The Convicts African Adventure

By Steve Harrison

The visit of the Australian ‘Convicts’ football team to South Africa was a hugely successful two weeks which has left a significant impact on South African Aussie Rules participants. The South African senior players had the opportunity to compete against ‘genuine Aussies’, and the growing number of junior participants could improve their skills at several coaching clinics hosted by the Convicts at Potchefstroom, Itsoseng and Ramatlabama.

But it wasn’t only the South Africans who got a lot out of the visit. The Convicts, who had been in the country only two days, were blown away by the reception of the 180 school children from the Potchefstroom area at Ikageng stadium. At the end of a two hour footy clinic, the junior players sang traditional African songs which left several of the Aussie boys teary eyed. As well as enjoying participating in Footy activities, the Convicts, made up of players and officials from many parts of Australia, made the most of many other activities South Africa has to offer. As part of their tour, they visited Kruger National Park, Pilanesburg National Park, Sun City Resort, the township of Soweto, and also experienced first hand Potchefstroom’s nightlife!

The tour marked the first time a visiting team from Australia has played against South African opposition. The Convicts, who toured Europe in 2004, departed South Africa with their clean record still in tact after proving victorious in all three games of the series.

Game 1 saw The Convicts take on Gauteng Province at Mohadin Cricket Stadium, outside Potchefstroom. Many of the newer Gauteng players are current Rugby players, and this experience will stand them in good stead come August’s International Cup. The introduction of 193cm / 104kg Rudi “The Axeman” in the Ruck for Gauteng was greatly anticipated. Both sides weren’t let down as he laid several massive tackles and threw the best Quarterback style ‘Hail Mary’ Australian Football has ever seen. There is still a lot to learn for these newer players, but the potential of these players was very encouraging. Full Back Duane Vermeulen, in his first game, restricted the Convicts forwards by providing excellent aerial contests. He was appropriately awarded the best player for Gauteng.

Scores:

The Convicts 6.3 13.8 16.11 21.16 (142)

vs

Gauteng 1.3 1.4 4.5 10.10 (70) Best: Duane Vermeulen

Game 2 at the University of North West, Mafikeng, saw The Convicts having to work much harder in the 35 degree heat to outplay the more experienced North West representative team. Most of North West’s players represented South Africa at the International Cup in Melbourne in 2002. As was the case at that tournament, they found themselves lacking height and physical strength against the visitors. Despite many of The Convict players claiming that they had been run off their feet by their opponents, the telling difference was The Convict’s forward’s ability to out-muscle their opponents and take strong marks in front of goal. Some fantastic passages of play from the North West side resulted in good goals.

Scores:

The Convicts 6.3 12.4 18.6 22.12 (144)

vs

North West Province 1.3 4.3 5.8 7.10 (52) Best: Benjamin Motuba

Game 3 was held at Eldorado Park Athletic Stadium, which made the SCG look massive. The Convicts had enjoyed a Soweto tour that morning, and were excited about playing Australian Football in what is part of this famous township. South Africa’s selected team, made up of players from Gauteng and North West Provinces, will act as the initial squad for August’s International Cup. The build up of the game was added to with the knowledge that it was to be the last game of football played by Brian Clarke, Convicts tour organiser. His team rose to the occasion, with a huge first quarter in which they amassed 80 points. The South Africans finally got going in the second quarter and found the goals on several occasions. Ruckman Brian Mitchell showed some toe, slotting through two goals on the run. The scoreline ended respectably for the South Africans, after a strong second half.

Scores:

The Convicts 13.2 15.8 19.10 24.11 (155)

vs

South Africa 4.5 9.6 13.9 15.11 (101) Best: Mtutuzeli Hlomela

AFL South Africa would like to thank The Convicts for their enthusiasm particularly in the training of the local junior players during the footy clinics. The feedback from their school teachers was very positive. The Convicts will travel to Europe once more in 2005, and we are looking forward to their return visit to South Africa in 2006.

The Pilot Story

ON THE ROAD WITH JULY (IN JULY)

A chance viewing of a TV story about Aussies teaching footy to South African township kids planted the seed for us. A coincidental article in a weekend newspaper supplement soon after gave us a concrete lead, and, having been thinking about some sort of short-term volunteer work whilst we would be in South Africa, (and loving our footy) this seemed a real possibility for us. Email addresses were tracked down, and enquiries sent off. And so we found ourselves on the road to Potchefstroom, about an hour south-west of Johannesburg, to meet the indefatigable July Machethe, recently appointed Head Development Officer for AFL South Africa.

