World Footy News

The NZAFL have recently advertised on their website for people to run Auskick centres. The programmes would run for eight sessions and target the after school timeslot of 3.30-5pm.

Though this is different to how things are generally done in Australia, obviously things need to be tinkered with in development markets.

One of the key barriers to getting children involved in developed countries is that, more often than not, children are already committed to their traditional sports of a Saturday or Sunday morning when many Australians would expect clinics to be held. Therefore to get an initial participation of some longevity rather than one-off clinics a timeslot must be found that may capture enough interest.

The avenue chosen by the NZAFL seems a possibility but obviously the challenge will remain in getting people to run the clinics as my experience is that the after school timeslot is still work time for most players and player/officials in NZ. There are also very few ex-pats who see their footy as a passion as the many dads and mums do who are brought up on the game in Australia. The children will also be asked to make some token payment but I see as important because then they are making a small financial choice to be involved rather than perhaps just turning up as it suits them.

Regarding getting people to staff the clinics, I believe this is also something that has not fully been understood by those involved in the Game Development area for the AFL. Often the experiences of development in New South Wales and Queensland are touted as the models for NZ but what is forgotten is that in many of the development areas in NSW and Qld there were plenty of ex-pats from the AFL stronghold states. If not there were plenty of parents whose own parents had moved interstate with AFL as their preferred footy code. This generational allegiance to the game does not happen in NZ and, therefore I would hazard a guess, in other international footy markets with the likely exception of PNG.

That is why the International Cup is so important in developing the people to start to get the ball rolling who might just want to give their children the opportunity to play the game from an early age. Far from being a competition for “broken down rugby hacks”, as was allegedly suggested by one observer at the International Cup, I would argue and have often in the past, that there must be a real interest in fostering the senior level of the game too. Simply, it is crucial in developing the personnel in implementing real long term buy in and involvement in the game. Developing nations such as South Africa and PNG are an entirely different market to the more developed nations and to achieve a greater take up of the game the developed nations are going to need a different level of support.

Since the NZAFL decided to not continue with the three Regional Development Officers employed in Wellington, Auckland and Christchurch there has been little real, sustained development of the game anywhere other than in some parts of Auckland where the NZAFL Head Office is located. Due to some funding difficulties the Regional Co-ordinator roles were disestablished and this curtailed what had been very promising early development of the game in the first 5-6 years of the NZAFL’s existence.

If this worthy initiative is able to begin to rebuild what had once already been achieved and, even better, surpass what has previously been done that would be great for the future of the game in NZ. The NZAFL must always look to expand the base of where and who are playing our great game.