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Around the Grounds

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AFL Canada making the trip over the Atlantic in 2017!

AFL Europe and AFL Canada announced plans for the men’s and women’s Canadian Development teams to travel to London in May 2017. Both tournaments will be taking place from the 19th to 21st of May with a round robin fixture set in place.

To read more about the tournament click through the link below.

AFL Canada comes to London!

Coyotes sit atop the CNFA ladder

The CNFA ladder is starting to take shape. Following the weekends fixtures, the Cergy-Pointoise Coyotes are sitting on top for the 2016/17 season. The ASP Tigers have jumped into second position in front of the ALFA Lions who are in third with a game in hand. The Bordeaux Bombers have played 4 games and round out the top-four places. The two Parisian sides are yet to hit their straps but are in 5th and 6th  as the Toulouse Hawks and new-comers, the Blagnac Aviators, are battling it out for the wooden spoon.

The next few rounds before Christmas are incredibly important for setting up sides 2nd half of the year and will go a long way to determining the make-up of the top 4.

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AFL Europe Footy Show kicks off! AFL Europe Footy Show kicks off! AFL Europe Footy Show kicks off!

Monday night was the first instalment of the AFL Europe Footy Show after a 2-year hiatus. Despite a few technical issues and an annoying echo, we were able to put together a 45-minute show full of entertainment. Special guest, Oliver Howard, discussed his aims and objectives as the new Chairman along with general discussions on all things footy.

Improvements to the quality of the stream (and the general presenting) will occur over the course of the first few shows. Massive thanks to everyone who tuned in. We’ll announce when the next show is scheduled well in advance.

If you’d like to listen to the recording from the first show, click through the link below.

AFL Europe Footy Show – Listen Here

 

Old vs New: Alumni take the win over the Students at UoB

It was a battle between old and new at the weekend for the University of Birmingham Aussie Rules Football Club. And it was the old boys who had the last laugh against the current students in their annual hit-out. A great initiative by the team at UoB keeping their alumni in the mix with all things Aussie Rules at the Uni. The final score in the match was 137 to 95 in favour of the Alumni.

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New President in the DAFL

The Danish Australian Football League (DAFL) will be under the guidance of a new president in 2017. Thore Lauritzen was elected to take over the job from Simon Malone after his 2 years of great service. Thore has been an integral member in the DAFL community over a number of years. He is the captain of the national side, coach of the Farum Cats as well as being crowned best afield in this year’s DAFL Grand Final.

Congratulations on the appointment Thore and all the best in your new role.

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1st Round of the Rebel Shield goes to the Bombers

The first leg of the Rebel Shield took place on Friday evening at Mardyke Arena in Cork. It was the students, the UCC Bombers, who claimed the spoils over their cousins, the Leeside Lions. The hit-out was great prep for the Bombers who are gearing up for the upcoming Fitzpatrick Cup in early 2017.

The Lions will also take valuable match practice from the game as they look for a serious assault on the 2017 Champions League in April next year.

The return fixture should be hotly contested between these two clubs with the difference not too great to overcome for the Lions.

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International Rules set for two-test hit out in 2017

After a year off, the International Rules series between the AFL and GAA has been set for November 2017. Following the two one-off tests in 2014 and 2015, the 2017 instalment will feature a two-test series at yet to be determined venues.

Australia will play host to the series and will present a side made up entirely of All-Australian players, as has been the case in the previous two series.

Check out the full press release from the Official AFL website.

http://www.afl.com.au/news/2016-11-22/international-rules-series-returns-with-australia-to-host-two-tests

AFL Canada comes to London!

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May 2017 brings a whole new exciting event to the already bursting AFL Europe Women’s Calendar. We are excited to announce that the Midnight Suns, the Canadian National AFL Women’s development squad will be flying over the Atlantic to play against the Great Britain Swans, the Irish Banshees and an AFL London All-Stars team.

AFL Canada decided that in 2017 they will only be sending one representative side, the Northern Lights, to the International Cup in Melbourne, unlike 2014 where they, and the USA, sent two teams each. This decision therefore meant that AFL Canada wanted to present an opportunity of progression to their development team, the Midnight Suns. With the Great Britain Swans heading to the International Cup for their debut along with veterans of the competition, the Irish Banshees, having Canada’s development squad as a warm up game will be extremely beneficial for the two teams, and vital 18-a-side practice. The London All Stars team will be made up of the best players from the four women’s teams in the capital, to bring strong and experienced players together to present a tough challenge to the three national teams.

On the back of this decision the male representative sides of AFL Canada, Great Britain and Ireland have come to a similar arrangement with Great Britain hosting a 4-way tournament between the three sides, and a yet to be named 4th side. With the male game also bursting in Canada, and the European nations looking for more competition in the months leading up to IC17, the Canadians, like their female counterparts, were looking for a place to send their development squad. The decision was made for their male team to follow their Women’s lead and the European nations followed suit.

AFL Canada’s President Lachlan Griffiths had this to say, “We are very grateful to AFL Europe, AFL England and the Great British and Irish National Teams for coming together for this tournament next year. We have been looking to provide our players with more high quality games, and are excited by the opportunity to play against two very strong football nations. It is going to provide our development squad players with a first-hand look at the level of football required to compete at the International level, with the hope that these players will go on to represent Canada in future international games and press for selection at IC20”.

The Canadian teams will touch down in London on Wednesday 17th May for 5 days; with games being played on the Friday night, Saturday and Sunday. The Women’s games will simulate International Cup formats as close as possible, and each team will play one other only once with the winner being the one coming out with the most points, with percentage taking account if required. The Men’s tournament will follow the same format with each team playing each other once.

On the back of early conversations between the team managers of Great Britain and AFL Canada there is talk of a desire to reinvigorate a yearly competition (going forward outside of International Cup years), like that of the old Atlantic Alliance Cup. While AFL England Head of Performance and GB Team Manager, Jason Hill, didn’t confirm exactly how the competition would take place or when, he did confirm that there had been talks and that GB did plan to travel to Canada in 2018.

Further details of game locations & times will be released in due course.

If you would like to assist the event in any capacity, please get in contact on GB.Swans@gmail.com and for more information please visit www.aflengland.org, www.aflcanada.com and www.arfli.com