Finals time has well and truly arrived across all Scandinavian countries. Finland and Norway have seen their finals decided whilst major leagues in both Sweden and Denmark have finished their home and away seasons and now prepare for the biggest matches of the season. Following is a brief overview of each competition to date.

 

 

Norway: After a dominant season, the Oslo East team has taken out the 2016 Kenguru Cup, downing cross town rivals, Oslo West.  The “Beast From The East” had dominated the season and few held out hope the West could produce a monumental upset, but in the end the script was followed to the letter as East played to their potential and took the 2016 crown. Final score was East 77 to West 6. The Ås Battlers finished the season in third place. 

It was a huge day of footy in Frankfurt as the AFLG Premiership (16 per side) and the AFLG Championship (9 per side) were decided. The biggest winners on the day were the Munich Kangaroos downing the Berlin Crocodiles in the premiership decider. The Hamburg Dockers downed the host team, the Frankfurt Redbacks, in the championship decider.

Munich leapt out to a handy 37 point lead by half time in the premiership decider – leading 62 to 25. Whilst they were the dominant side, the Crocs were still a mathematical chance of turning things around in the second half. But an even better second half from the Kangaroos – 77 to 2 – saw them power away to take the 2016 AFLG Premiership.

A new footy force is rumbling to life between Edinburgh and Glasgow. The new West Lothian Eagles are gathering the necessary interest and support to build a new Scottish powerhouse, and if enthusiasm counts for anything, Mikey Allan will make it happen.

In a recent chat with Mikey he revealed, “I had moved to West Lothian last October and decided to try and start a training group. I was asked if there was a team and I said there wasn't which resulted in only 1 guy showing up to training. [But] the team is currently seven weeks old and we are attracting more every week - nine at our last session.”

The battle for Russian footy supremacy will be played out this weekend in Moscow when the local team, the Lazy Koalas, take on their now permanent nemesis, the St Petersburg Cats. The first challenge of the year saw the Koalas down the Cats, but the return bout in St Petersburg saw an historic first ever win for the Cats.

Now the game returns to Moscow, giving the Koalas the home ground advantage, but they know full well that the Cats learned a great deal about winning last start and will be ravenous for another taste of victory, no matter where the venue.

The Prague Dragons from the Czech Republic will host this weekend’s final round of the Central European Australian Football league competition featuring teams from Croatia, Austria and of course the Dragons as the Czech representative.

The initiative sees six Croatian teams lock horns with the Dragons and also the Styrian Downunderdogs from Austria. The Zaprude Giants, Zagreb Hawks, Ploce Eagles, Velika Gorika Bombers, Zagreb Cvjetno Dockers and Sesvete Blues are the Croatian teams involved.

The 2016 AFL Norway season is close to wrapping up with the Oslo East team leading the pack as premiership favourites. East last won the title in 2014, with the Ås Battlers taking the honours in 2015. It marks a big turnaround for East after missing the final altogether in 2015, with Oslo West reaching their first ever Kenguru Cup Grand Final.

Throughout the 2016 season, East have been the dominant side, both on the field with an impressive array of victories, and off the field with strong numbers which have been responsible for turning the club’s fortunes around.

The Finland Australian Football League (FAFL) Grand Final will be played this weekend when last year's champions, the Helsinki Heatseekers, take on the Turku Dockers for the 2016 title. The match, to be played at Talin-Urheilupuisto in Helsinki, will see the two best performed Finnish teams battle it out in what could be a surprise result.

The Heatseekers go into the match as short-priced favourites, largely on the back of their last meeting back in June when they downed the Dockers by 95 points in Paimio - final scores seeing the Heatseekers 134 to the Dockers 39. The game started evenly, but the Heatseekers kicked six unanswered goals in the second term and never looked back. It was a powerful performance, but doesn't tell the whole story.

The 2016 European Championships have thrown up a number of surprise results and unexpected movement in the (unofficial) WFN World Rankings by taking exception to the rule that the higher rated/ranked nation will win more often than not.

In the men’s competition the Ireland (rank #3) versus Sweden (15th) and Germany (18th) and Great Britain (9th) versus Sweden (15th ) and Germany (18th) matches went as predicted by the Ranking scheme but Ireland v Great Britain and Germany versus Sweden matches proved to be exceptions to the rule.

Irish code crosser Colin O'Riordan was last night named in the NEAFL's team of the year.   O'Riordan in his first season at an AFL Club was signed by Sydney at the end of 2015.  He has yet to make his debut in the AFL but has clearly had a consistent season in the Swan's reserves team that plays in the NEAFL.

O'Riordan did not play with the Swans this past weekend as he suffered a punctured lung in the match the week before in Darwin.  He was unable to return with the team following that match due to that injury.  His progress this season is very positive as he bides his time and builds his knowledge of the Australian code.