Josh Abott (fifth from left standing behind) in Bongaon, West Bengal

I was extremely privileged to travel to Kolkata, India, with 9 other Flinders University (Adelaide) students in late 2016. Our main objective through the university was to run Physical Education classes in disadvantaged schools, and lend a hand coaching at some soccer and cricket academies. Being an avid AFL fan, I did some research before we left, and got in contact with Sudip Chakraborty at AFL India, who connected us with the leaders on ground in India to hep run the activities.

The first clinic was in Bongaon, rural West Bengal, and involved a long 3-hour bus trip from our accommodation in Kolkata. The bus was very squishy, and the traffic was something that none of us had experienced before! Finally we arrived at the soccer pitch, and quickly saw hundreds of kids come running over to experience footy, many of whom would have been experiencing it for the very first time. Very quickly we saw the tackling potential of some of the bigger players, and the agility and dodging talents of some of the smaller players. We were also shown our first match of Kabaddi as the leaders set up the footy drills.

After the Kabaddi demonstration, we began to do some drills. Lochie and Christian took some of the older boys and ran them through some more complex drills, where Aiden and Aaron took the younger boys and focused more on fundamental skills such as handballing and catching/marking. Courtney and Kristen took the girls through some of the fundamentals as well. I ran through some drills with some of the middle aged kids, including some lane handballing and kicking, three man weave, a ‘stitches’ drill, and a handball game to finish. While it took a little while to get our explanations across due to the language barrier, Rakesh and some of the local leaders were very helpful, and the kids were clearly having a great time. After the drills began to wrap up, we organised a full pitch sized game, in which some of the Flinders Students participated in the first half. I umpired the first half of the game, being a field umpire back in Australia, and it was very challenging due to the heat, but a rewarding experience. I managed to play the second half and had a really fun time with the kids.

Once the game was finished, we all took the opportunity to take some photos and selfies with the kids, which was an equally rewarding experience for both the kids and ourselves! We then got the opportunity to see just how these kids lived, which was quite an eye opening experience. We then all clambered back into the bus, which made for a long hot drive back to our accommodation.

Our work within the schools was severely hampered by a lack of equipment, so we were forced to use the little footballs that we had brought along with us. While they were much smaller than the real thing, we were able to explain what an Australian Football was, and how it was different to rugby or American football.

During the second week of our trip, we travelled to Delhi to see the Taj Mahal, and if it hadn’t been for Sudip’s help at the hotel, all 10 of us including Brett and Zac from Mumbai would have been in big trouble without anywhere to stay.

We continued to run football-type drills in our school classes with the little footballs, focusing on ball handling, basic catching skills, and sometimes branching into kicking drills when we had the time to do so.

Due to the popularity of the first clinic that we ran, a second one was organised, this time in the district of West Midnapore. This time the drive wasn’t as long as the first time, although it still took a while to get there. We arrived to a big police presence, and a huge crowd lined up along the fence, which was a sight to behold! We were honored to be apart of a welcoming ceremony before we began the clinic. The group of participants was a bit smaller this time, so the drills were run at a more basic level. The participants were very quick learners however, and we quickly decided that we could play a game. Before we started that though, the boys of our group were convinced to play Kabaddi against some locals, which we actually won! I’m sure they took it very easy on us though! We then got into a game, which flowed a lot better than the game at the previous clinic. Once again it was a very rewarding experience for both the participants and ourselves.

Our last official AFL India involvement was at the West Bengal State Championships 2016, where we all volunteered as goal, boundary and field umpires throughout the day. While this was very different to the previous two clinics as it was a championship, it was an interesting insight into how the state championships worked. It was good to see the skill level of the players, especially considering that most of the players had never been coached properly before. One thing in particular that I liked to see was the toughness of the players in their intent to get the ball, some very courageous efforts throughout the day. A few Australian players could learn a thing or two about commitment like some of these Indian players!

Our last University placement location was with a Police soccer academy right near Eden Gardens stadium, where we ran some footy based fitness drills, which were very challenging. We also presented them with a signed Adelaide Crows Football, and briefly explained the sport to them.

Overall, I loved my experience in India, and the work we did with AFL India was the most enjoyable of the whole lot. I have made some lifelong friends in Harris and Rakesh, and would love an opportunity to go back and do it all again!

*This article has been written by Flinders University student Josh Abbott who was part of the first internship group for ARFAI

A huge development coming through for ARFAI, as the stage is set for the first ever historic international level Footy tie to be played in India between the Indian team and the Australian Masters in West Bengal, where it was all started by Ricky Ponting back in 2008.

