Japanese baseball fan Mai Tamaki attended a special NAB AFL Auskick clinic in Yarra Glen last week, as part of NAB’s Fansplant campaign.

Mai, who had never heard of AFL or Auskick prior to arriving in Australia, has been Footified with the help of her host family, the Flights, who are passionate Carlton fans that never miss a game at the ‘G’.

Father, Chris Flight, who is the NAB AFL Auskick Co-ordinator at Yarra Glen, put on a special NAB AFL Auskick clinic as a farewell to Mai before she returned to Japan.

NAB Fansplant is the latest chapter in NAB’s plan to Footify Australia, further demonstrating their commitment to growing the game.  

Five NAB ‘Fansplantees’ were selected from India, USA, Japan, Spain and Sweden after an extensive international search and were flown to Australia to be Footified.  

NAB has been supported throughout the Fansplant process by footy-loving ‘host families’ who were tasked with the role of converting
Fansplantees into AFL devotees. As a thank you for their efforts, each host will receive a VIP 2014 Toyota AFL Grand Final experience.

Tim Clarke, Head of NAB Sponsorship, said Fansplant is a natural next step to build on the momentum that was established last year.

“Footify has been built upon the premise that at NAB, we don’t just sponsor the game, we grow it. We’re proud of our long-term partnerships with NAB AFL Auskick, NAB AFL Rising Star and the NAB Challenge and we are excited to shine a light on this again in 2014 through Fansplant.” he said.

For more information on the NAB Fansplant campaign, please go to nab.com.au/afl.