AFL Britain
AFL Britain is the new name of the body responsible for supporting and developing Australian Rules Football in Great Britain. Redeveloped and rebranded from it predecessor, the British Australian Football League (BARFL), AFL Britain's stated aims are to:
- Promote the participation and profile of the sport of Australian Football in Britain
- Endeavour to promote the sport to British people, and to those living in Britain
- Endeavour to ensure that the national squad of Great Britain is as capable, fair, and high in profile as is possible.
To achieve these objectives it has developed several Strategic Aims, each of which contributes directly to one or more of its mission statement.
History
- See Also Australian Rules Football in England
Australian Rules Football in recent years in Britain began in 1989, with efforts from John Jelley and others seeing the formation of eight clubs for the inaugural BARFL season in 1990. The founding clubs were the London Hawks, West London Wildcats, North London Lions, Earls Court Kangaroos, Lea Valley Saints, Thames Valley Magpies and Wandsworth Demons in and around London and a club based in Leicester, the East Midland Eagles. Of the foundation teams, four still survive in West London, North London, Wimbledon (former London Hawks) and Wandsworth.
Between 1990 and 2001, the league existed as one competition for all clubs, ranging from a high of 10 clubs in 1991 to a low of only 6 in 1998.
Divisional Structure 2001-2007
In an environment where large numbers of Australians could be both a blessing (in terms of experience and teaching ability) and a curse (in terms of new clubs outside London finding it difficult to compete against the Australian expat-based London clubs), the league in 2001 divided teams into two leagues. The first league was the London Premiership, where the powerful London clubs would continue under the same local-content regulations as previously (ie quotas of British players who must be on the field at any time).
Beneath the London Premiership would be a London Conference, where the teams could field their 'reserve' sides, including the Clapham and Ealing teams which had been previously entered by Wandsworth and West London respectively. The London Conference had greatly relaxed 'local content' rules, meaning that backpackers and other Australians could compete at a social level.
In 2003, with new clubs being formed outside the capital and regional clubs still struggling against the larger numbers of Australians playing for the London sides, it was decided that clubs outside London would compete in a Regional Premiership. This included the Bristol Dockers, St Helens Miners and the two new sides in the Doncaster Saints and Reading Kangaroos.
In 2004, a fourth division of the BARFL appeared, with the Scottish Australian Rules Football League forming. In the inaugural season, three clubs played each other for the premiership, the Edinburgh Old Town Bloods, the Edinburgh Uni Body Snatchers and the Glasgow Sharks.
2007 saw the introduction of a third tier of football in the London region, known as the Social Division. This division was formed for the same reasons as the Conference division, with some of the larger clubs being unable to field their full player lists in two teams resulting in some fielding more than one team in the Conference.
However, significant challenges were presenting themselves for the league structure. The primary focus of the BARFL was the clubs competing in the Premiership and Conference due to the relative stability and strength of those clubs. This left those clubs outside the capital facing a constant struggle to not only compete but to survive at all, with the folding of several clubs bearing testamont to this fact.
The league also saw the advent of another organisation working to promote Aussie rules in the country, Aussie Rules UK (ARUK). This new organisation, headed up by Brian Clarke, was originally aimed at working with the junior division and therefore not in direct competition with the BARFL-supported adult leagues. However, in 2007 ARUK launched its own 9-a-side leagues using modified rules in an attempt to encourage take up of the sport outside of the capital, thus putting it in the same realm as the more established but London-centric BARFL. This competition and rivalry was not seen by anyone as beneficial to the development of the game, although both organisations appeared reluctant to move from their standpoints.
The development of AFL Britain is aimed at removing this rivalry and re-establishing a clear and coherent structure for promoting, supporting and developing Australian Rules Football in Great Britain.
Current Structure
AFL Britain acts as the over-arching body for the sport in this country, similar in many respects (if not scale) to the FA in soccer. The national body has no responsibilty for the day-to-day running of any of its leagues, but works to support local competitions and towards its own Strategic Aims. Leagues around the country are now run by a number of smaller bodies.
The leagues previously known as the BARFL Premiership and BARFL Conference has become AFL London, run by and competed for by those clubs in or around the London Region. The Social Division has remained in place and is currently run by AFL London, although for the short term future it includes a small number of teams outside of London.
The ARUK leagues have become an integral part of the overall structure. ARUK coordinates the Southern England, Central England and Northern England leagues. The Scotland region remains coordinated by the Scottish Australian Rules Football League (SARFL), whilst the Welsh region is governed by the newly independent Welsh Australian Rules Football League (WARFL). This now means that all of the senior leagues in Britain are now working together under a single body whilst retaining their individual characters and systems.
ARUK are also working with AFL Britain affiliated clubs to develop and promote a comprehensive Juniors programme.
