Programs

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Contents

• Introduction
• Programs
• ARUK website
• Aussie Rules Schools
• Auskick
• Teachers Inset
• ARUK Under-16 League
• ARUK Walkabout National League
• Touch Aussie Rules
• Womens footy
• ARUK University League
• National Teams
• Development Managers
• ARUK North East
• Contact Us

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Introduction
Aussie Rules UK was established in 2005 to
promote and develop Australian football in the
UK. Thanks to the support of Sport England and
the UK Sports Minister, Aussie Rules UK is based
at the offices of Sport England. Two of the major
aims in introducing Aussie Rules to the UK are to
use its novelty appeal and focus on participation
and fun to 1. help combat the growing rise of
obesity amongst children in the UK 'Get a Kick
out of life!', and 2. help reduce the number of
underprivileged children who get into trouble
with the law 'Kids in Sport are not in Court'.
More information about us can be found at
www.aussierulesuk.com.
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Programs

• Aussie Rules UKs main programs are
• Aussie Rules Schools
• Auskick
• Teachers Inset
• ARUK Under-16 League
• ARUK Walkabout National League
• Touch Aussie Rules
• Womens footy
• ARUK University League
• National Teams

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ARUK Website
The ARUK website has recently been professionally
redeveloped. The website has proved to be our
most valuable resource and will continue to be
enhanced in future. www.aussierulesuk.com
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Aussie Rules Schools
Aussie Rules Schools is our major program.
Children in both primary and secondary school are
taught how to play an exciting new sport. Our
focus is to give children the opportunity to
grow, sustain and excel in Aussie Rules. Aussie
Rules is the ultimate invasion game. A
combination of football, rugby and basketball, it
has proved to be very popular with English
children. Our Aussie Rules Schools program has
been such a success that two London schools have
dropped soccer from their curriculum and replaced
it with Aussie Rules! Participants 2005 1000
kids 2006 3,247 kids 2007 5,200 kids 2008
5,819 kids
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Auskick

• Auskick is a six to eight week course that is
  designed to teach the skills and rules of
  Australian Football. It is delivered either after
  school or on weekends. The program has a high
  emphasis on skill development, safety, good
  sportsmanship, parental/volunteer involvement and
  most of all, fun.
• Broken up into 4 age groups (Joeys, Wallabies,
  Kangaroos Big Reds) starting as young as five,
  the games and drills are designed relative to a
  childs age and personal development. A key
  component of the program is the Auskick
  philosophy, which is for the game to
• be fun and to be safe
• maximise participation, skill learning and
  
  development
• involve appropriately accredited coaches
• provide a logical transition from introductory
  
  level through to competitions at
  club and/or school
• be managed by the community

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Teachers Inset
Aussie Rules UK conducts Teacher's Inset courses
to provide a basic knowledge of the game to UK
teachers. The course is vital to the future
sustainability of the program as UK teachers must
be able to teach the game to their
students. These courses are easily conducted at a
school. All participants receive a football and a
Level 1 Aussie Rules Coaching certificate. The
outline of the course is as follows 1.
Introduction to Aussie Rules (Classroom) Basics,
Rules, Skills, Handouts, Video footage 2. Skills
(Field) Handball, Marking, Kicking, Bouncing 3.
Game (Field) Participants finish with a fun and
friendly
non-contact
game of Aussie Rules.
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ARUK Under-16 League

• Our Under-16 league commenced in May 2008, with
  five teams aligned to senior teams in London. The
  5 clubs were Featherstone Wildcats, Carshalton
  Hawks, Hackney Free Swans, Lambeth Demons
  Winston Churchill Magpies.
• A major aim of the ARUK Under 16 League is to
  create a pathway to the senior competition, where
  the best kids have the opportunity to play
  alongside and against quality Australian players.
  This will invaluable in terms of their
  development and assist the senior national team
  in becoming a major player in international
  tournaments.
• The basics are
• High school teams, each aligned with a AFL
  London club
• Full-contact Australian football
• Boys aged 14-16
• All playing uniforms, footballs, umpire uniforms
  etc. supplied
• Children trained to umpire (field, boundary
  goal)
• Best players chosen to represent junior national
  team
• Emphasis on increasing participation, creating
  player
  pathways sustainability

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ARUK National League
The second season of the ARUK Walkabout National
League kicked off in April 2008 and it was a
great success. 2009 promises to be a fantastic
year, with the League expanding from 11 to 17
teams North East - Middlesbrough Hawks,
Newcastle Centurions, Hartlepool Dockers, Durham
Swans, Sunderland Clippers, Gateshead
Miners Central Manchester Mosquitoes, Liverpool
Eagles, Leeds Lions, Huddersfield Rams, Sheffield
Thunder, Birmingham Bears Southern Sussex
Swans, Bournemouth Demons, Chippenham Redbacks,
Southampton Titans, Portsmouth Pirates All
matches are 9-a-side and played on rugby sized
grounds. The main emphasis is to create more
clubs outside London. Having more clubs helps to
reduce travel, which has proved such a burden to
non-London based clubs in the past. Clubs are
encouraged to affiliate with an existing rugby
club. Such affiliation gave each club access to a
playing field and good facilities for players and
supporters, including changing rooms, toilets,
showers and a bar. Having such facilities is
vital if Aussie Rules is to grow and develop in
the UK.
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Touch Aussie Rules
Touch Aussie Rules is a non-contact version of
Aussie Rules played on weeknights in London after
work. It is played by men women in mixed
competitions. Traditionally Australian football
in the UK has offered one model flat out
competitive football for males played on
Saturdays, the vast majority of which are
Australians. Playing to any decent standard
requires a pre-season and two nights of intensive
training during the year. This excludes many in
the UK who cannot afford the time, physical
demands or risks of playing 18-per-side football.
There is no middle ground for locals or expats
trying to get into the game. Since 2005 Aussie
Rules UK has run very
successful
spring and summer competitions

in Putney and Clapham Common in London.

