Presidents 1st Qtr Report

Rich Mann - USAFL President

G'Day Footy followers everywhere,

The first quarter of 2000 has seen the USAFL move forward in leaps and bounds, continuing our tremendous growth in just over three years of existence.

Existing clubs that have developed and moved up to the next level, show that the league continues to move forward and the total number of clubs continues to increase exponentially. Ten clubs will progress and move up at least one Grade by the end of this year, showing excellent league development.

One of the major achievements of the current Executive Board is the ongoing development of the relationship with the AFL. With a significant increase in funding and support, we are poised to make some landmark achievements in the next twelve months.

In addition to this I feel the top three developments thus far in 2000 have been the National WebSite, Umpire development and our Juniors program. Matt Muller of Seattle continues to do a superb job with usfooty.com, illustrated by the current level of 1900+ participants in the footy tipping competition (which the Americans are leading I might add). The second umpire clinic will be held in Santa Cruz, California, in conjunction with their ANZAC Cup Tournament, following an immensely successful and well attended clinic in North Carolina in March. The Junior Development Program continues to grow, with Jeff Norris taking his students to Australia for the Jim Stynes Cup in a few months.

My personal thanks go out to everyone involved in Australian Rules Football in the U.S, for their continued hard work and dedication. I also thank everyone in Australia and abroad who continue to assist us in our efforts to take this great game to the world stage.

The first quarter reports demonstrate how much high quality work is being achieved around the US.

I would welcome any comments or questions regarding the USAFL and look forward to updating everyone again with the second quarter report in July of 2000.

Best Regards,

Richard Mann

President USAFL

president@usfooty.com

United States Australian Football League

P.O Box 11370, Denver CO 80211 0370

- Rich Mann
(18)