Clubs
AFL London Premiership
Current Teams
| Club | Years in competition |
|---|---|
| North London Lions | 1990- |
| Putney Magpies | 1999- (known as London Gryphons from 1999-2003) |
| Sussex Swans | 1991- |
| Wandsworth Demons | 1990- |
| West London Wildcats | 1990- |
| Wimbledon Hawks | 1990- (known as London Hawks 1990-94) |
Past / Defunct Teams
| Club | Years in competition |
|---|---|
| Earls Court Kangaroos | 1990-97 (known as Esher Kangaroos 1992 and Firkin Roos 1996-97) |
| Lea Valley Saints | 1990-1996 |
| Thames Valley Magpies | 1990-91 |
AFL London Conference
- See BARFL Conference
- City Swans (affiliated with Sussex)
- Clapham Demons (affiliated with Wandsworth)
- Fulham Hawks (affiliated with Wimbledon)
- Regents Park Lions (affiliated with North London)
- Shepherds Bush Raiders (affiliated with West London)
- Hammersmith Magpies (affiliated with Putney)
- Reading Kangaroos
AFL Britain Social League
- Ealing Emus (affiliated with West London)
- Dulwich
- South London (affiliated with Wandsworth Demons
- Manchester Mosquitos
- Nottingham Scorpions
- Bristol Dockers
Past / Defunct Teams
- Covent Garden Gryphons
- London Stingrays
- Stockwell Demons
Past / Defunct Teams
| Club | Years in Competition |
|---|---|
| Birmingham Crows | 1993-1994 |
| Doncaster Saints | 2003-2004 |
| East Midlands Eagles | 1990-1996 |
| Liverpool Blues | 1993-1994 |
| St Helens Miners | 2002-2004, known as Northwestern Miners for the 2004 season. |
Scotland
- Edinburgh Old Town Bloods 2003-
- Edinburgh University Body Snatchers 2004-
- Glasgow Sharks 2004-
- Glasgow Redbacks 2006-
Past/Defunct Teams
- Caledonian Sharks (1990s)
Southern England Region
Past/Defunct Teams
Central England Region
- Liverpool Eagles
- Leeds Lions
- York Vikings
Northern England Region
- Hartlepool Dockers
- Durham Swans
- Newcastle Centurians
- Middlesbrough Hawks
Wales
- Gwent Tigers
- South Cardiff Panthers
- Cardiff Double Blues
- Swansea Magpies
Past/Defunct Teams
- Swindon Devils (2007)
Grand Final Results
Pre-Divisional Structure
- 1990 Wandsworth 10.10.70 d Earls Court 9.14.68
- 1991 Earls Court 18.15.123 d Wandsworth 12.15.87
- 1992 Wandsworth 12.5.77 d West London 11.9.75
- 1993 London Hawks 12.13.85 d Lea Valley 6.5.41
- 1994 London Hawks 15.8.98 d West London 8.11.59
- 1995 Wandsworth d West London
- 1996 Wimbledon d West London
- 1997 Wandsworth 7.11.53 d Wimbledon 7.10.52
- 1998 Wimbledon 11.8.74 d Wandsworth 7.2.44
- 1999 Wandsworth 14.10.94 d West London 14.5.89
- 2000 West London 11.12.78 Wandsworth 5.2.32
Divisional Structure
| Year | London Premiership | London Conference | Regional | Scotland |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | North London d Wimbledon | Shepherds Bush d Regents Park | N/A | N/A |
| 2002 | North London 18.11.119 d West London 8.5.53 | Shepherds Bush d Regents Park | N/A | N/A |
| 2003 | Wandsworth 11.11.77 d West London 9.8.62 | Shepherds Bush 11.8.74 d Clapham Demons 7.6.48 | Bristol Dockers 13.19.97 d Reading Roos 9.7.61 | N/A |
| 2004 | West London 14.12.96 d Wimbledon 5.2.32 | Shepherds Bush 18.19.127 d Putney Magpies 9.4.58 | Reading Roos 28.20.188 d Bristol Dockers 1.6.12 | Edinburgh Old Town 24.25.269 d Glasgow 2.4.16 |
| 2005 | West London 9.14.68 d Wimbledon 9.7.61 | Shepherds Bush 11.12.78 d Clapham Demons 11.9.75 | Nottingham 10.9.69 d Bristol Dockers 8.6.54 | Edinburgh Old Town 12.11.83 d Glasgow 1.7.13 |
| 2006 | West London 18.11.119 d Wimbledon 2.6.18 | Shepherds Bush 5.11.41 d Clapham 4.3.27 | Reading 22.20.152 d Nottingham 6.7.43 | Edinburgh Bodysnatchers 11.9 (75) d Edinburgh Old Town Bloods 10.3 (63) |
| 2007 | West London 16.17.113 d Wandsworth 3.2.20 | Shepherds Bush 10.13.73 d Clapham 4.2.26 | South London 5.11.41 d Ealing Emus 1.4.10 |
British team
AFL Britain co-ordinate a representative team, the British Bulldogs, who have competed at the Australian Football International Cup, in the Atlantic Alliance Cup and against other national sides in European test matches. The Bulldogs have recently competed against and beaten arguably the strongest team outside of Australia, Ireland, with [1] dubbing them the unofficial European Champions.
See also
- BARFL Premiership
- BARFL Conference
- BARFL Regional
- Australian Rules Football in England
- Australian rules football in Scotland