World Footy News

In partnership with AFL clubs Port Adelaide and Fremantle Dockers, AFL Femminile Italia is proud to present their first of a number of fundraising projects, aimed at helping the AFL Italia women’s team take part in the AFL International Cup, being held this year in Sydney and Melbourne in August.

The Fremantle Dockers have supported AFL Italia for the past 18 months through their partnership with AFL Italia club Genoa Dockers. Port Adelaide also have connections with the Italian community in Adelaide and last year included AFL Italia representatives in their Famiglia di Port dinner and fundraiser.

The AFL Round 9 clash between Port Adelaide and Fremantle Dockers is being tagged as the “Indigenous Round” and Port Adelaide and the Fremantle Dockers boast the highest number of indigenous players on their lists.

Both clubs see this as a great opportunity to promote Indigenous Art, but also as a way to show support for the growth and development of Australian Football internationally.

AFL Femminile Italia is promoting the commission of two new artworks by Indigenous Australian artist Billy Doolan. The first tells the story of “Possum Skin Football” in celebration of Aboriginal involvement in Australian Football. The second piece tells the story of the “Seven Sisters”, celebrating the first Female Division of the AFL International Cup. Both pieces were inspired by the Indigenous Round 9 and the artist’s ties with Italy.

Originally from Palm Island, Billy Doolan travels all over Australia but does most of his work in Melbourne. AFL Femminile Italia approached Billy Doolan because of his recent involvement with the largest, private indigenous art collection ever to travel outside of Australia, currently being exhibited at the MAN Museo in Nuoro Italy.

He was also in Italy last year to perform a traditional Aboriginal Smoking Ceremony to open the exhibition. In appreciation of the commission, Port Adelaide has invited him to attend the game against the Fremantle Dockers on Saturday, 21st May, 2011 in Adelaide.

Billy Doolan is donating 100 certified, limited edition prints of each of these works to AFL Femminile Italia to support their fundraising efforts. The prints are available directly from AFL Femminile Italia and are also being marketed by Port Adelaide and Fremantle Dockers.

For more information on the artworks and how to obtain one of those limited edition prints, contact AFL Femminile Italia Marketing & Sponsorship’s Peta Lowry on +39 334 830 8554 or email - peta.lowry@australiaitalia.it.

The AFL Femminile Italia team will travel to Australia in August to compete in the history making Female Division of the 2011 AFL International Cup. The team is training hard and is excited about the opportunity to play Australian Football in Australia. The team’s historic journey is being recorded by Coach Luca Tramontin and Captain Daniela Scalia and will be shown in future episodes of their new web TV program Oval Bin.

Please also show your support for AFL Femminile Italia and AFL “F” - a brand new organisation established with the aim of supporting the growth and development of women’ football internationally- by visiting their new facebook page.