What a big week in world footy! Last weekend saw the premiers decided in many leagues around the planet (see other stories). In Ireland, the Dublin Eagles, dominant all season, have won the 2004 Australian Rules premiership, defeating the Dublin Demons at St Anns Park, Raheny, on Saturday September 11th.

Junior football in Denmark entered a new era this week with the first Farum Inter-School Championships held on September 5th. Over 60 players aged 11-16 represented 4 schools in the Farum area, with the Lillerød Lions defeating Marie Kruse, Stavnsholt and Solvang for the cup.

Kolja Koracak first encountered Aussie Rules in the USA, playing two seasons in the Arizona AFL. On returning to his homeland of Croatia, he started looking for ways to spread the word and get a regular fix of his new favourite sport.

Sash Herceg arrived in Perth in 1996, a recent immigrant from the city of Split on Croatia's Adriatic coast. After a few years of watching Australia's own football code, he decided to give it a go, playing senior football for West Coast Cowan in Perth and the Fitzroy Reds in Melbourne.

WFN recently caught up with the two to talk about plans for bringing the game back to Croatia.

The 2004 British Australian Rules Football League Premiership and Conference titles were won last weekend, with the West London Wildcats taking out the London Premiership, and the Shepherds Bush Raiders winning the London Conference. It was a big result for the Wildcats, as both winning teams are part of the West London club.

From having only one side in the whole country (the Helsingborg Saints) to having local leagues in Stockholm and Skåne, an outpost in Göteborg and hosting international competition, the past two years have been a time of spectacular growth for the Australian game in Sweden.

Australian football finals series are underway the world over, with the Northern summer beginning to wane as the Ausralian winter thaws. Last weekend witnessed the successful conclusion of two British leagues' seasons - the Scottish and British Regional Premierships.

The British Australian Rules Football League (BARFL) finals are coming up, and are being promoted in conjunction with the website Active Antipodean. Their press release follows. In addition, this weekend also sees the BARFL Regional and Scottish League Grand Finals. The BARFL website has all the details.

The large Australian expatriate community ensures footy has a foothold in the UK, but the recent Brit Cup indicated that the number of locals playing has increased.

In only four months of existence, the Brussels Saints have defeated Paris both home and away, taken first place at the Central European AFL championships and assembled a playing list of almost 30 players, of which only around half are ex-pat Australians.

Setanta O'hAilpin is unlikely to play football at the top level this year.