By KRISTEN ALEBAKIS
THE AFL International Cup will kick-off this weekend, with the German team basing themselves at the home of the Roadrunners at Dempster Park for the duration of the championships.
The German Eagles are one of the contenders for this year's tournament and in preparation for the International Carnival, the team have scheduled a practice match against North Sunshine on Thursday night.
Earlier this year the Eagles came third in the AFL Europe Championships.
North Sunshine coach Brett Kennerley was the man responsible for getting the German team involved with the club.
“My vision has always been about helping to do my little bit, to grow the game into any market I could reach, and I reached out to the German Coach, Fabian Cordts, who was eager to find a reasonable ground to train,” he said.
“I offered him my players to work against, and any of our equipment or footballs to use while they are here, along with the use of our rooms and the ground itself.”
Kennerley said Fabian was interested in playing a practice match with the Division 3 side and despite being two days out from their Round 16 clash with Braybrook, decided to take up the offer.
“I will try to rotate any of our players who need a little more touch, or who may be returning from injury through the game, and give most players no more than a quarter each,” he said.
“We are not trying to win the game, but simply change up our training regime, and to give Team Germany a reasonable chance to have a warm up game prior to their Round 1 fixture against Pakistan.”
Kennerley said having the German team base themselves at Dempster Park was a great opportunity for the club.
“North Sunshine is a very multicultural area and we will try to leverage off of our German friends appearance by reaching out to multicultural locals who may not have tried the game yet,” he said.
Kennerley is a Multicultural Ambassador and has a strong passion for not only growing the game of footy, but also connecting with communities and building International football networks.
Prior to his move to Melbourne from Queensland, he implemented a program called the Brotherclub Project, a project which is similar in nature to the ‘Sister City’ campaign.
“I started with a club on the Gold Coast who had a very similar profile to us, and we used our new found friendship to exchange ideas with marketing, coaching and club development,” he said.
“From there we started to expand to other clubs regionally, and then eventually internationally. Clubs from as far afield as Norway, Russia, USA, Japan, PNG and Germany joined our fraternity.
“By the time I left Queensland, we had over 120 Brother clubs worldwide, and had helped develop Auskick programs in Ireland and the North Delta region of Canada, as well as helped with donations of training equipment, football boots, and footballs into places like Fiji, India, Pakistan, PNG, and Australian Indigenous Communities.
“I was lucky that I had a very driven helper in Queensland, Wesley Hull, who worked tirelessly to continue the crazy idea that I implemented. I believe that this Brother Club Network is still in place and continues to grow.”
For more on the AFL International Cup, click here.
Last Modified on 01/08/2017 09:45