July met us at AFL Headquarters – a one-room office – and introduced us to the team: Jean Verster, the Executive Officer, Phindile Khambule, the Administrative Assistant, and Steve Harrison, an Australian who had been running the show solo until a couple of months ago, and who now went by the title of Head Coach. July had worked out a timetable of visits to townships in North West Province, staying in local communities, and helping the local volunteers plan and run their junior programmes.

AFLSA were in the midst of final preparations for their departure to the International Cup in Melbourne, so things were pretty hectic, yet time, energy and friendliness were still freely given to a couple of fly-by-night Aussies like us. We gat a good look at the set-up they have, which was much more extensive than we had imagined, with contacts throughout the region, a strong management team , lots of equipment, and even more enthusiasm.

The next day we were on the road with July for Christiana, a town more than 200 kilometres from Potch, and our hire car was popping its rivets with our load of footies, tackle bags, jumpers and mini goal posts. This area is the high veldt: big skies, big horizons and long, straight roads through the yellow countryside. This might have been the Monaro High Plains. It has a beauty, grandeur and sense of space that was familiar to us, yet still distinctly South African.

Arriving in Christiana, we drove through to the black township to be met by Tshidi Maleke, the local community development officer. She is typical of the network of enthusiastic local volunteers who have fallen for Aussie Rules footy and are pouring their energy into getting teams and leagues up and running in their communities, promoting the game to the kids there.

Tshidi welcomed us into her home, where we would stay for two nights. We were conscious of the inconvenience and imposition we were putting on Tshidi, her mother, uncle grandmother and grandfather, but there was not a trace of anything other than sincere welcome in any of their manners., and they seemed genuinely pleased to offer their hospitality to us. Life in the townships and rural communities is pretty basic – no running water in the houses, but there was electricity, a spotlessly clean flushing toilet, a comfortable bed, and a hot cup of tea! July said that lavish thank-you gifts would be inappropriate, but buying the food for the household for the duration of our stay would be a suitable way of repaying their kindness. A small price indeed!

Our actual “work” involved visiting schools to advertise our afternoon coaching clinics, and then being there to run the sessions with July and Tshidi, or any of the other local volunteers in the various communities. They had heard of Australian Football already, and knew about things like handballing and marking – a testament to the work already done – so we set up basic drills to practice the skills of kicking, handball, marking and shepherding – boy did they love the tackle bag!

These sessions were conducted in the school grounds or local oval, which were all dirt – no grass, lots of dust, and most of the kids were barefoot. But the enthusiasm was there, and the skills – these kids are natural athletes and picked up the skills so readily – so that far from being a frustrating time of repetition of basic movements, we could quickly develop the drills into exercises of more and greater complexity. Language is not a problem – they all have some English, and July and the local development officers were there to explain anything in greater detail, if needed.

Thus was our all-too-short time spent with AFLSA: we visited 4 different communities over 5 days, staying with the locals and getting to really see what life means for ordinary, rural, (mainly black) South Africans. The fringe benefits were substantial: one highlight (apart from eating pap, the African staple) was witnessing an after-school practice of a traditional singing and dancing group. Words are inadequate to describe the energy, vitality, engagement and vivacity of these kids. We were struck dumb with admiration and amazement.

Our time with AFLSA gave us everything we could want: an experience of life in South Africa that most tourists will never see; a chance to meet inspiring locals, committed to helping their people; an opportunity to make a contribution – albeit small – to a culture less blessed than our own; and a kick of the footy! If you are going to be in South Africa, and have a few days to spare, get in touch with the team at AFLSA. It will be an experience to carry with you forever.

Extreme Eagles are four times AFL Vryburg league Champions

By Phindile Khambule
05 July 2005

The Eagles have done it again – Extreme Eagles won the league championship, they now hold a four times league champion’s record which makes them the only teams to have done so. The Eagles defeated the Bulldogs by 53 – 6 points. The Bulldogs fought like wounded dogs trying their level best to win the championship from the Eagles but where too good for the day.

AFL Vryburg has completed their fourth successive junior league. The league was contested by 7 clubs from Vryburg making it the biggest league they’ve ever organised since their first league. The grand finals were hosted in Vryburg at Huhudi Stadium on the 24^th June 2006. The day kicked off with numerous games from the U-16 and senior teams as a display and curtain raisers to the grand finals between the Extreme Eagles and the Western Bulldogs. The Extreme eagles have won the league four times in a row since the introduction of the leagues in the AFL South Africa system making them the only club to have done that.

July Machethe – Head of Development has expressed that the grand finals between the Bulldogs and the Eagles displayed the best match of footy ever experienced in South Africa as a result to proving kids with more match time through leagues and off season competition.