DARREN MONCRIEFF
Friday 16 December 2011
MOST Australians would not have heard of the Beyond Sport organisation but there's several hundred Indigenous young men in this country whose success is largely responsible for the AFL winning an award from the international body.
The Flying Boomerangs, the AFL's personal development and leadership program and football team for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young men that are 14-15 years of age, has won Beyond Sport's Sport Federation/Governing Body of the Year award for 2011.
The AFL's community engagement manager Jason Mifsud, a one-time St Kilda footballer, was among former world leaders, Olympic champions and members of the United Nations to accept the award on behalf of the AFL and Boomerangs in Cape Town, South Africa, last week.
Mifsud paid tribute to the young men in the program and what it had become.
"To receive a creditable international award is strong validation of the strength, depth and results the program has been producing for a number of years now," Mifsud said.
"However, the greatest validation we receive is seeing first-hand the dedication, sacrifices and resilience our young men display each year throughout the program. Many enter the program feeling unsure, and leave the program feeling unstoppable."
The program's strength is it's two-fold strategy, as Mifsud explains.
"We do not design and develop mutually exclusive strategies, this is possible the biggest reason many programs in our communities fail: they are too singular in their design," he said.
"For us, and the young people involved, it is the whole journey that is critical for success and to see our young men come from such a diverse range of communities and see them share their own, very personal, stories and learn from their peers in the international countries we tour is an amazing and rewarding experience, in particular, South Africa with our shared histories.
"This cultural exchange and enrichment is very very powerful."
In the junior AFL team's award category was the North American National Hockey League's Green Program and the 210-nation International Table Tennis Federation's Breaking Down Barriers program.
The Flying Boomerangs was among over 40 entries in several different categories from more than 125 countries.
The Flying Boomerangs program incorporates football series against developing international countries which has included South Africa (2006, 2008), Papua New Guinea (2009), Tonga (2010) and Fiji this month.
The participants are selected from an annual camp that involves players from throughout Australia and are mentored by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander leaders and former AFL-level players.
The Flying Boomerangs' tour to Fiji began on Sunday where, apart from football, they will engage in leadership sessions and share in a cultural exchange. They will play a series of matches against under-15s Oceania and South Pacific teams.
The award was judged by the Beyond Sport Panel of Ambassadors which is chaired by former British Prime Minister Tony Blair. The panel includes the Beyond Sport official patron Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Olympic Gold medalists Michael Johnson, Michelle Ford and Sergey Bubka, Chairman and CEO, Special Olympics Timothy Shriver and Chairman of the 2012 London Olympics Lord Sebastian Coe.
AFL chief executive Andrew Demetriou said he was extremely proud of the Flying Boomerangs program and the recognition it had received.
"The AFL game, with the support of our players, our clubs, government and our major partners, has been focused heavily on building greater access to our game," he said.
"More than 10 per cent of players at the elite AFL level have an Indigenous background and we have sought to use the game to increase opportunities for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
"This is a tremendous recognition of the work being done across the football industry, with support from so many people, for better sporting, health, leadership, education and employment outcomes for Indigenous people across Australia.
"To have our program recognised internationally is very rewarding."
The Beyond Sport Community Awards winners receive funding and a package of substantial business support to enable them to move forward and become fully sustainable in the future.
There were 12 categories in the 2011 Beyond Sport Awards covering the entire sporting spectrum of health, social inclusion, corporate and social responsibility, and philanthropy.
The categories were split into three clear sections – Beyond Sport Community Awards; Corporation and Federation Awards; and the Judges' Awards.
AboriginalFootball@westnet.com.au
Last Modified on 16/12/2011 12:40