Youngsters turning to AFL

A new synthetic dual-purpose sports field at Narrabeen Sports High School will introduce more kids and communities to AFL football.

As Auskick numbers in Sydney swelled by 2139 players in the last year, at an increase of almost 29 per cent, the new sports field will open up AFL to the wider community.

The $1.2 million project will involve a synthetic sports field for AFL and soccer, facility lighting, goals, netting, line markings and a storm water harvesting system to collect rainfall from the field and irrigate another field.

The ground will be available to community sport clubs outside school hours when not in use by the AFL.

“To my knowledge there are no other dual-purpose synthetic AFL and soccer grounds in NSW,” said Peter Stokes from Narrabeen Sports High.

“This is certainly going to lift the profile of the sport.”

As part of the building of the sports oval, the school intends to introduce an AFL training program as part of its school curriculum through training clinics for students.

And students from the school are taking up the game with great enthusiasm.

“It’s a great game, I reckon it’s the best one” said Lachie Haines.

Fellow student Jarrod Taylor agreed: “There’s some judgmental comments but you don’t listen to them, it’s a great sport.”

With the introduction of the Greater Western Sydney Giants and the Sydney Swans’ 2012 Premiership win, AFL has never been more prominent in Sydney.

“We’re fortunate now that we’ve got an AFL game played in Sydney every week of the football season,” said AFL NSW/ACT Manager for Sydney/Illawarra Simon Wilson.

“It gives us enormous scope to try and really build and develop the game around that.”

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