The Indian team is all set to play two practice matches against the Australian team, which will be great preparation for the upcoming AFL International Cup 2017 in Melbourne.

The first match will be played on 22nd July in the countryside of Bengal in Daspur, Paschim Midnapore, an area which has embraced the new sport through the initiatives taken by Footy Association of Bengal (FAB) and has got over 2000 active participants in the last 7-8 months. The second match will be played on 23rd July at the FD Block Ground in SaltLake, Kolkata, to wrap up the series.

This comes in after months of discussion between the AFL Masters International Ambassador Dr. Paul Newbury got in touch with ARFAI Founder and Secretary General Sudip Chakraborty in Melbourne back in 2016. The Masters who ideally tour Europe every two years expressed interest in visiting China and India in the off years and help the growth of the sport in the respective countries, following the footsteps of the AFL’s push to grow the game in both the countries.

ARFAI board member and National Development Manager P.M. Chokshi said “The Indian team, like many other international Footy teams, does not get the opportunity to play regular international matches. Hence this would be an opportunity to hon their skills and more importantly the boys will get to bond together as a team well before the International Cup, something that we have struggled with in the past given given available resources”.

This also comes after the recent declaration of four AFL clubs who have expressed to play a match in India, which in itself is quite rewarding for the efforts put in voluntarily by ARFAI to grow the Australian sport in India voluntarily.

“We look forward to welcome the Australian team in India and would be a great opportunity for the Indian team players to learn from the experienced Masters, who could share their feedback after the matches about areas we need to improve as a team” said Indian team Captain Sudip Chakraborty, who is now working for the AFL and Essendon Football Club in Australia and would be returning to India to join the team in its preparations.

India would be represented by the best senior players from across the country who were selected by the AFL legend Kevin Sheedy when he toured Indian during the ARFAI National Championship 2017. The final squad travelling over to Australia for AFL International Cup 2017 would be named upon completion of the AFL Masters’ series.

A long time friend of ARFAI (AFL India) Kanishk Kumar, has recently joined the passionate team of young sorts leaders at ARFAI to help grow the amazing sport of Australian Rules Football in India. Kanishk joins in as a honorary advisor to the ARFAI board at the moment and looks forward to help build on the wonderful voluntary work done so far to establish a completely new sport in India.

Kanishk is an international business professional with deep-rooted interests in Australia-India relationship. He is currently the Director of Waugh Global India, a realty firm co-founded by Mr Steve Waugh and heads their India operations.

Kanishk has previously worked for the Australian Trade & Investment Commission (Austrade) in Mumbai, where he assisted many Australian organisations in identifying and developing commercial opportunities in India. During his stint with Austrade, he successfully supported the 450 member business delegation during Australia Business Week in India 2015 and led the Sports stream. He brings considerable experience in strategy development for market entry across a range of sectors, including sports.

Kanishk has earlier studied and worked in Australia, where he was the first Indian student to be elected President of University of Newcastle’s Postgraduate Student Association.

ARFAI welcomes Kanishk on board and looks forward to his invaluable guidance in growing the game in India.

With the AFL International Cup round the corner again, it is time to get the Indian team together to tour Australia in August this year. The exciting part about this years’ Indian team is that the team will be represented by players from all the seven states of India that has been playing Footy over the last few years and there will be a great diversity of culture and skills available this time round, as a reward for the development work for the sport in India, led by its voluntary leaders.

The team was also selected by a committee led by the AFL legend Kevin Sheedy, when he toured Kolkata during the ‘ARFAI National Champs 2017’, where the best players from all the states gathered to stand a chance to get selected for the dream Indian team. The committee also included AFL Goulburn Murray CEO Martin Gleeson.

The selection process followed the Indian sporting structure of players having to go through their respective state tournaments (where organised) and then participating at the National Championship West Bengal earlier this year. However a few additional names were added to the pool of shortlisted pool of players for the national team keeping in mind their effort to develop the sport in their respective states – the ultimate goal of ARFAI, who for prior approved reasons were not able to participate at the National Championship.

The shortlisted team below will travel to Kolkata for the first ever ‘National Camp’ of Footy in India in July and also represent India in the first ever international Footy matches to be played in India against the Australian AFL Masters team travelling over to Kolkata. With each shortlisted player going through a final screening process during these matches, the final list of players travelling over from India will be declared post the India Vs Australia matches in West Bengal.

