Stephen Alomes, an Australian academic and occasional contributor to World Footy News, recently concluded one of many trips to Europe. Below he discusses some thoughts on how Australian football is developing and what is needed to push it forward.

Village and Uni to Continent and World – the View from the Far North and how Aussies can help

A glimpse from local footy stories – Turku, Finland and south western France to the continental and intercontinental map.

Stories of local recruiting, Euro competition, Aussie expertise, the need for links

Sunday the 15th November 2009 saw reigning ARUK Central Premiers the Huddersfield Rams head to Gateshead for an off-season friendly match against the North-East All Stars, a side drawn from the five clubs in the region in and around Newcastle.

The Rams have been one of regional England's fastest-growing clubs over the past twelve months, winning their local premiership, taking the road for tour matches as far away as Wales, and lending a hand to other start-up clubs in nearby cities. The 2010 season will hopefully see the current clubs in the north-west joined by sides in cities such as Sheffield, Doncaster, Bradford, York and a team at Leeds Metropolitan University, with the Rams travelling the area to assist in training sessions with members of sides under formation. Furthermore, there are currently footy programs at five local schools, with an additional twelve to come onboard in February next year.

This weekend's game against the All Stars was the result of a challenge issued by Gateshead Miners captain Sean Bulmer, who invited the Rams to make the trip north and take on the best of the North-East Premiership.

The first round of the 2009-10 French League took place on the 14th of November, with Paris, Montpellier and Andorra travelling to Perpignan for the first round, While Bordeaux challenged Toulouse on their own ground.

The Montpellier Firesharks took on last year French Cup finalists, the Perpignan Tigers. Both team were mainly formed of new players. The more experienced Firesharks showed their superiority in the first two quarters, quickly taking the lead. The Tigers made a lot of beginner mistakes, letting the Firesharks taking control of the game. Perpignan were never able to get back in the game. Final Score: Perpignan Tigers 42 - 168 Montpellier Fire Sharks

The second game of the day saw the newly formed Andorra Crows take on French powerhouse, the Paris Cockerels. Despite a promising result in the EU Cup the Crows were never able to match the technical skills of the Parisians. The Cockerels got their first win in this year season with a stunning 263 points margin, Andorra Crows 23 - 286 Paris Cockerels, and remaining undefeated since 2008.

The third game of the round was organised in Toulouse between the Bordeaux Bombers and the Toulouse Crocodiles. After a summer of intensive training the Bombers were eager to prove that they will not get the wooden spoon two years in a row. After a close first quarter, the Crocodiles only leading by a few points, the Bombers were off to a massive second quarter to claim back the lead at half time. The Toulouse players did not give up and came back in the third quarter, but the cool-headed Bombers were too good for the Crocs and eventually won the game 155 to 93.

The Sydney Swans confirm that overnight Tadhg Kennelly informed the Club of his decision to return to Australia and accept a two-year contract. Kennelly arrived at the Swans in 1999, made his debut in 2001, played in the 2005 premiership, earned Life Membership and played 158 games before returning to Ireland at the start of this season to fulfil a lifelong dream to win an All-Ireland premiership.

The All-Ireland premiership was achieved for Kennelly and his side Kerry in September and the 28 year-old was then left weighing up the possibility of resuming an AFL career. After spending a considerable time making that decision, Kennelly will return to Australia next week to officially launch his autobiography ‘Unfinished Business’ and at that time, commence training with the Swans.

An interesting development has happened recently which has bucked the recent trend of Irish players being signed up by AFL clubs. Four players have decided to turn their backs on lucrative contracts and return to Ireland to play for their GAA counties in the amateur game. In the past, if an Irish player left the Australian game this was mainly because their contracts were not renewed, but a player like Martin Clarke obviously still had a big future with the Pies and many were surprised that he chose to return to County Down.

The first ever ‘Bute International Test Series’ between Wales and Scotland has ended, with the Cyrmu Red Dragons (Wales) lifting the Crichton-Stuart Cup.

The Red Dragons and the Scottish Puffins played two matches, held in Glasgow and Cardiff, with the Welsh awarded the series on aggregate score after both sides claimed victory in their respective home matches.

Played 12-a-side, the first leg in Glasgow was the first ever international for the all-Welsh Red Dragons against a team other than England, whilst for the Scots, it was the first test match played by an all-Scottish national team.

Both camps have plans for domestic expansion in the 2010 season, as well as plans for more test matches against other European nations.

Thanks to the Welsh Australian Rules Football League's Ben Coak for this report and photos.

Last Saturday November 7th saw Germany's Frankfurt Redbacks travel south of the Alps, to the town of Lainate, near Milan, to take on the Italian national team. The game, won by the Redbacks by a solitary point, was the official match of the Italian National Aussie Rules team on home soil.

Thanks to Armando Colombo from the AFL Italia for this report. Full story includes a link to match highlights on YouTube.

A team from the English city of Sheffield took the field for the first time in 2008 - with the student-based Sheffield Thunder completing a handful of games in the ARUK Central Division, before pulling out of the league due to the pressure on the squad of combining running the footy club with university commitments.

Aussie Garth Nevin, previously of the New York Magpies, recently took over the reins at the Thunder and is planning to get the club onto the pitch full time in 2010.

Melbourne's The Age newspaper today ran a substantial article on European footy, including interviews with Australian Football League Germany president Malte Schudlich, and fellow German Jörg Pareigis, president of the AFL Sweden.

Topics covered include the relationship between European clubs and the AFL, the International Cup, and moves in Germany for the AFLG to join the German American Football community as an umbrella organisation (a move that would give the AFLG greater government recognition, without actually switching to gridiron).

The full article can be read at Against the odds, oval ball bounces into Europe.

The Montpellier Fire Sharks recently achieved the first appearance of a French Australian rules football club on national television, with a report on the club appearing on l'Equipe TV on October 23rd.

The Fire Sharks also got some media coverage with their visit to the Seaquarium Grau de Roi for the launch of European Shark Week, an initiative starting this year hoping to save shark populations in Europe's seas.

As a further tie-in to the Shark Week charity, the Montpellerains are looking at hosting a future Sharks tournament, where the club would play other 'Sharks' sides from around the world - such as Glasgow or Birmingham Uni from the UK, or even any of the many Australian clubs with that name who want to make the trip.