INAUGURAL ARMY/AFL AWARD

[Tiger-pie]

The winner of the inaugural AFL/Army Award was announced at a gala event in Melbourne last night (18th Sep).

Lieutenant General Peter Leahy, Chief of the Army, presented the award at the AFL All-Australian Awards Dinner.

?I?m pleased to announce that Alwyn Davey from Essendon has become the first winner of the AFL/ARMY Award,? LT GEN Leahy said.

?Alwyn was selected by football fans who voted on the AFL web site each week. Fans were asked to examine three acts performed by players in each round and to nominate the act they felt best displayed Army?s core values of courage, initiative and teamwork.

?This Award is designed to recognise the player who has totally committed himself to his club and his team mates,? he said.

?The Army takes this type of selfless commitment and adherence to core values seriously, for without them we could not succeed on the battlefield ? similar to what we see on the AFL field.

?I congratulate Alwyn for his efforts and am proud to present him tonight with a medallion and a $10,000 travel voucher. We?re also inviting him to be a guest of the Army at the School of Armour at Puckapunyal where he?ll have an experience that money can?t buy,? LT GEN Leahy said.

For those outside Australia, AFL is the Australian Football League. The Army has a pantership deal with them to increase the profile of the ARA to help boost recruitment numbers.

Regards;

Johnsy

[Tiger-pie]

Closeup of the award. A future collectors item?

[Megan]

Given the picture - is AFL the 'Australian Rules' version of football?

[Tiger-pie]

Given the picture - is AFL the 'Australian Rules' version of football?

Yes Megan, Australian Rules Football league. I would hazard that these would be sort after by sports fans and collectors of Aussie medals associated with the military too.

Regards;

Johnsy

[peter monahan]

Given the picture - is AFL the 'Australian Rules' version of football?

Megan

Yes, 'Aussie Rules Footba' is sorta like rugby, only without the girly-man rules about biting or eye-gouging and none of those poofy pads the North americans wear in what they call 'footbal'.

In fact, I believe it was footage of AFL games and (incoherent) interviews with former players which finally convinced the NHL - National (ice) Hockey League - to water down Canada's unofficial sport by introducing a mandatory helmet rule! Fewer concussion, sure, but just not the same somehow!

(BTW, Canada' official national sport is lacrosse, known to our Native brethren as 'the little brother of war'. A real man's sport!)

Peter

(I favour chess and poker, myself - I only lose blood when the bottle opener slips!)

[Ed_Haynes]

I always thought using ewords "Australian" and "rules" in the same phrase carried a certain aura of contradiction.

[Megan]

Lacrosse is not just a man's sport - I played at school & occasionally for my university (when they couldn't find a goalie!).

[Michael Johnson]

There are certain similarities between lacrosse and field hockey as played by women. Both are blood sports. I was at law school with some of the latter, and I would not have wanted to tangle with them.

[AJHaslett]

Interesting gong.

Incidentally, it's box Lacrosse (vs the girly field variety) that is our national summer sport. Hockey is Canada's national winter sport.

[Megan]

I will point out that the only sporting injuries I have received were playing lacrosse. It isn't very girlie even when played by girls!!!!

I played field hockey (not the ice sort) as well, to national squad level.

[Tiger-pie]

Yes, 'Aussie Rules Footba' is sorta like rugby, only without the girly-man rules about biting or eye-gouging and none of those poofy pads the North americans wear in what they call 'footbal'.

Peter

Aussie rules is actually a very structured game, despite how it might look to an outsider. It isn't as rough as it used to be as it is now a professional sport that commands a great deal of sponsorship money. It is very popular in Victoria in particular, one of the semi-finals this weekend had a crowd of 98,000 in attendance.

As only one these awards are handed out each year from this point onward I would say that they will rarely make it onto the market. They will of course not have the same level of prestige as the Brownlow Medal, of which only one is awarded each year to the "best and fairest" player. The first was awarded in 1924 and recently came on the market and is expected to fetch in the region of $200 000.

Regards;

Johnsy

Edited September 23, 2007 by Tiger-pie