USAFL Announces New Ambassadors

The President of the United States Australian Football League, Robert Oliver, is delighted to announce that two more distinguished Australians - Leigh Matthews & Wayne Clark - have agreed to become members of the newly formed USAFL Ambassadors Program. 

Leigh and Wayne join Robert  DiPierdomenico (aka ‘Dipper’), Colin Carter, Ian Dicker, Michael Voss and Rodney (Grilla) Grljusich as USAFL Ambassadors.

The Mission of the USAFL Ambassador program is to promote the interests of the USAFL and the growth of Australian Football in the US. The USFooty Ambassador program is comprised of individuals who have a high profile who will help promote the USAFL in Australia and America and have the capacity to assist the USAFL board in a number of different arenas.

The Ambassador program is being launched as part of the Tenth Anniversary celebrations of the USAFL.

Leigh Matthews

Leigh Matthews has a distinguished record as both a player and coach in the Australian Football League.  Leigh moved to Brisbane to coach the Brisbane Lions in 1999 and since then the Lions have enjoyed a period of immense prosperity and famously led the Lions to a hat-trick of premierships from 2001 to 2003. Matthews is now presiding over the development of a new youthful Lions era.

In addition to coaching for almost a decade at the Lions, Matthews played a total of 332 games with Hawthorn (between 1969 and 1985) and coached Collingwood for 224 games (between 1986 and 1995). In 2007, he became only the third person in AFL history to be involved in 750 matches as a player or coach, behind only Jock McHale and Kevin Sheedy. As a player/coach, Matthews has been involved in eight premiership sides – four as a player and four as coach and is widely recognised as one of the true legends in VFL/AFL history.

As a player, Matthews was an unstoppable force and is largely considered one of the finest footballers ever to take to the field. In fact, he was voted by the media as the sports best player of the 20th century.

Leigh has always had an interest in the International game and looks forward to his ongoing support of footy in the United States.

Wayne Clark

A medium/quick seam bowler and successful coach, Wayne Clark played in 10 Tests for Australia - taking 44 wickets at 28.72. He coached Yorkshire to the County Championship title in 2001, their first since 1968, before moving home to coach Western Australia.

Wayne coached the Western Australia Cricket team (Western Warriors) in two stints for a total of 10 years, retiring at the end of season 2006/07. He guided the Warriors to two Sheffield Shield successes and three domestic one-day titles during his reign.

His record in delivering trophies to the WACA was outstripped only by his record in developing players who have gone on to represent Australia. During Wayne's tenure seven Western Australians made their debut for Australia at Test or one-day international level.

Wayne’s interest in the United States Australian Football League was heightened in the summer of 2007 when, during an extended stay in the US, he was fortunate enough to see a number of our US teams compete and even umpired a number of USFooty games.

- Robert Oliver
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