Auskick

Auskick has its roots in the Little League which began to be played at half time during VFL matches in the 1960s[2] and was revised in 1980 to make it more accessible. Little League was expanded by Ray Allsop into a state development program called Vickick begun in Victoria in 1985.

Urged by former player David Parkin in 1995 as a means of keeping the sport viable long term in the Australian Capital Territory[3]

Vickick was rebranded Auskick and at its peak in the mid-1990s there were around 200,000 Auskick participants annually.[4]

It was adopted by the Australian Football League, the national professional competition for the sport, which began to roll it out nationally from 1998.

Auskick is a national football coaching network, with clinics held weekly (usually on Saturday mornings) run by volunteers. The program attracts over 100,000 primary school aged participants annually and, as such, is the largest grassroots sporting association of its kind in Australia.

Each Auskick session consists of a training session and a game, with the emphasis on developing skills rather than the game result. Some of the major rule differences from Australian rules football are a ban on tackling and the restriction of players to their zone of the field, similar to netball.

The AFL is a major supporter of Auskick and star players occasionally assist in training events. The AFL also invites various branches of the Auskick network to play short games during the half-time breaks of premiership season games at all grounds, with numerous matches played on modified fields simultaneously.

In 2007 the program's slogan was "Where Champions Begin", with Jo Silvagni (wife of former AFL player Stephen Silvagni) and Robert DiPierdomenico, the 1986 co-Brownlow Medallist as the main ambassadors.[5] They also used the kick-to-kick tradition as part of their promotional television campaign, which shows kids from around the country kicking the football to each other to the tune of "Gimme Dat Ding".

Parents are involved across the board in activities such as at skills sessions, as coaches and supervisors, administrators, helpers, coordinators and first aid officers. Throughout the year, there are parent orientation courses as well as coaching courses.

The AFL has used the Auskick program the introduce Australian rules football into schools and communities around the country to increase the AFL's profile in areas that traditionally support other football codes such as New South Wales and Queensland.[6]

The AFL have been accused of exaggerating their participation figures[7] in their attempts to gain access to Sydney playing fields. Vast increases in AFL participation figures in Sydney were questioned by David Lawson, a Melbourne University academic, in a study commission by the AFL itself. His study found that AFL club participation rates in Sydney had stalled, and that the AFL was masking low figures by using short term, non-club affiliated Auskick participants and comparing them to competitive junior club participation numbers in other sports.[8]

Early on in the national program, national ambassadors were nominated. All of these ambassadors played for Victorian clubs and as the AFL and the program continued to expand nationally, these players were not always well recognised figures by children in all regions. In 2010s each state nominating its own ambassador, usually a home grown talent, without a national ambassador.

• "NAB AFL Mini Legends" (2016-)
• "More Give, Less Take" (2012)
• "Let It Shine" (2009)
• "Follow Every Rainbow" (2008)
• "Gimme That Thing" (2007)
• "Where Champions Begin" (2007)

Outside Australia, Auskick programs exist in the following countries:

•  Hong Kong[10]
•  United Kingdom[11][12]
•  Vanuatu[13]

Auskick exists under a different name in the following countries:

•  Denmark (Viking Kick)
•  Fiji (Bulakick)[lower-alpha 1][14]
•  New Zealand (Kiwi Kick)[15]
•  Papua New Guinea (Niukick)[lower-alpha 2][16][17]
•  South Africa[18]
•  United States (Ausball)[19]

• AFL Auskick