Sponsorship is vital to all sporting clubs, from small community clubs to massive world icons. The Dublin Eagles in the Australian Rules Football League Ireland have secured a prominent international company. The following is courtesy of the Eagles' President, Phil Howarth.

The Hamburg Dockers last weekend broke through for their first ever win, travelling to Düsseldorf to give the Lions a 18.7.155 to 3.5.23 thumping in round one of the AFL Germany 2005 season.

Carlton's Irish recuit, Setanta O'hAilpin, is off to a solid start to his second season in Australia. Continuing his footy development with VFL side the Northern Bullants, Setanta has played several pre-season matches and kicked two goals in their opening regular season match.

The weekend of March 19 saw Denmark's North Copenhagen Barracudas make their first tentative steps onto the international stage, visiting the Brussels Saints in the Belgian capital.

News from the Emerald Isle for the start up of the 2005 season sees the 10-a-side competition underway with two rounds completed so far. This season's 2005 Super 10s competition has been broken up into two conferences with Cork (Leeside Lions), Clare Crows and new side West Dublin Saints competing in the southern conference and Dublin Demons, South Dublin Eagles, Mullingar and Belfast hitting it out in the Northern Conference.

In preparation for their 2005 season to kick off in two weekends' time, the AFL Germany held a national training camp in the Hessian city of Fulda. Not put off by sub-zero temperatures and a healthy cover of snow, 25 participants came together under the guidance of Cam Jeffreys and Berlin Crocodiles coach Steve Barratt.

The trend of international footy leagues to tweak their system continues in Denmark for the 2005 season as the DAFL has again slightly remodelled its restructure of two years ago.

The new system includes a five-team premier league, with clubs supported by their own local leagues, similar to the 'metro' competitions in the USA.

As part of a night of celebrations for teams and individuals achieving national or international triumph in their sport, the Frankfurt Redbacks were awarded an Ehrenmedaille ('Medal of Honour') by the city of Frankfurt on February 25th.

Italian Alessandro Ciampa has been working hard to start Aussie Rules in the Italian province of Campania since late last year. It seems that there have now been officers delegated to the neighbouring provinces of Lazio and Molise and the number of squads has grown to four - Polosportiva Napoli, San Giorgio Dragons, Salerno Fishmongers and the Barra Fighters.

More news will be presented as it comes to hand, in the meantime visit the Federazione Italiana di Football Australiano for more information.

The Brussels Saints were newcomers to the European scene for 2004, with an impressive mix of experienced footballers and new recruits from a rugby background taking out the Central European AFL championship.

Luke White reviews their 2004 season and tells more about their plans for 2005.