The boys from India will be joined in by 10-12 Indian origin players based in Australia. These players would have to meet the eligibility criteria of the AFL International Cup and would also go through a trial procedure hosted by the Essendon Football Club in Melbourne.

The shortlisted Indian team for the national camp in Kolkata is –

Many congratulations to those who got selected.

n.b. This is not the final team that will travel to Australia.

The 5th annual National Championship of Australian Rules Football in India, organized by Australian Rules Football Association of India (ARFAI) was held at the Sailen Manna Stadium in Howrah, West Bengal, on 16-17 January 2017 with the best 200 players from across the nation representing seven Indian states in two divisions.

The tournament saw two days of crunching tackles, breathtaking goals and a constant rush of adrenaline, with the Jharkhand Crows defeating the three-time defending champions Bengal Tigers 3-3-21 to 2-7-19 in the senior division after an evenly contested Grand Final. The junior division saw the Jharkhand Crows win the trophy three times in a row defeating the Odisha Swans (who made it to the finals or the first time) 4-6-32 to 1-1-7.

The major highlight of the tournament was AFL/Essendon FC legend Kevin Sheedy flying over to Kolkata for the same and identify potential Footy talent in India, help shortlist the Indian team that would travel to Australia in August this year for the AFL International Cup and also understand the voluntary work put in by AFL India to grow the exciting Australian sport in India.

ARFAI was also honored to host the Bendigo Umpires Association Chairman and Vice Chairman – Craig Findlay and Paula Shay who travelled over from Bendigo, Victoria, as a part of a group of 13 travelers led by Bruce Claridge, AFL Chaplain. Craig and Paula organized a brilliant umpiring workshop with participants from all seven states on the day before the tournament and made sure they executed their learning on the field during the tournament. Craig and Paula ran around tirelessly themselves helping a smooth flow of matches and educating the players when they made mistakes. “Umpires from Australia officiating the matches themselves along with newly trained Indian umpires made a big difference this year” added Shane Sayner, an AFL India patron from Adelaide, who has been attending all editions of the Indian national champs since 2013.

15^th January 2017 at the Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan school ground in Salt Lake, Kolkata, also saw a master-class from Kevin Sheedy where he took all the players through basic skills of the game, which he thought they needed more focus on to get better. This was followed by a skill building / career guidance workshop for all participants led by Supreet Khosla, Country Manager – India, OGM Technical Institute, which is one of the longest serving sponsors of AFL India.”It is a great way to provide an opportunity for our players, who are mostly from underprivileged backgrounds, to get trained and get jobs to support their families along with playing Footy. Thanks to OGM Technical Institute for extending the opportunity to our players whom we would encourage to enroll for the courses offered. We would like to consider offering scholarships for our better players to enroll with OGM in the near future as well” added Mona Kalra, Treasure of ARFAI.

The second day at the Howrah Stadium saw the Maharashtra Giants, Odisha Swans, Rajasthan Eagles, Tamil Kangaroos, Kerala Bombers, Jharkhand Crows and Bengal Tigers play the league matches in junior and senior divisions after Kevin Sheedy launched the tournament.

The third and final day saw the last couple of league matches in the morning before the Grand Finals in the afternoon in presence of special guests from Australia and India, sponsors and media along with a number of local onlookers cheering for the teams.

The junior division Grand Finals saw the first time finalists Odisha Swans give their best to catch up with the Jharkhand Crows who took the lead from the start going on to win the ARFAI – Global Reach Cup 2017 for the third time in a row.

The senior division Grand Final was a closely fought game with the defending champions Bengal Tigers unwilling to give up till the end but quite deservingly Jharkhand Crows winning the ARFAI OGM Cup 2017 in the end to celebrate their first ever tournament win.

ARFAI board member and National Development Manager PM Chokshi said “It was a much deserved victory for Jharkhand in both divisions, specially the seniors winning it for the first time led by Indian team player Mahesh Tirkey. Mahesh like others in his team comes from a very humble background and has put in all his time to get the team here in the last three years. Very happy for the boys, felt like joining in with the boys when they celebrated with their local song from Jharkhand playing on the loudspeaker after the presentations”.

ARFAI acknowledges the brilliant support of our sponsors for the event, including OGM Technical Institute, Global Reach, ANZIBA New Delhi, Golden Square Football & Netball Club, The Telegraph – t2 and of course Essendon Football Club and the AFL who helped make this tournament successful.

Looking forward, the Indian team is scheduled to tour Australia in August this year and make their fourth appearance at the AFL International Cup (IC17). One would expect a good mix of players from the seven states in India, selected by Kevin Sheedy himself, to travel over to India, given ARFAI is able to find sponsors for the same.

