AFL Europe

AFL Europe is the regional governing body for Australian rules football in Europe. It organises the AFL Europe Championship and the Euro Cup, as well as the European Legion representative team.

History

Australian football has been played regularly in Europe since the late 1980s when leagues formed in England and Denmark. These first leagues led to the first international game between two European teams was played in 1994 between Great Britain and Denmark.^[1]

As more leagues were formed, more international games began to be organised. Historical international competitions played by European teams include the Atlantic Alliance Cup, Central European Australian Football League Championships and the European Australian Football Tri-nations Tournament.

The growth of Australian football in Europe led to the need for a central body that was accountable to the member organisations. At the 2005 EU Cup a conference was held which formed the body Aussie Rules Europe as a promotional body. ARE was superseded after a conference at the 2009 EU Cup the decision was made to form such a body at another conference the following January. The January conference was held in Frankfurt, Germany and the European Australian Football Association was founded. At an October, 2010 conference in Parabiago, Italy the members of the EAFA voted to change the organisations's name to AFL Europe, to fall in line with the Australian Football League.^[2]

Members

• Andorra
• Austria
• Catalonia
• Croatia
• Czech Republic
• Denmark
• England
• Finland
• France
• Germany
• Iceland
• Ireland
• Italy
• The Netherlands
• Scotland
• Spain
• Sweden
• Switzerland
• Wales ^[3]
• Portugal

Competitions

Euro Cup

An annual 9-a-side Footy competition. The Euro Cup was originally known as the EU Cup, the name was changed after teams representing non European Union countries started participating. The Euro Cup is partially intended as a developmental tool to allow participation for countries without enough players to form a full team.^[4]

European Championships

Played every three years under full Australian football rules, between teams of 16 players. The first tournament was played in 2010, with 8 countries participating.^[5]

European Legion

The Legion represents the whole of Europe in Australian football. The Legion's first game was an Under 21 game against the AFL-AIS Academy Australian Under 17 team in London, England. The Europe team had only been together for three days, which showed in the 27.21 (183)-2.0 (12) scoreboard. The Legion's colours are the blue and gold of the Flag of Europe and white.^[6]

References

External links