Despite mixed results lately AFL sides are continuing the Irish experiment by signing up and trialling several new youngsters in advance of the November deadline for finalising lists. Recent headlines have been dominated by the news of Irish players turning their backs on the Australian game to return home but clubs are continuing to take a punt on the chance of finding a new Kennelly or Stynes.

The newly-formed AFL Italia has received some attention from the local media since the Azzurris' debut EU Cup appearance, with some positive coverage on Italian TV available via the group's YouTube channel YouTube.com/user/FootyItalia.

The AFL Italia has also created plenty of interest back in Melbourne, where the sizable Italian community has produced plenty of VFL and AFL stars over the years.

Next on the calendar for the Azzurris will be a friendly against German club the Frankfurt Redbacks in Milan on November 7th.

Photo courtesy of AFL Italia.

Former Sydney Swan Tadhg Kennelly has been given an All-Star award in just his first season as a senior footballer having helped his native Kerry win a record 36th All Ireland triumph. The Awards are the equivalent of the All Australian team of the year. Kennelly was named in the All-Star team at left half forward and sees him emulate his late father who twice received the award in 1979 and ’80. Cork’s Michael Shields, once on the books of Carlton, was named at full back in the team.

The Dublin Demons this year won their second consecutive ARFLI premierership title with a convincing victory against their heated rivals the South Dublin Swans by 10.9.69 to 4.11.35. Having led the ladder all season the Demons justified their favourite tags with an excellent all round performance that saw them open up an early lead that they never relinquished.

The first ever Australian football team to represent Norway has conquered national-rivals Sweden in the inaugural match between the two countries.

The Norway Trolls team, composed half of Norwegian nationals, plus a Czech, a New Zealander, and a group of Australians including one woman, ran out 9.7.61 to 4.6.30 victors over the Elks in icy conditions at Karlstad in Sweden.

Thanks to David Stone from Norway for this report.

In probably the last footy of the year for the British representative team, the Danish Vikings were repelled from our shores with far more success than many of our medieval ancestors. In the first match under new Head Coach Mark Pitura, the Bulldogs ground out a well-contested win, 76-63 over their European neighbours.

Along with the Irish Warriors, the Danish and British teams are probably the strongest teams playing the full version of the game in Europe and the efforts to put in place regular fixtures between the nations will really benefit the squads in their preparation for the International Cup in 2011.

The England Dragonslayers yesterday defeated the Flying Dutchmen 81-57 in the final of the 2009 EU Cup held in the Croatian town of Samobor, taking their second EU Cup title in succession.

The Dragonslayers were undefeated in the pool rounds, going into the semis against the Spain Bulls. The Bulls had finished top of pool D on percentage, despite having lost to the Irish Exiles by a point earlier that day.

The Dutchmen upset Germany by a point in the pool rounds, placing them in first position in their group. They met host nation Croatia in the semi-final, again pulling off something of an upset to defeat the Knights.

Croatia took out third place in the tournament, comfortably accounting for Spain in the third-place playoff.

Of the newcomers, the Irish Exiles eventually took out 6th place, going down to Scotland in the playoff for fifth. Iceland defeated the EU Crusaders for ninth place, while Italy broke through for their maiden victory over the Czech Republic to avoid the wooden spoon, then defeated Austria in the playoff for 13th. The Andorra Crows were defeated in their Bowl semi final against the Crusaders, finishing 11th overall.

All scores are available on the Footy Record, a full report will be on worldfootynews.com in the next few days.

The Cymru Red Dragons, the Welsh national Australian rules side, will this year hold a two-test series against the Scottish Puffins, both matches played 12-a-side with only nationals of the respective countries eligible to play.

The first match will be played on October 17th in Glasgow, with the second leg being held in Cardiff the following Saturday. The Red Dragons will be eager to record their first win for the year, after being defeated in both matches of the Dragon Cup challenge series against the England Dragonslayers in September. In the first leg played in Cardiff on September 12th, the English came away with a tight 54-49 victory, followed by a comfortable 67-point win the following week in London.

Scotland on the other hand will still be fresh from their EU Cup campaign and will be keen to win at home against the Welsh. Scottish footy is currently in a rebuilding phase, with the Scottish ARFL having restructured in 2009 to include a club in Aberdeen and consolidate the Edinburgh and Glasgow sides. Plans for the future of Australian rules in Scotland include possible clubs in Dundee and Stirling.

The Welsh Australian Rules Football League completed their first full four-team season in 2009, with strong growth in the clubs in South Wales seeing plans laid for a new club in the town of Barry, nicknamed the Vale Warriors and wearing the colours of former SANFL club Woodville.

The draw for the 2009 EU Cup is online, with the 15 sides divided into three pools of four and one of three.

The match schedule and pools are available on the Footy Record here. Scores will be updated via TFR throughout the tournament.

2009 has been a great season for the Paris Cockerels who confirmed their leadership in French footy, winning both the 2009 French Championship and the French Cup. The Parisians remain undefeated in their domestic competition, but are still looking for a win against a non French team.

The French footy community has elected to change to a winter season for 2009-10, featuring Paris, Bordeaux, Toulouse, Montpellier and Perpignan, together with the Andorra Crows. As part of their pre-season warm up, the Cockerels hosted their northern rival, the Flying Dutchmen, for a now traditional pre-season friendly.

Eager to win this game, the Parisians were off to a flying start, leading 4 goals to none after ten minutes, something the Cockerels are not familiar with when it comes to Europeans teams. But the Dutch did not back down and came back to only one goal at quarter time. The second quarter saw the Dutchmen taking the lead, leaving their French opponents only a handful of points behind.

The game got away from the Cockerels in the third quarter with the Dutch kicking 4 goals to none. As usual, the French fought back in the last quarter, kicking 3 goals to one thanks to their Icelandic captain Pall Finnsson, but the Dutch had score too many behinds during the game for the Cockerels to regain the lead. Once again the French had to let the game go to a stronger Dutch team.

The final score: Paris Cockerels 9.8 (62) v Flying Dutchmen 11.21 (87).

The Parisians will now focus on their second pre-season friendly against Danish club the Århus Bombers in October. The 2009-10 French championship is scheduled to begin in November, as is the second Paris International Rules Cup against the French capital's resident GAA club.