AS A CHILD, Luke Darcy used to sleep with his football.
Jason McCartney spent time trying to figure out what carbohydrates were and why all the big league players consumed them before a match.
And Nathan Buckley endured painful welts on his arm from training with his dad’s team as an enthusiastic youngster in Darwin.
They are the fond memories that Australian Football 150 Years ambassadors recall from their junior footy days.
But they are also the sorts of memories that football supporters collectively remember with a smile, whether young or old and regardless of the team they barrack for.
Australian Football 150 Years celebrations were officially launched today at the site of the first ever game of football in Melbourne’s Yarra Park in 1858.
Lord Mayor of Melbourne, John So kicked off the festivities literally when he booted a perfectly-aimed Sherrin into the crowd from the stage.
“We are a sport mad city and this is our number one game,” he announced, thanking supporters for their contributions to Australia’s national game.
“From humble beginnings you have produced a game that now has international reach, giving millions of people uncountable moments of shared glory, kinship and happiness,” he said.
“You have established the only code that we can genuinely call Australian.”
Former coach and 150 Years ambassador Neale Daniher, who grew up in Ungarie, a rural town outside of Wagga, shared his recollections of helping his father mark the football ground boundaries as a young child.
“From a very early age we’d be involved and it was just a great way to grow up,” he said.
“AFL football can impact upon a little town like Ungarie all the way to the MCG. It is about all those people that help the game and keep it alive.
“The heart of the town is football and netball played on the weekend.
“We’re getting around to communities and thanking families, volunteers, daughters, wives, mothers, brothers, our old man – anyone that’s been involved with this great game over 150 years.
Fellow 150 Years ambassador Mark Ricciuto agreed that this year offered an opportunity to acknowledge towns across Australia whose lifeblood has been football for generations.
“I grew up in a town of four-and-a-half thousand people,” he said.
“All they live to do up there is play their sport and footy’s the biggest part of that.”
The Big Kick goalkicking competition, a giant inflatable set of goals complete with an inbuilt target, was a hit with young players, many of whom were kitted up from head to toe in their team colours.
Parents relived some great football moments inside the Big Footy Dome heritage display.
Some braved the hot and humid conditions to showcase the style of dress from the era of the birth of Australian football, including the original Geelong uniform, complete with long drawstring pants and lace-up boots.
Ambassador Luke Darcy encouraged fans to take part in Kick around the World on August 7 by taking their footy to school or work on that day and uploading photos on to 150years.com.au.
“If you’ve got a friend in Paris on the Champs-Elysees or in New York or near the pyramids, bring your footy, get a photograph and send it into the website.”
“It’s about having a kick that day wherever you are, and bring your footy to work or to school that day.”
Brian Clarke, an expatriate Aussie living in London but in Australia for a few weeks holiday, made it clear his support could be counted on when he returned overseas.
“This is the greatest game in the world,” Clarke said.
“So this is the greatest birthday I’ve ever been to.”
