FIFTY years ago Alex Jesaulenko made his debut for Carlton and, after wowing fans with acrobatic prowess and stunning football ability, 'Jezza' went on to coach the Blues to a famous premiership in 1979.

Now, the AFL has named a new program after the AFL Legend which is designed to allow community coaches from diverse backgrounds to work part-time as a volunteer in an AFL club's coaching program for a period of 12 weeks during 2017.

The Alex Jesaulenko Coaching Internship is intended to focus on coaches with Northern African or Asian heritage.

The AFL said in a statement 'multicultural background' was defined by the coach, or their parents, being born overseas.

The program will provide coaches with specific experiences in player development, game analysis, planning for training and competition, injury prevention and rehabilitation, coach-to-coach and coach-to-player relationships, and aims to enhance leadership skills.

The AFL hopes the program will have a knock-on effect and the coaches selected will inspire others from a non-traditional football background and/or multicultural background to become involved in Australia's game.

The program was piloted in 2016 and was regarded by the six clubs taking part as a positive initiative.

AFL football operations manager Simon Lethlean said: "The AFL is excited to be able to offer community coaches an amazing opportunity to experience the inner-sanctum at an AFL club.

"I want to thank our clubs, our coaches and the AFL Coaches Association in advance for providing this opportunity and we thank Alex for lending his name to the program.

"It's vitally important we continue to encourage people from diverse communities to become involved in all levels of the game and this coaching internship does exactly that."