Just as Carlton's Michael Shields decides to head home to Ireland, two more young hopefuls have arrived in Australia. Carl Dias, 19, is a left footer from Kilmacud Crokes, Dublin, who plays through the midfield as well as having good goal-sense. Brian Donnelly, 20, from County Louth just southeast of the Northern Ireland border, is a tall defender, but reportedly quick over the ground and a good mark. Both are Gaelic footballers who have been invited to Adelaide for three week trials with the Crows. They arrived on 22nd July and have already had their first sessions.

Adelaide recruiting manager Matt Rendell (a former player with West Torrens, Fitzroy and Brisbane) made no secret of the fact that the club is looking further a-field with the looming player squeeze as two new clubs enter the AFL in 2011 and probably 2012. The Crows are impressed with the trialists' ability to read the play, but say it's early days in terms of handling the Australian footy and building body strength.

Timuçin Sindirgilioglu had a dream. Born and raised in Carlton, he played footy for his school, the Princes Hill Football Club, and was asked to try out for Carlton's under 19s team, the old development division of the VFL. His footballing career was however put on hold when his family moved back to Turkey in 1987.

Back in those days it was pretty hard for a teenager to set up a club whilst also getting used to a new culture and environment. Now, thanks to the internet and continuous communication with friends back in Melbourne during the past 10 years, his long-held dream is about to become a reality.

The Karsiyaka Dockers have hit the training track as the first footy club in Turkey, based in the western port city of Izmir. The Dockers hope to be playing matches against regional opposition and possibly other local teams by next year.

The Finland Icebreakers are making their debut this year, as one of the newer sides in the International footy community.

Footy has been played in Helsinki for a few years, with eight players first appearing as the Finnish Lions at the Prague Cup in late 2005. Since then, the Finns have rebranded the national team the Icebreakers. They formed two local teams last year with the creation of the Helsinki Heatseekers and Salo Juggernauts, and this year have kicked off a three-team domestic league.

Finland has had a few successes, with some CEAFL champion trophies heading to Helsinki, and put in a good showing at the EU Cup last year. However, the IC will be the biggest test yet for a team that only recently played its first 18-a-side test match.

Proving that the so-called Irish experiment is just that, an experiment, young Carlton recruit Michael Shields has joined the growing list of Irishmen to return to his homeland without making a success of an AFL career. The transition to a full contact, professional sporting environment can be too much for many prospective players. Some Australian draftees find the demands on their minds and bodies too great, so it's no surprise the toll is even greater for recruits drawn from a different sport on the other side of the world.

Although the announcement of the loss of the rookie-listed player is not likely to slow the search for international talent, it does come at a time when Sydney's Tadhg Kennelly continues to warn that AFL clubs are not equipped to handle the needs of such recruits.

Kennelly himself, injury permitting, becomes the third Gaelic recruit to play 150 VFL/AFL games, following Jim Stynes and Sean Wight (Scottish born/Irish raised). It's a great achievement, particularly as he has struggled through injuries this season, in one match dislocating his shoulder and knee in separate incidents, and last week popping his shoulder twice. But like Stynes before him, Kennelly battles on without missing matches.

Meanwhile the somewhat far-fetched but seriously considered idea of Western Sydney having a Sydney Celtic theme has been firmly dismissed by the AFL. The new side will look to embrace the new migrant communities of the area, which are by no means heavily Irish.

The West London Wildcats have taken out the 2008 Brit Cup, Britain's annual locals-only tournament. The Cats have won their share of Brit Cups before, taking five of the past six, but the real talking point of the day was the dominant debut of the ARUK Southern Redbacks, drawn from players across the ARUK's 9-a-side southern league.

After a close 5 point loss to the Wildcats in their first match, the Redbacks lifted with strong wins against Wandsworth, the Swans and Putney to make the final.

