History was made in Denmark recently when the England Dragonslayers took on the Denmark Vikings. It was Europe's first fully-fledged international junior Aussie Rules match. Up for grabs was the inaugural King Canute Cup.

Aussie Rules has been played at a junior level in Denmark for many years, whereas Aussie Rules UK was only recently established in London (April 2005). Its Aussie Rules Schools program has been a huge success, with two London schools dropping soccer from the curriculum and replacing it with Aussie Rules.

Players chosen to represent England included children from London, St Helens, Nottingham, Crawley and the Isle of Wight.

In a major upset, the young Dragonslayers 6.10 (46) defeated the Vikings 0.6 (6). Led by England captain Rhys Turner and best on ground Stuart Smith, England dominated from the first bounce and ran out comfortable winners.

Final Scores

England         4.1       5.2            5.7            6.10    (46) 

Denmark        0.0       0.3            0.3            0.6            (6)

Best Players:

England: Stuart Smith, Rees Jackson, Luke Breeden, Rhys Turner, Martyn Smith, Kadell Daniel. 

Denmark: Mathias Biron, Jannick Svendsen, Kristoffer Nøhr, Joachim Secher, Morten Merhøj, Thomas Frederiksen. 

Goals:

England: 2 Luke Breeden; 1 Reece Jackson, Jay Smith, Juan Perea-Lopez, Jack Hughes. 

Denmark: Nil. 

England’s next match will be against Wales in Cardiff in April 2007. As the Welsh team are known as the Dragons, the Dragons versus the Dragonslayers promises to be an interesting match.

More information about the Dragonslayers (including photos) can be found at www.aussierulesuk.com/dragonslayers.

For more information please contact Brian Clarke on 020 7273 1974