All-Australian South African sojourn
By Lachlan Head
In January earlier this year, I travelled to South Africa as the All-Australian Umpire with the U15 Australian Schoolboys squad, and toured around the country, umpiring 3 games, visiting townships conducting FootyWILD clinics with school kids, learning about the history of South Africa, and throwing myself into other exciting sightseeing activities.
It all started in Broken Hill umpiring the NSW All Schools U15 Championships, where I was selected to travel to Darwin to umpire at the School Sport Australia Australian Football Championships.
At these Championships, I was awarded the A.S. McLean Medal and named All-Australian Umpire for 2013, and selected to travel to South Africa with the All-Australian Schoolboys squad.
I was only the second umpire from NSW/ACT to be awarded this honour.
The tour was a once-in-a-lifetime experience, and taught me a great deal.
For the three games the Australian Schoolboys played against South African Lions, I umpired with some local girls, as most of the boys played.
During the games I mentored the other umpires; giving tips, but also learning from them.
After each of the games everyone came together, and the South Africans often sung and danced for us, which was fun and entertaining.
We also went to small villages and townships and conducted FootyWILD clinics (similar to AusKick here in Australia) and taught the “Big 5” skills to school kids.
After each of the clinics the school kids would all cheer, dance and sing.
It was great to see them all smiling and laughing, especially after travelling through townships and seeing their humble living conditions, but despite this they are all so happy and cheerful.
During our tour, we also visited tourist attractions; such as Mandela House in Soweto, the Apartheid Museum in Johannesburg, Pilanesburg National Park, Table Mountain in Cape Town, and the AFL South Africa Headquarters in Potchefstroom, and learnt about local culture and way of life.
The tour to South Africa was a truly rewarding and gratifying experience, and made me realise just how lucky we are to live in a country like Australia.
