This year the Birmingham Bears are bringing footy in Britain's second-largest city out of its 15-year hibernation, set to compete in Aussie Rules UK's new central division in addition to friendlies against other local clubs.

Despite being Britain's second-largest city, Birmingham hasn't yet made a mark on the English footy scene. The city had a side known as the Crows back in the early 1990s, but the club disappeared after only a little over a season.

The new side, sharing its colours and Bears mascot with local county cricket side Warwickshire, is lead by local Mat Mitchell, who got hooked on the game while playing cricket with expat Australians. WFN spoke to Mitchell about how the club is progressing in the lead-up to its debut season.

Carlton's fiery Irishman Setanta O'hAilpin is back in the Blues' side for the first time in 2009. Suspended by the AFL and then kept in the VFL after his infamous pre-season indiscretion (striking and kicking a team-mate in an internal trial), big "Carlos" will be looking to make the most of what could be his last chance to remain in the AFL. He has been named on the bench.

The AFL's pseudo-British connection, Brad Moran, has been named as an emergency for Adelaide. Similarly Irishman Pearce Hanley is an emergency for Brisbane. No call up yet for Canadian Mike Pyke at Sydney.

A huge number of ANZAC matches are scheduled for tomorrow, in locations across the globe.

One town with a very strong connection to the Australian and New Zealand military in the First World War is Villers-Bretonneux in northern France, where this weekend a commemorative match will be played between "les Coquelicots", a team drawn from French nationals and Australians resident in France, and the "Aussie Spirit", a team drawn from across Europe, as reported in Never forget Australia.

The AFL website this week featured a preview article entitled The French Connection with some background to the cup, including an interview with Simon McGregor of the Finland Icebreakers, who hatched the concept along with Cyril Talon of the Paris Cockerels at last year's EU Cup.

The day's festivities will kick off at 10am, let's hope the event can become a tradition.

The former Karlstad Dragons are proud to announce a new partnership with the West Coast Eagles, described by the club as "an exciting new association with one of the AFL’s leading clubs".

Under the new sister club association, Värmland’s only Aussie Rules footy club, The Karlstad Dragons, have changed their name to The Karlstad Eagles, and will play in the blue and gold jumpers of the West Coast Eagles. The Karlstad Eagles club song, ‘Down by the Lakeside’, will also be tweaked to accommodate the new name.

The Karlstad Eagles and AFL Sweden President, Jimmy Ljunggren, believes the new partnership will be a real boost for the development of Aussie Rules footy in Värmland: “The kids that have come to this club are really excited by this new relationship with the Eagles, and are already following their games in the AFL.”

News of the Eagles’ new association has already been picked up by Karlstad’s premier newspaper, Värmlands Folkblad, which scooped the news before the official announcement. But Ljunggren thinks it’s a sign of growing interest in footy in the region. “We got a lot of great press last year, and we’re pretty happy VF are following our development,” Ljunggren said.

The Karlstad Eagles hope to unveil their new strip in the season opener on 16 May, a home game at the ‘Eagles Nest’ against traditional AFL Sweden West rivals, the Gothenburg Berserkers.

Stay tuned for more news from Sweden, with the Stockholm league welcoming new side Årsta in an ANZAC Day double header opening round this weekend.

Thanks to Stuart Roberts from the Karlstad Eagles for this report.

The Vodafone Brisbane Lions today elevated Irish rookie Pearce Hanley to the Club's senior list in place of West Australian draftee Kieran King (ankle: 10-12 weeks) who has been placed on the long term injury list. 20 year-old Hanley - who hails from Ballaghadereen in Ireland's County Mayo - made his AFL senior debut for the Lions in Round 21 last year against Carlton at the Gabba playing a total of two matches.

The former Gaelic player and 2006 Ron Barassi Medallist has been a member of the Club's rookie list since arriving from Ireland at the end of 2007.Hanley's elevation means that he will again be available for senior selection. Reports suggest that Hanley's form has been very good for the Lion's reserve team the last two weeks and he would be a good chance to play this week given injuries to key Lions players last week. Hanley missed early games in the preseason due to injury.

