The Hawthorn Football Club is proud to announce a two-year partnership with the Eastern Football League (EFL).
Since 2015, the Hawthorn Football Club and EFL have been working together to strengthen community and grassroots football in Melbourne’s eastern suburbs, and now this formalised partnership aims to create the strongest ‘grassroots to elite’ alignment in Australian sport.
Hawthorn VFLW’s latest recruit Sarah Perkins will work with Hawthorn’s Next Generation Academy, while Dana de Bondt will mentor the Under 15 girls representative side, to support the development of female football in the Eastern region.
Hawks CEO Justin Reeves at the 2018 EFL Season Launch
Hawthorn Vice Captain Liam Shiels and teammate James Sicily will help promote the EFL’s talent programs as ambassadors, who will mentor and coach the EFL’s Under 14 and Under 15 interleague representative sides.
Shiels, who played for The Basin Football Club as a junior, said he’s thrilled Hawthorn is partnering with the league that he began his footy journey with.
“The EFL is a really strong breeding ground for impressive footy talent and it’s exciting that Hawthorn will be partnering with the league to further develop young players,” Shiels said.
“Sis and I are looking forward to working with the Under 14 and 15’s, to help the young players coming through to get the most out of themselves and hopefully pursue a career in AFL footy one day.
“I loved my time playing for The Basin as a junior, so for Hawthorn to give back to local clubs and provide these opportunities is fantastic.”
Read: Hawks to honour premiership heroes
Hawthorn CEO Justin Reeves believes the partnership will be valuable and rewarding for both organisations.
“We’re really pleased to have a formalised community partnership with the EFL, they’re a strong league with an incredibly rich history,” Reeves said.
“One of our aims is to create a Next Generation Academy talent pathway program to identify and nurture the best football talent in the Eastern suburbs, so one day, they too may get to play at the elite level, hopefully in the brown and gold.
“Hawthorn is committed to growing participation across all levels of community football and our coaches will work closely with EFL coaches, to guide the development and implementation of an Eastern Region Coaching Philosophy.”
EFL CEO Phil Murton welcomed the partnership with the Hawks.
“The east of Melbourne is Hawthorn’s heartland so we are thrilled to expand on our existing relationship with Hawthorn and are delighted with the commitment Hawthorn have shown in delivering this,” Murton said.
“With the largest community football competition in Australia partnering with the best AFL team in the country, we are excited by what the possibilities hold and have a joint vision to set a benchmark in Australian sport for integrating an elite sporting club with their community.”
