Geelong's brownlow medal-winning Jimmy Bartel pulled on the boots for the Halikko Juggernauts last weekend, helping Finland's second club to their first-ever win over the Helsinki Heatseekers.

Bartel pulled in at least one spectacular screamer and impressive goal - and was presented with the number 8 Finland jumper after the game. The Finland AFL now has around 40 playing members, with two active local clubs (Helsinki and Halikko) and hopefully two or three more ready to go soon. If all goes according to plan, the Finns (and the Swedes) will be in Melbourne next year for the IC 2008.

The full story and a shot of Bartel receiving the jumper is available on the AFL website here

The BARFL's British Bulldogs continued their domination of all that come before them this year with a massive 146-point win over the ARUK combined England and Wales Dragons. The game was played 14-a-side as the Dragons suffered some last-minute withdrawals, with the Bulldogs again showing the form that saw them hammer the Irish in Dublin running out 23.28.166 to 2.8.20 winners.

The Bulldogs are now looking forward to next year's International Cup, where they will have the chance to show how much they've really come against the heavyweights PNG, New Zealand and the US.

For the ARUK sides, the next hitout will be a match between the England Dragonslayers and Wales Red Dragons on November 3rd in Cardiff.

Australian Football in Europe has been relatively slow to develop. The United Kingdom has seen its fair share of the game over the last one hundred years, so it is no surprise a number of solid leagues have been established. Denmark then took to the game in the 1990s and has made slow by steady progress since, bringing in southern Sweden at the same time. Ireland were the obvious next choice to flex their footy muscle, but after them, there was a period where few leagues developed and a number of nations were stuck in the one-country-one-club situation.

There are signs this limitation is starting to be thrown off, and at the same time there are an increasing number of internationals being played. Clearly it's high time Europe was able to crown its own champion nation, but any undisputed mechanism to achieve that is far from settled.

At the recent BARFL AGM there were several interesting changes in personnel. President Remon Gazal stood down as he is returning to Australia, and long time committee member Donald Eastwood did not stand for re-election. Also departing is Chris O'Neil. Taking on the top job is Sam Percy of the Wandsworth Demons - reprising a role he held for three years from 2002 to 2004. Other notable changes were the addition of Kat Conner from the Manchester cliub, and Glen Ocsko, who readers may recall was the author the UK Footy plan discussed in UK Footy unity plan being debated and BARFL respond to UK Footy plan. The other committee members are Daniel Bussau (Treasurer), Martin Smith and Luke Shaw. Comments from the new President suggest that the mood is now right to push through significant structural changes.

Ireland's Green Machine made the trek to Denmark this weekend, hoping to regain some prestige after last week recording their first-ever loss to the Great Britain Bulldogs - the first time they've failed to defeat any European national team.

This week saw a much tighter contest in the Danish city of Århus, with the Irish running out 70-50 winners. The Danes reportedly led the inside-50s all game, but struggled to convert and were ultimately unable to peg back a three-goal lead Ireland had built in the first quarter.

Full report to come, scores to come at the Footy Record.

It appears that the Brisbane Lions have their man Pierce Hanley signing on to a two year contract with the club, some two months down the track from when the move was flagged, now confirmed on the AFL’s website.

After missing out on Brendan Murphy the club will be relieved to have secured Hanley’s services. Murphy was reportedly convinced by Tadgh Kennelly to join the Swans after earlier looking to be heading to Brisbane. Rounding out the trio of new Irish blood on AFL rookie lists in 2008 will be Kevin Dyas, who is reported to have accepted Collingwood's contract offer after being given a period to return home and consider the offer as previously reported.

All three will be pre-listed in the rookie draft and start on their new club's rookie list in 2008.

The British Bulldogs defeated the Irish Warriors by ten goals in Dublin last weekend, the first Aussie Rules test match ever held in Ireland showing both a markedly improving Bulldogs squad and a Green Machine slipping from its heyday of International Cup glory in 2002.

With both sides looking towards next year's International Cup, the balance of power in the British Isles could be moving eastwards. The Bulldogs destroyed all comers in the Manchester tournament held a few weeks ago, and still have a match to come this year against the ARUK England Dragonslayers. Ireland conversely hasn't put a national team on the pitch since last year, although they'll be straight back into it this weekend with a match against Denmark in Århus.

This report courtesy of the BARFL's Martin Smith.

Denmark defeated Sweden in Landskrona on Saturday but it wasn't the only thing that happened footy-wise in the region over the weekend.

In addition to the previous post from a few days ago, here's a list of 2007 parties on in continental Europe for anyone who happens to be in need of somewhere to watch the grand final in the early hours of Saturday morning...

Also, for anyone needing to find footy on TV outside of Australia, prominent international Australian Football journeyman Julian "Rooster" Clarke has just unveiled his latest project, AFLonTV.com, a guide to when and where you can catch footy on the box.

While it seems that some players are already in the bad news books in the AFL offseason (see Greek Islands and Oktoberfest) with the Grand Final yet to be played, others just can’t seem to get enough football action. It appears that both Setanta and Aisake O hAilpin could be playing on that last weekend in September, and Martin Clarke’s season may not have finished with Collingwood’s loss last weekend.