AFL was first played in South Africa in 1899 as a result of Australian Army involvement in the Boer War however did not officially return until 1997 when the Australian Defence Force held football clinics in the rural areas of the North West Province under army personnel.
In 1998, an AFL exhibition match was held at Newlands Cricket Ground in Capetown between the Brisbane Lions and the Fremantle Dockers and now plays host to many pre-season camps for AFL teams including Hawthorn.
Four AFL Clubs (Collingwood, Carlton, Fremantle and West Coats Eagles) are supporting a Province each through AFL Games, AFL Camps and proposed Talent Academies with all four having visited South Africa in the first 12 months of an initial 3 year agreement.
The South Africa Lions are currently competing in the 2014 International AFL Cup in Melbourne. The International Cup is held every 3 year since its inception in 2002 and this year the event brings together 18 nations with both a mens and womens competition with the Grand Final being played as the curtain raiser to the Hawthorn vs Geelong game on Saturday 23 of August, 2014 at the MCG.
Marcellin OCFC player, Peter Augustin who is currently working in South Africia is also an Assistant Coach of the Lions. Pete organised for some of his players to make their way down to Marcellin on Thursday night for a training session and also ensured that they stayed for dinner and team selection to get full feel of what it is like to experience what football is like at a local level in Victoria.
Many players from this team come from townships in South Africa that are greatly limited by resources such as footballs, fields, water bottles, boots, etc. If you would be interested in donating or getting involved to help sponsor or assist please get in contact with July Machethe 0416 730 217 (AUS) on +2771 4285259 (SA) orjulym@aflsouthafrica.org
The Lions are currently 2-0 in the tournament having defeated Pakistan and Tonga respectively. The boys now face tournament favourites Papua New Guinea on Saturday.
If anyone is interested in heading down to watch any of the games you can find out all of the information at: http://www.afl.com.au/global/AFLIC14
Last Modified on 15/08/2014 10:22