With just three rounds remaining for the 2015 AFL London season, much of the jostling for a finals place is almost done. Whilst the Wildcats and Demons have all but secured their places at the top of the home and away tree, the London Swans have joined them with their win over the Wimbledon Hawks almost certainly locking them into the top four and leap-frogging the Lions into third place.

The Swans’ victory on the weekend, 13 8 86 to the Hawks’ 10 8 68, gave them their fourth win of the year and has them well placed to remain in the top three by finals time, albeit with a tough run home which includes both the Wildcats and Demons. It will depend on how the Lions negotiate their final rounds which does include clashes with both bottom placed teams – Magpies and Hawks.

In the other premiership match it was the West London Wildcats comfortably accounting for the Putney Magpies 19 14 128 to 7 5 47.

The powerhouse Paris Cockerels completed their dream, and their dream season, in emphatic style to take out the 2014/15 CNFA premiership against the Montpellier Firesharks. For the Paris players the result was one of elation and relief as they became the most successful French club in terms of recent premierships. For the Firesharks the feeling would be one of initial despondency, which will hopefully be replaced sooner rather than later by a realisation of just how much they achieved this season.

The final score told a tale of domination. The Paris Cockerels won 27 16 178 to the Montpellier Firesharks 9 8 62. It finished as a lop-sided affair on the scoreboard, but the Firesharks never gave up and threw everything they had at their Paris rivals. But the Cockerels were emphatic on the day, as they had been all season.

A crowd of more than 200 spectators lined the boundaries at la plaine des sports de Vincennes to watch a clinical and determined Paris team take on a daring and optimistic Montpellier squad.

The AFL London competition entered its split round last weekend. The round will be completed this weekend. With the finals series not too far away this round presents a chance for teams to jostle for that vital spot in the top four.

In the Premiership Division, the Wandsworth Demons 12.10.82 defeated the North London Lions 11.5.71 to keep a strong hold on second place with just three rounds to go before the finals series begins.

In the Conference Division the Clapham Demons 7.11.53 were defeated by the Regent Park Lions 9.5.59, whilst in the Social Division it was the South London Demons 5.10.40 defeating the Bounds Green Lions 3.6.24

Yes, there are the vagaries of week to week player availability. Yes there are geographic and meteorological concerns from time to time and, yes, there are a number of reasons why a top team can lose to the bottom team on a given weekend.

But nothing can take away the remarkable efforts of the Tyne Tees Tigers to record their first victory of the season, bringing down previously undefeated top team Sheffield Thunder in the process. In a tremendous show of belief and commitment, the Tigers trounced the now deposed league leaders as much through combined belief as any other factor.

 

They may not yet be finished either. The Tigers cannot make the finals, but their next four matches are against potential finalists. They are in a position to create havoc for the Rams, Bears, Scorpions and Wolverines in coming weeks as they jostle for finals spots. 

 

There are only five rounds remaining before the AFLCNE finals series begins, so the serious josting for positions and respect from opponents is certainly hotting up. Sometimes that takes the form of a team exerting their dominance over another along the way. On other occasions it is the self-belief that grows from pushing a better team and knowing that come finals time the gap might just be narrower again.

Such might be the case is last weekend’s clash between the Sheffield Thunder and Huddersfield Rams. The scoreboard says that the Thunder won comfortably enough in the end, a 21 point margin: Sheffield 17 20 122 d Huddersfield 14 17 101. But last time they met in round four it was a 23 point margin. The message is that less than four goals have separated the teams twice this season. Thunder can read that they have the Ram’s measure. The Rams can look at the margins and build their counter-attack. Such is the fun of footy.

In a round of upsets and spine-tingling finishes, the Putney Magpies have got off their dreaded “duck” and recorded a valuable and heartening victory against the Wimbledon Hawks. At home to the Hawks, the Magpies needed to register a first win of the season and did so in fine style to win the match 12 14 86 to 7 11 53.

