World Footy News

The Edmund Rice Lions are holding a Registration Carnival this Sunday, 9 March at Barry Britton Reserve in Balga (Western Australia).

They are inviting all families, footy lovers and kids down for an afternoon of fun activities and a chance for those who would love to play with the Edmund Rice Lions Football team this year to sign up.

The Edmund Rice Lions are an Australian Football Team of individuals aged 6 – 23 from Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CaLD) backgrounds.

“This free carnival welcomes all members of the public to increase awareness around opportunities for children coming from low socio-economic areas and CaLD backgrounds,” says Natasha Hanham from the Department of Sport and Recreation (DSR).

“It’s also the perfect opportunity to break down barriers between soccer and AFL amongst the CaLD community.”

The day promises activities for all ages with a kid’s fun zone, Auskick drill clinics, a bouncy castle, face painting and a free barbecue. The ERC Young Lions will challenge the Butler Falcons at 2pm, followed by the ERC Lions All-Stars team who will take the field at 3pm to showcase their skills in an exhibition game.

 

Attending the event will be representatives from the Edmund Rice Centre Mirrabooka, West Coast Eagles, West Australian Football Commission, Department of Child Protection, Anglicare, Smith family, the Balga Bombers and Kingsway Football Club.

 

The Edmund Rice Lions program was established in March 2010 when the West Australian Football Commission (WAFC) partnered with the Edmund Rice Centre to develop a multicultural football team which would develop participant’s skills, knowledge about the national game and provide pathways into joining local community clubs.

 

The Department of Sport and Recreation is a major supporter of the Edmund Rice Centre.

Event details

Where: Barry Britton Reserve, Balga

When: Sunday, 9 March

Time: noon – 4pm

Cost: Free

 

 About the TEAM

The Edmund Rice Centre Lions is a Multicultural AFL team, Launched in 2010, by a group of young people.

The ERC Lions stand on three pillars;

Over the course of the season, three core pillars were identified which differentiate the Lions from other clubs. These are:

  1. The ERC Lions are a community AFL team, run by community workers, from the Edmund Rice Network and WAFC along with other interested parties. These community servants shoulder all of the responsibility and show the players that continued commitment is vitally important to success. The Edmund Rice Centre Lions is a community Australian Rules Football team and are dedicated to serving their community. They have run a number of coaching clinics for youth of Refugee and Indigenous backgrounds as part of their community service and leadership training.

  2. The team is youth led. The Lions provides a unique opportunity to give young people a chance to build their resilience and strength. After an initial grace period where the coaches are helped to learn the game, there is a ‘hand over’ of responsibility to the young coaching staff, after which the team managers become advisers at training. This concept is used in the Youth Leadership Program and the Multicultural Sports and Recreation Program and it has worked well. This approach must be complemented by an extensive behind the scenes effort by the team management. The young coaches will then be primarily responsible for addressing the team.

  3. The season is short.  The Lions is a stepping stone to serious AFL teams and if players want more 'expert' coaching etc., they are assisted to join local clubs around their area. If they want to stay involved with the Lions they can fill coaching or assistant coaching roles or even be runners and water boys etc. A main theme is to choose inexperience with the Lions over those who have played a full season with the team. This differentiates it from a standard club. The maximum number of games is capped around 10 or so and after they play one full season players are encouraged to move on, either to coaching roles in the team or to local clubs or both. Players feel that it is their role to mentor new players and use their 'experience' to help them. There is now a huge focus on moving the players into mentoring roles or into local mainstream clubs.

What we aim to achieve

We aim to promote AFL among multicultural communities and give registered participants the best AFL experience for a year, We also hope to develop them as leaders in the community by teaching them advanced leadership qualities which they have to prove in the community when they get out and be active coaches and volunteers.