COLLINGWOOD CEO VISITS CAPE TOWN TOWNSHIP

By Allison Simons
28 June 2007

Gary Pert, CEO of Collingwood Football Club in Melbourne ,Australia, and his wife, Andi, spent an afternoon in Khayelitsha on Wednesday 20th June with approximately 60 kids from the local area who were participating in a mini-Footy Wild clinic conducted by AFL South Africa. The clinic was organized by Vusi Madalane, the newly appointed Khayelithsa Community Development Officer for AFL South Africa, in conjunction with Mazizi Sifanelo, the Nyanga Community Development Officer and a host of volunteers recruited from Khayelitsha and other townships in the Cape Town area.

The clinic was conducted at the picturesque Khayelitsha Cricket Oval and the kids were taught the basic skills of footy by Vusi and his team. Following this, the kids were given the opportunity to display the new skills that they had learnt in several 12-a-side matches.

“The skill displayed by this group of youngster is very impressive, especially given the fact that many of them were completely new to the game” said Allison Simons, the Western Cape Provincial Development Manager.“I am pleased that Gary and Andi were able to attend the clinic and see for themselves the potential that Cape Town has to offer.

Collingwood Football Club has shown a considerable amount of interest in the activities of AFL South Africa in Cape Town and are in the process of negotiating a partnership with AFL South Africa which will see them adopting the Western Cape as their exclusive South African Development Zone. This partnership will not only see a sharing of resources, skills and knowledge between the two organizations but also provides an opportunity for talented young Cape Town boys to be recognized and developed as potential professional players .