“This is the biggest reward for our voluntary efforts to grow the game in India so far. Someone like Sheeds, the Pele of Australian Football witnessing the talent and efforts being put in back in India can only help our talent get noticed and hopefully also get us more support for continuing the work back home” said Sudip Chakraborty, the founder and Secretary General of Australian Rules Football Association of India (ARFAI), who is now working with the Essendon Football Club and the AFL in Australia.

With Kevin Sheedy now taking a firm interest in the further development of the game in India, next year could be even bigger, bolder and better again. As he was quoted on the Essendon FC website – “This is a gold mine to be honest. These guys have got speed and skill, and they’ve got talent. All they’ve got to do is be taught.

Courtesy – essendonfc.com.au

Published – 16 January 2017

Kevin Sheedy along with CEO of OGM Peter Winford handing over the Winners Trophy (Sr) to Mahesh Tirkey

Kevin Sheedy believes India has a “gold mine” of hidden AFL talent just waiting to be unearthed.

The four-time Essendon premiership Coach witnessed the skill after spending an afternoon with the teams who will compete in the AFL India National Championships starting in Kolkata tomorrow.

Sheedy is attending the Championships in order to help select the Indian Team which will contest the AFL International Cup later this year.

More than 200 players and coaches hung onto every word of a Kevin Sheedy master class, which included his philosophies on coaching and a two hour skills session.

Speaking after training, Sheedy said the session unearthed some future AFL players.

“I would say there are easily five or six players who could play AFL,” Sheedy said.

“This is a gold mine to be honest. These guys have got speed and skill, and they’ve got talent. All they’ve got to do is be taught.

“I think this is where the game could end up in 25 years time, and we have to have the courage to take the next step.

“I’m really looking forward to watching the games tomorrow, because a lot of these boys have a great opportunity to be selected for the Indian Team which will play in the International Cup.”

Twelve teams from seven states, including the Kerala Bombers, will contest the AFL India National Championships.

The Tournament runs over two days at the Sailen Manna Stadium, Kolkata.

The Sport Health and Physical Activity department of Flinders University in Adelaide, Australia, organised an internship programme for their final year students with sporting organisations in India in November 2016. Among other local cricket, soccer and sporting organisations, Australian Rules Football Association of India (ARFAI), who are registered under the New Colombo plan of the Australian Government, were privileged to have services of 10 of these students who worked in West Bengal and Maharashtra for a period of one month.

The group of eight boys and girls who helped out in Bengal spent a considerable amount of time in the countryside where the majority of Australian Football development work has been taking place in the state. For example the remote village near Bangladesh border in Bongaon (which was visited by the Essendon Bombers players) was their first stop where they helped coach the young boys and girls who play there enhance their skills and in turn were introduced to the indigenous Indian sport of Kabaddi, which is slowly becoming popular in India.

Their most significant contribution during the month was a day in Daspur in West Midnapore district of West Bengal, an area once known as a part of ‘Maoist’ (left – extremists) heartland, but with sincere effort from the Government of West Bengal in the recent years, the people of the area have given up arms and returned to normal life through sports. Australian Rules Football was the newest inclusion to the sports they played and this was a bold move by Rakesh Ghosh, Secretary General of Footy Association of Bengal (FAB) who decided to take the Aussie interns to the area to make the locals feel more special.

The day turned out to be a phenomenal experience for the interns as few thousands gathered to watch them teach and play Footy with the 120 local players at the local soccer ground which was guarded by 200 armed police personnel. Police had to be present due to the history of the region and not that there were any threats, but the police authorities of the region decided to take no chances with the security of probably the first ever foreign guests that the locals had ever welcomed.

For the group in Bengal, the internship programme ended with helping organise the 3rd annual State Championship of West Bengal run by FAB at Khardah in North 24 Pgns district. The boys and girls helped the FAB organisers run the tournament in the form of match officials, umpires, coaches and along with that helped select the junior and senior teams that would represent West Bengal in the National Championship in January 2017.

On the other hand two out of the 10 interns were based in Thane district of Maharashtra, who helped the Footy Association of Maharashtra (FAM) officials to spread Aussie Rules to new areas of the state after few years of activities in only one area of Mumbai in the past. With their support, the FAM officials were able to spread the sport to Navi Mumbai, Thane and another area of Mumbai. The biggest outcome was the interns helping out the FAM officials organise the first ever State Championship of Maharashtra, which was organised at Nerul in Navi Mumbai.

