Page 27 - AFL Queensland 2015 Year in Review

ALL NATIONS & WORLD XVIII TEAM
Queensland’s All Nations team won the Multicultural Division of the 2015 AFL Diversity Cup in a nail biting match, Queensland 7.3 (45) d Victoria/Tasmania 3.8 (26).
Queenslanders Toara Marango (Captain), Rayma Tuputala, Tom Ansell (Vice Captain), Mallie Tom and Dean Katsiris were pa of the World Team that pa icipated in the Under 16 NAB AFL National Championships on the Gold Coast.
COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT: WORLD FIESTA
Queensland celebrated AFL Multicultural Round at community football level with umpires wearing orange socks and waving orange flags to raise awareness of multiculturalism in our game.
Another highlight was the AFL Queensland World Fiesta Day
at Yeronga, a community event celebrating cultural diversity through football, food and family ente ainment. The day featured a full program of AFL football, exotic foods, Brazilian drums, Samba dancers and our famous inflatable kids’ playground.
GARBUTT MAGPIES CUP
The Garbu Magpies Cup was conducted in Townsville in August as a carnival day involving 10 schools with a high population of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students from Townsville, Palm Island and Cha ers Towers.
The Garbu Magpies Cup (GMC) was inspired by a research study following a group of Under 17 AFL players from the Garbu Magpies Australian Football Club touring side to Melbourne in 1983, looking
KEITH SHANGARE DIVERSITY COORDINATOR
at the long term impact that Australian Football had on this group of indigenous players. These players have gone on to be leaders in the Indigenous community and the driving force behind the GMC, which works under the tag line: Boys to Men.
The GMC involved the elders
in the community (all of whom were associated with the Garbu Magpies) visiting schools to share their stories, encourage boys to take responsibility for their own lives and to be self-directing and grasp oppo unities.
The Collingwood Football Club was involved in the initial tour in 1983 and added its suppo to
this initiative by providing a kit
for each player. Deadly Spo and Queensland Spo and Recreation arranged for Brisbane Lions triple premiership player, Darryl White, to a end the event.
Heatley State School were the overall winners, but the impact of the GMC on the local community was the greatest benefit.
NATIONAL KICKSTART AND FLYING BOOMERANGS
This program gives Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander athletes the oppo unity to develop the skills required to succeed within an elite AFL environment.
The 2015 championships were held in Cairns with players selected from all over Queensland, representing many pa s of the state including Yam Island in the Torres Strait.
In 2015 Queenslanders Philip Solomon, Philemon Nona and Ari Miles represented the Boomerangs at the Under 16 NAB AFL National Championships on Gold Coast.
FOOTY MEANS BUSINESS
In 2015, 11 Queenslanders were selected to be pa of the Footy Means Business Program. The program involved two camps that were held in February (Pe h) and May (Melbourne).
The second camp saw pa icipants play the cu ain raiser match for the Dreamtime at the G’ game between Essendon and Richmond.
The camps have a focus on talent development and helping young indigenous AFL players to reach the next level of their football careers. The camps also focus on educational and employment programs along with cultural identity.
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EDDIE SANSBURY DIVERSITY COORDINATOR - TALENT