Well, another Christmas is upon us, and with a new Christmas tree and the headache of the shopping season comes a new AFL Britain Committee.  I was lucky enough to be a part of the committee in 2008, and the very first thing I would like to do is to thank outgoing President Sam Percy and the rest of the 2008 team - Luke Shaw, Kat Conner, Martin Smith and Adam Bennett - all of whom did an outstanding job and helped make an amazing year happen.

And what a year!  With more games of Aussie Rules being played in the country than ever before, the sport took big steps forward over the past 12 months.  Britain even sent its national team over to compete at the 2008 International Cup in Melbourne, playing against some of the best amateur nations in the world.

In a similar vein, the England Dragonslayers went to Prague and competed in the 2008 EU Cup, incredibly bringing home the trophy.  Not to be outdone by their English counterparts, the Welsh Dragons proved it takes a lot to slay them by beating England in the inaugural Dragon Cup.  Scotland also competed hard this year, and there is talk of further intra-home nations competitions in the future.

All in all I have taken over the reins at a really exciting time, and will be doing my best to help continue the hard work of the past few years and grow the game in this country.  An important step was the splitting of the administration of the London leagues and the creation of AFL London which Sam will now move on to head up, leaving the national committee to focus on just that - national issues. 

We will be redeveloping our short and long term strategies, establishing policies and procedures that will support clubs and leagues as well as working hard to ensure that all stakeholders in Britain are involved in shaping the future of Aussie Rules in Britain.  It might sound like a boring task, but we are in a fantastic position to look at just what AFL Britain needs to be to support the game in this country and make it happen.  It's not just about writing documents, nor is it about just getting stuck in and interfering where it is not needed - we now have the opportunity to step back and look at the bigger picture.

This point about involving stakeholders is a vital one, and something I care passionately about.  The only way forward for us is for all those working to grow the game here to be working together in partnership - real partnership, involving a shared vision, shared aims and objectives and a shared commitment.  The past has seen some very well documented issues arise, now is the time for us to move forward together and in the same direction.  There will no doubt be a lot of work to do to ensure these partnerships are successful, and there will be a fair amount of negotiation done along the way, but if every person, club and organisation work together then 2009 promises to set up Australian Rules Football in Britain for many years to come.

Over the next year I hope to speak and work with as many interested people as possible, so if you've got any thoughts, ideas or simply want to find out more about our plans just e-mail me and I'll do my best to answer your points.

Thanks,

Glen Ocskó

President, AFL Britain