Contributed by: Aaron Richard Wednesday, April 12 2006 @ 01:01 pm ACST
British power club the West London Wildcats[*1] last weekend visited Barcelona for a match against Catalan 2005 champions Belfry Valls. The match was held at La Taixoneras Rubgy Field, with the Wildcats running out 76-point winners, 16.9.105 to Valls 3.11.29. A good time was had by all, as is the tradition on the increaingly regular BARFL preseason tour matches and the Catalan players came out of the match feeling they'd learnt a great deal through playing against the experienced Australians of the Wildcats squad.
Pere Casan from the Catalan camp said of the match; "of course, though, they beat us bad, as was expected, but it was all fun anyway.
"It was a great day of footy and a nice weekend in which all the Aussies of the West London Wildcats were able to enjoy the city of Barcelona, its weather, its people and its drinks! I was also finally able to hear the aussie accent, which I love, and practice some more on the challenge to try to understand some of the sentences you say. The Belfry Valls also had a nice time, and they could especially learn a lot from the Wildcats aussie style - just remember we do not have any aussie in our league, and we've learnt by watching the game on TV or the internet".
The Australian Football League of Catalonia[*2] this year will spread geographically, with teams taking on a more solid base in the cities of Tarragona, Valls, Lleida and the Catalan capital Barcelona. 2007 may see the St Esteve Saints from Perpignan join the league as a fifth team, representatives of Northern (French) Catalonia.
West London now have the BARFL season to look forward to after a busy pre-season, recently playing an international rules fixture in north-western Ireland in addition to the Barcelona visit.