The Western Bulldogs have arrived in London ahead of Saturday’s European Challenge clash against Port Adelaide and have announced their plans for a two week tour of the UK.

The trip will open with training at the European Challenge host venue Kia Oval, before the players are invited to the official welcome function at Australia House.

Following Saturday’s game, the Bulldogs’ players will tour the grounds of several EPL soccer clubs and Harlequins Rugby Union Club, as well as visiting the All-Stars training facilities of hosts AFL Europe.

The Bulldogs have brought a squad of nearly 40 players to the UK, including recently traded Bulldogs Koby Stevens and Tom Young. Newly appointed High Performance Manager Graham Lowe was also in London to meet the team.

Bulldogs skipper Matthew Boyd said the squad was forward to the weekend clash, as well as their tours of some of the UK’s leading sporting clubs where they hoped to ideas and experiences.

"You don't get the chance very often to swap notes with the likes of Fulham FC and the London Harlequins,” Boyd said. “It's going to be a fantastic experience - especially for the young blokes.”

Read the full story for key dates and events of the Western Bulldogs’ pre-season trip.

With the London exhibition match on again at the Oval this weekend we thought we would have a look back at the contraversial incidents of the 1987 "Battle of Britain" exhibition match between North Melbourne and Carlton.  It should be pointed out to those who are not familiar with the game as it played some 25 years later is not nearly as wild and violent as in the dark past displayed here.

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The AFL today detailed its participation at the Fourth International Consensus Conference on Concussion in Sport, to be held in Zurich commencing Thursday.

Several AFL Medical representatives – including AFL Medical Commissioner Dr Peter Harcourt, Prof Paul McCrory, Assoc Prof Gavin Davis and Dr Michael Makdissi - will attend the two-day conference in Switzerland that will see leading medical experts from around the world gather to discuss world’s best practices in relation to the management and research of concussion in sport.

The conference, held every four years, is attended by prominent sporting bodies from around the world including FIFA, the NFL, the NHL and the IRB. With four medical representatives in attendance – three providing keynote addresses across a range of issues - the AFL will have the most significant representation of all sports involved.

From Huddersfield Daily Examiner http://bit.ly/RUhqIY

England Dragonslayers international and Huddersfield Rams gun Luke Booth will make history this weekend when he lines up alongside the best Australian Football talent in Europe to play for the European Islands team against the Continental Europe team in the JLT European All-Stars game.

The Huddersfield Rams have a history of international appearances and Luke Booth is no less than the 6th Dragonslayers player the small West Yorkshire club has produced. However, Booth went on to be selected for the 2012 Euro Cup’s Team of the Tournament for his efforts of the field, and in further recognition of his talent for the game, he was selected to play alongside 9 players from the Irish Warriors Euro Cup champion team and 5 of his Dragonslayers team mates in the European Islands team.

Booth and his team mates will face off against a Continental Europe team featuring players from Euro Cup runners up Denmark, Euro Bowl winners France, and other experienced players from established leagues in Italy, Sweden, Croatia and other countries.

After a few late withdrawals due to injuries, the two European All-Stars teams from the AFL European Challenge curtain raiser have been confirmed, and the players are listed below.

The Islands team features 9 Irish players from the Euro Cup champions Warriors team and 7 English players from the 3rd placed Dragonslayers.

Over on the Continental team, Danish Euro Cup runners up team and Euro Bowl winners France have 3 players each featuring in the team, with the remainder a fair mix of the best the rest of Europe has to offer,

The AFL European Challenge will be held this Saturday 4th of November at Kia Oval. The curtain raiser will start at 1pm, with the main event, Western Bulldogs vs Port Adelaide, starting at 3:30

Tickets are still available for £20 and can be purchased online from http://www.kiaoval.com
 

 

The success of the Irish at Euro Cup 2012 somewhat overshadowed one of Europe’s most successful debutants: the Norwegian team, who brought home the competition’s other prize - the Euro Plate.

In the Plate final, held as a curtain raiser to the grand final where Ireland defeated Denmark by one point, Norway eased past Iceland to win by 6.5 (41) to 1.3 (9) and bring home the second division prize.

Australian Football only started in Norway four years ago, with a mostly Aussie expat friendly between Oslo and Karlstad, which was then expanded into an 18-a-side friendly against the Swedish team. On the back of this, teams started to developed in Ås and Oslo and by late 2009, popularity started to develop amongst the locals.

“We found it was really enjoyable and rewarding to find Norwegians who had perhaps always been looking for a sport containing all the ingredients that Australian football contains,” admits David Stone, one of the Norwegian coaches. “We got better at getting them up to speed quickly, and every now and then you would see someone who just instantly loved the game.”
 

Mike MacFarlane had the following interesting story as to how he, a Canadian, came to holding a footy clinic in Skelleftea, Sweden, which is just below the Arctic Circle.

“First, you must know that my wife, Lotta was born and raised in Skelleftea and she has played in our women’s league for the last 3 years. Secondly, in 2008, we toured Australia with the Canadian Junior team, the Wolfpack. We met the Swedish team who was participating in their first International Cup.

I met their manager and asked if they had any thoughts of starting footy in the north of Sweden and he said that maybe I could get something going. Of course, because I live in Canada, I laughed this off - but the seed had been planted.

Thanks to Leiha Shrubsall for contributing this match write up.

Final score: Irish Banshees 13.14 (98) to European Crusaders 8.8 (52)

 The Irish Banshees attended their third consecutive Euro Cup last weekend taking with it a team of mostly new players, some of them having never played a match previously. The European Crusaders were a team made up of French, Scottish, Spanish and English players. The Irish knew it was going to be a tight contest from word go having played alongside the Scottish girls earlier in the year at the Haggis cup, so they anticipated the match to be a lot tougher this year.

 

Our thanks to Lee for contributing his coverage of the tournament which also featured in The Herald Sun newspaper.

Ireland Warriors won their second AFL Europe Euro Cup with a stunning come-from-behind one-point win over Denmark Vikings in Edinburgh on Saturday.

In what AFL Europe general manager Ben MacCormack described as the “best game of Aussie Rules I’ve seen played in Europe”, Ireland trailed the Danes by 11 points with a minute to go.

Then, almost simultaneously, Denmark momentarily dropped its guard, allowing Ireland pounce on the opportunity and blast home two quick goals just seconds from the final siren and win 5.0 (30) to 4.5 (29).

Ireland’s Muiris Bartley was responsible for kicking the match-winning goal.

Former Melbourne Demon Glenn Lovett, now vice-chairman of AFL Europe, awarded medals post-match.

Remarkably, Saturday’s was the second one-point result in Europe in a month after North London Lions beat Wandsworth Demons in a nail-biting AFL London grand final in August.

Ireland remain the leaders in Europe's Australian rules football scene, having successfully taking out both the men's and women's titles at last weekend's Euro Cup.

In the men's final, the Irish Warriors edged out an inaccurate Denmark by a solitary point, 5.0 (30) to the Vikings' 4.5 (29).

The final of the women's division saw the Irish Banshees defeated the European Crusaders 13.14 (92) to 8.8 (56).

Full scores from the tournament available here, a full report is to come.