In Stockholm there's the SAFF (the Stockholm Australian Football Federation) with 4 teams: Solna Axemen, Södermalm Blues, Bromma Vikings and Årsta Swans. Jake plays for the mighty Solna Axemen! Across Sweden there's also the Falun Diggers, Helsingborg Saints, Karlstad Eagles, Port Malmö Maulers, Gothernberg Berserkers.
Approximately 1/3 of every team are Aussies. The others are mostly Swedes, but then there are also Irish, English and the Germans. (Is it just me or are the Irish everywhere?) The Australians that live in Sweden are mostly “love refugees”, Aussie guys that fell in love with a Swedish girl (not hard to do at all I might add) and ended up moving to Sweden.
My brother tells me that the main attraction to the game for the Swedes is the contact. “You can really tell the guys who play love the contact part of the game, which for Australians is interesting because often they don’t know the rules so well, so there's a s#@*load of late contact which you just have to write off as them still learning the game. That late contact combined with amateur very very bad part time umpires often provides some very anarchic conditions.”
(It should be noted that the SAFF are not as strict as the AFL and Jake’s blatant abuse of the umpires mentioned previously will incur no $5000 fine.)
Since there are no oval shaped footy fields to play on, the games take place on rugby fields. Jake informs me that “often the Swede’s are confused - because we play on rugby fields, we have normal rugby goals set up, with bad wobbly PVC pipes temporarily installed as behind posts. Everyone gets confused by the rugby crossbar, it's hard to explain why it shouldn't be there”.
For Australians living over in that part of the world it’s also a small piece of Australian culture that they can share with Swedes and other Australians. “Socially there's a bbq and cheap beers at every game. In Stockholm the bbq rights are divided up evenly, each club uses it as a fund raiser.” No wonder the Swedes love the Australian culture; it’s footy, bbq’s and beers!
“The annual AFL grand final is a big social occasion, the game is shown live at a city english pub (at 6am), served with a full hot buffet breakfast and beers and is more enjoyable watching the game over scrambled eggs and bacon than cold pies and warm beer.”
According to Jake, the best non-Aussie would be a guy called Brendan Egan. It turns out that Brendan is Sweden’s version of Tadhg Kennelly. Brendan is an Irishman that has played 1st division Gaelic football in Ireland but has crossed codes “Kennelly Style” and now calls Sweden home.
In Australia, the superstar players of the AFL usually slip into a role in the media after their football career is over. In the Swedish league it’s no different. Mike Nabb, labeled by Jake as one of the better Swedish players he has played with, has recently retired to little fanfare. There was no lap of honor in the back of a convertible for him. However, Nabb is not lost to the game as he now has a role commentating AFL games in Swedish live on Eurosport 2. The likes of Dennis Cometti and Bruce McAvaney are in fact dubbed over, whilst Mike calls it as he sees it watching from a television in Stockholm. (Take note Bruce, “Särskilda!” is Swedish for special!)
Sweden has now had their league up and running for over 10 years. From the beginnings where homesick Australians would once meet to have a kick of the football, it’s grown into a league that now spans the country. I’m sure my brother is very grateful that he has a little bit of Australian culture on the other side of the world.
The photos below show Jake in action. The first photo is Jake is going for a Lewis Jetta-esqe run down the wing whilst two opponents take chase. In the photo below, the Axemen celebrate their grand final win (Jake is on the left). In the background you can see some converted soccer goals.
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