With the Axios Euro Cup for 2015 now just days away interest is turning to the teams that will compete this year. Whilst there is much excitement over how the host team, Croatia, will go, whether or not Denmark can defend its title or whether the Irish or English teams will bounce back, one team which has fostered much interest is the Peace Team.

Simon Fink has been working to put together this team and is one of the people responsible for seeing the team materialise at this year’s event.

According to Simon, “The current Peace Team is comprised of Israeli's and Palestinians living in and around Jerusalem. The composition is 50/50. We have Muslims, Jews and Christians playing together.”

Whilst the football world’s collective eyes are quite rightly locked on Melbourne this weekend for the AFL Grand Final, a week later the European “Grand Final” of footy nations will take place in Umag, Croatia. On Saturday 10th October, twelve men’s and six women’s teams will contest the Axios Euro Cup.

The men’s draw will have twelve teams competing. As well as the host nation, Croatia, there will be teams from England, Ireland and Scotland representing Great Britain. The Scandinavian contingent will be the teams from Norway and defending champions, Denmark. France, Austria, Germany and The Netherlands are the other stand-alone teams.

Additional to these are the European Crusaders team for those players coming without their national team in tow and also the Peace Team, of which more details will be released shortly.

West Coast Eagles’ International Rookie Paddy Brophy will give cause for Irish footy fans to pay attention during the half time break at this year’s AFL Grand Final. Brophy who has played his footy this year with East Perth in the WAFL will line up in the Grand Final Sprint.
 

The man from County Kildare in Ireland will have to beat out a strong field which includes Sudanese born ruckman Majak Daw and Hawthorn’s pacey defender Angus Litherland.

Just a week after taking out the SAFF (Stockholm Australian Football Federation) premiership when the downed the Solna Axemen (see story Södermalm belt Solna to claim 2015 SAFF Premiership, the club has won its second flag of the season winning the inaugural Swedish League Elitserien (Elite Series) to be the Swedish national champions.

The competition, set up to be the nation’s elite competition above and beyond the regional and urban leagues across the country, kicked off for the first time earlier this year. The competition featured the Södermalm Blues, Stockholm Dynamite, Port Malmö Maulers and the Helsingborg Saints in a six round competition designed around the other league draws.

After five rounds the Blues were clear leaders, undefeated, but still had to negotiate the second placed Maulers for the title. The game was being played at the, Limhamnsfältet IP, Malmö ground which evened up the competition.

The Copenhagen Giants created Danish Australian Rules football history this weekend, on a weekend where victory by either team would have written a new chapter. Taking on the Aalborg Kangaroos for the 2015 flag, neither side had previously won a premiership. But after a remarkable last quarter charge it was the Giants that etched their name in Danish footy folklore.

The script favoured the Kangaroos early. Former Greater Western Sydney player, Aksel Bang, got the ball rolling with the first goal for Aalborg just three minutes into the first quarter. It was one of four for the Kangaroos. The Giants had Samuel Kilworth to thank with two goals for the quarter, the second just prior to the quarter time siren keeping the scoreboard respectable and giving the Giants a little faith. Scores: Aalborg 4 2 26 v Copenhagen 2 1 13

The second quarter started with three goals in the opening four minutes to the Kangaroos, all but sealing the game as they raced to a 31 point lead. But then the game began to change and the Giants found belief. They kicked four of the next five goals before halftime to suggest a strong comeback on the cards and reduce the deficit to just 11 points, winning the quarter. Scores: Aalborg 8 3 51 v Copenhagen 6 4 40

The FAFL season came to an end on the 12th September with a Grand Final bringing down the curtain on a challenging year for Finnish footy. As stated through the FAFL Facebook page, “ This year’s Grand Final will see Helsinki Heatseekers (City) take on a combined Turku Dockers / Salo Juggernaughts / Vaasa Wombats (Country) to decide who deserves the right to be crowned Finnish Champions for 2015.”

