Lucky two off to the Brownlow

Two lucky New South Wales residents have won a trip of a lifetime to attend the 2011 Brownlow Medal night with the team at Channel 7’s Sunrise.

Lael Kassem (Sydney) and Kate O’Callaghan (Leeton) will rub shoulders with the AFL’s elite players and sit with Sunrise’s Mel, Kochie, Mark and Nat on the AFL’s night of nights.

Earlier this year, Sunrise ran a competition to recognise the amazing contribution women make to the development of Australian football.

Among the 400 or so entrants were two standout nominations by Lael and Kate. They will join just two other winners at the Brownlow with the Sunrise team.

Lael, 19, has nine other siblings, all of which are boys. Growing up in the western suburbs of Sydney, Lael followed her brothers on and off the sporting field.

When they stated up a predominantly Muslim-only AFL team in Sydney’s most diverse suburb, Auburn, she decided to do likewise with her good friend Amna K-Hassan. The only difference, it was a girls only team.

The Tigers played in the Sydney Women’s AFL competition this year and despite being on the wrong end of some massacres they had a blast playing AFL.

Lael is an exemplary leader in her community providing women from all backgrounds with an opportunity to engage in physical exercise and play in a team sport.

Australian football is foreign to a lot of the participants but they love the feeling of running around, kicking the Sherrin and having fun with their teammates.

The club is extremely active in the community running clinics, family days and educating the general public about AFL.

They have also received wide national media coverage this year and are paving the way for women to play sport – especially from multicultural backgrounds.

While not starting up football clubs, Lael is studying a double degree at Sydney University.

The other deserving winner of the Brownlow Medal prize from NSW is Kate O’Callaghan from Leeton.

Kate has been involved with AFL with her local club the Leeton Whitton Crows for the last 11 years.

During this time she has held a number of positions from club secretary to fundraising coordinator and even heading up the canteen.

She is currently the membership coordinator and club photographer while also a fulltime mum to three lovely AFL playing boys – all of which support different teams.

Living in the country, Kate often drives kilometre after kilometre to ensure her kids get to training and at the same time make sure everyone at the Crows is enjoying their experience playing AFL.

Kate has put a lot of hard work into the club in recent years and has overseen the development of multiple AFL players. She is a deserving winner of the amazing prize and will look right at home at the Brownlow Medal with Lael and the Sunrise team.

The 400 entries for the award were judged by AFL Commissioner Sam Mostyn, GWS Giants coach Kevin Sheedy, General Manager – AFL NSW/ACT Tom Harley and Sunrise’s Mel, Doyle and Mark Beretta.