Australian rules football in Sweden

The Swedish Regional League began in 2007, featuring three sides representing the most established regions for Australian rules in Sweden, the Gothenburg Berserkers, Scania Griffins and Stockholm Dynamite.

The Göteborg Berserkers are currently the only Australian rules team in Gothenburg. The Berserkers started training in 2003 and had their first seven-a-side game in late 2003. In 2006, the Berserkers started playing against the Landskrona Bulldozers and Port Malmö Maulers in the Southern Sweden Regional League. The Berserkers wear a black and white striped long sleeve jumper (same as Collingwood Magpies) or a black-red sleeveless jumper. As of 2007, they are competing against Stockholm and Scania in the national regional series.

Scania currently has two teams in the Danish Australian Football League (DAFL), the Port Malmö Maulers from Malmö and Helsingborg Saints based in Helsingborg. Feeding into these sides is the four-team Scania League (Skåneligan), featuring the GV Rebels and Malmö Red Eyes in Malmö, Helsingborg West Raptors in Helsingborg and Landskrona Bulldozers representing Landskrona and Lund. The Lund Magpies also competed in the Scania League from 2003–06, former players joining the Bulldozers after the Magpies folded.

The regional representative side is nicknamed the Griffins.

Scania was home to the first Australian football club ever formed in Sweden, the Helsingborg Saints. The club was founded in 1993 by Ingmar 'Terry' Lundquist and Joacim Aulin. The club was almost to be called the Ravens, but the nickname and playing strip of Australian Football League (AFL) club the St Kilda Saints eventually were adopted. From 1994 onwards the Saints competed in the DAFL, and were briefly called South Sweden Saints from 2003–2007. There was also a short-lived club in Lund, nicknamed the Bulldogs, 1995.

For the years 2003 and 2004, the Helsingborg Saints split their squad into three teams for the DAFL's new Scania Conference, these being the Helsingborg West Raptors, Lund Magpies and the Port Malmö Maulers. During this period, the Saints played as Scania in the DAFL's regional league, being a representative team made up of the best players from the three Scanian clubs.

In the 2005 structure for the DAFL the Saints returned, now called the South Sweden Saints and playing in the DAFL Premier League. This season saw the Saints reach the DAFL Grand Final for the second time, again they were soundly defeated by the Farum Cats.

The Port Malmö Maulers were formed in 2003, to play in the Scania Conference of the DAFL. As of the 2005 DAFL restructure, the Maulers are a feeder team for the South Sweden Saints (now called Helsingborg Saints again), who play in the DAFL Premier League. In 2006, with the creation of the Swedish Australian Football League, the Maulers competed in the Southern Sweden regional league, against the Landskrona Bulldozers and the Göteborg Berserkers, and also field two sides in the new Scania league, the Malmö Red Eyes and the GV Malmö Rebels (named for their partner league the Goulburn Valley Football League in Australia. As of 2007, the Port Malmö Maulers compete in the DAFL Premier League. In 2009, they became the first team from outside the Copenhagen area to win the DAFL premiership.

In 2014 the Port Malmö Lynx women's team was born. In 2015 the Lynx played their first matches as Skåne against the Odense Lionesses. The Lynx participated in the AFL Europe Champions league 2106-2109 inclusive placing second in 2016, with respectable placings 2017-2019. Many Lynx players have represented the Swedish Ravens at the European level.

Logo of the Stockholm Dynamite

Australian rules football in the Stockholm region is governed by the Stockholm region Australian Football Federation (SAFF). The SAFF runs a five-team suburban competition featuring the Bromma Vikings, Solna Axemen, Södermalm Blues, Norrtälje Dockers and Årsta Swans, with a representative team known as the Stockholm Dynamite. The Falun Diggers participated in the 2011 competition but sat out 2012. Players from the SAFF are also eligible for selection to the Swedish national team.

After earlier attempts to start the game of Australian Rules in Stockholm, the first meeting of what was to become the SAFF was held on the December 19, 2003.

Early in April 2004 the Stockholm Dynamite (the new representative side for the SAFF) traveled to Malmö and won a resounding victory in their premier game against a rather depleted South Sweden Saints side. Six weeks later the Dynamite accepted an invitation to play a full-strength team in Helsingborg for the inaugural E4 Cup (named after the major freeway between Stockholm and the south). The match resulted in a four-point win to South Sweden.

In Stockholm a three-team league was established, teams being North, South and Central. After each team completed nine home-and-away games, North defeated Central in the 2004 Grand Final. The Dynamite also travelled to Denmark for the Sheep Station Cup and played an International Rules game against a local Gaelic football club.

In 2005, the Stockholm Australian Football Federation completed its second year. The senior competition again maintained the same three-team, nine-a-side competition, the sides now named the Northern Axemen, Central Royals and Southern Sharks. The Sharks defeated the Axemen for the premiership.

In the eighteen-a-side version of the game, 2005 was a learning curve for the Stockholm Dynamite. The West London Wildcats toured Stockholm in early April, defeating the locals by a good margin.

In the E4 Cup, the South Sweden Saints made the long trek to Stockholm. The Saints proved too strong and controlled the game from the outset. Again there were many encouraging signs with the local players making up 40% of the Stockholm Team. The Dynamite again ventured to Denmark for the Sheep Station Cup, finishing fourth.

With the completion of the 2005 senior competition in September, the SAFF turned its focus to junior development. The SAFF hired a professionally accredited physical education teacher and primary school teacher to co-ordinate Australian Rules Clinics at a number of Swedish schools. The sessions were aimed at children aged 10–16 and were based primarily upon the Auskick program. In all, four schools were involved over 38 hours of clinics and 350 children got the opportunity to kick the Sherrin.

The game of Australian rules football has grown steadily in Stockholm over the past few years with a marked increase in local Swedish players.

2007 saw the formation of three new clubs in middle Sweden, based in the cities of Karlstad, Uppsala and Falun.

The AFL International Census in 2007 reported a total of 393 players in Sweden, of which 257 were senior, 58 junior and around 78 participants registered in the Viking footy Auskick like program.[2]

• 2002: Did not compete
• 2005: Did not compete
• 2008: 12th
• 2011: 11th
• 2014: 1st in Division 2
• 2017: Did not compete

• 2010: 3rd[3]
• 2013: 4th

• 2015 Umag Croatia, final place
• 2016 Lisbon Portugal, 4th place
• 2017 Bordeaux France, 3rd place
• 2018 Cork Ireland, 3rd place
• 2019 Norrtälje Sweden, 4th place