Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, one of the most esteemed educational group of India, which has over 100 schools in India and also abroad, has educated students from all backgrounds who have went on to become the best in their respective fields. One must be wondering how a school like Bhavan’s has become one of the most vehement supporters of Australian Rules Football in India. Bhavan’s has already etched its name in the history of AFL India by sponsoring the Indian Tigers for the third consecutive time in International Cup. Bhavan’s Kolkata has also been involved in the first ever Aussie Rules tournament in Bengal. This time it was Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan Raipur which has made history by being the first school in India where the school programme of ARFAI (Australian Rules Football Association Of India) – Global Community Sports (GCS) – was successfully launched.

The first day witnessed the presence of almost 350 students from Class VI to Class IX for the introductory session where Aussie Rules were introduced to the students through various videos and presentations. Not just the game was introduced but the students also got to know about the basic rules of the game. The Q and A session afterwards saw many students winning AFL India merchandise.

The students got so interested in Aussie Rules that almost all the students present in the session wanted to get enrolled in the training session which was planned the next day. ARFAI had to follow its initial plan of enrolling 30 students as it didn’t want to compromise on the quality of the training session.

After the indoor session in the first day it was time for the outdoor session the next day where ARFAI coaches Sudip Chakraborty and Sudhashil Mitra taught them the basic skills of the sport – handpassing, kicking, bouncing and marking.

After the training session, it was time for the students to employ those skills in a real game of footy. So all the 30 students were into 4 teams and they were given a real experience of the game.

The pricinipal of Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Raipur were really hopeful about the future of the sport not  just in the state but throughout the country. He said – “GCS program will actually help children to become global citizens, the fact that they will come to have an understanding of other culturesand also bring Australian Football to India and open up new avenues of sport in India in a country where cricket is regarded as the most popular sport.”