AFL Britain, also referred to as AFL Great Britain was the governing body for Australian rules football in England Wales and Scotland. It was formed in 2008, replacing the British Australian Rules Football League (BARFL) as national body. The BARFL's clubs formed AFL London upon creation of the new national body. In 2012, AFL Britain effectively renamed itself to AFL England as the British umbrella the body was working under was really ineffective across the whole of the UK (Scotland and Wales had their own autonomous body). As AFL Britain mainly looked after affairs to do with football in England, it was felt it would be more relevant. This would sit aside the other AFL leagues such as Scottish ARFL, Welsh ARFL in the UK and with AFL Ireland in Ireland.
This means the GB Bulldogs and Swans sit outside any of the national bodies, but still recieve support from them all.
ABOUT
The GB Bulldogs are the British 18-a-side representative team, competing in International matches and the currently tri-annual European Championships and International Cups. Players are selected from English, Welsh, Scottish and Northern Irish players. Formed in the early 1990’s to compete in the Atlantic Alliance with Denmark, Ireland and the USA, the Bulldogs have a long history of international competition, with matches each year in preparation for tournaments. They have attended all International Cups and European Championships since the tournaments’ inception (2002 and 2010 respectively) and continue to provide elite level opportunities to stand-out players.
Led by a head coach, captain, vice-captains and a player leadership group, the squad has been instrumental in developing younger players to go beyond the club football and challenge themselves at International level. A marked improvement in performance culminated in a fantastic performance at the 2013 AFL Europe Championships, where the squad were runners up to hosts Ireland, the current European and International champions.
International Cup Previous Rankings: 2005: 6th Place, 2008 - 9th Place, 2011 - 9th Place, 2014 - 9th place
The GB Swans were established in January 2016 by two England Vixens players, Charlie Eales and Lisa Wilson. As the GB Bulldogs, the men's team, have been around for many years, and due to the exponential growth of women's football in Britain, the two girls realised there was scope to create a Woman's team with sights on entering the International Cup in Melbourne in 2017.
The Women's AFL London league was established in 2015 and was stronger than anyone could have imagined and looks set to be even bigger and better this year. The England Vixens also went one better on their 2014 Euro Cup second place by bringing back the trophy from Croatia in October 2015, beating Denmark in the final. There are women's teams getting stronger and stronger in Scotland and across the country there have been teams appearing in Oxford, Birmingham, Newcastle and most recently Manchester. All this growth is producing a large amount of talent for football in Britain and will create a large pool of contenders for a place on the Swans team.
In February, a trio coaching team was announced, boasting some great experience and knowledge and across the next few months they will be running selection days across the country in order to pick a team for the European Championships in August this year, then leading on to further selection for the International Cup in Melbourne in 2017.
Australian Rules Football for Women is a hot topic over in Australia at present, with a large number of talent searches currently happening across the country with sights set for an official premiership to be established for women alongside the men.
There has never been a better time to get invovled with Australian football - so what are you waiting for!
Get in contact to find out where you can play and let's grow the game together!
