By Sgt Chris Warwick
MILITARY Australian football is set to begin the 2003 season with a national competition before a curtain raiser on hallowed Australian sporting turf on Anzac Day, further developing relations with a national sports body.

The Australian Services Australian Football Association (ASAFA) will hold the 2003 National Men’s and Women’s Competition in March, followed by a game against a combined emergency services team on the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) on Anzac Day.

In June, the selected ASAFA National Services Women’s team will compete in the Australian Football League’s (AFL) annual national women’s competition to be conducted in the Northern Territory.

Given the importance and significance of fostering a strong relationship with the AFL, and a prominent AFL team, the ASAFA moved the national men’s competition to the beginning of the 2003 season in order to select the best possible team from available players to play on the SCG on a day of such national significance.

The Navy and RAAF will send their national team to the men’s competition to be held in Canberra from March 24 to 28 in an effort to break the Army’s 15-year hold on the national champion service title.

Still in developmental infancy, the ASAFA National Women’s team will travel to Darwin for their third attempt in the AFL’s national women’s competition, after a credible effort at last year’s competition at Drummoyne Oval in Sydney last year.

Unlike their male counterparts, the ADF women compete against teams from all Australian Rules football-playing states and the standard of play will only improve with the experience.

Any local female sailors, soldiers and airwomen in the Darwin area who are interested in providing any level of support to the team during the AFL women’s nationals are encouraged to approach their local unit Australian Rules football representative or to contact the ASAFA Communications Officer at chris.warwick@defence.gov.au for further information.

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