Australian rules football in Wales
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Australian rules football began in Wales with the formation of Aussie Rules Wales (ARW) on September 1, 2006. ARW is based in Cardiff and is associated with Aussie Rules International under the umbrella of Aussie Rules UK which is based in London.
ARW will conduct junior clinics and school competitions, providing footballs, uniforms and other resources to Welsh football clubs and schools, conduct development visits to schools and football clubs and aims to raise awareness of Australian football and the AFL competition and its affiliates in 2008 and beyond.
ARW is initially focusing on the involvement of children between the ages of 5-15 throughout schools in South Wales in Aussie Rules with Auskick-style programmes. This area of Wales was chosen by ARW due to availability of resources and the concentration of the population. Regions such as Cardiff, Swansea and Gwent will be the main focal point starting from the 2008 school year.
Four senior teams in Cardiff, South Cardiff, Gwent and Swansea were organised to compete in the Welsh Australian Football League (WAFL) for the 2007 season. These clubs have formed partner club associations with semi-professional teams from the South Australian National Football League (SANFL), bearing the colours and nicknames of the SANFL partner clubs. Former British Australian Rules Football League club the Swindon Devils, from England's West Country, competed in the WAFL 2007 season as a guest club.
The national Welsh team known as the Wales Red Dragons played their first international against the England Dragonslayers for the 'Dragon Cup' in Cardiff on Saturday, 3rd November 2007 with England defeating Wales 91-61.
 |
This Australian rules football-related article is a stub. You can help by expanding it. |
 |
This Wales-related article is a stub. You can help by expanding it. |
