In January of this year, former Sydney Swan's Captain and 12 season AFL veteran Brett Kirk and his family of 6 embarked on a world wide tour to promote our great game of footy and the 2011 AFL International Cup.
Brett's journey so far has taken him to the far corners of the globe including New Zealand, Sri Lanka, India, South Africa, Israel, the UK, Italy, Spain, Denmark, Canada and next week, the U.S.!
by Shae McNamara
After six months of travelling the world and spreading the word about footy and the upcoming International Cup as the AFL's International Ambassador, Brett Kirk has returned home to Sydney. As part of his journey he visited several USAFL clubs and conducted various coaching, umpiring and training sessions including New York, Boston, Denver, Arizona and Los Angeles. He is now taking time to share his experiences as he continues to promote the International Cup. In an interview with the AFL when asked where, of the places he spent time, he thought Australian Football had real potential, Kirk made the following comments.
lush green athletic field at Auraria Campus in Downtown Denver was the site for the 2011 USAFL Mile High Challenge.
Dan Lehane is a 17 year old New York native who is in his fourth season with the New York Magpies. Dan has been selected in the World 18 team that will compete in the under 16 2011 NAB AFL U16 National Championships in Sydney, Australia during the week starting July 11.
Last week in a Herald Sun article, Hawthorn President, Jeff Kennett questioned the rationale and the AFL's commitment to growing the game outside of Australia. "I don't know why they do it. AFL football will never be an international game. To be quite honest, I would rather my players, if they were asked, didn't go on the trip. It's an unnecessary risk. I think it's just a junket for the officials of the AFL and the media.''
