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In what is believed to be a first for Aussie Rules football in the US a British team the Reading Kangaroos are to play the Atlanta Kookaburras in Atlanta on April 9th 2005 for the Atlanta International Footy Challenge Cup. After many weeks of planning the Reading UK team who play in the strong British Australian Rules Football League (BARFL) are set to land in Atlanta for four days bringing with them a whole new era of Aussie Rules footy to the south and to the US. Reading Kangaroos were established in November 2002 by Joao Coelho after he took a couple of mates for a kick about in various parks in Reading 40 miles west of London in the Thames Valley. Things slowly picked up from there until February 2003 when they started advertising for players. Before the end of March 2003 the club was well underway having 20 players on the books and a scheduled pre-season friendly against an Oxford University team made up of all Aussies and one American, needless to say they were fairly beaten in their first game. That year the club entered its first season of fixture footy and even with the slow start they got, managed to not only finish second but narrowly missed capturing the Cup. In 2004 and with the aim being going one better than the previous year they started off by travelling to Aalborg, Denmark for a pre-season game after this time beating the Oxford University team. They won In Aalborg and came back to England spirits higher than ever going into the pre-season cup where they claimed the scalp of one of the most established clubs in the Conference League, Sheppard’s Bush Raiders. "The season couldn’t come any sooner for us and when it did we had all players contributing well around the park and it took a league change in the fixtures to see us lose the first game" team leader Joao said. "We weren’t deterred and soon started winning games again until the Grand Final. This time we wanted it more than ever, especially as we had finished first in the league and we were also playing at home, the crowd cheered as along and got more jubilant with every goal. Final score, which I think is some kind of record for a final, 188 to 12." Their trip to Atlanta will be the first for many of the team and great way to see what footy is like on the other side of the pond. The Atlanta Kookaburras are thrilled to host Reading and look forward to a great weekend of footy.
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