We look forward to expanding this
version to
other parts of the
UK, starting with the North

East. www.touchaussierules.com
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Womens footy
The first ever women's full-contact footy match
in the UK was organised by Aussie Rules UK and
was held in London on 21 April 2007 as part of
the ANZAC Sports Challenge. This was repeated in
April 2008. Womens footy is something we would
like to develop further but there has not been
much interest in playing the full-contact version
in the UK. Touch Aussie Rules, however, has been
very popular with the girls and this is the more
likely version of the code to be played by women
in the UK. In 2009 our aim is to see this
non-contact version of the game played outside
London for the first time.
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University footy
Celebrating its 87th year in 2008, the annual AFL
varsity match between the University of Oxford
and Cambridge University is the longest running
Aussie Rules match played outside
Australia! Forming a National University
competition is part of Aussie Rules UK's
long-term strategic plan. The ARUK University
League was formed in 2008 with participating
universities including the Chichester University
Cougars, Brighton University Panthers and
University of Surrey Magpies.
Our aim in 2009 is to expand the League into
other parts of the UK.
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England Dragonslayers EU Cup
The National Senior Team is known as the England
Dragonslayers. In October 2008 England travelled
to Prague, Czech Republic to compete in the EU
Cup, the European Championships of Australian
football. The 12 competing teams were England,
Finland, Czech Republic, France, Germany,
Scotland, Croatia, Catalonia, the Netherlands,
Austria, Sweden the EU Crusaders. After
finishing third in Hamburg in 2007, England were
determined to do better and they did so in
magnificent style, defeating Croatia in the final
in Prague to be crowned European Champions! See
www.aussieruleseurope.com for more info.
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Great Britain Bulldogs
In 2006 the junior England Dragonslayers defeated
the Denmark Vikings in Denmark (King Canute Cup)
and in 2007 defeated Sweden in Stockholm
(Waterloo Cup). Eager to test themselves against
stronger opposition, the renamed Great Britain
Bulldogs traveled to Australia in August 2008 to
play matches against 3 Australian teams. They
also attended and supported the Australian
Football International Cup in Melbourne. The
junior Bulldogs lost their first two games to
Geelong College and Brauer College respectively.
However, in a major boost to the game in the UK,
the Bulldogs rallied in their final game and
defeated Warrnambool College. The achievement of
defeating an Australian team on Australian soil
was magnificent and a credit to all involved.
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Our Vision
When Aussie Rules UK was first established, the
aim was to ensure that the sport could succeed
and be sustainable in the UK. As a result it was
decided to concentrate on one area (London), with
particular focus on 2-3 Boroughs - that way the
risks of spreading yourself too thin would be
avoided. The long-term aim to eventually have a
full-time person in each region e.g. ARUK North
East, ARUK Yorkshire, ARUK South West etc. This
is important as there is only so
much that
can be done from London. Having been here 3
years, it is now time to make that

vision a reality. Of course the first step is to
secure
enough funding to appoint a
full-time Development
Manager in
one of the regions. The lessons learned

from that will be invaluable in rolling out
the program
to the other
regions. We have no doubt Aussie Rules can play a
major role
in getting
people to grow, sustain and excel in sport.
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Development Managers

• Aussie Rules UK wants to introduce, develop and
  encourage participation in Aussie Rules across
  the UK but in particular England.
• This will only be possible with the development
  of the core business and the assistance of
  full-time Development Managers across the English
  Regions. The main objectives going forward are
  to
• Develop the core staffing to ensure overall
  leadership of Aussie Rules UK
• Development of a long term business and
  Investment Plan for the Sport
• Develop capacity in one region to pilot the
  delivery approach
• Development and Delivery of current and emerging
  Aussie Rules Programmes
• Continue to raise the profile of Aussie Rules UK
  
• Broker appropriate relationships with a wide
  range of stakeholders with a view to securing
  further investment for the sport

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ARUK North East

• Thanks to major funding received from Sport
  England, a regional office of Aussie Rules UK was
  established in Newcastle in 2008 ARUK North
  East.
• Rick Shrowder has been appointed the full-time
  Development Manager. The main objectives of the
  role are to
• increase participation in sport and physical
  activity
• address the issue of childhood obesity through
  the Aussie Rules Schools program
• develop and assist in managing the ARUK Northern
  League and the four established clubs in
  Newcastle, Durham, Hartlepool and Middlesbrough
• encourage the development of elite players from
  each club to ensure consistent representation
  from the North East at National level for the
  England team
• establish Auskick centres
• establish Touch Aussie Rules competitions
• offer opportunities for adults to learn new
  skills through coaching, umpiring, managerial,
  administrative and voluntary positions at the
  four current clubs as well as four new clubs
• If successful, this pilot project will be rolled
  out to other regions in the UK, resulting in the
  appointment of additional full-time Development
  Managers.

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Contact Us
Aussie Rules UK looks forward to working with all
stakeholders in the UK who are keen to see our
great game expand and grow. If you have any
queries please contact Brian Clarke General
Manager Aussie Rules UK 3rd Floor Victoria House
Bloomsbury Square London WC1B 4SE Tel 020
7273 1974 Mobile [phone] Email
brian.clarke_at_sportengland.org Web
www.aussierulesuk.com