A team is still a team without a uniting jumper or jersey. A team is made from the bonds among the people within that club. But to wear a jumper that symbolises that club and brings it together in a visual sense is one of the most powerful images in sport.

Some examples highlight this. Collingwood supporters would struggle for breath if they lost their iconic black and white stripes. Would the “Old Dark Navy Blues” still be so mighty in another shade of blue? (Remember those ghastly pale blue M & M jumpers!) The red strip of Manchester United? Liverpool? The green and gold of the Brazilian national football team and most Australian teams playing anything.

The hearts and souls of the people make the club, but the emblematic face of that club is often the jumper.

A Norwegian team comprising players from the Oslo Crows has crossed the border into neighbouring Sweden and stolen the silverware – the 2014 Sweden Cup.

The annual event was held over the weekend, and the following details from the AFL Sweden website give an indication of what the event entails.

AFL Sweden comes together on neutral ground in Jönköping for a civil war between all the clubs in the country to determine who is the strongest, who is the best, who is the champion of Sweden.

The Swedish Cup is the only time in the year where all of the Aussie Rules players and teams from around the country come together to face off against one another in a festival of footy.

The Toulouse Hawks have made it back to back French titles in their home city overnight, defeating the Paris Cockerels in a stirring match. The final score of 104 to 62 suggested a big win, but the Cockerels never stopped taking the game up to the Hawks.

Words on the Perpignan Tigers Facebook page summed up the feelings well: “The new shield will return to the Toulouse Hawks who prevailed 104-62 against the Parisians. Kudos [go] to the Hawks for their domination in this [season’s] championship (unbeaten) and to the Parisians who fought to the end.”

For the Toulouse team the day marks their first ever championship match victory, though the records show back to back titles. Last season’s victory was achieved without the ultimate match of the year being played, the title awarded after the match could not go ahead for reasons discussed in a previous WFN article Hawks v Cockerels battle for French premiership glory.

That was the maiden championship for Toulouse, but yesterday’s victory is the first time the team has enjoyed the experience of playing an opponent on field to win the battle based on talent, courage, strength and commitment – one of the best feelings in football.

An entry on the AFL Europe website showed the allocation of a start-up grant for a Budapest based Australian Rules football team in 2013. Whilst many readers possibly salivated at the thought of breaking into the Hungarian market, others may well have thought it was a misprint. But Geordie Est has returned to Australia from Hungary with the story of Aussie Rules progress in Budapest.

“I carried out several clinics during my time in Budapest. They were predominantly for foreigners either living in the city or passing through. I started the clinics in late autumn when the weather was getting a bit chilly so I didn't get a huge amount of traction. Nonetheless, I would like to thank Ben MacCormack for sending the balls over. It did give me the opportunity to showcase the game in some small way. I also collaborated with a Frisbee group and introduced the ball and the game to those that were interested. I held the clinics at Margaret Island which is very central and provided an ideal location.”

Australian Rules football is well and truly under way in Norway for 2014, with the second round of the Kenguru Cup being played last weekend. Again the competition was made of the two Oslo based teams – Oslo East and Oslo West - as well as the Ås Battlers.

After just two rounds it is the Oslo East team leading the way and issuing the challenge for the other two teams to “come and get them”.

Earlier in mid-May, Round 1 took place with the Oslo East team taking the honours to kick off the new season.

Read on for Round 1 Results: (match played in Ekeberg, Oslo)

The following story comes from the Connacht Tribune newspaper in Galway. It is written by Steve Glennon in his Talking Sport column and looks at the efforts of the Galway Magpies in Ireland to develop their club and keep it on the field each week. This is an interesting insight which is likely true of many other clubs across Ireland and, indeed Europe.

One thing you can say about sport in Galway – be it mainstream sport or not – is that it certainly does not lack choice. If there is one that tickles your fancy, there is a fair chance it can be found somewhere in the Corrib region. No wonder then that Aussie Rules should boast of a small claim on this landscape.

Although the Australian Rules Football League of Ireland (ARFLI) has been up and running for over a decade, the West of Ireland branch has only been in operation about half of this time, according to Galway Magpies President and Coach Shaun Murphy, who hails from Bunbury, just south of Perth.

Two years ago I visited the Styrian Downunder Dogs in the town of Bad Radkersburg on the border with Slovenia where they were conducting a Friday night to Sunday pre-season camp.

It impressed me that the team was taking such a serious approach to their football and eager to absorb as much knowledge as possible about the game. These Austrians have to take the football seriously because without a Vienna team they represent Austria and travel long distances (even by Australian standards) to play in the Croatian league.

So, what has changed?

Maybe it’s fate, karma, coincidence. Or maybe it’s just two excellent teams dominating for the last two years, but the Toulouse Hawks and Paris Cockerels get the chance to lock horns in the CNFA grand final in France for the second consecutive year. Or, more correctly, the first. The 2012/13 grand final was never played after the Montpellier venue could not be used due to a local authority’s decision.

When Paris could not get to the rescheduled and relocated event, the premiership was handed to the Toulouse Hawks for their maiden flag. Even though the two met later in the year in the French Cup (for a Toulouse win), it still wasn’t the grand final they deserved to play. But the 2013/4 season sees them both back in the grand final for another chance.

 

 

Ed: This story courtesy of Harley Vague.

It was a great mild Sunday afternoon for Football. The Zagreb Dockers arrived early and setup a canopy, barbeque and refreshments. The first game of the double header was between the Zagreb Dockers and the new team, the Slavonski Tigers journeying from roughly 200km east of Zagreb.

Even though the new team was winless in its first two outings, the Tigers had performed well. The Dockers had a very tall ruckman and a much larger squad and opened their scoring account in terms of seconds but from then on the game went goal for goal with the Tigers slowly edging in front.

As was hinted in the recent story North Lanarkshire Wolves join Scottish party, yet another Aussie Rules team has entered the Scottish football scene, this time in the heart of Glasgow. As the game undergoes a radical and positive series of changes, the Greater Glasgow Giants are the latest to take advantage of this fertile period in the game’s history.

A recent interview with Douglas Hunter, Scottish Australian Rules football stalwart and architect of the new club, gives a good account of the need for the new club, the processes they are currently undergoing for their entry to the SARFL in 2015 and some idea of their dreams and prospects.

“The team will be based at the moment in Glasgow city centre until we know where most players will come from. Recruitment is mainly from Gumtree [social media site] and from Glasgow University. We have ten players at the moment including one Aussie, three former Clansmen national team players and one who also played in the first three AIS v AFL Europe Under 21 games. The rest are from Gaelic football, football, and rugby. The coach is me.”