Pay at the door & go in the draw for an Swedish Elks AFL jumper, signed by Swedish 2011 International Team.

Check the image for details and get the latest news on the 2012 Australia Day Party Facebook page.

Australia Day Party Stockholm 2012

Årsta Swans undoubted star player, Rob Young, took home the prize for Best Australian Player in the SAFF for 2011, polling the most votes over the course of the year. Votes were given after each match by the field umpire and by both team’s coaches and Rob’s outstanding year was rightly recognised by all, both the voters, opposition and team mates alike.

After the 10-round season, Rob had polled 22 votes and secured the Lars Hagberg medal. Truth be told, Rob actually tied for the award with Bromma Viking’s goal-machine, Steve Edwards. Unfortunately Steve couldn’t accept his award in person, as he was lazing by a pool somewhere in Australia sipping pina coladas, or so rumour had it.

Congratulations to Falun’s Henrik Andersson on winning the SAFF’s Best Non-Australian Player in 2011, in only his first season – a truly amazing effort in anyone’s books!

Earlier in the evening

As has been the custom, The Oxen restaurant in Stockholm hosted the SAFF Awards Evening, with some great food and drink and of course, the evening was MC’d by Ryan Kingsley. Each of the five teams’ coaches gave us an insight into the workings of each team; Coach Wiese was first out of the blocks and made the team truly proud.

SAFF All-Star Select

We can’t report on the evening without covering the All-Star Select team for 2011. Årsta had three very worthy representatives – Peter “The General” Hammarström, Mats “The Bulldog” Sundin and Jon “The Terrier” Högman.

Mats and Hammar both had a great 2011 season, continued their fantastic work of the last two years and really took their games to the next level. Jon had an unbelievable first year of Aussie Rules, leaving his opponents running scared with his ferocious attacks on the ball (and sometimes man) and breaking-the-line running. With guys like these tearing the game apart, look out 2012, the Årsta Swans are coming!

Congratulations again to Rob, Mats, Hammar and Jon.

Live at The Liffey

Come and watch the AFL Grand Final with a full audience in a great pub in Gamla Stan, with great staff willing to open up to us at 6am in the morning.

Doors to the pub will open at 6am, with the telecast of the coverage commencing immediately. The first bounce is scheduled at 6:30am.

Following the game there will be live Rugby World Cup matches shown – England vs Scotland, and Australia vs. Russia. It’s going to be an awesome day.

PRE BOOKINGS ARE ESSENTIAL via the Solna Axemen website

First up, the SAFF Grand Final is this coming Saturday (17th September) at 12.00 down at Årsta rugby fields. Come along, enjoy the BBQ & we can watch Söder vs Solna in what should be a good, hard match. Both teams have played some top footy during the year, so it should be an exciting to the 2011 season. Afterwards, there’s an after-event at The Liffey, who are giving a 100kr mealdeal (certain meals + a beer) to all players.

Saturday Oct 1st is the AFL Grand Final: set alarm clocks for an early morning start (6:00) to watch the showpiece match of the AFL season! Solna is organising this, so stay tuned for more details.

Saturday Oct 15th is the SAFF Presentation night. Lock it in your calenders – last year’s was a cracking party and I’m sure this one will be too! 350kr gets you a 3-course meal at The Oxen; drinks can be bought over the bar. There’ll also be door prizes, awards, plus the naming of the Swedish Team of the Year. Bring your partner, dress up nice & get in touch with Thor or Wiese for tickets.

Stay tuned for more details!

First up, the Elks put in a hard and determined performance against  New Zealand, one of the favourites for the tournament. Despite the Elks’ swift ball movement and good linking play, New Zealand was able to squeeze a win from the match, with the Elks putting their top quality skills & determination on show for all.

Both our Årsta representatives, Dan Koinberg & Mats Sundin starred and were named in the best for the Elks. Great work boys!

• Match report Swedish Elks v New Zealand Hawks
• Photos from Swedish Elks v New Zealand Hawks

• Match report Swedish Elks v India Tigers
• Photos from Swedish Elks v India Tigers

Next up, the Swedish Elks face the 4th ranked Irish Warriors this Wednesday 17th.

Great work Dan & Mats – keep it up!! Follow the Swedish Elks here.

Mats sharks the pack

With the summer here and plenty of people away in the countryside or off travelling, the Årsta Swans’ training has gone back to basics.

For the last couple of weeks we’ve parked ourselves in the popular Rålambshovsparken for an old fashioned kick-to-kick. Joined by the lads from the Södermalm Blues, we had a great kickabout for a couple of hours.

Click the photo to go to the Facebook album & see the rest.

During the week, the 2011 International Cup squad was announced with three Årsta Swans in it: Mats Sundin, Dan Koinberg and Pär Gustavsson. Mats & Dan will be leading the way on the field, while Pär will be part of the support staff down under.

Mats has had a very strong first half of the year with Årsta, playing midfield and getting into some great touch for August. Mats has earned the nickname “The Bulldog” by his never say die attitude, getting in and under, smashing through packs, carrying the ball while fending off opposition and then putting through a brace of goals to add to his ever increasing effectiveness.

Dan has been preparing all year to tear limbs from the world’s opposition with a diet that would make Arnold Schwarzenegger feel like a softie and some devastating matches in Sydney, his new adopted home. Quickly a crowd favourite, cries of “bring back the Swede” were heard when Dan was taking a breather on the bench in one of his first matches, but more about that at a later date.

Pär was reportedly set upon by a trio of hungry crocs and nearly lost his arm during the off-season. Pär fought off two without a problem, but the third snuck up from behind & tore off his arm. Like a true Swan, Pär then dispatched the third croc, got his arm back & stuck it on again with silver tape. Årsta!!

We wish them, and the Swedish Elks squad as a whole, the best of luck in Australia and we know you’ll do us all proud.

See the full squad at the AFL Sweden International Cup page and keep track of the Swedish Elks progress down under by following the Swedish Elks Facebook page.