This weekend will see the year's first 18-a-side clash for the England Dragonslayers, when the reigning EU Cup champions run onto the pitch at Albert Road, home of the North London Lions. Their opposition? Fronting up in the emerald green will be the Irish Exiles, a side of the best Irishmen playing the game in England.

Sussex Swans captain Ronan Moran is fronting the team, with players drawn from Sussex, Birmingham and Southampton in the ARUK National League, the West London Wildcats in the AFL London, and the Edinburgh Bloods up in Scotland.

WorldFootyNews.com spoke with Moran and ARFLI president Ciaran O'Hara about the Exiles, their plans and their significance for Irishmen playing Aussie Rules around the globe.

As in previous seasons, World Footy News will this year undertake a team-by-team preview of the sides for the EU Cup in Zagreb.

In our first installment, we spoke with host nation Croatia, their former Central European AFL rivals the Czech Lions and Finland, and newcomers from the North Atlantic Iceland.

The Croatian Knights, last year's runners-up, have seen significant domestic growth this year with their Zagreb metro league and will be very keen to go one better and take the Cup in front of their home crowd. The Czechs and Finns have also progressed significantly on a local level this season and will be eager to show they can match it with the best Europe has to offer.

Iceland remain an unknown quantity, but captained by Pall Finnsson, the Icelandic-born captain of the Paris Cockerels and former test captain of the Denmark Vikings, they may surprise a few rivals come the first weekend in October.

The Turku Dockers capped off a fairy-tale debut year by beating the Helsinki Heatseekers by 4 goals in the first ever grand final in the Finland AFL.

The Dockers, coached by Australian ex-pat and two-time EU Cup all star Grant Siermans, joined the Helsinki Heatseekers and the Salo Juggernauts as the third team in the Finnish league this year.

Unlike earlier years in Finland, all teams were able to field teams with primarily their own squad members throughout the home and away season, meaning that 2009 was the first year when a true premier could be crowned.

Thanks for Craig Primmer from the Finland AFL for this report, photos courtesy of Saara Hämäläinen.

The Oslo Trolls defeated the Ås Battlers (at left) by five goals on Sunday August 23rd, to claim the honour of being the first team to win a Norwegian domestic match.

The 9-a-side game at Oslo Rugby Club in Ekerberg comprised around 50% Australians, with Norwegians, Germans, Americans and a Swede making up the rest of the squads.

Simon Berger from the Oslo Trolls said "I think the Ås team played particularly well and think Adam (O'Toole) has done a great job. The Trolls managed to get nine players, mainly Aussie but some were 1st gamers from the rugby code... hopefully we can do it again soon and prepare well for our international versus Sweden." One woman player from Australia, described by Berger as a goalsneak, also took the pitch, acquitting herself well against the men.

No one seems too sure of the exact score, but organisers estimate it was around a 100-70 win to the Trolls. An Australian Association BBQ ensured a bit of a crowd were on hand to match the match.

Next event on the calendar for the Norwegians is the first-ever test match for the Norway Polar Bears against the Sweden Elks on October 3rd, with the Oslo Trolls, Ås Battlers and hopefully the far-northern Tromsø club all contributing players to the squad.

The Sydney Swans' Brendan Murphy has decided to give up his AFL dream, just days after writing in his column on the Irish-Australian news site the Irish Echo that he would continue in 2010. We recently reported his decision to stay, but note that the Swans have announced his change of heart and his article has been removed from the Irish Echo website (although it is still available from Google's cache).

20 year old Murphy played 25 games for Sydney's reserves in his two years Down Under but was restricted by injury. With a large turnover of players expected at the Swans over the off-season it looked like 2010 would be a great chance for Murphy to break into the AFL side.

Murphy stated that, “It wasn’t an easy decision to make but it has been a frustrating year with injuries and I feel as a consequence I’ve lost the drive and passion to play AFL".

It would appear as though the Irish experiment is now at best settling into a low level steady state with less than a dozen players on AFL lists at any one time, and only two or three getting regular senior matches at best. Homesickness and injuries appear to be as big hurdles as learning the new skills required.

