Despite the local EPL team sharing the moniker, colours and notoriety of AFL’s Collingwood Magpies, many sports fans are unaware of Newcastle United.

However, local Aussie Rules team Tyne Tees Tigers are on a mission to introduce Newcastle to the Australian code of football. And they have the support of Sky News Tyne and Wear who came down to North Shields Rugby Club, where the Tigers train, to film the AFL Central and Northern England League's lightning round there.

“We were in a Newcastle bar… the Shark Bar... at what was supposed to be a sports networking event: free food/free beer. We'd previously discussed the possibility of a club via email over the preceding few months but got nowhere. Hardly anyone else turned up to this networking event so we got stuck in to the free beer! By the end of the night we had agreed to start the club, picked a training venue and date to start training and the Tigers were officially born.”

Such is the story of the birth of the Tyne Tees Tigers Australian Rules football club in the north east of England. The gathering of Ian Baxter, Anthony Nolan and Shaun Bulmer to pursue a means to keep their favourite sport alive in the region has led to the Tigers having served a local “social club” apprenticeship, and they are ready to join the AFLCNE (Australian Football League Central & Northern England) for the 2014 season.

Whilst not technically a “new” team, as they have been in existence in one form or other since 2007, they are quite definitely a new club in a variety of ways.

Austria has had an Australian Footy presence since 2004, initially with the Vienna Kangaroos and currently the Styrian Down Under Dogs based in Graz, who play in the Croatian Australian Football League and is this month about to debut in the field of International Footy, with the national team the 'Avalanche' taking on the Croatian Knights. 

Editor's update: this article referred to the possible full field debut for Austria (16-18 per side as opposed to 9s), however it has since been confirmed that such a match will not take place this year.

As Croatia is provisionally ranked  (40.61 rating points) and Austria (starting with 40.00 points) making its international debut,  the match will have no impact on our unofficial World Rankings.

In the absence of any preview or promotion so far of this European Footy "First" we can, however, predict the Rating Points of the competing Nations regardless of the outcome. It is assumed that the match is being played in Zagreb and the rating gap with Home Advantage is therefore 3.61. As the system predicts the higher ranked team will win more often than not,  a Knights victory (of less than 40 points) will produce a Rating Change of +/-0.96 points. Croatia (five internationals) finishing  with 41.56 points and Austria (first international) with 39.04 points.

If, however, the Avalanche can buck the odds and produce a debutante win, then the rating change would be +/- 2.04 points and Austria would finish with 42.04 points and Croatia would slip to 38.57 points.

If this match is actually played in Austria then points will be different - information has been hard to find.

Located in northern Iceland, Akureyri is the fourth largest town in the country and the biggest outside the Reykjavík metro area. It is also a mere 100 kilometres (62 miles) from the Arctic Circle, and it just happens to have a very devoted following of Australian Rules fans who are keen to further develop the game in Iceland.

With a history which dates back to initial Viking settlement in the 9th century, Akureyri has grown over the centuries since to be a significant population centre in Iceland with a thriving fishing industry and an ice-free port which makes it an important centre of commerce for the nation.

Geographically, in football terms, it might also become the most northerly centre for Australian Rules football world-wide with the apparent hiatus of the Tromsø team in Norway as well as the same fate for the Krasnoyarsk team in Siberia, Russia.

Magherafelt is almost as close as you can get to the very centre of Northern Ireland. With a population of around 8,000 people, it is also the largest town in the south of County Derry. But Machaire Fiolta (using the Irish name) is also the home of Europe’s, and Ireland’s, newest Australian Rules football team, The NRC Eagles.

According to Kevin McSorley, architect of the fledgling club and Development Officer for the Australian Rules Football League Ireland (ARFLI), “[The] NRC Eagles are the newly formed Australian rules football team for North Regional College based in Magherafelt. We welcome students from all sections of the college and all sporting ability, and will be training in Meadowbank sports complex regularly.”