Led by best on ground Donny Mullen, the Wildcats were too strong in the final, with 16-year-old George Merrick doing a superb job in the ruck. Merrick is part of the junior Great Britain Bulldogs squad that will play 3 matches in Australia during the AFL International Cup. Joining Merrick with the Wildcats in the final were Ollie Ash (also a junior Bulldog) and Paul Avery (coach of the junior Bulldogs).

The Cup featured eight sides, with four from London (West London, Wandsworth, the Swans and Putney), three from regional England, (Reading, the Southern Redbacks and Nottingham) and the Wales Red Devils.

Next Sunday July 20th will see the grand final of the inaugural London under-16s league, with the game being held at Clapham Common. This year will also see the first appearance of the junior Bulldogs down under, with games planned against school sides from Geelong and Warrnambool so far. The Junior Bulldogs squad was named recently, available at AFLBritain.com.

There has been an unprecedented amount of activity by AFL clubs in regards to Ireland and young Irish players in recent weeks. While Ricky Nixon has been in Ireland, meeting with the GAA and setting up his recruiting program, Gerard Sholly has been upsetting many in the GAA for using their facility at Kingspan Breffni Park to try out a few young potential recruits for the Carlton Blues and the Brisbane Lions are looking to add to their Irish stable. Also making moves are the Adelaide Crows, with two youngsters heading down for a trial in August.

The Swedish Elks took on the Finland Icebreakers in front of a crowd of around 200 people at the Årsta field in Stockholm on the weekend, with the Elks running home comfortable winners by 86 pts, Sweden 14.12 (96) to Finland's 1.4 (10).

The game was the first 18-a-side hit-out for the Finns, who are currently running their first domestic season and preparing for their IC campaign. The Swedes on the other hand had a point to prove, after going down to the Danes a few weeks ago and anxious to show the AFL and the international footy world that they are the real deal.

This report courtesy of Swedish Elks' coach Cameron Crooks.

Sunday 28 June 2008 on the playing fields in the Bois de Vincennes in the east of Paris will go down in history as the beginning of a new phase in the establishment of Australian Football in France, the commencement of a new era.

Four teams came from around France to compete in a round robin series concluding in the final. The Montpellier Fire Sharks in the south west is the newest team, having only formed this year. Coming from the Atlantic coast, just above the surfing beaches of south west France, the Bordeaux Bombers are also relatively new, having formed only in 2007.

The Strasbourg team, the oldest team playing ‘le Football Australien’ in France, a team which played for a season in the German league, were the third team, and the losing team in the final. One of the Strasbourg players was Marc Jund, the first pioneer of Australian Football in France.

Home ground advantage matters in Australian Football around the world as the travelling teams are often missing players who are either busy or find the journey financially pressing. The Paris Cockerels, with the home ground advantage and a few more experienced (that is Aussie) players, ran out winners in the final.

When the BARFL re-badged as AFL Great Britain there were two naming concerns to be addressed - the slightly unwieldy length of the name and confirming their new designation and logo with the AFL. After some debate and a few unexpected delays the new title is official - AFL Britain (i.e. they have dropped the term "Great").

AFL Britain's President, Sam Percy, had some interesting things to say on the name and an honest appraisal of the current role of the association in relation to England, Scotland, Wales and their position on Ireland. For the wider audience not across the topic (it's more a curiosity than vital knowledge), we also look at the difference between the terms Britain and Great Britain.

The Denmark Vikings recently paid the airfares and confirmed their return to International Cup footy. To celebrate, they took on the Swedish Elks and ran out 58-point victors in a match marked by the almost-traditional heavy rain that has dogged Scandinavian Cup test matches.

A tight first quarter saw the Danes take a 13-point advantage into the first break, before pulling away with the breeze to lead by seven goals at half time. At this point the skies opened, effectively ending the Elks' chances of pegging back the difference, the Danes winning 12.9.81 to 3.5.23.

Best on ground went to Denmark's René Damborg Jensen, with Danish veteran Erik Krolmark kicking six goals. Krolmark recently celebrated the 500th goal in his DAFL career with North Copenhagen, as well as coincidentally posting his 1000th career behind in the same game.