The AFL London season came to a dramatic finale on Saturday 22nd August, with the annual Grand Final day producing some truly memorable footy across all three grades. For once the weather gave the perfect conditions and the rest was down to the players at the Barn Elms Reserve in London.

For the first time in recent memory, two clubs kept the finals between them and provided quite a spectacle. The Wandsworth Demons and West London Wildcats have enjoyed a great rivalry through their history and the effort on the pitch and support from the sidelines amply demonstrated just how much the game means to the clubs and the footy community.

On WFN recently it was reported in this story that there were a couple of former DAFL players with Icelandic connections who were trying to get the game up in Iceland.

The group has since then taken a few steps further, Friðgeir Torfi Ásgeirsson announcing last week that the Reykjavik club was officially founded on August 21st. An Icelandic side is also set to compete at the EU Cup in Zagreb, with 14 players committed to the trip so far.

Friðgeir adds, "We have found indoor facilities for the winter (as outdoor training will be difficult in the Arctic winter) and I have high hopes that the sport is off to a good start here in Iceland."

The Icelanders can be contacted via their Facebook group.

The Vienna Kangaroos and their marsupial mates from Munich will hold the 3rd annual "Battle of the Roos" in the village of Kössen in Tyrol, Austria on Saturday August 29th. Vienna club stalwart Ben Chick says that with the Munich Roos fired up for the AFLG Grand Final the following week, and the Vienna team led by local boy Raoul Himberger, it will be an entertaining match as were the games in previous years.

As Chick explains, "The event is organised annually by Sepp and Jenny Himberger (yes - that's our boy) and has turned out to be a great showcase for Aussie Rules in the fantastic setting of the Tyrolean Alps. The camaraderie between the teams has grown strong over the years and its always a fantastic weekend of entertainment on and off the field."

Australian rules in Austria is continuing to grow, with last year's interest from the city of Graz culminating in the official formation of the second footy club in Austria - The Styrian Downunder Dogs, named for the province of Styria where Graz is located. The Doggies, comprised 100% of Austrian nationals, have been training over the summer and will make up almost half of the Austrian national squad for the EU Cup in Croatia.

Back in the capital, the Vienna Kangaroos are recruiting strongly after suffering a winter exodus of some established ex-pat and local players. As Chick says, "The natural attrition rate seems to have been higher than previous years, but the local new blood have taken to the game with great gusto and are continuing to improve week by week."

A series of matches between the Graz and Vienna teams will take place in September as a lead up to the EU Cup. The Austrians will thereby join their Croatian and Czech neighbours in building a local competition this year, after the Central European tri-series was suspended for 2008.

The Sydney Swans' sole remaining Irish recruit has ended speculation regarding his future by signing a new contract to see him remain at the Swans. This is despite recently claiming that he was going to return to Ireland had he not made his senior debut by this seasons end. A series of injuries have hampered his development this year and thus his appearances have been restricted to the Swans reserve side.

Writing in the Irish Echo, Murphy has said that he is delighted at his decision to remain in Australia. “I know I’ve said before that if I hadn’t made a senior appearance by the end of the season that I would just wrap things up and go home; but I’ve changed my mind and I’m now fully committed to a future at the Sydney Swans, whether I’ve made that breakthrough by season’s end or not. Basically, I’ve been offered a new contract, and I’ve decided to take it.”

The Huddersfield Rams have scored an epic come-from-behind win to deny Birmingham in the ARUK Central Grand Final.

Played in front of a great crowd, 150 strong at the Huddersfield Rugby Union Club Lockwood Park Huddersfield, the Bears took full advantage of their opportunities to enjoy a three goal lead at 3 quarter time.

All the momentum was with the Bears and a huge upset looked on the cards, however an injury to Bears captain Matt Mitchell caused the game to be delayed by 20 minutes while the ambulance service took him to hospital after a dislocated knee.

The Rams came out for the last quarter a different team and slammed on goal after goal to emerge victors by 21 points in an unforgettable Grand Final - final scores Huddersfield Rams 13.27 (105) d. Birmingham Bears 12.12 (84)

Rams founder Karl Haigh described the match as "the best day of our lives", and says the club has big plans for the future, with a junior team in operation and a 5-year-plan in place that envisages a club tour to Australia.