Match report taken from the Glasgow Sharks website and written by "the Great White.

Saturday saw the S.A.R.F.L season opener between the Glasgow Sharks and the Aberdeen Eagles. The game was played under threatening skies and in very difficult conditions as heavy overnight rain had left standing water on many parts of the field. Although this was the first league game of the season there was still a fair bit on the line for both teams. The sharks were wanting to get the ledger going their way after going down to the eagles in the last game of the year last season and at this year’s Haggis cup. The eagles on the other hand were looking to keep their momentum going and continue the trend of recent times. Both sets of players were not going to let the conditions dampen their enthusiasm and defiantly marched through the rain to take to the field.

Although not well publicised, a Denmark versus Germany international was played on the weekend, on Saturday 18th May in Copenhagen.

As a result of Denmark's 20.21 (141) to 1.1 (7) thumping win over Germany, the Vikings have climbed three spots on our World Rankings. There was much discussion previously as to whether the Danes were too lowly ranked, but as pointed out the best way to remedy that is to defeat the teams close on the ladder.

As a result of this match and the earlier shared series between Great Britain and Ireland, eight nations have seen either a rise or fall in their position on our World Rankings since our last formal update on 24 November 2012.

Great Britain (46.51 rating points) has climbed two spots from 9th to 7th at the expense of USA (45.87) and Tonga (44.73) pushing them down one spot each to 8th and 9th respectively.

Denmark's 134 point win over Germany sees them leapfrog over Canada (37.82), Sweden (37.41) and Germany (35.73) from 14th up to 11th place. Canada and Sweden have been pushed down one spot each to 12th and 13th respectively.

Germany has slipped two spots from 13th to 15th allowing Peace Team (36.46) to climb 0.73 rating points above them at 14th.

The standings of all nations currently on the worldfootynews.com unofficial World Rankings, and the rank change since 24 November 2012, are as follows:

Match report taken from the Glasgow Sharks website and written by "the Great White".

Hello and welcome Sharks; fans. Saturday saw round 2 of the Caledonian AFL with a hotly contested match between the Tigers and the Makos. The Tigers were looking to start their season off in style while the Makos were looking to redeem themselves after going down heavily to the Cards in round 1. The Makos welcomed back utility Alexander Clark and Captain Adam Jack while the Tigers were having to deal with the significant loss of Andy Dubojski. The day was cold but dry under threatening skies. The Tigers won the toss and elected to kick to the city end of Victoria Park leaving the Makos heading to the stadium end. 

The opening round of Norway’s Kenguru Cup for 2013 was played last night in Olso. According to Adam Pearce, president of AFL Norway, "[we had] three good and close Kenguru Cup games tonight. Each team won one game so it’s looking like it might be an exciting league this year."

As mentioned in a previous article on Norwegian footy, the 9-a-side format last year worked well with the Oslo team separated into East and West, and the Ås university team making for a three team competition. This format was again used for this year’s tournament.

Results saw all three teams sharing the spoils, proving that the formula is a success and providing an even spread of talent, and a belief amongst all players that they can achieve success. Significantly, the Olso West team, who came in third place last year, took the honours this year, highlighting the success of their recruiting and retention program. This was foretold by Adam last year when he suggested that, "Oslo West also has the potential to win as well if they can hold the same regular players."

Match report taken from the Glasgow Sharks website and written by "the Great White"

Hello and welcome Sharks fans. Saturday saw the CAFL (Glasgow metro league) season opener with a replay of last year’s grand final between the Cards and the Makos. The Makos fell at the final hurdle last season and so were looking to even the ledger and kick start the new season with a victory. The Cards were also looking to start the season with a bang and maintain their dominance of the league they enjoyed last season.

With both teams missing key players it would be down to each team’s new recruits and second year players to get the job done. The game got underway under sunny skies but feeling very cold. With the turf crunching underfoot the cards were kicking to the stadium end of Victoria Park and the makos heading to the city end.