World Footy News

AFL South Africa's Western Cape Provincial Development Manager, Allison Simons, has been appointed to a new National role as footyWILD Futures Manager. With her time courtesy of Australian Volunteers International coming to an end, it was important she not be lost to the country.

Simons is remarkably well credentialled with her life already having covered a wide spectrum. She grew up in Kenya, moved to Australia where she studied and played football, and is the recipient of First Class Honours in Archaeology and Anthropology and has a PhD in African Archaeology (see Out of Africa - and back - Allison's football journey). Her new appointment seems to cement her in a career in the wonderful but no doubt challenging field of promoting Australian football in South Africa.

In conjunction with partners from the government, business and NGO sectors in both South Africa and Australia, footyWILD Futures plans to implement programs that harness the power of sport, in particular the raw energy of footyWILD (the South Africa specific branding of Australian football programs), to achieve significant development objectives.

Allison Simons is confident that the program will hit the spot in South Africa, “Sport is an incredibly powerful medium to engage with communities, particularly with youth, women and disadvantaged groups”, said Simons from her Cape Town base.

“The footyWILD program engages thousands of South Africans of all ages in footy activities on a daily basis, providing an excellent opportunity to implement programs that not only provide recreational opportunities for all, but also help to develop skills, increase employment prospects, and deliver critical health messages. I am very excited about the footyWILD Futures program and I urge all sectors of society in South Africa and Australia to come on-board to help us to use footy as a vehicle to change people’s lives for the better”.

Read more about Allison's appointment in Healthy Future for footyWILD.