The entire month proved to be very productive for the growth of Australian Rules Football in India led by ARFAI and managed by the respective state associations in their states and special thanks to Deb Agnew, the Industry Placement Coordinator at Flinders University and Josh Abbott, one of the interns who led the relation from the start. ARFAI looks forward to replicate the programme every year henceforth and help the players in India benefit from the experience of the Australian sports students.

End of the day, the interns were part of a historic initiative to introduce the sport in distant rural India and their day at West Midnapore helped spread awareness of the sport like wildfire, as since then about 2000 players took up the new sport in the district of West Midnapore, and surrounding Jhargram and East Midnapore districts in a matter of 7-8 months.

The third Australian Rules Football Tournament in West Bengal organized by Footy Association of Bengal (FAB) – ‘STATE CHAMPIONSHIP 2016’ was held at the Suryapur Milan Sanga, Titagarh, 24 Pgs(N), on 4^th December, 2016. In a very contested game between the North 24 Pgns Tigers led by captain Ripon Das defeated South 24 Pgns Eagles by a big margin of 33points (Tigers-6 goals, 8 behind = 44 points & Eagles 1 goal, 5 behind = 11 points) to be crowned as the 3rd State Champions of Australian Rules Football in state of West Bengal.

The tournament comprised team named after the AFL clubs like Richmond Tigers (North 24 Pgns Tigers), Essendon Bombers (Malda Bombers), West Coast Eagles (South 24 Pgns Eagles), GWS Giants (Howrah Giants), Adelaide Crows (Paschim Midnapore Crows) Golden Square FC, Bendigo (Kolkata Gold).

Paul Ritchie – Project Director, Atmosphere Project (E.M.Byepass, Kolkata), Mr. Biswanath Das – Hon. President of Suryapur Milan Sangha, Mr. Tanup Rai – General Secretary of Suryapur Milan Sangha, Mr. P. Goswami – S.D.O Barrackpore, Hon. Ranjit Mukherjee former Indian Football (soccer) Captain and Mr. Bulbul Ahmed – Bengali author, were present to inaugurate the tournament for the 3rd time in the state of Bengal.

The tournament started with the National Anthem of India which got the players pumped up to showcase their willingness to win the coveted Inaugural trophy at Bengal. Footy skills on offer were of very high quality and it was very evident that the kids practiced hard during the year and took the game very seriously. A huge share of this achievement goes to the FAB coaches who travelled to various locations every weekend in the last few years to train new bunch of players, to update the boys on skills and knowledge about the game. Marking and kicking was top notch from most of the players which made almost all the matches very competitive and all the teams were fighting for a place in the ‘Grand Final’. Seniors Indian players and the group of 8 Flinders University students from Adelaide, Australia, helped players understand the rules of the sport better during the matches.

In the end the North 24 Pgns Tigers and South 24 Pgns Eagles made it to the Grand Final.

Mr. Ashim Dawn Hon. President of ARFAI, Mr. Rakesh Ghosh Secretary General of FAB, Mr. Pavel Chakraborty Hon. Treasurer of FAB, and senior Indian Footy team players Jasim Akhtar, Arif Ali, Md. Farid, Harris Jamal, Biswajit Das and Sukanta Golder were present to make the tournament a success. It was delightful to have Josh Abbott, Aiden Miller, Lachlan Smith, Christian Thiel, Denis Perry, Aaron Robertson, Kristen Goedecke and Courtney Roberts, all from Flinders University in Adelaide who were in India for a month to intern for ARFAI were present to support, encourage the players.

The presentation ceremony was a celebration of footy in the state where all the teams were presented with medallions and certificates while the “Runners” (Eagles), the “Champions”(Tiger) and the “Fair Play”(Crows) were also awarded trophies for brilliant display of skills and teamwork on the field. For the ‘Best Mark’ award and the ‘Best Goal’ award was won by Koushik Biswas (South 24 Pgns Eagles) and Ambia Hossain (Malda Bombers) the most dominating performance throughout the tournament made Sudip Rajbanshi from the North 24 Pgns Tigers the ‘Player of the Tournament’.

Special acknowledgement required for the FAB officials, who worked tirelessly leading up to the tournament to make the event a grand success. Cheers to many more tournaments in West Bengal as Mr. Ranjit Mukherjee and Mr. Bulbul Ahmed said “Hope to be back here next year for a bigger tournament of Footy!” Now Team Bengal Tigers will get ready for their next destination National Championship 2017 in January at Howrah, West Bengal. Lots of support can make their dream come true in couple of months.