Jason Lassey of Bigfooty Media interviews General Manager of AFL Europe - Ben MacCormack.

 

Jason Lassey of Bigfooty Media interviews Sölvi Fannar Sigmarsson.

A quick look at the list of clubs receiving start up grants from AFL Europe is a reasonable indicator of the slow but steady growth of Australian Rules football across the continent. Some might argue that the true growth is only seen in the number of players listed with clubs. Others might argue that not all of these clubs will see the distance. But one thing that is true is that the line-up of people seeking grants on behalf of fledgling clubs continues.

For some the journey is just beginning. Some are well into their journey, whilst others are little more than a name on an application. But a projection looking forward might see a landscape with more teams, more players and more opportunities than ever before if all goes well.

The Danish AFL has a proud history of Australian football now dating back over 20 years. The DAFL has played host to the likes of Jimmy Bartel and Brett Kirk either on or off the field. However – rarely does the DAFL or Australian Football grab the attention of the Danish public – a shame given the obvious Australian links via Princess Mary.

It was somewhat surprising then that the AFL’s number draft pick Tom Boyd made the news in Denmark.

Earlier in 2013 World Footy News published a story about the fledgling Irish club, the UCC Bombers from Cork. Since that time, the Bombers have continued to develop and improve.  The culmination of this could be seen in their recent narrow loss to the Leeside Lions in a friendly match where they went down 12 5 77 to 10 8 68. But before that, the UCC Bombers had the honor of winning the inaugural Fitzpatrick Cup in Dublin to create a piece of their own history. Below is an account of the games.

UCC Aussie Rules club (UCC Bombers) recently entered the inaugural AFL Europe accredited Fitzpatrick Cup cup at Islandbridge, Dublin. The four competing clubs were Northern Regional College(NRC), University College Cork (UCC), Dublin City University (DCU) and the oldest AFL team outside Australia, Oxford University. UCC were drawn to play DCU in the opening preliminary final, with Oxford University going head to head with NRC in the other. Prior to ball-up AFL Commission Chairman, Mike Fitzpatrick, whom the tournament is named after, kicked off proceedings at the Opening Ceremony, recalling stories from his time spent at St John’s College and his association with the Oxford University football club. “I am very humbled that this great tournament is being held in my honour”, stated Fitzpatrick. “I look forward to seeing some potential AFL stars take the field today.” Also in attendance was AFL Europe Chairman, Chris Dow who addressed the special guests ahead of the knockout tournament. “This is an historic day for AFL in Europe and each participating club”, he said.

Unless you were watching closely you might wonder "What happened to Tommy Walsh this year?". In the following video the Sydney Swans website reviews the Irish import's season.

Sean Hurley is on trial with the Fremantle Football Club and trying to win an International Rookie spot on the Docker's list for the 2014 season. He speaks of his first day of training in the Aussie sun.

Hurley attended the 2012 National Draft Combine in Melbourne.

 

The following story looks at the Australian Rules football scene in Russia. It has been given to World Footy news to reproduce as a way of highlighting the tremendous work by Roger Scott and his crew to build the game from scratch in a country not usually associated with the sport.

Roger Scott began learning Russian while still in Australia. He works in commercial real estate in Moscow, and on Sundays teaches all those interested how to play Australian football, a game little known in Russia.

Moscow. One of the first warm days in August. At a small stadium in Lefortovo park, there are two dozen immigrant workers from Central Asia playing football (soccer), and several more people playing frisbee on the edge of the field. At five in the afternoon they are replaced by strongly built guys, about eight of them, carrying an oval ball.

"Whenever you come here, somebody is always playing football (soccer): in the morning, in the afternoon, in the evening. Were there more of us, we would have just occupied this field and that's it," one of them says with a slight accent. The playing field in Lefortovo is free, therefore clashes of certain "subcultures" are inevitable. 

The guy with an accent is called Roger Scott. "Like the rabbit," he says, when we are introduced. Roger is from Australia, but has been living in Russia for eight years already. 

He has a double-headed eagle tattooed on his right shoulder. "It helps in difficult situations with the police. Although I don't have to show it that often these days, Moscow has become more civilised," he says, with a faint nostalgia in his tone. 

Jason Lassey of Bigfooty Media interviews Finland AFL's President Janne Hokkonen.

Carlton will list it's second Irish International rookie this year during the upcoming draft period with Ciaran Sheehan signed to join the club after Ciaran Byrne also signed up in August. Most readers here may remember Sheehan from the dominant Irish team that defeated the Australians in the recent International Rules series in Ireland.

Those with a longer memory will also recall the 18 year old Cork youngster coming to Carlton for a trial in 2009 before knocking back a rookie list spot and remaining in Ireland.