AFL fever in Newcastle
The future of Australian football in the Hunter was on show on the weekend when Newcastle hosted the Sydney Swans and Ainslie.
The NEAFL match attracted a healthy crowd to No. 1 Sportsground, despite poor weather conditions, where the Swans defeated the Tricolours by 50 points, winning 18.16.124 to 11.8.74.
Encouragingly it was the emergence of the Swans’ generation next, led by local Academy players Jack Pratt and Mitchell Crawford, who both put in strong performances for the Swans.
While Pratt and Crawford were on the field in red and white, budding AFL juniors were given a chance to play at halftime for NAB AFL Auskick.
Following the main NEAFL match were under-23 and under-18 representative matches between AFL Black Diamond and South Coast.
It was a strong day for the home teams with the under-23s winning 16.13.109 to 6.18.54 while the under-18s also recorded a comfortable victory, winning 12.27.99 to 1.2.8.
AFL CEO Andrew Demetriou last week addressed the National Press Club indicating he wants to see 14,000 participants in the Hunter in the next five years. Last year there were 8641 people playing the game in the region.
Following the successful weekend, it is hoped that more AFL games can be played in the Hunter region and that AFL can continue to grow at its current rate.
Congratulations must go to the Ainslie Football Club for not only giving up their home ground advantage, but having the foresight to see the opportunities this event brings to their club as a brand.
The club were very happy with the high quality management of the day by the Black Diamond League and are already in discussions regarding the possible relocation of another home game in 2012.
