Australian rules football kicks off in Indian cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar's hometown
Record ID:
164553
Australian rules football kicks off in Indian cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar's hometown
- Title: Australian rules football kicks off in Indian cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar's hometown
- Date: 17th January 2017
- Summary: MUMBAI, MAHARASHTRA, INDIA (RECENT - JANUARY, 2017) (REUTERS) YOUNGSTERS PRACTICING FOR A GAME OF AUSTRALIAN RULES FOOTBALL ON A BEACH IN MUMBAI LINCOLN HARRIS, AN AUSTRALIAN RULES ENTHUSIAST WHO INTRODUCED THE SPORT TO MUMBAI, KICKING A BALL VARIOUS OF PLAYERS GOING THROUGH TRAINING DRILLS HARRIS PASSING BALL TO PLAYERS DURING PRACTICE TWO PLAYERS RUNNING TO CATCH BALL PLAYERS AND HARRIS CLAPPING TOGETHER HARRIS TALKING / PLAYERS LISTENING (SOUNDBITE) (English) AUSTRALIAN RULES ENTHUSIAST AND OWNER OF INDIA UNBOUND TRAVEL COMPANY, LINCOLN HARRIS, SAYING: "I think Indians are getting a bit cricket saturated and I think that's leaving room for other sports to come into it, and people can enjoy lots of different sports, they don't just have to have the one sport in their life, and that's where we think there's scope for footy and obviously being such a different game to cricket, the contrast might be appreciated by people." VARIOUS OF GAME IN PROGRESS (SOUNDBITE) (English) AUSTRALIAN RULES ENTHUSIAST AND OWNER OF INDIA UNBOUND TRAVEL COMPANY, LINCOLN HARRIS, SAYING: "We're actually hoping in the future to go out into rural India and start introducing the game there because I think firstly, they have less resources out there than city folk do, and so I think they'd be more responsive to a new sport, and then secondly, the space, you know, it's easy to just go and introduce the game and play on a field or whatever it is, and then they'll get enthusiastic about the sport, they'll start playing, and then we'll come together and play a tournament once we have teams from all over." VARIOUS OF GAME IN PROGRESS HARRIS WALKING AROUND, LIFTING ARM IN AIR (SOUNDBITE) (English) FORMER TEA-STALL BOY AND NOW ONE OF THE LEADING TORCHBEARERS OF AUSTRALIAN RULES IN INDIA, SUMESH SAWANT, SAYING: Yeah we have quite good numbers in Mumbai and we are looking forward to spread the game in other Indian states like Kerala, Rajasthan, Kolkata and more. SUMESH SAWANT, A FORMER TEA-STALL BOY WHO NOW PLAYS AUSTRALIA RULES FOOTBALL, PLAYING GAME WITH OTHER PLAYERS (SOUNDBITE) (English) FORMER TEA-STALL BOY AND NOW ONE OF THE LEADING TORCHBEARERS OF AUSTRALIAN RULES IN INDIA, SUMESH SAWANT, SAYING: "We're also looking forward to participate for AFL (Australian Football League) Asia Cup next year (this year, 2017) which is going to be in China. So, yeah, we are looking forward to participating in that." HARRIS WRESTLING BALL OFF PLAYER AND KICKING IT ACROSS BEACH / GAME IN PROGRESS
- Embargoed: 31st January 2017 09:04
- Keywords: India Australian Rules Mumbai Tendulkar cricket sport Australia Aussie Rules Australian footy football
- Location: MUMBAI, MAHARASHTRA, INDIA
- City: MUMBAI, MAHARASHTRA, INDIA
- Country: India
- Topics: Australian Rules Football,Sport
- Reuters ID: LVA0015ZGXH09
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text:On a sandy beach next to the Arabian sea, with Mumbai's skyline in the background, about two dozen youngsters enthusiastically go through the drills of a sport they had not even heard about until a few years ago.
Lincoln Harris, an Australian football enthusiast who also owns a travel company called India Unbound, is hooking these young boys in the cricket-mad hometown of Indian cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar to the high-contact sport, often colloquially known as Aussie rules.
India, despite a population of over 1.5 billion people, is largely a one-sport nation with a religion-like following for cricket, but Harris views this as an opportunity.
"I think Indians are getting a bit cricket saturated and I think that's leaving room for other sports to come into it," said Harris on the sidelines of the sandy pitch.
About six years ago, Harris struck up a conversation about cricket with 18-year-old Sumesh Sawant, who was working at a roadside tea stall.
After coming together for a few sessions of the bat-and-ball game on the streets of the western Indian city, he brought along a rather differently-shaped ball, asking Sawant and his friends to try out a new game - Australian football.
Both the number of players and the number of onlookers quickly grew and, seeing the potential for the sport to catch on in Mumbai, Harris got in touch with Reclink, an Australian charity providing sport, recreation and art programs for people experiencing disadvantage.
Reclink is now a partner, working with Savant and Harris to build an Aussie rules network in India. Over 200 people are now playing the sport in Mumbai.
"We're actually hoping in the future to go out into rural India and start introducing the game there... and then we'll come together and play a tournament once we have teams from all over," Harris said.
"Yeah we have quite good numbers in Mumbai and we are looking forward to spreading the game in other Indian states like Kerala, Rajasthan, Kolkata and more," added Sawant, who now coordinates competitions in Mumbai.
Sawant says the competitions provide opportunities to kids from poor neighbourhoods to travel outside the city, for many a first in their lives.
Top-flight Australian Rules football is embraced with religious fervour in Australia's southern states but in overseas markets remains a fringe sport confined to obscure time-slots on cable TV channels. But that has clearly not stopped the 18-team Australian Football League (AFL) from wading tentatively into foreign waters.
There is another emerging rival Aussie Rules group in India, based in the eastern city of Kolkata and known as the Australian Rules Football Association of India (ARFAI). They are under the AFL banner, and are holding their national championship tournament on Monday (January 16) and Tuesday (January 17). The Mumbai Reclink-sponsored teams have not been invited to play.
Sawant and his fellow team members say they are instead looking forward to participating in the AFL Asia Cup being held in May-June this year in China. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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