After one of the most exciting finishes to a CNFA season, with four teams locked together on wins, then two memorable semi-finals, grand final day ended up being an anti-climax. With poor weather washing out the big match between the Paris Cockerels and the Stade Toulousain A teams in Lyon, the league awaits a rescheduled date – likely now in September.

The month of June saw the combatants arrive at finals time locked in a near photo-finish. The ALFA Lions took the minor premiership by percentage from both the Paros Cockerels and the Paris Cockatoos. Just ten percent separated first from third, each team with five wins for the season. After a rattling finish to the season, Stade Toulousain A also finshed with five wins and the best percentage of all teams. They missed top spot, however, due to a forfeit earlier in the season.

Probably not what Paul McCartney meant when he wrote this song back in the late 1960’s, but the title certainly fits the journey for the Tyne Tees Tigers, now in their second full season as a part of the AFL Scotland landscape.

Currently, the Tigers sit just behind the reigning premiers, the Edinburgh Bloods in second place on the SARFL ladder. Four wins from five starts this season has been by far the best performance for the Newcastle-based team since their inception back in back in 2012. They spent two years playing social matches before gaining full membership status in the AFLCNE for the 2014 season.

Like most clubs, the early days featured some horrendous hidings, interspersed with some exciting wins – enough wins to keep belief and set a longer-term course.

The 2019 Euro Cup, held in Norrtalje, Sweden on the weekend, crowned the England Dragonslayers as the men’s champions and once again the Irish Banshees as women’s champions. The tournament is the showcase of European Aussie Rules, and the standard of matches across the day upheld that status.

For the Dragonslayers, this was their fifth Euro Cup win after back to back titles in Prague (2008) and Samobor (2009, Croatia), Bordeaux in 2013 and 2017. This was also the fourth title for the Irish Banshees, including a back-to-back performance after winning last year in Cork.

The men’s draw saw the traditional powerbrokers – England, Ireland, Croatia and Germany – joined by France, Wales, Scotland, Netherlands and host nation Sweden. But the most compelling aspect of the draw was the growing number of developing nations with Austria, Switzerland, Finland, Russia, Poland, Czech Republic and Israel each sending teams.

The AFLW season may be over in Australia, but the competition is just kicking off in Germany.

While other neighboring countries like France and Switzerland have long been a key part of women's footy in Europe, the Berlin Crocodiles and the Rhein-Main Redcats are leading the charge in the inaugural season for AFLW Germany.

The Redcats recently formed as a merger of Rheinland and Frankfurt women's teams; a combined ten players from the Frankfurt and Berlin sides have represented their country internationally, including at last year's AFL Euro Cup in Cork, Ireland.

 

Following is quick run around some of the European leagues and their weekend scores. These were the only results available at the time of publishing story, but more may follow. 

Germany:

Round 2️ AFLG results

(Esslingen)

Zuffenhausen Giants 1.5.11 - Berlin Crocodiles 15.9.99

Zuffenhausen Giants 2.5.17 - Hamburg Dockers Australian Football Club 17.9.111

Berlin Crocodiles 5.4.34 - Hamburg Dockers 8.5.53

(Munich)

Munich Kangaroos 8.4.52 - Frankfurt Redbacks 3.5.23

Munich Kangaroos 12.4.76 - Dresden Wolves 1.3.9

Frankfurt Redbacks 12.9.81 - Dresden Wolves 2.2.14

Round 1️ AFLGW result

(Esslingen)

Southern Tigeroos 0.0.0 - Berlin Crocodiles 12.14.86

The AFLCNE returned to kick-off the 2019 season on Sunday with the Huddersfield Rams hosting the Manchester Mosquitoes at the picturesque Lockwood Park.

The Mozzies were out of the blocks early and took a four goal to one lead at quarter time.

The second quarter was an onfield massacre and the Mozzies lead by 94 points at half time. The final score of Manchester 217 to Huddersfield 35 did not fully reflect the competitiveness of the Rams, but the Manchester team were a class above on the day.

Manchester and GB Bulldogs sharpshooter Andy Walkden broke the club's goalkicking record with 15 goals for the match.

 

The earlier game in Dublin on the weekend saw the Irish Universities Women’s team take on the Great Britain Universities. The following brief account of the match certainly shows that the women’s football scene in Ireland is set to grow further and quickly with the talent coming from the Universities team.

The Irish Banshees national team has been a women’s powerhouse, and standard-bearer, for many years and the West Clare Waves have dominated women’s team tournaments across Europe in recent times.  

However, if anything, the universities challenge has created and enhanced even more talent pathways, and the Great Britain Universities team have seen first-hand the power coming from Ireland.

The inaugural clash between the Irish Universities and the Great Britain NUL All Stars (National University League) took place in Dublin this weekend. The concept is almost the “lovechild’ of the Fitzpatrick Cup and the NUL, bringing the best of years and years of university football development to an international level.

Many years of hard work has gone into the development of the game at university level across Great Britain and Ireland, with many people involved in the journey – and the success. To see this tournament come to fruition is testament to their hard work and passion. In many ways, the teams that took their field did so as much about recognising that effort as it was about the result.

In the end, the Great Britain team outlasted the Irish by just three points in a thriller.

A new era in both university football and Irish/English rivalry commences this weekend with the inaugural Universities International Aussie Rules Test Matches in Dublin.

The tournament marks another major step in the player pathways from university to club to national levels of competition.

The following details about the event from the ARFLI Facebook page give information about the event. Details of the day will be updated on after the event.