Scotland

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr> <td valign="top" colspan=2 height=90 BGCOLOR="#000066" TEXT="#F7F7FF" bgproperties="fixed" background="3fa285a1dkbliw.png"> <div> <FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#FFCC66" FACE="Arial" ><B>Aussie Rules Global Invasion</B></FONT><B>     |     </B><A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Aussie Rules Global Invasion"><U><B>home</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id133.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Belgium"><U>Belgium</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id43.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Denmark"><U>Denmark</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id45.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Germany"><U>Germany</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id46.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Great Britain"><U>Great Britain</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id48.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Ireland"><U>Ireland</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id241.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Israel"><U>Israel</U></A>   |   <B>Scotland</B>   |   <A HREF="id50.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Spain"><U>Spain</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id51.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Sweden"><U>Sweden</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id76.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Other"><U>Other</U></A></div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <div> </div> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" width=9.375% BGCOLOR="#000066" TEXT="#F7F7FF" background="3f9d4fe0dkbliw.png"> <bR> <bR> <bR> </td> <td valign="top" height=390 BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <I>Scotland</I></div> <div> <I><B><U> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="295" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="VOID" RULES="NONE" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 58 ><NOBR><div> <IMG SRC="28f82340.png" border=0 width="130" height="52" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP><NOBR><div> <A HREF="id135.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Scotland"><U><B>International Results</B></U></A></div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></U></B></I></div> <div> <I><B><U>News</U></B></I></div> <bR> <div> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="734" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="VOID" RULES="NONE" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP BGCOLOR=#000066 HEIGHT= 20 WIDTH="728"><div> <B>Scotland take first steps on international stage</B></div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP BGCOLOR=#FFFFFF HEIGHT= 407 WIDTH="728"><div> Oct 27 2004</div> <div> This Saturday saw the first Dublin International Festival of Australian Rules. The festival brought together the best Aussie Rules players to be found in Ireland, Scotland and England. Ireland was represented by the National Side, which is currently being finalised for a trip to defend their world title in Australia next year.</div> <div> But the tournament will best be remered for two thing, Scotland playing their first ever internationals and the Irish national teams losing their first ever match however it was not to another national side but a club side.</div> <bR> <div> The first match saw the Scottish Puffins take on the West London Wildcats, this was Scotlands first international and the skill of the mostly Australian Wildcats side proved to much as the ran out easy winners.</div> <bR> <div> Next up was the Irish national team taking on the Wildcats, this was Ireland's first game since they won the International Cup in 2002. The Irish got off to a strong start kicking the first goal of the game, things evened u after that and the game was on a knifes edge for the whole of the first half. The Wildcats started the second half strongly kicking 2 goals to zero and in what was a low scoring match it proved to be the difference as Ireland where defeated 6.5.(41) to 3.7.(25).</div> <bR> <div> In the final game of the day Ireland and Scotland took on each over for the first time. Scotland are the new kids on the block on the international scene and where not expected to be much competition for the stong Irish side and alhough Scotland where never really in the game they put in a stong performance. Ireland decided to rotate the bench and put in a strong team performance to run out winners 10.8.(68) to 3.1.(19).</div> <bR> <div> So it was the West London Wildcats who claimed the title to finish off a great year for them in which they also won the London premiership. For Scotland it was a great experience for them as they look to the future and hopefully their first international victory will not be to far away. As for Ireland it was good to see them back playing again after such a long break, this tournament was seen as an important build up leading into next years International Cup but the good news for the rest of the world is that they now know that Ireland can be defeated so come next year the International Cup is anyones tournament.