Footy is not a new sport in Perpignan, anyone who follows footy in France remembers the game organised between the French national team and a selection of English players back in 2005 that brought 500 spectators to the ground. But soon after that, the local Saint Estève Saints disappeared and footy in the south of France with it.

But during the summer of 2008, a young ex-rugby player decided to bring footy back to life on the Mediterranean shores. After discovering the game on TV and realising that the St Estève team no longer existed, he decided to give it a go, and contacted the Saints former president to start the club again.

“At first I found footy fun, but I did not understand any of the rules" says young Tigers president But after reading them he realised that "Aussie rules is a great sport that deserves more recognition".

In the process the Saint Estève Saints became the Perpignan Tigers. For now no players from the Saints have joined the Tigers, but there's no doubt that some of them will bring their knowledge to the young team.

Damien, the Tigers president, tried to organise a tournament in November with the help of the nearby Montpellier team, but unfortunately he was forced to cancel the event. There is no doubt that the Tigers will play a major part in the future of footy in France.

Ed: World Footy News welcomes Olivier Tresca to our team of reporters. Olivier was a pioneer of French footy, as well as more recent experience in Scotland.

The North Melbourne Football Club has added Irishman Conor Meredith to its rookie list for 2009. The 19 year old is one of Gaelic Football’s brightest prospects and was identified by List Manager Cameron Joyce during a special training camp held in Ireland in August. He then travelled to Melbourne for trials with the Kangaroos and Richmond.

“Conor showed good speed at the camp. He is a good height and in time could play half back, half forward or even through the midfield. The one thing that stood out was his ability to kick the AFL ball pretty well, which for me is half the battle,” Joyce said.

After an impressive showing, despite being unfamiliar with the oval-shaped football, Meredith from County Laois was given a two year deal. “We are delighted to have Conor on our rookie list for the next two years. The coaches are excited and looking forward to working with him and want to give him the best possible chance to reach his potential in the sport,” Joyce added.

The Essendon Football Club have signed their first Irish player. 18 year old Michael Quinn has been announced as an international rookie, although ultimately this is believed to fill a normal rookie spot, as opposed to the international scholarship lists, as recently exercised by the Western Bulldogs with two Fijian youngsters. From Killoe in Longford, Quinn will join full training in January and is allowed to remain on the rookie list for two years. He trialled for the Bombers in September, and has now been placed with a recently arrived Irish family to help him settle into Melbourne life.

See Essendon signs first international recruit for more details.

The first Gaelic football players from player agent Ricky Nixon's talent search program in Ireland are arriving in Australia. Nixon has sought to become the conduit by which Irish players are introduced to AFL clubs (see Nixon makes good on Irish scouting pledge).

The Age has reported that Conor Meredith (18) and Niall McKeever (17) arrive this week in Australia, McKeever to spend 1 week each with North Melbourne and Richmond, and similarly Meredith with Richmond and St Kilda. James Kielt arrives later to trial with the Roos and possibly the Saints.

Two more players are reportedly due in soon, and 20 year old Tom Parsons has stayed on since the International Rules Tests to look for an AFL contract.

"We have got to look to new markets to find talent, especially with the two new teams (Gold Coast and West Sydney) on the horizon in the next four years and us being hamstrung in the draft by the concessions they will receive," said Richmond football manager Craig Cameron.

Update 12/11/2008: County Kerry's tall forward Tommy Walsh, 19, last month named the Gaelic Athletic Association's young footballer of the year, will train with St Kilda.

The Vienna Dingoes were formed back in 2004, becoming the Vienna Kangaroos a few years later. Some talk was heard late 2007 about the creation of a second club in the southern city of Graz, but plans went back into hibernation and the Kangaroos remained Austria's only club.

All this changed last weekend, when the Graz Down-Under Dogs hosted the Vienna Kangaroos on Saturday October 25 in the village of Zwaring.

As the traveling Vienna team were light on numbers, they were assisted by a few new Graz recruits pulled together from various parts of the world in a common goal to try this unusual game. American, Finnish, German, Australian and Austrian nationalities joined under the Kangaroos banner to take on the talented-yet-untested, 100% Austrian, Graz Doggies.

Most impressively, it was the all-local Graz team who took away the points, with a one-point victory over the Kangaroos, 13.10 (88) to 13.9 (87).

Report courtesy of Ben Chick from the Vienna Kangaroos, photos courtesy of Monika Sax.

As expected, the Brisbane Lions have cut Irishman Colm Begley from their list. Begley was rookie listed at the end of 2005, debuted late in 2006, and played 19 games in 2007 leading him to be named the Lions' rookie of the year. In a demonstration of just how quickly life can turn against an AFL player, 2008 was spent mostly off the field with a quad injury and with a change of coach Begley's career, with the Lions at least, was ended.

The sudden death decision would seem to be quite harsh given Begley's on field form and may be based more on coach Michael Voss' perception of other aspects of the player. The 22 year old will most likely enter the upcoming drafts in an attempt to continue in the AFL, and must surely be a reasonable bet with a late draft pick, given he has shown he can play the game but would still have some improvement in him.

