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.

The provisionally-named AFL Scotland hopes to bring together and coordinate everyone's efforts in furthering the sport in Scotland.

Brought about by its two leagues, AFL Scotland is comprised of the Scottish Australian Rules Football League (SARFL) and the Caledonian Australian Football League (CAFL).

The SARFL is the National League format, comprising three 9-a-side teams in Aberdeen, Edinburgh and Glasgow.

The CAFL is Glasgow's metro 9-a-side league with three teams, Card Sharks, Mako Sharks and Tiger Sharks. The CAFL also has a women's division comprised of the Copper Sharks and Diesel Sharks.

Article courtesy of Glasgow Sharks’ Stacey Hughes.

The Haggis cup saw the Copper Sharks seeking revenge over the Diesel Sharks for a heavy defeat in Glasgow a week earlier. Leeroy Brown was traded for Zoe Rowe for this exhibition match in Edinburgh.

The Copper Sharks dominated early proceedings, outscoring the Diesel Sharks 20-2 in the opening quarter, which Saw Sue Noble score her first goal for the Copper Sharks.

 

 

Article courtesy of Glasgow Sharks’ Stacey Hughes and David Smith.

Victoria Park in the West End of Glasgow hosted the first ever Women's club match in Scotland on the 6th April 2013: Copper Sharks V Diesel Sharks.

The Diesel Sharks took the initiative early on in the match getting a couple of points on the board before Helen Cameron scored the opening goal of the match after a superb solo run, bouncing the ball twice before calmly slotting the ball between the posts. The Copper Sharks had no reply to a strong start from the Diesel Sharks who ended the quarter 20 points up.

Zach Tuohy and Marty Clarke continue to be solid weekly contributors in Carlton and Collingwood's AFL teams. Pearce Hanley returns from injury this week for Brisbane, Niall McKeever played two weeks ago for them but won't be in the senior side this week. Setanta o'hAilpin is sidelined with injury this week after kicking eight goals in the past two games at GWS while across at the Swans Tommy Walsh has been named on an extened bench and will be hopeful of his first senior match for 2013.

But another Irish youth (albeit Australian raised) will debut for the GWS this week. Eighteen year-old defender Aidan Corr will make his AFL debut against Essendon at Etihad Stadium on Saturday.

The GWS Giants have released the following official interview with European scholarship player Aksel Bang from Denmark, including some talk about his time in the Danish military in Afghanistan and footy in Europe. Aksel will play for the GWS reserves next weekend, before returning to his military service in Afghanistan.

The 5th annual ANZAC Cup was played in Villers-Bretonneux, France last weekend, with the French running out 41-point victors over the Aussie Spirit - a side drawn from Australians resident across Europe.

The match has become a staple of the European footy scene, played in a town whose wartime history has a particularly strong link to Australia.

The following report is courtesy of AFL Europe.

Ireland defeated arch-rivals the Great Britain Bulldogs 9.4 (58) to 3.4 (22) on April 12th in Dublin, avenging their earlier loss in the curtain-raiser to the AIS vs Europe match in Guildford.

In stunning conditions in Islandbridge, Shaun McElhone’s charges won out in the Jeep International, with goals from John Enright, Vince Manning (2), Paul Comey, Tom Browne, James Flavin, Kevin Brennan and Ryan McCloskey (2).

WFN will have an update to the World Rankings reflecting the match's results as soon as we are able!

Irish convert to Australian Football Setanta O’hAilpin has been named in the Greater Western Sydney GIANTS 25 man squad to play Melbourne at the MCG this Sunday. O'hAilpin, who has not played for nearly 12 months since undergoing a knee reconstruction, is one of eight inclusions for the GIANTS. Some thought the injury might be the end of his AFL career. But the Giants have stuck by him, and he's back.

O’hAilpin has been named at full forward in place of Jon Patton, who’ll miss the rest of the season with a knee injury.

GIANTS Head Coach Kevin Sheedy says O’hAilpin deserves his spot back in the team. “He (O’hAilpin) kicked five goals last week and has been in very good form in the NEAFL,” Sheedy said. “It’s a shame we lose (Jon) Patton but I’ve got faith that Setanta can do the job for us up forward.”

The GIANTS final 22 will be named tomorrow.

Of course, the above title should finish “…the more they stay the same.” Yet, oddly, in the case of Australian Rules footy in Ireland, that whole saying could be reversed. The more the game seems to be staying much as it was last year, it is in fact changing by degrees…and for the better.

Cian Quigley, president of ARFLI (Australian Rules Football League Ireland), points out that the league has the same teams as last year. Cian explains that “We have the same number of teams as always but the Midwest Magpies have rebranded to the Galway Magpies. Playing numbers in the Irish league are slowly increasing and the competition between teams is very close. The reigning premiers the Belfast Redbacks lost their opening game to a team [North Leinster Giants] that didn't make finals last year!”

But bubbling beneath the surface, change is occurring. This is best seen through the arrival of the UCC Bombers in Cork. Whilst they are some way away from playing in the national league on equal terms, the fact they now exist, and are actively playing games, means an eighth Irish team is potentially near.