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Croatia 2013 – The Power Of Positive Thinking

  • Sunday, March 31 2013 @ 10:03 am ACDT
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Europe

The first thing that leaps to mind when Josip Kravar, president of the newly formed Association of Australian Football of Croatia (AAF), speaks is his positivism. “AAF is taking big steps now and we are willing to be one of leading countries in Aussie Rules in Europe, [to] spread our magnificent sport, young people, [and] spread our community. Above all, enjoy playing Aussie Rules.”

It is difficult to argue with his enthusiasm, however, when the list of recent Croatian footy achievements is truly analysed. Josip and his crew have been very busy people since last season and 2013 could very well see a very positive and exciting year.

Over-arching the achievements to date is the new name of the association. As Josip says, “In 2013 we founded the Association of Australian Football of Croatia (AAF) [in] what was a big legal step for us now. Under AAF we have 3 clubs, Zagreb Hawks, Zapruđe Giants and Velika Gorica Bombers.” With this new identity locked away, attention could turn to the development of the game in other areas.

Most notable of these developments is the link with the University of Zagreb. Josip explains that, “The AAF in 2013 signed an agreement with the Sport Faculty from University of Zagreb. With this agreement we gained [the] opportunity to build our first oval in Croatia. We are now starting a project of finding sponsors for this project and hopefully we will play our first 18 [per] side games in 2013.”

An Avalanche of Austrian Talent

  • Wednesday, March 27 2013 @ 09:46 am ACDT
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“Well, where to start?” begins Oliver Krajacic, captain of the Styrian DownUnder Dogs in Graz, Austria. “Apart from restructuring internally, we finally managed to organise an Australian Football course in cooperation with our local university. The 25 spots were gone in about three weeks, and the prospect of adding that many potential regular players to our sport is just an extremely positive turn of events for us.”

Such is the manner in which Oliver almost breathlessly extolls the excitement of an off season which may forever change the fortunes of Australian Rules football in Austria. Oliver puts it in this light: "If no more than 5 or 6 players from that course turn out to be EU Cup material, we might finally get some competitiveness going. People fighting for a spot on the team for interleague matches or the EU Cup. That's something we'll have to get used to. Heck, practice sessions with possibly two full teams being available were the stuff of dreams in recent years.”

This is a veritable avalanche of players when compared to previous seasons, but it hasn’t all been beer and skittles over the past couple of years.

Euro bound AIS-AFL squad to warm up against Collingwood 2s

  • Wednesday, March 27 2013 @ 07:25 am ACDT
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Europe The inaugural AFL Chairman’s Cup and MCC President’s Medal will be presented at the annual AIS-AFL Academy match this Thursday night. The AIS-AFL Academy level two squad, playing as Australia Under-18s will play Collingwood’s VFL team in a curtain-raiser to the Carlton v Richmond match at the MCG.

The winning team will be presented the AFL Chairman’s Cup by AFL Commission Chairman Mike Fitzpatrick.

The best Australia Under-18 player will be awarded the MCC President’s Medal which will be presented by MCC President Paul Sheahan. AIS-AFL High Performance Coach Michael O’Loughlin and his assistants Glen Jakovich, Brad Ottens, Matthew Lloyd, Tadhg Kennelly and Brad Johnson will select the medallist.

The AIS-AFL Academy Level Two squad will depart for a 15-day European tour on Saturday March 30. The squad will train at the AIS European training centre in Varese, Italy, before travelling to London. The squad will play the European Legion on Saturday April 6 at Surrey Sportspark.

Iberian Snapshot – Spain, Portugal & Catalonia 2013

  • Tuesday, March 26 2013 @ 06:35 am ACDT
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Europe

As the new Australian Rules season dawns for most European countries, various hibernating footballing leviathans emerge from their winter slumbers. One such region is the Iberian Peninsula where footy lovers in Spain, Portugal, Catalonia and Andorra prepare for the 2013 season.

The love of the game has not necessarily translated to large numbers in these countries, nations and principalities, meaning that regular fixtures are difficult. But that hasn’t stopped the intrepid few from generating interest to keep the code’s flag flying.