The "Corbs d'Andorra", or Andorra Ravens in English, made an impressive debut in the Catalan league last weekend, hosting the reigning premiers Belfry Valls and running out 125-108 point victors.

The match in the Andorran capital Andorra la Vella was the first home game for the Ravens, having played only a few tournament matches since their creation last year. With the club from Valls having been the traditional LFAC powerhouse since the league's creation, the Ravens can be very happy with a powerful win in their first encounter.

Fellow debutants the Perpignan Tigers were less lucky in their first league match, traveling south and going down against Barcelona's Cornellà Bocs 82-13. The day started badly for the Tigers from southern France, having to start a player short as some of the side had been delayed en route. Playing with a full side and a bench in the second half, the French were able to put up a stronger contest, but were ultimately outclassed by the more experienced Bocs.

The young side from Perpignan can take encouragement from making it this far - plenty of newly-formed teams have stepped into an already-existing league in the past and found the first few matches tough going.

The four-team Lliga de Futbol Australià de Catalunya has changed its composition a few times in its history, with Valls being the one club that has held through the seasons. This year sees the league extend beyond the national borders for the first time with the inclusion of Andorra and Perpignan. With the revival of footy in the Madrid area this year, and the participation of the Madrid Bears and Móstoles Roos in the LFAC's pre-season tournament in Valls, the future looks bright for footy in the Iberian Peninsula.

A television interview in Catalan with the Andorran team can be viewed on informatius.ad.

In February, as part of ongoing efforts to provide an organised football structure in Europe, with a view to the formation of AFL Europe, the Australian Football League appointed Gerard Murphy to liaise with European leagues.

Murphy has previously had an association with the AFL and has moved to the UK in a promotional role with the English Premier League (soccer). The AFL has advised leagues to deal with Murphy to "work on building an AFL Europe body over the next 6 months".

In a message addressed to affiliated leagues and prospective members of AFL Europe, the AFL stated that "The AFL’s desire is simply that the most effective structure exists to ensure the game develops within the region and we can support affiliates in an appropriate way".

The GB Bulldogs will look back on their recent defeat in Ireland by the Warriors with mixed feelings. No-one likes to be on the wrong end of the scoreboard when the siren goes and to face that sort of turnaround after a convincing win in Dublin at the end of 2007 definitely rubbed salt in the wounds. That being said, there were a number of positives to take from the experience as well.

The Dutch Australian Football Association have announced plans to launch a four-team domestic league this year, with clubs under formation in the cities of Amsterdam, Eindhoven, Utrecht and The Hague.

The Eindhoven Eagles and the as-yet unnamed side from The Hague held their first training sessions this week, with Amsterdam and the Utrecht Saints to hit the track next week. The clubs will have a few more weeks to recruit, before the season kicks off in earnest in June, although May 10th will see a practice match between Utrecht and the Rest of Holland.

Joost van der Hulst from the Utrecht Saints told WFN "The local league will be 9-a-side. Recruitment so far is going quite well, both Dutchies and Aussies - the Utrecht Saints have almost a full team now, the other three city teams need a couple more."

Footy has been played on and off in the Netherlands since around 2003, with the Flying Dutchmen formed in late 2006 and playing regularly over the last two years. With the creation of the new local league, the Flying Dutchmen will continue as a national representative side, with a schedule of six home-and-away matches planned against the Paris Cockerels, Rheinland Lions and Berlin Crocs leading up to this year's EU Cup in Croatia.

Their first two home fixtures, against the Berliners in March and against the Parisians last weekend, both resulted in big wins for the Hollanders, boding well for their coming matches. Their next fixture will see them travel to Cologne on June 20th, for a match against the Rheinlanders.

Footy in Britain has now spread well beyond the traditional heartland of London, with the development across the countries progressing steadily for several years. At a London league committee meeting, we caught up with Gavin Mahoney - the man tasked with taking footy in the capital to the next level. We discuss his impressive background in the sporting industry and his new role in the UK.