</div> </tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <div> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="734" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="VOID" RULES="NONE" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP BGCOLOR=#000066 HEIGHT= 20 WIDTH="728"><div> <B>SARFL launch website</B></div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP BGCOLOR=#FFFFFF HEIGHT= 49 WIDTH="728"><div> Oct 6 2004</div> <div> The Scottish Australian Rules Football League now have a <A HREF="http://www.sarfl.org.uk/" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.sarfl.org.uk/"><U>website.</U></A> For news and results from Scotland as well as club profiles check out their website.</div> </tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <div> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="735" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="VOID" RULES="NONE" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP BGCOLOR=#000066 HEIGHT= 20 WIDTH="729"><div> <B>Scottish Premiership Kicks Off</B></div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP BGCOLOR=#FFFFFF HEIGHT= 65 WIDTH="729"><div> May 8 2004</div> <div> The all-new Scottish Premiership will Kick off this weekend on May 8. There are 3 teams in the Scottish League. They are the Glasgow Sharks, Edinburgh Old Town Bloods and the Edinburgh University Bodysnatchers. The firtst match see's the Glasgow Sharks take on the Edinburgh Old Town Bloods.</div> </tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <div> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="735" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="VOID" RULES="NONE" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP BGCOLOR=#000066 HEIGHT= 20 WIDTH="729"><div> <B>Scotland to take a brave step </B></div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP BGCOLOR=#FFFFFF HEIGHT= 539 WIDTH="729"><div> After a handful of games during 2003 the undefeated Edinburgh Puffins are looking to implement a radical makeover. </div> <div> At a meeting held in Edinburgh on Saturday 6 December 2003, the Scottish Australian Rules Premiership was established. For the 2004 season three teams are expected to battle it out. </div> <div> In what will be a first for the BARFL the Edinburgh squad of players previously playing under the name of the Edinburgh Puffins will go through a "pre-season draft" in order to split into the two newly formed Edinburgh teams. Any players connected to the University (British/Aussie student/employee) will automatically be drafted to the University based team the <B>Edinburgh Academicals</B> leaving the remaining players to be split between topping up the "Academicals" squad or playing for the gruesomely named (and some would say tourist driven) <B>"Old Town Body Snatchers"</B>. </div> <div> Edinburgh "Acs" and Edinburgh "OTBS" will be joined in the Scottish Premiership by a team based in Glasgow. For those BARFL anaoraks out there with a good memory the founder of the Glasgow team, Andy Butler, and his squad have decided to ressurect a name from the BARFL's past, the <B>Caledonian Sharks</B>. There are vague rumours that the Sharks were originally formed in the early '90s however not much information remains of any games played in the BARFL. (if anyone has information on the Caledonian Sharks could they please contact <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#0000FF" FACE="Arial" ><U>footyshorts@barfl.co.uk</U></FONT>) </div> <div> All three teams will play each other twice (home and away) meaning 6 games played over the summer, resulting in a game being played every 3 or 4 weeks between March and August. Naturally no home and away season would be complete without a Grand Final between the top two finishing teams! </div> <div> The spacing in the League draw will allow for scheduling of extra games against other BARFL clubs and Cup competitions, such as defending their Northern Cup title. </div> <div> Also in a first for the BARFL there will be a Edinburgh based mid-week competition where up to 4 teams will battle it out in 9-a-side competition on Wednesday nights. These teams will act as feeders to the two Edinburgh Premiership teams. </div> <div> The Edinburgh nickname of "Puffins" will now be reserved for the <B>Scottish Puffins</B> national team. At this early stage of development it is envisaged that entry into Cup competitions such as the Pre-season Cup or Brit Cup will be as the Scottish Puffins drawing players from all three Premiership teams. </div> <div> "I was very impressed with the turnout for the meeting and the enthusiasm shown by all that attended." BARFL committee representative, Trevor Wright, said after his trip to Edinburgh for the meeting. "In the early years it will remain pretty much an ex-pat competition which is fine, but already there is talk of running skill sessions for the handful of British players who have come along to try out the sport. With good representation from the University there is the possibility of this opening new doors for the BARFL throughout Britain." </div> <div> One of the co-founders of the Edinburgh Puffins, Richard Prentice, is also excited about the possibilities. "We never imagined that the Puffins would grow as much as it did in the first year. For the time being we mainly consist of Aussie ex-pats but the few Scottish and other British players who have given the game a go seem to be really enjoying it." </div> <div> Anyone wishing to get involved with the Scottish Aussie Rules Premiership should visit the "Clubs" section of the BARFL website and click through to the Edinburgh or Glasgow pages. Otherwise address your queries to <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#0000FF" FACE="Arial" ><U>footyshorts@barfl.co.uk</U></FONT> </div> </tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>