In another upset, the North London Lions, sitting in third place and playing at home, were expected by many to defeat the inconsistent London Swans. But the Swans team had not read the script presumably and came away from the outing with a 10 5 65 to 6.10 46 win against the Lions.

In the match of the round, first were playing second with the Wandsworth Demons taking on the West London Wildcats at home. Whilst the Wildcats started the season with some massive wins, the Demons have stayed close behind. That could not be better illustrated than the weekend result which saw the Wildcats hang on by a whisker against the Demons for a one point win. Final scores saw the Wildcats 10 13 73 edge out the Demons 10 12 72.

In a huge result for French football, the Montpellier Firesharks have defeated the favourites, and winner of the last two CNFA premierships, the Toulouse Hawks, to book an historic berth in the 2014/15 Grand Final. They will meet the Paris Cockerels team which defeated the Cergy-Pontoise Coyotes in the other semi final.

Whilst the Paris team have a chance to write their own history, it is the Firesharks team which is the talk of the town, reaching their first ever national level Grand-Final. It is an incredible result for a club that during its early years played in the lesser Development Cup competitions and sometimes not at all. To have progressed as a club to challenge for this year's national title is a huge tribute to the people who have kept believing and developing the club based in Montpellier. The city, is located between two other French cities with Australian Rules football heritage, Toulouse and Marseille, close to the Mediterranean Sea in the south of France.

The match was a battle of the south, but it is the Firesharks that will now represent that part of the country in the season's finale.

Whilst the West London Wildcats have been merrily locking down top spot on the AFL London ladder, the Wandsworth Demons have been keeping pace in second position. Their Round Five match saw them send a message of their own, putting away the Wimbledon Hawks by 53 points. Whilst the Demons went down to the Wildcats in their only loss to date (by just 17 points in Round 1), their other form has been consistent.

In other matches, the North London Lions went down bravely to the Wildcats by just 15 points, keeping the Wildcats to their lowest score of the season. The London Swans also kept their finals chances intact with a solid 35 point win over the Putney Magpies.

The Round 5 results for the Premiership Competition:

Wandsworth Demons: 9.10.64 def. Wimbledon Hawks: 1.5.11
West London Wildcats 10.9.69 def. North London Lions 8.6.54
London Swans 13.14.92 def. Putney Magpies 9.3.57

In this article by James Gottschalk from the AFL Europe website the rise of women’s footy, specifically the London based Australian Rules football , is traced and opportunities for women to play the game are shared. The article comes on the back of the recent acknowledgements of women playing the game with the 2015 Women’s Draft back in April and the subsequent Western Bulldogs versus Melbourne Demon’s women’s match on May 24th. A second match will be played on August 16th, again as a curtain raiser to the Western Bulldogs versus Melbourne Premiership match.

 

Both of these related events add the necessary clout required to validate and promote the place of women playing Australian Rules football. Whilst the women’s football scene is not triggered by these events in Australia, the game is certainly aided by the interest generated and associated increases in women’s player numbers.

 

 

In 2014, Australian Rules football celebrated 25 years of a sporting competition in the country of England. In 2015, Women’s Australian Rules football officially took off with an AFL London Women’s league comprising of four already established men’s clubs each becoming host to a Women’s team. Those founding clubs being: Wimbledon Hawks, Wandsworth Demons, North London Lions and the South East London Giants.

The Huddersfield Rams certainly made a statement about their intent to be part of the finals action with a massive win over the Tyne Tees Tigers to catapult themselves into third place on the AFLCNE ladder after eight rounds. In front by over 100 points at the half time break, it was a matter of how far they could ram home their advantage and build valuable percentage for the run to the finals.

 

The match of the round, however, was played in Nottingham where the Wolverhampton Wolverines pipped the Scorpions on their home turf by just two points in a thriller. The result was a blow for the Scorpions which needed the win to stay in the group of teams in the battle for a finals place. They are not out of the running, but the loss leaves them a game behind the Wolverines, Rams and Bears but with a poor percentage.

 

 

For the Wolverines, they would simply be grateful that they took the points in another cliff-hanger after going down narrowly to Sheffield last start.