Swans’ Aliir Headed For Big Things
By Neil Cordy
O’Loughlin first discovered the Kenyan teenager at a national championships in western Sydney in 2010.
O’Loughlin was coaching the team filled with raw but talented teenagers from all points of the compass including China, Argentina and of course Kenya.
“The championships really put the idea in Aliir’s head that he could compete with the best kids in the Australia,” O’Loughlin said.
“He’s one of the most coachable kids I’ve come across. He takes in information and he asks questions.”
Aliir’s journey from Sudan to the SCG via a Kenyan refugee camp has been nothing short of inspirational.
At the age of three his family were forced to flee to Kenya where they spent the next five years before emigrating to Australia and living in Brisbane.
After a succession of life changing events, selection in the World team for the 2010 under 16 AFL national championships in Blacktown was another.
And now he’s on the road to becoming a key defender.
“It’s crazy,” Aliir told the Daily Telegraph.
“It was unbelievable knowing where I came from who would have thought I would get picked up to play in the AFL.
“It’s a game I’d never heard of and isn’t played in my country.”
As for crossing paths with O’Loughlin, it’s a meeting he now reflects upon as the most crucial of his sporting career to date.
“I wasn’t really into football until Micky O (Michael O’Loughlin) coached me in the World team,” Aliir said.
“He got me on board, I was watching the Swans but I didn’t have a favourite team.”
