The Irish league's experimental two tier competition is off to a good start, with a record 10 clubs in action. For many years ARFLI has been predicting new clubs but ultimately only been treading water with the new boys either not materialising, not lasting very long, or being offset by a club folding somewhere else. So after a promising start with the first match in Ireland in 2000 and an impressive 7 teams by 2005, by 2008 the total had dropped to 5 clubs taking to the park during the season.

So far the separation into Premiership and Conference divisions seems to have been a successful step towards addressing the problem. Rather than simply have separate regions but then none having very many teams, ARFLI have gone for overlapping concepts. Below we list the teams and describe the interesting new structure.

On Saturday 9th, Paris hosted the second round of the inaugural French League. As with the previous round, two games were organised that day.

The first game saw the host team, the Cockerels, taking on the Bombers from Bordeaux. Thanks to their strong midfielders and better skills the Cockerels quickly took control of the game. The Bordeaux players did not surrender and kept on fighting, but could not match the Parisians' play.

Final score: Paris 30.14 (194) d Bordeaux 6.10 (46)

The second game, the Strasbourg Kangourous against the Montpellier Fire Sharks, was much more evenly contested than the first. Despite leading on the scoreboard during the whole game, the Kangourous were never able to secure a good scoring advantage. During the third quarter, the Fire Sharks gave the Kangourous a tough contest and almost took the lead. But the Alsacians were holding on, and in the beginning of the fourth quarter, they scored four goals in a row, giving them the victory.

Final score: Strasbourg 13.14 (92) d Montpellier 11.18 (84)

On the 25th of April 1918 many Australian soldiers gave their lives to recapture the village of Villers-Bretonneux from the Germans troops. Since then the small Somme's village has a very unique tie with Australia and celebrate the courage of the diggers every year. In addition to the military service, this year saw the first ANZAC cup being held.

This event was organised jointly by Villers-Bretonneux' local authorities and the Commission National de Football Australien. The game saw a team made of Australians living all over Europe, the Aussie Spirit, taking on a selection of French players and Australian living in France, les Coquelicots.

Northern England has lead Europe in terms of growth in club numbers over the past few years - whilst in 2006 the Manchester Mozzies were the only club further north than Nottingham, there are now eleven sides taking the pitch in season 2009.

Of those, the Mozzies, Liverpool Eagles, Leeds Bombers and Huddersfield Rams are situated in an area measuring around 100km from end to end, with the clubs to form the nucleus of the new ARUK Central competition.

The Rams have already made a strong first impression, taking an almost all-English squad to the recent Cardiff Clwb Challenge and putting in a very solid effort in all their matches. This weekend will see them travel to Newcastle for the first ARUK National club tournament, eager to prove they are the real deal.

Rams founder Karl Haigh gave us the following report on the development of the team from its inception last December up to the present.

Among the crop of new clubs on the English Aussie Rules scene this year are the Liverpool Eagles, a side hoping to bring footy to the Merseyside.

Although the Eagles actually already played their first game late last year, a friendly against the Manchester Mosquitoes, the nature of a mainly student-based club means they are back to recruiting a fresh squad for 2009.

World Footy News spoke with Eagles organiser Chris Thompson about the challenges associated with getting the club off the ground.

Saturday April 18th was a perfect day for football, with the sun shining and barely a cloud in the sky for the 6 teams from around Wales and England who competed for the inaugural Cardiff British Clwb Challenge in Cardiff hosted by the WARFL at the picturesque Llandaff Fields.

The Nottingham Scorpions were the favourites to take out the cup, however a pumped-up Manchester Mosquitoes side, along with the two WARFL development composite teams at home thought otherwise. ARUK’s Huddersfield Rams, playing in their first competition since their formation this year was also keen to impress, along with the Bristol Dockers who always put a competitive team on the park.

The whole day saw some very tight contests, with no side completing the tournament undefeated and Nottingham winning only by percentage over the Manchester Mozzies.

Thanks to Bryce Stone from the Welsh Australian Rules Football League for this report.

Some are calling it the greatest debut since Guns & Roses emerged with Appetite for Destruction. Others are saying that a new dawn has broken. However you choose to describe it, the April 18th debut of the "Aberdingoes" against the Glasgow Sharks was a hugely impressive display from the newest team in the Scottish Australian Rules Football League, dominating the game to win 103-16.

It was a great day for the fledgling club, and an even better day for their fearsome full forward Andy "Plugger Dicko" Dickson who put away 9 goals on debut to stamp his name as a dominant spearhead in Scottish footy. Even more astonishing was that he managed this haul all before the 10 minute mark of the 3rd quarter, when tiring legs and a resurgent Sharks ebbed the flow forward for the Aberdeen side.

This report courtesy of the SARFL.

Despite mixed success with the O'hAilpins, and Michael Shields returning home at the end of last year, Carlton have continued with the Irish experiment, signing up 18 year old Ciaran Sheehan as an international rookie. The Herald Sun has reported that the Blues will bring the Cork youngster over for a while in July once his school year finishes in June. Sheehan is expected to become a midfielder, and comes via camps run by Gerard Sholly, who has reportedly been following the player since he was 15.

The Manchester Mosquitoes have a busy year in front of them, competing in not one, but two leagues. While remaining committed to the AFL Britain's Social League, the Mozzies will also compete on a social basis in Aussie Rules UK's new Central division, together with a growing crop of fellow local clubs across the Merseyside, Midlands and Yorkshire regions.

Manchester president Kat Wheeler told WFN "We have been trying to work with ARUK in the region to get the new clubs off the ground. The Huddersfield Rams are doing really well and have a couple of really enthusiastic people running the show up there. We have some pretty strong links established with the Rams and it's fantastic to have a new local rival! We have had some training together and are planning a few games and social events for the year. The Rams are definitely here to stay."

"We are playing in the AFL Britain social league again but we are also playing with the ARUK Central clubs on a social basis fitting in games where possible and providing a central point for the new clubs to get information and experience."

"This may change next year depending on how that league goes. If a strong enough league emerges we will definitely be in it."

"I've had contact with Liverpool and Birmingham who are looking forward to having a few friendlies with us and apparently Leeds has now sorted out a team. It's going to be interesting to see what happens up here in ARUK this year, whether all these clubs can get it together and get a real league sorted. In the meantime, Manchester are trying to help the new clubs as best we can whilst still being committed to AFL Britain."

The Mozzies won't be hosting a club tournament this year, however they are planning a trip to Ireland, where they will take on new Irish regional club the Mayo Mariners in September.