Edwardstown Football Club starts Welcome to Aussie Rules Football program with help of SANFL
Edwardstown Football Club is breaking down boundaries and playing its part in welcoming new cultures to its club through a Welcome to Aussie Rules Football program.
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Being able to be part of footy tipping at work and tackling players were among the best things about Aussie Rules according to a group of people tasting the sport for the first time.
Edwardstown Football Club is trialling a Welcome to Aussie Rules Football (WTARF) program aimed at introducing and welcoming new cultures to the Towns’ community.
Aware it has a strong multicultural community Edwardstown Football Club was keen to trial WTARF, the first program of its type in the West Adelaide Football Club zone.
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About 30 children and their parents, mainly Indian and Pakistan, attended the come and try sessions which included a question and answer type format.
“This could help me with doing footy tips,’’ one parent said.
“It also helps us feel part of Australian society and to have a general conversation about the sport.’’
Originally introduced into schools, Towns followed Kilburn and Greenacres into the new program which aims to spread the world of Aussie Rules but also to make sure different cultures can find a local home – even if they don’t end up playing the game.
The club program works with the SANFL to run selected drills and to provide a run down of the history of Aussie Rules at state and national levels.
Edwardstown’s women and WTARF program supervisor Paul Modra said the program had been rewarding.
“We get all sorts of questions from the group like the cost of footy, why they should play footy over other sports and even about footy tipping,’’ Modra said.
“We say things like it’s a 360 degrees game which improves the child’s decision making and is a chance for the children and parents to join in a new community.
“Long term we would like to see this program branch out to other clubs.’’
SANFL Multicultural Community programs co-ordinator Matthew Diglio said the program had been a winner.
“It gives participants a taste of footy and an opportunity to transition to an Auskick or community club program and get involved in the football community at a different level,’’ Mr Diglio said.
“There are currently more than 150 WTARF participants across SA and we are continuing to build multicultural programs in all SANFL zones.’’
The program will have a break now and resume early next year.