As it turned out, the final ended up being a full Helsinki Heatseekers list playing a Turku Dockers team supplemented by some extra Helsinki players. Nevertheless, there could be little doubt that regardless of format the Helsinki Heatseekers were the best Finnish team of 2015.

The finale to the season was a departure from recent Grand Final formats with the theory of one dominant team playing a combination of the other Finnish teams for bragging rights. Throughout the season the Helsinki Heatseekers had won just about everything available to them. Probably the only “blemish”, if you could call it that was when they combined with the Vaasa Wombats in a match against the Turku Dockers and went down in the Finnish town of Paimio.

With the Södermalm Blues taking the chocolates in the SAFF Grand Final in Stockholm, Sweden, they broke a long-running losing streak on the big days and made their own history. The following article comes straight from the “newsdesk” of the Blues, basking in the glory of their premiership win.

 

The following article by Rob “Haiku Bob” Scott from the Södermalm club, and the pictures, come courtesy of one very proud Swedish football club.

 

 

Nothing lasts these days. Jobs, marriages, Prime Ministerships. Big on promises, short on delivery. About the only thing you could count on these days is Södermalm losing the Grand Final. They have lost the last four. Four years running. Four years is a long time in anything. Especially being Prime Minister.

Back in the 1980’s the Australian cricket team announced a new face with “Taylor” appearing on the list and the world assuming it was the debut of future test captain, Mark Taylor. But everyone was shocked when it was in fact rank outsider, off-spinner Peter Taylor, named for his debut instead. A case of mistaken cricketers.

In Denmark over the weekend the predicted victory of a Copenhagen team into the 2015 Grand Final occurred. In the upset of the season to date, however, it was the Copenhagen Giants that held on for a pulsating one point victory over raging hot favourites, the Copenhagen Barracudas. Like the analogy of the Taylors, the unexpected Copenhagen team is through to the big dance.

The Barracudas started the game steadily, though aware of a big challenge being mounted by the Giants. Quarter time saw the favourites on track with a six point lead (15 to 9) and by half-time that lead has edged out to ten points (31-21). Many expected that from here the Barracudas would flex the muscle shown all year and pull away in the second half.

The Toulouse Hawks have got their new season off to a positive start with victory in the French Cup (Coupe De France) over the weekend. After missing out on the 2014/15 season Grand Final earlier this year, the Hawks have reset their compass for the new season and this first up win is very handy for their preparation.

The tournament was held in Toulouse and contested by six French teams: the Hawks, Bordeaux Bombers, AFLA Lions, Cergy-Pontoise Coyotes, Perpignan Tigers and a combined Paris Cockerels/Firesharks Montpellier team, bringing last year’s Grand Finalists together as one.

Toulouse went through their four matches undefeated on the day in a resounding result and a pre-emptive message to the rest of the competition for the rest of the season. But they were not the only team to take great heart from the day. The fast-improving AFLA Lions from Lyon, unlucky to miss last year’s CNFA finals, won two of their matches on the day, as did the Perpignan Tigers who took a win from the day.

The lifeblood of future Australian Rules football competitions world-wide is and will increasingly be the development of junior pathways. Ultimately, it will not be enough for the game to grow simply through ex-pat Australians overseas and local converts. To prosper, rather than stagnate or fall away, the leagues and clubs need the infusion of youth as its supply line.

Already there are increasing signs worldwide of Auskick clinics or similar growing across Europe, the USA, across Asia, Oceania and even in Chile, South America, across African countries and the Middle East. Almost everywhere the game is played junior programs of one sort or another are appearing to develop the next generation of players.

One more recent example has been the development of a junior program in Sweden at the Södermalm Blues club in suburban Stockholm. A recent chat with Jonas Raninen, Södermalm Vice President and Junior Team Manager, unearthed the background and logistics of their program, including potential for further growth and a vision for the future.