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Aussie Rules: Kids learning Rules of Oz football
Mar 25 2009 Evening Chronicle
 
A HAWK swoops down on a Cat – but this is not the latest David Attenborough show.
It is Australian rules football. and that des not have to mean strapping great Bruces knocking seven shades out of each other.
Aussie Rules UK is bringing the sport, and genuine kit donated from Down Under by professional teams like the Hawthorn Hawks and Geelong Cats, to local schools – and kids love it.
Eleven-year-old Thomas Collins, of Priory Primary School in Tynemouth, said: “It is fun, a lot like rugby and football put together. I really enjoy it.”
He is not alone. Priory Primary is just one of a growing number of schools in the region at which Aussie Rules UK’s development manager Rick Shrowder is taking regular coaching sessions.
The 32-year-old moved to the North East from Adelaide a decade ago and has since established the Newcastle Centurions Aussie rules side in conjunction with Benton-based Novocastrians Rugby Club.
What he really wants though, is to find the next Alan Shearer – of Aussie rules.
Shrowder said: “North East people eat, sleep and drink football but not everyone can be the next Shearer.
If you give kids a broader experience of sport, you just might discover they have other skills.
“That is why, as well as trying to promote the sport at adult level and foster a club environment just like, and in tandem with rugby clubs, we are taking the sport to the real grassroots through the Aussie Rules Schools Programme.
“I am coaching at about 15 schools a week and always looking for more.
If schools are prepared to try something new and really take it on board, they just need to get in touch.
“The perception of the sport is there are no rules, anything goes. We are trying to change that perception.
“In fact, the kids pick it up quicker than the adults, probably because they do not come with any pre-conceptions.
“We keep it quite basic – the youngest do not tackle, and tackling is something we introduce responsibly.
“It is not just about how to tackle but how to be tackled, so they develop the balance to avoid injuries.
“Game situations come further down the line, and there is also no reason why, at younger levels, girls and boys cannot compete with and against each other.
“Once the kids have learned the basic skills, they start to improve markedly.”
At Priory Primary, they can see the path of progression to the top of the sport in this country with their own eyes.
Teacher Mike Shackleton was part of the England Dragonslayers national side which won the European Championships in Prague last October – and coaches the sport as part of the PE curriculum.
He said: “The kids love it. Most of them have a rugby background, so their basic skills set is good.”
For further information, log on to www.aussierulesuk.com or call Rick Shrowder

Aussie Rules Football: Centurions to promote sport by hosting national tournament
Apr 1 2009 by Stuart Rayner, The Journal

NEWCASTLE Centurions will showcase Aussie Rules football to the North East with a national tournament in May.
The inaugural Aussie Rules UK National Cup at Cochrane Park in Newcastle on May 9 will feature teams from England and Scotland.
The curtain-raiser to the 2009 season is designed to promote the sport. But for Centurions captain Matt Bradford it is an opportunity to pit his wits against some of his England team-mates.
The 25-year-old centre was born in Guildford, but moved to Newcastle to study eight years ago. He has stayed ever since, working as a PE teacher and playing rugby for Novocastrians. Bradford took up Aussie Rules in 2007 to keep fit in the summer, and just over a year later was in the England team which beat Croatia in the EU Cup final.
“I know a lot of the boys I’ll be playing against in the tournament from that,” he said. “Our league’s quite small so to have 20 teams coming up will be great. The southern teams will be very strong because they play almost all year round, whereas here it’s a summer sport. But we should give them a good game.”
Two years ago Adelaide-born Rick Shrowder set up the Centurions, who play a nine-aside version on rugby pitches, instead of 18 on cricket ovals. He is now the sport’s North East development manager. “It’s a chance for people in the North to see the sport,” he explained. “It’s also a way we can showcase to the rest of the country what we’ve achieved in the last nine months in particular.
“We’ve got two more clubs in our league next season in Sunderland and Gateshead. We’ll almost be getting to the point next year where Newcastle might be able to host a second team, and there’s been interest expressed in a Northumberland team.
“It’s crucial we don’t come across as just Aussies playing the game, it’s very much about encouraging new people to learn a brand new sport. You don’t have to be at a high level of fitness, skill, size or anything. If you want to get involved, we’ll find a way.
“It would be really great if we could find some corporate support, it just means we can provide more on the day. But it’s just as much about the follow-up to the tournament if we want to continue to develop the sport at grass roots level, improve our schools programme and get more kids playing.”