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.

Media reports have confirmed that former player and player manager, Ricky Nixon, is on his way to Ireland to set up a dedicated recruiting system. His initial plans were reported earlier in the year and he is ready to put them into action, with Geelong, St Kilda, Richmond, North Melbourne and Brisbane Lions apparently prepared to pay $30,000 each to have access to his network.

Peter Hanlon reports in The Age that Nixon will arrive in Ireland in the next two weeks to head up the project with staff including Joe Begley, the brother of the Brisbane Lions' Irish recruit Colm, plus an elite junior coach, a sports psychologist, a university professor, an Australian expat who played in the VFL, and an ex-AFL teammate of Nixon's. Gaelic football coaches are also said to be involved, though overall the talk that the GAA may prefer this model over random searches by AFL clubs sounds more like an attempt to put a positive spin on pillaging of Irish stocks.

Scanlon wrote, "A group of 20 to 30 Gaelic footballers aged 17 to 22, but mostly in the 17 to 19 bracket, will be invited to attend a camp in either Dublin or Belfast in August. Their parents will also be invited, with presentations made on all things AFL as well as life in Australia" and "The groundwork for drawing up a list of 100 prospective draftees has been made easier by using software from Swedish company Dartfish, which AFL clubs have already used as a teaching tool, but which in this instance has been applied to footage from GAA games to form a database of players". The software allows players and events like kicks and tackles to be tagged for quick recall.

Nixon is also reported as saying that if successful, the program could be rolled out in other areas such as Africa and North America. That will be far more difficult because so much of what the AFL clubs will be looking for is demonstrated in the skills of Gaelic football. Although there are Australian footy programs in many countries, other than South Africa and perhaps New Zealand and PNG, the numbers of players regularly involved aren't there yet (1000s playing every week rather than 100s), and it would be far more difficult to attract and evaluate kids from other sports. Nevertheless, it could be an intriguing next step for international footy.

Note that the comment in the quoted article that "AFL clubs are allowed no more than two international players on their lists" is probably not correct - there was once a two-player Irish limit, but we think that was merged with the normal six player rookie list. Certainly other international players can be signed under the separate international scholarship lists (up to 8 per year, 24 total, for each club).

Footy is back on in earnest around Britain, with perennial power club the West London Wildcats again topping the ladder in the London Premiership. The Cats however had a shock loss last weekend, going down to the Putney Magpies 48-44 in the biggest upset of the season so far.

Also in London, the Dulwich Dragons have become the first club to be created in the city's south-east suburbs and took the field for the first time recently. The Dragons planned to launch for the 2009 season, but fast-tracked plans to get together players for the London Social league this year.

Fellow new club, the Chippenham Redbacks, had their maiden victory a few weeks ago against the Brighton Black Swans in the ARUK Southern division. The Redbacks were formed by Dragonslayers captain Rob Fielder this season, with a number of players from the now-defunct Swindon Devils club.

The Adelaide Football Club are the latest AFL club planning to bring a talented young Gaelic footballer to Australia for a trial. Teenager Carl Dias is expected to arrive for a four-week trial with the Crows in August. Although a member of Dublin's under 18 squad, the youngster came to attention while playing for a combined Coláiste Éoin/St Benildus schools team against an underage representative side from Adelaide in an International Rules match earlier this year.

Having some contact with the Adelaide Crows, this writer has urged them not to be left behind in the pursuit of Irish players (that advice goes to all AFL clubs), and the word over the past year had been that they were considering their options, and as recently as last week club CEO Steven Trigg suggested they were ready to make a move. Now that move has a name, in Carl Dias.

It is Helsinki early May. Spring; the tulips are blooming and the sun is shining but it takes till late morning to reach the double figure temperatures. What better time for a travelling Aussie to get to know one of the main clubs in one of Europe's newest Australian Football leagues?

On a Thursday night, at the Helsinki Heatseekers’ training at Kumpula in suburban Helsinki half the players are wearing their tracksuit pants, even though it’s turning warm.

A sharp session of handball drills and mark, handball and play on drills under the guidance of Simon MacGregor, in his Lions guernsey and from Torquay via Bali, was followed by a mark and handball session of moving the ball on. The discipline and application was strong even for those new to the game, and they needed to learn fast. Soon they would take on a Stockholm side in Salo, a town between Helsinki and the once capital of Finland, Turku, and home of the Salo Juggernauts team.

The 2008 Aussieproperty.com Premiership season is up and running in Ireland. As regularly happens, ARFLI hoped to bring in some new teams this year, but were stymied by absences of key personnel at the proposed start-up clubs. However the five team league continues and unlike their AFL namesakes, the Dublin Demons are one of the early pacesetters.

Australian Football in Britain is something of a sleeping potential giant. With so many expatriate Aussies there have been many teams come and go, particularly across England, but always a sense of not enough involvement from the locals. However slowly but surely more and more have made their mark across the various competitions. With an image overhaul for the top body and hopefully a new sense of cooperation from all involved, we could be seeing the beginning of the next phase for the game in Great Britain. Meanwhile 2008 promises to be an interesting year with new clubs and movement of old ones. We look at the changes and list all the teams and where they are playing.