To coincide with the success and popularity of the Haggis Cup in Scotland played a few weeks ago comes the news of another Australian Football club in the country. The Falkirk Silverbacks have arrived on the Scottish scene to continue the growth of the game.

Falkirk, with a population of around 35,000, sits in the Lowlands between Scotland's two largest cities. Glasgow is approximately 33 kilometres away to the south-west and the capital city of Edinburgh just 37 kilometres away to the south-east. It is this proximity to these cities which already boast healthy Australian Rules football clubs which has led to the expansion of the game to Falkirk.

Who’s the toughest footballer you ever saw? Leigh Matthews? Ted Whitten? Luke Hodge? Maybe  it  is Jonathan Brown.  Well here’s something which may sort the wheat from the chaff. How often did you see them play in temperatures of 7 degrees, with a chill factor that made it more like minus 7? 

Well that’s exactly what faced the tough, fearless and enthusiastic Russian players who competed in last weekend’s Gagarin Cup in Moscow. 

The event, named in honour of the Russian Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, the first man into space, was played in the Russian capital in front of a motivated, albeit teeth-chattering crowd. The event is also played on Cosmonaut Day, a national holiday observed in Russia. It is the largest Australian Rules showcase in the country, just tipping out the Concrete and Steel Cup played each September (2nd) to observe the anniversary of the end of World War Two (won last year by the Space Pirates).

The Scottish city of Glasgow will again come alive on April to the sounds of umpires whistles, screaming crowds and calls of “Baaalll…!!” as the 2014 Haggis Cup celebrates its 10th year. The Glasgow Sharks will be hosting and organising the event, to be played at the GHA Rugby Football Club fields at Giffnock on the 12th of April.

This year’s event also boasts a distinctly international flavour in the men’s competition with English clubs the Huddersfield Rams and Tyne Tees Tigers being joined by French club, the Paris Cockerels to take on the three Scottish teams: the Glasgow Sharks, Kingdom Kangaroos and Edinburgh Bloods. The women’s teams will be confirmed and released shortly.

This weekend’s clash between the Cergy-Pontoise Coyotes and the Bordeaux Bombers may go a long way towards shaping the 2013/14 finals of the CNFA competition in France. With just seven matches remaining before the finals, the Coyotes feature in three of them and may well hold the key to which teams makes the finals.

The Coyotes have done little wrong this season, yet through the anomalies of the draw they sit currently in fifth place. So far this season they have trounced the Strasbourg Kangaroos, won a memorable one point game against their cross town Parisian neighbours the Paris Cockerels and went down by just four points to the Montpellier Fire Sharks who are also in finals contention.

The Great Britain Bulldogs last weekend held their training camp at the elite training facilities of Surrey Sports Park, in preparation for the upcoming announcement of their 2014 International Cup squad.

With four of the Bulldogs also selected for the European Legion to play against the AFL-AIS Academy in the Easter challenge series, the camp was a chance to see some of the athletic prowess the Bulldogs will bring to the tournament Down Under.

This report courtesy of GB Bulldogs Performance and Team Coordinator Claire Shapland.

Not content to sit out another season waiting to be a part of the big time footy in Croatia, new club the Slavonski Brod Tigers flexed their muscle last weekend against none other than the reigning Croatian premiers, the Zagreb Hawks.

Tomislav Vlaovic, co-founder of Croatia’s newest club, was full of pride when relating his match review to World Footy News. “The practice match was played in Slavonski Brod on the 9th of March between the newly founded Slavonski Brod Tigers and reigning premiers Zagreb Hawks.”

 

Colm Begley and John Heslin talk to Irish radio Newstalk about the homesickness and the early return home of Irish international rookies recruited to the AFL. 

This discussion is quite timely, just last week Irishman Daniel Flynn who was recruited by the Port Adelaide Football Club had flown back home to be with his family as his grandfather battles a serious illness.

Daniel, who joined the club as a rookie in November 2013, has taken a leave of absence and there is speculation that he may not return to the club at all. 

The GIANTS will add a touch of green to the sea of orange at Spotless Stadium for the Battle of the Bridge against the Swans on March 15.

To celebrate St Patrick’s Day on March 17, the GIANTS have launched a special ticket offer for all Irish fans in Sydney.

It includes a reserved seat in a dedicated Irish “Green Bay”, a green GIANTS t-shirt and a beverage voucher (600ml drink or beer) for just $25.

Award winning Irish band Tolka will kick off the festivities and there will be demonstrations of hurling and Gaelic football before the main game.

When the AFLCNE (Australian Football League Central & Northern England) made the decision to admit the Tyne Tees Tigers for the 2014 as a fully-fledged eighth team they may not have foreseen the small football revolution that the Tigers would bring with them.

Since their admission to the league in their own right, the Tyne Tees Tigers have also managed to develop their own women’s team as well as initiating their first regional expansion team, the Wearside Wallabies.

This team, which initially will join in with localised games and events in the Newcastle on Tyne district, has tapped into the Aussie Rules interest generated by the Tyne Tees crew around the Sunderland, Durham and Washington area south of Newcastle.

It certainly appears that the admission of this team in north-east England to the AFLCNE competition, spread mainly across the north central corridor may have even greater long term benefits to the league that first envisioned.

A recent chat with Tyne Tees Tigers club president, Ian Baxter, sheds light on the expansion and the visions of a 10 year plan which are starting to come together.

The Irish Warriors will receive a nice present to take home with them when they visit Melbourne for IC14. Courtesy of Zach Tuohy's super goal during the NAB Challenge match on the weekend (video below).

NAB are giving away $500 worth of Sherrin footballs to the junior club of the player who kicks a supergoal during the NAB challenge. However with Tuohy having no junior Aussie rules club the AFL Media Manager Patrick Keane has confirmed that the balls will be presented to the Irish team and then taken back to Ireland for use in development there.