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.

The AFL London 2009 Grand Final will see traditional rivals Wandsworth Demons play the West London Wildcats in all 3 grades of the AFL London Grand Final.

Powerhouse club West London lay claim to being the biggest Australian rules club outside Australia and have dominated the premiership tally of the league over the past few years - their senior Wildcats side winning the last 5 London premierships on the trot.

After much discussion and speculation over the past twelve months, the Danish AFL and AFL Sweden have announced that they are preparing to host Europe's first full-scale, all-local International Championship series in the Øresund Region of Denmark and Scania.

AFL Sweden president Jörg Pareigis stated in correspondence to European league committees during the past week that the tournament will be played under IC eligibility rules, meaning all local players, with each team playing four full-length 16-a-side matches over the week from July 31st to August 8th next year.

Assuming that eight European nations are able to mount a squad on the required scale, the teams are to be separated into two divisions of four sides, one division playing its matches in the Copenhagen area, the other over the bridge in Sweden.

The Scottish Australian Rules Football League this year has bounced back in a big way after a few tough seasons, 2009 being the first time in four years for the home and away series to be completed without any matches being forfeited.

The year began with the consolidation of the Glasgow and Edinburgh sides to one team in each city, joined by newcomers the Aberdeen Dingoes from the east coast. The three clubs now having a total of 65 active players, with plans for further clubs in Stirling, Dundee and Perth.

SARFL board member Douglas Hunter had a chat with World Footy News about the league's progress, future expansion plans and junior development.

The Scottish Australian Rules Football League will this weekend hold national team trials in the city of Stirling, roughly halfway between Glasgow and Edinburgh. The session is intended both to help efforts to create a team based around the town's university, and also to choose the Scottish Puffins squad for this year's EU Cup in Croatia.

Local newspaper the Stirling Observer reported in Aussie rules at the University that; "AFTER a build up of six years in Scotland, Australian Rules Football is finally coming to Stirling.

In 2003 Scotland's first Aussie Rules football teams were launched simultaneously in Glasgow and Edinburgh and the sport quickly gained popularity in the cities.

For a period of time each city had two competing teams and these have since been consolidated to form the Edinburgh Bloods and the Glasgow Sharks. In 2009 Aberdeen launched the Aberdeen Dingoes.

On Saturday, August 22 at 2pm, the Scottish national team will be training at Stirling University and will also be selecting new players for the Scotland team on the day. All interested players are invited along to get involved in the sport, learn more, or join the team currently being formed in Stirling."

For more information visit the Scottish ARFL website.

The Norway Polar Bears, or "Isbjørnene" in Norwegian, will take the field for the first time ever on October 3rd, traveling to the city of Karlstad in Western Sweden for a full 18-a-side Test match against the Swedish Elks.

The Polar Bears are aiming for at least 50% Norwegian players in the team, as well as to include representatives from all three Norwegian clubs - Oslo, Ås and Tromsø.

The Elks for their part are selecting Team Sweden under IC rules, with AFL Sweden president Jörg Pareigis tipping the side to be very similar in composition to the Elks squad that visited Melbourne last year.

Not the usual World Footy News - but until we get the World Footy Classifieds together, we have the following offer from Munich Roos coach David Mudge:

Does anyone have a spare set of footy jumpers they are willing to swap for a set of North Melbourne Kangaroos (blue & white) jumpers?

I am coach of the Munich Kangaroos and this season we invested in some shiny new jumpers. Therefore we have our old jumpers lying around doing nothing. If only they were a different colour, I could use them for internal practice games and trainings. Therefore I thought if one of you is in the same situation of having two sets of jumpers, we could swap a set and both clubs end up with a set of training jumpers, or a set of jumpers for starting a new team.

Let me know if you know of anyone who could be interested. If it works out, we could do the swap at the EU Cup in Samobor.

Any takers, leave a message on this story and we will pass it on to Dave Mudge and the Roos.

The Chippendham Redbacks entered the ARUK Southern league in 2008, winning only one match in their debut season. In a remarkable transformation, the Redbacks lost only one match this year, last weekend defeating the Bournemouth Demons to win their first-ever Southern Premiership.

This report courtesy of the Chippenham Redbacks.

The nine Irish players involved in the Australian Football League have enjoyed mixed fortunes this season with some players making huge strides forward while others appear to have slipped down the pecking order at their clubs. Pictured is Essendon's 2009 debutant Michael Quinn.

This season saw the first edition of a league dedicated solely to central England, with the rebirth in footy in the cities of Liverpool and Birmingham, and the creation of the first-ever sides from Leeds and Huddersfield.

These four sides, freshly-formed and built almost entirely from local recruits who have learnt the game from scratch, recently completed the inaugural ARUK Central home and away season, with the Huddersfield Rams finishing clear top of the table.

Fighting for the right to face the Rams in the Grand Final on August 16th, the Birmingham Bears and Liverpool Eagles will this weekend face off.

The Liverpool and Birmingham Australian Rules clubs took some time out from preparing for the preliminary to tell WFN a bit more about their respective first-up seasons.