German students try their hand at 9s in Sydney

  • Tuesday, March 26 2013 @ 12:16 am ACDT
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Europe

A group of German soccer students from Bamberg University recently took on the Tattersalls Football Club in Sydney in a match of AFL 9s - with the Germans' superior fitness allowing them to run out victors over the locals.

Bamberg is in the north of the German state of Bavaria, and while it's not particularly close to any existing AFLG clubs, the idea of some new enthusiastic footy fans in Germany might be of interest to the German footy community!

The following report originally appeared on the AFL NSW/ACT website.

Russia On Ice – Moscow Aussie Rules 2013

  • Saturday, March 23 2013 @ 05:51 pm ACDT
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Europe

Roger Scott, president of AFL Russia, is confident that the nation’s Australian Rules football ambitions will once again be on the rise in 2013. Just as soon as the current European winter releases its icy grip. In a story being played out across the continent, snow and ice are making footy practice a little problematic.

"The new season kicked off on Friday, March 8th with a practice match in the snow. The first official training should be this Sunday, but we’ve had one of the snowiest winters in history, and it doesn’t look like melting any time soon, so we could be delayed," explains Roger.

Whilst this scenario might suggest a slow start to the year, Roger is confident that things will pick up from here. “I’m helping organize the festival of Australian Culture in Moscow for July this year. It’ll be the first time such an event has been put on here. It should be a huge occasion."

"We’re hoping to play a practice match against a European or any foreign team as one of the main events for the festival, so we’re trying to find a team, whether it be local European, European representative or whoever, who’s ready to come! We’re also going to be running demonstrations, selling merchandise and showing games there." Now, there’s an invitation for someone to run with!

Andorran AFL – The Phoenix of the Pyrenees

  • Thursday, March 21 2013 @ 03:54 pm ACDT
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Europe

For the average footy follower, like me, Andorra is not a place that is frequently visited.  But a quick wander through an internet image search will unearth an incredible array of pictures which show this principality to be among the most beautiful places in the world.

The sixth smallest nation in Europe, Andorra is bordered by Spain and France in the Pyrenees Mountains. More importantly to readers is the prediction by Douglas Pate that Andorran Aussie Rules will be back in 2013 with a number of goals in mind…and not just six pointers.

Douglas Pate is already well known in international Australian Rules football circles for his work in developing Andorran footy, as well as footy in Catalonia in Spain. He is also a past president of the Danish Australian Football League back in 1995. Douglas admits that Andorra’s hiatus from the international scene in recent times coincides with his own pursuit of personal priorities. But he says “this year we [will] reactivate with the goal to go to the European Championships in Bordeaux”.

Hanley impresses as Lions win NAB Cup

  • Friday, March 15 2013 @ 10:10 pm ACDT
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Europe The Brisbane Lions tonight won the AFL's preseason competition the NAB Cup Grand Final at Etihad Stadium by 40 points.

Brisbane jumped the Carlton line-up that was heralded by broadcaster Channel 7 as being chock a block full of top draft picks over a number of seasons.

But from the first quarter it was the Lions who had Pearce Hanley racking up ten possessions running off the half back line and along with Zorko, Rich and Karnezis allowed the Lions to get out to an 12 point lead at quarter time. Hanley of course came to the Lions as an International Rookie and although he has been a long time in the making he outshone all those top draft picks at Carlton.

Hanley's form tonight followed up on his improving form in the last two years at Brisbane (where he has finished in the Lion's top 4 in the club best and fairest).

UCC Bombers – Next Link in the Irish Chain

  • Thursday, March 07 2013 @ 04:47 pm ACDT
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Europe

Last weekend a footy match was played under grey skies in Cork, Ireland. The event featured the Leeside Lions. That was nothing new or unexpected, though very welcome. It also, however, featured the UCC Bombers. That was something new…and a breath of fresh air for Australian Rules football as another new club took to the international stage.

The game marked the first ever match for the newest team on the Irish landscape, and no matter how it is viewed, the day was a success for the UCC crew.

Leeside Lions won the day on the scoreboard with the final score being 10.16 (76) to UCC Bombers 4.5 (29). But in every other way UCC just racked up victory after victory. Every box ticked in the lead up to the game culminated in the ultimate win when the team ran on to the field.

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