL, Britain may have its seventh regional footy competition by the end of this year, based in the region of Cornwall in England's rural south-west.

Cornwall, known in the Cornish language as Kernow, is one of the traditional six "Celtic Nations" alongside Ireland, Wales, Scotland, the Isle of Man and Brittany in France. It is an area known for tourism, with the local population of around half a million being outnumbered almost ten to one by the five million tourists who arrive from the rest of England each year, its attractions including Britain's best surfing at Newquay and Porthtowan.

Former Thanet Bombardier Liam Marsh is coordinating the project to kick off the Kernow ARFL, with an introductory session and practice match with the Cardiff Double Blues currently planned, and hopes for clubs in towns such as Falmouth, Truro, Newquay and Plymouth. Liam took some time to talk to WFN about his plans.

Regional England has seen a great number of new clubs formed in the past few years, with the growth in club numbers lead by the three regional divisions of the ARUK National League, which operated largely separate to AFL Great Britain. 2010 has seen some personnel changes in English footy, and reports indicate that this year the English footy scene will be significantly more united than for some time.

GB Bulldogs coach Mark Pitura told WFN that he is very optimistic about the new structure, saying "AFL Great Britain is more united than ever. All clubs have come underneath this umbrella."

With all footy clubs in England now part of the one structure, last year's ARUK clubs in regional England will form the AFLGB North East, Central & North West and Southern divisions, although they will essentially remain self-governing leagues. Each division will have a main premiership competition featuring five teams, with a number of further development clubs playing friendly fixtures during the season.

World Footy News spoke to a number of key figures from the regional English clubs about the upcoming season.

In the continuing tradition of London clubs touring Europe for pre-season friendlies, AFL London powerhouse the West London Wildcats will take on the Paris Cockerels on April 10th at 2pm in the Bois de Vincennes.

Cyril Talon, president of both the Cockerels and the French National Footy Commission, says the game will be the third-ever 18-a-side full-field match held in France, after Tasmania Montivilliers versus Paris Cockerels in 2000 and Paris Cockerels versus North London Lions in 2009. The game against the Wildcats will also be a good warmup for the second Anzac Cup, to be held in Villers-Bretonneux the Saturday 24th April.

The Paris Cockerels have stamped their dominance on the emerging French footy scene in recent years, and are currently sitting undefeated at the top of the ladder in the French league, a game clear of the Bordeaux Bombers in second.

Further south in France's rugby belt, the Toulouse Crocodiles recently played a promotional game at the halftime break of a professional Rugby League match between Toulouse Olympique and English club Dewsbury, with a crowd of around 800 spectators. The Toulousains have this year already tasted glory, with a win at the inaugural Coupe de Grand Sud tournament, held in Perpignan in February, which saw the Crocodiles meet the other teams from southern France, along with those from Andorra and Catalonia.

This year's Coupe de France club tournament is scheduled for June 26th in Strasbourg, with hosts the Strasbourg Kangaroos hoping to build this year after remaining dormant through the 2009-10 season.

AFL legend Peter Daicos has agreed to be Gateshead Miners ARFC patron for 2010. Commonly known as the Macedonian Marvel because of his parents' place of origin, the mulleted Daicos is known as one of the most exciting footballers of all time - with an incredible knack to score goals from seemingly impossible angles, and at crucial game-defining moments.

The Gateshead Miners were formed in 2009, and compete in England's Northern Premiership against clubs from the cities of Newcastle, Hartlepool, Durham and Middlesbrough.

The Dulwich Dragons will this year enter the AFL London's Conference (2nds) Division, after playing in the Social (3rds) League since their formation in 2008.

Club stalwart Alistair Chisholm explains that the Dragons were created by two footy enthusiasts who decided the London league needed to spread away from the traditional Aussie expat areas in the city's west.

Two years later, the Dragons have over sixty players on their squad list and are planning on playing in both the 2nd and 3rd divisions on the AFL London, after a strong showing in 2009 despite some early fixturing hiccups.

Continuing the explosive growth of new clubs in England, the Guildford Crows are warming up for the 2010 season, and are on the lookout for friendly matches against other southern clubs to get underway.

Located around halfway between London and England's south coast, Guildford is the traditional centre of County Surrey and is only a few kilometers from the town of Woking, which was home to the old BARFL's Thames Valley Magpies in the early 1990s.

Leading the Crows is Tom Drake, a Briton who discovered Australian rules football while traveling in Australia, joined the Aberdeen Dingoes while studying in Scotland, and went on to represent the Scotland twice in 2009.

The small town of Chichester, with a population of just over 20,000, is home to one of Britain's newest universities - the University of Chichester only being founded in 2005. The town is also home to one of Britain's newer university Australian football clubs, with the Chichester Cougars kicking off proceedings late last year.

Since being founded by members of the nearby Southampton Titans, the Cougars have played matches against Chippenham, Portsmouth and Birmingham Uni, recently breaking through for their first win.

Cougars founder Martyn Hinchey spoke to WFN about his club.