West Australian Football

The West Perth Football Club is hoping to enroll more than 400 children in July’s Smarter than Smoking Holiday Clinics, whether they play football or not. The clinics will give young footballers the opportunity to receive skills coaching from senior Falcon’s players and gain an insight into how the club runs.

West Perth District Manager Gerry O’Dea said the clinics were not just aimed at kids already involved in the sport. “We want new kids to come along,” he said. “We don’t want the Holiday Clinics to be just an experience for children already playing junior footy.”

The players involved were aged 5-8 and everyone enjoyed a highly entertaining 5 rounds of football. The joy it bought to these young footballers was immeasurable and the laughter it drew from spectators and parents was immense.

LOCK in Sunday, September 21 as WAFL grand final day. Since 2002 the biggest game on the WAFL calendar has been played on a Sunday and despite West Coast and Fremantle not participating in this year’s AFL finals, 2008 will be no different. Attracting an atmosphere-creating crowd was the impetus behind the WAFC chief executives voting again for a Sunday grand final. By avoiding any clash with a live telecast of the AFL preliminary final was another primary reason for not playing the game on Saturday.

South Fremantle and Claremont will head this weekend’s AFL-free weekend in Perth when they play for the Jimmy Melbourne Cup at Fremantle Oval this Saturday.

Four games of WAFL will be played at the traditional time slot of 2.15pm this Saturday afternoon. There is expected to be an influx of AFL talent back to the WAFL this weekend, including Jeff Farmer who is hopeful of being part of this tribute game at the Port.

The Jimmy Melbourne Cup is in honour of the first aboriginal to play senior football in Australia and to acknowledge the wonderful contribution Indigenous players have made to our WAFL competition. The event will help kick off NAIDOC Week celebrations which will be held from July 6 to 13.

More than 100 children who recently migrated to Australia have been learning Aussie Rules football in a series of clinics provided by the Phoenix Perth Demons.

The clinics have been running as part of an in-school Auskick Centre at Parkwood Primary’s Intensive English Language Centre, enabling the children to access football and get a taste of Australian culture.