Regions across South Australia are gearing up for an exciting month with the return of the Gather Round Community Footy Roadshow
Kicking off today, the roadshow is set to visit 30 regional towns covering more than 4000 kilometres, marking the lead-up to this year’s AFL Gather Round.
A key curtain-raiser to the nine AFL Gather Round matches held in South Australia next month, the Roadshow will take in some of the state’s smaller communities as well as the larger regional centres.
Each stop on the action-packed Roadshow will feature family-friendly activities for locals including sausage sizzles and kick and catch clinics. Fans will also have the chance to get up close with the 2024 AFL and AFLW Premiership cups and the perpetual SANFL Thomas Seymour Hill Trophy and the SANFL Women’s League Premiership cup.
With many new destinations on the itinerary, the Roadshow will include first visits to Kangaroo Island and the Barossa with return trips to towns including Berri in the Riverland, Mount Gambier in the Limestone Coast and Port Lincoln in the Eyre Peninsula.
This year, there’s a focus on taking the Roadshow to smaller communities; among them, Kalangadoo in the state’s South East and Ungarra and Port Neill on the Eyre Peninsula.
Ungarra Primary School with just 28 students is among 35 regional schools hosting a Roadshow visit.
Added to this, every regional junior football club in the state will receive 15 brand-new Sherrin footballs as part of Roadshow celebrations.
Other new additions to feature on the tour are women and girls football education sessions, coach education sessions, regional umpire recruitment and development, and a rollout of the Tackle your Feelings mental health training program for clubs.
Rob Auld, AFL Executive General Manager of Game Development says “The Roadshow is a fantastic opportunity to help inspire young players and grow the game in regional communities, especially in areas that have been doing it tough the past few years.”
The Roadshow will first tour through the Riverland, starting in Berri, before heading to Kangaroo Island, then the Adelaide Hills, Eyre Peninsula, Barossa, and finishing in the state’s South-East.
