Posted: 25/07/2019
It was three clubs, three nights, and three very different experiences as we took to the road this week for the annual Toyota Good For Footy event.
Each year, Toyota Motor Corporations Australia teams up with its dealer network and the AFL to give grass roots footy clubs an opportunity to engage and learn from and AFL player, current or former. Being the home of four great dealer locations, Melbourne City Toyota had the pleasure of taking part in three such events, and it was something that in one case, literally almost blew us away!
When we arrived at Port Melbourne Junior Football Club we were unaware of the fact that there had been a severe weather warning and yet despite this, we had 14 brave young souls determined not to be put off meeting Luke Dunstan from St Kilda FC. Of course, the benefit of this was that the lucky gang got to have Luke all to themselves and they sure made the most of it with drills galore!
The following night we headed up to Heidelberg Football Netball Club and in the absence of gale force winds, it was great to see several age groups turn out for a chance to meet former flag-winning AFL great Campbell Brown. Now, given that it was over ten years since Campbell won the Premiership, it was perhaps no surprise to hear one enthusiastic youngster ask, rather matter-of-factly ‘were you any good?’ But Campbell was a great sport, spent time with each different age group, held a long Q&A session, and sign heaps of footies to finish the evening.
Onwards to our final event at Kew Rovers and it was a homecoming of sorts for Sk Kilda’s Jack Billings who it turns out grew up just around the corner. Jack was so familiar with the territory that he turned up almost ahead of everyone else! The weather had vastly improved by this event, so it was no surprise to see a bunch of parents on the sidelines and Jack put the youngsters through their paces. Another fresh stock of footies was signed and a Q&A session finished the formalities, but to his credit, Jack then stayed on to work with some of the more senior teams, which was great of him to do and perfectly demonstrated the spirit of the Good For Footy program.
All in all a great experience for these youngsters and we look forward to next year!