Up and coming 19 year old Irishman Pearce Hanley, who ironically replaced Begley in Brisbane's side on debut, remains on the club's list.

There has been a flurry of activity in seeking to draft Irish Gaelic footballers into the AFL in recent years, and with the Ricky Nixon trials held in Ireland, it seems like the numbers will continue to rise.

However it should be acknowledged that there have been many Irish players drafted with late picks in the past, with few of them establishing AFL careers. These days the process is handled better via club rookie lists, but despite that recently there have been a lot of Irishmen leave their clubs - voluntarily or otherwise. In the last few months Carlton has ended Aisake O'hAilpin's time, team-mate Michael Shields decided Australian football was not for him, and now there is speculation that Brisbane's Colm Begley is not in favour with the new Michael Voss-led regime.

Begley appeared to make the transition to Aussie Rules in record time, with 2007 his best year, but was hampered by injury this past season and reports are that he has not been offered a contract for 2009. It seems his time at the Lions is not definitely up, but his management is looking elsewhere on the assumption that the odds are now against him. Meanwhile Begley is giving his full attention to representing Ireland in the International Rules series.

More information at Former Lion takes the field in International Rules and Begley focused on next fortnight.

A genuine European Championships, under IC eligibility rules and played either 16 or 18-a-side on full-sized fields, is a hot topic of discussion at the moment. In addition to the "original three" of Ireland, Great Britain and Denmark, the "next generation" of Spain, Germany, Finland and Sweden have also played test matches on full-sized pitches under all-local content rules, all except Germany having now appeared at the International Cup down under.

The Spain Bulls, drawn from the Madrid Bears, have since disappeared from the spotlight somewhat, but the Catalan league has continued to show healthy growth and has a large pool of local players for a potential full-scale national squad.

A number of others are within range of mounting a competitive 22-man all local squad. France definitely have the numbers, particularly if they can get one or two more clubs off the ground in the near future. Croatia performed very strongly at this year's EU Cup with an all-local squad of almost 20.

Some have also suggested inviting the Israel-Palestine Peace Team to any future European Championships to help try and cement footy in the region.

All of this adds up to an 8 or possibly even 10-team European Championships being feasible within the next few years. The details of ARFLI president Ciarán O' Hara's suggested model and the completion of his main AFL Europe proposal follow.

In the second half of O' Hara's AFL Europe proposal, he suggests a structure for a triennial European Championship, for the first time bringing together the teams of the older established leagues in Europe with the newer countries that have competed separately in tournaments like the CEAFL Championships, the Eastern European Tri-Nations and the rapidly growing EU Cup.

We will also be bringing you some information in the next few days about another concept for the European Champs that was discussed at the EU Cup conference in Prague last weekend.

Soon after the launch of AFL Oceania as an AFL administrative zone, and AFL Middle East as an AFL-affiliated league, now comes a proposal for AFL Europe. Its author, Ciarán O' Hara, explained to WorldFootyNews.com that it was formalised recently with the IC08 after around 12 months in the planning and in some ways is a continuation of ideas stretching back even further.

Aussie Rules has grown past its expat foundations in Europe, and the European leagues (with the exception of the Australian-heavy London footy scene) are now composed of a majority of local players, with a healthy population of Irish, New Zealanders and North Americans adding to the mix.

Those administering the leagues are also increasingly often locals, such as Irishman Ciarán O' Hara, who is a founding member and former President of the Dublin Demons and for the last two years has been President of the Australian Rules Football League Ireland (ARFLI), having held a league office of some sort since its foundation.

He was the European Representative on the AFL’s International Advisory Committee from 2000 to 2002, and was involved with the Atlantic Alliance and attempts to establish a European Australian Football Council in 2001 (that was perhaps before the need was widely realised, prior to so many new nations taking up the game). O' Hara was involved in Ireland's triumphant 2002 International Cup squad as Media Relations manager, and took over as Ireland National Team Manager last year, having held the post for a brief time in 2005 before work commitments meant he had to withdraw. He looked after all of the team's logistics and coordinated fundraising for the Warriors' IC08 tilt, whilst continuing as head of the Irish league and developing the AFL Europe plan.

Apologies for the delay in publishing, as we were focused on the EU Cup. Below is the first part of his proposal, and soon we'll publish part two which includes a suggestion for a full-scale European championship - not the only one currently being discussed. We hope to gather feedback from the European leagues on their thoughts on all these ideas.

Last weekend saw the England Dragonslayers win their first EU Cup, defeating very strong debutants Croatia in a dominant display of 9-a-side footy. The tournament was viewed by a crowd of around 500 and was streamed live via the internet, receiving around 21,000 views over the course of the day.

The Sunday following the tournament saw a conference held where team managers were able to put forward their views and plans for the future of footy in Europe, including some discussion of a future European Championship, played 18-a-side with no expats - a topic we'll be covering in more detail in the near future.

A collection of photos from the event can be viewed here.

Following report courtesy of Kirsten Puls.