The Australian Rules Football League of Ireland is celebrating its 10th year of existence with new and increased plans for expansion while also continuing to focus on the Irish Warriors national team. The league's website at ARFLI.com has been completely re-launched, with several new sections that it is hoped will spread the word of the sport across Ireland and beyond.

With the inaugural European Championships being held in Sweden and Denmark this year and the International Cup again being held in Australia in 2011, the ARFLI is keen for Irish players living abroad to become involved with the National team.

The league is aware of dozens of Irishmen playing the game throughout the world and how this would obviously strengthen the Warriors side. Indeed when Ireland finished fourth at the 2008 International Cup, Australian-based Mick Finn was named player of the tournament. As a result there is now a player registration form on the new website where players interested in being considered for the national side can register.

In addition to this, the England-based Irish Exiles have formally affiliated with the ARFLI.

The University of Birmingham Sharks, one of Britain's newest Australian rules football clubs, last weekend hosted the WARFL Red Devils, the representative side featuring the best players in the Welsh Australian Rules Football Leagues across all nationalities.

In a surprise result, the Sharks' fitness was too much the more-experienced Devils, the home side running out to a comfortable 59-point win, Dan Di-Lieto kicking six goals for the winners.

The Sharks this weekend will host the Portsmouth Pirates, followed by planned matches over the coming weeks against Cambridge University, the Huddersfield Rams and fellow newly-founded collegiate clubs the Leeds Met Taipans and Chichester Uni Cougars.

Closer to home, Birmingham Uni will also take part in the three-team West Midlands Cup against Wolverhampton and the Birmingham Bears on March 13th.

This report courtesy of David Wheaton from the University of Birmingham.

The AFL Italia last weekend held their first-ever all-women's training session, with players taking the field in Milan in muddy conditions.

Women's footy has grown immensely in Australia over the past decade, and also has an established club scene in Canada and the United States. However, the Italians may be the first in Europe to found a full-scale women's club, as the following YouTube clip explains.

The SARFL in conjunction with the Glasgow Sharks have announced Scotland's Aussie Rules 9-a-side Club Tournament the "Haggis Cup" will be played in Glasgow on the 10th April 2010.

The Haggis Cup is now in its 7th year, having previously fielded teams from across England, Ireland, Wales, Belgium and France.

Organisers are hoping for at least 6 teams for the competition including Edinburgh and Glasgow to take on reigning Cup holders Aberdeen. The tournament will take place over one day and be played under current European 9-a-side rules in an express format with a post tournament function.

The Scottish Puffins will also soon be holding trials for the national team, which will be heading to Italy for a 4-team tournament on July 4th.

For further information about the Haggis Cup or to register interest in taking part, please contact SARFL President Dougie Hunter via the SARFL website.

After the formation of the European Australian Football Association this January, a major development in international footy, it is useful to look at the development of footy in different countries. In this article, we look at France.

At the end of the 2005 Multicultural Cup, it was Team Greece holding the cup, having defeated Turkey in the final. In the 2010 Harmony Cup, they're back to defend their title, featuring no less than 5 ex-AFL players in a squad who will certainly be going into the tournament red-hot favourites.

Angelo Lekkas, Ang Christou, Anthony Koutoufides and Peter Daicos - four members of the Greek AFL/VFL Team of the Century chosen in 2004 - are coming out of retirement for the Harmony Cup, as is former Fitzroy, Port Adelaide and Richmond player John Rombotis.

With the support of Melbourne's huge Greek community and the proud history of Greek involvement in Australian rules football dating back over 100 years, the team will be very tough to beat when they run onto the Whitten Oval on March 21st.

Team Manager Peter Kalla spoke to WFN about the team's preparations.

After the successful Frankfurt conference which saw the formation of the European Australian Football Association, the Australian Rules Football League Ireland (ARFLI) ran an article discussing the body's establishment. It also mentioned that Ireland will send a team to the next 9-a-side EU Cup, to be held in October 2010.

Of particular interest is that the locations were named as likely to be either Milan (Italy) or La Manga (on Spain's Mediterranean coast).

Delegates from 15 Australian football leagues around Europe converged on Frankfurt last weekend to officially found the European Australian Football Association, the long-awaited first pan-European governing body for the sport of Australian rules football.

Following on from the summit held in conjunction with the 2009 EU Cup in Zagreb, the conference has seen a governance structure put in place, with the financial and logistical backing of the AFL.

A six-member commission has been elected, featuring both sports management professionals and leaders of national leagues in Europe, along with the appointment of Gerard Murphy as EAFA chairman and the creation of a full-time Regional Development Officer position being funded by the AFL.

On March 21st of this year, the revamped Harmony Cup will see the first-ever Team Albania take the field at the Whitten Oval, promising to bring a big supporter base from the Victorian Albanian community and featuring a few high-profile names on the field.

So far, only one player of an Albanian background has so far played in the AFL, with Adem Yze's celebrated career with the Demons spanning more than a decade, however at a suburban and country footy level there have been plenty of Albanian champions come through the ranks. Adem has confirmed for the Harmony Cup side, as have his brothers Damien and Ramadan who are local footy stars in the Goulburn Valley, and the Albanians are confident of their chances.

Adam Lika from Team Albania spoke to WFN about the side's preparation.

A conference held in Zagreb in conjunction with the 2009 EU Cup last October set in motion long-awaited plans for the creation of an official governing body for Australian rules football in Europe. Chaired by Gerard Murphy of professional sports management consultancy firm Leading Teams, the meeting brought together representatives from a number of bodies across Europe and saw a proposal put to the AFL. Murphy's facilitation role was first established early in 2009, see AFL appoints Europe consultant.

AFL Sweden president Jörg Pareigis tells WFN, "We had a very productive meeting in Zagreb and with the help of Gerard covered a lot of ground and came to agreement on a lot of terms."

"One of them is to have a follow up meeting to formally establish a European Australian Football Association. The meeting will be held in Frankfurt on the 23rd and 24th of January. The board will most likely comprise of 6 board members plus one chairman."

"Among the six board members will be three external members who are highly involved in professional sports. The three internal members will be representatives from different leagues in Europe and Gerard Murphy will be the chairman of the board. The aim is to work more structured, united and respectfully in Europe. The AFL wants to do their share and finance a full-time employee hired by the European body."

It is intended that the meeting in Frankfurt will see the formal establishment of the new body, along with more detailed information on the membership structure and its funding.