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.

In a round where other results were far more lop-sided, the North London Lions held off a determined Wimbledon Hawks team in Round Four of the AFL London Premiership Competition. Going into the match, the Lions sat in second place on the ladder and the Hawks in fifth. But in reality only one game separated the teams on the ladder and this result showed how close many of the London teams are in talent on any given day.

 

In other results, the West London Wildcats reinforced their dominance of the competition with a 135 point crushing of the London Swans. It was their third win in succession over 120 points and underlined again how strong the Wildcats are. For a full match review, read the following article by Sarah Ongarello from AFL Europe: http://www.australiantimes.co.uk/top-effort-from-rover-dog-as-wildcats-clip-swans-wings/

 

 

The Wolverhampton Wolverines have to be considered extremely unlucky to lose last weekend. It is not often that a team can kick a score of 24 21 (165) and still be beaten…by a mere 7 points to the undefeated Sheffield Thunder which kicked 25 22 (172). Whilst losing is never a palatable result at the best of times, the Wolverines will take heart that they pushed the league leaders to the limit and found 45 ways to score against them.

But the high scoring wasn’t just confined to the Wolverhampton match. Up at Huddersfield the goal spree continued unabated.

The home team, Huddersfield Rams, scored their best win of the season with a 72 point victory against the Nottingham Scorpions. The result keeps the Rams in finals contention, but certainly places pressure on the Scorpions to fight for a finals berth. In another high scoring match, a combined 40 goals were kicked.

The four finalists to contest this season’s CNFA finals series have been decided, but not before some teams decided to put fairly large exclamation marks next to their home and away season performances with some big wins.

Played over the past two weekends, the final four matches were played out, each having a potential impact of the final makeup of the top four. By the end the finalists were decided and will be played as follows:


Paris Cockerels v Cergy-Pontoise Coyotes – 13th June
Toulouse Hawks v Montpellier Firesharks – 13th June

The semi-finals both have a regional taste with the battle of Paris teams the Cockerels and the Coyotes from the satellite suburbs to the north-west of the French capital. Meanwhile, the battle of the south makes the other semi-final with the Toulouse Hawks hosting the Montpellier Firesharks. The respective winners will face each other in the grand-final on June 27th in Paris.

 

The anticipated top of the table clash between the Sheffield Thunder and Manchester Mosquitoes was expected by many to be a shootout between two sides gunning for top spot and would likely come down to a “last man standing” affair.

 

Sheffield Thunder, however, had other ideas and hammered the Mozzies to the tune of 74 points to remain the only undefeated team after six rounds of the AFLCNE season.

 

 

The performance underlines how well Sheffield has travelled so far this season. They have almost flown under the radar by sitting in the slipstream of the Manchester crew, but when push came to shove the Thunder produced a huge performance which will now have them outright flag favourites. No longer are they under the radar. Their performance effectively said “here we are, come and get us!”

 

The Birmingham Bears’ rocky start to the season took a solid turn for the better on the weekend when they scored an impressive victory over the Tyne Tees Tigers by 108 points.  After their rollercoaster start to the season which had seen one on-field win over the first four rounds, the victory might well mark a turning point for the Bears in season 2015.

 

In other results, Sheffield Thunder continued their impressive start to the season with a 102 point thrashing of the Nottingham Scorpions whilst the Manchester Mozzies were forced to work hard for their victory over the Wolverhampton Wolverines with accuracy separating the sides on the scoreboard. Both teams had 23 scoring shots, yet the Mozzies recorded a comfortable 35 point win.

 

 

The West London Wildcats sounded an ominous warning to the rest of the AFL London Premiership Division teams with a resounding 124 point demolition of the Wimbledon Hawks. A new season always brings hope and all teams would have fancied their chances at the start of the season to roll the mighty Wildcats after successive flags in the past two seasons.

But the Wildcats relentless brand of footy hammered home the reality that it will take a super effort to stop them achieving a three-peat this year and what would be their 11th flag since 2000.

In other Premiership Division results, the Wandsworth Demons held the London Swans at arm’s length to record a 32 point win whilst the North London Lions recorded a big 61 point win over the Putney Magpies.

The next two weekends will see the French Home and away season wind up with all eight teams playing their final matches prior to the start of the finals series. The final round will have an impact of the finals makeup for some teams, whilst others are assured of their finish already.

After a fascinating season, the curtain will close in June with the playing of the semi-finals and grand-final. Other teams not involved in finals action will turn their attention towards the 2015/16 season and prepare for the future.

Both the Strasbourg Kangourous and the Perpignan Tigers have been competitive this season but cannot reach the finals regardless of final round results. Strasbourg have their own unique situations which impact on their overall performance Strasbourg Kangourous - 2015 Snapshot ,whilst for the Tigers it has been a season of readjustment to being back in the national league after a period of absence.

 

 

With four rounds down in the AFLCNE season there are now some very clear patterns emerging as teams begin the jostling process for finals action later in the year. With almost a third of the season gone, the next few weeks will see some teams strengthening their positions of power, others fighting off challengers and some building for the future.

 

Round Four results saw the Mozzie powerhouse continues its reign of terror by hammering the Scorpions. Sheffield Thunder remained undefeated also by downing a gallant Rams outfit whilst the Wolverines squared their leger for the season by downing the Bears. Tyne tees Tigers had the bye.

 

Weekend Results:

 

Manchester Mozzies  21.22 (148) def Nottingham Scorpions 5.11 (41) at Manchester

Huddersfield Rams  15.17 (107) def. by Sheffield Thunder  19.16 (130) at Huddersfield

Wolverhampton Wolverines 16.21 (117) def Birmingham Bears 10.12 (72) at Wolverhampton