| The Dragon's Quest |
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This mantra is one oft repeated, and is what the British Empire was founded upon. However, it's not only empires which arise as a result of a quick chat, Aussie Rules teams can also come into being from nothing more than a few innocent questions over a custard cream. Such a situation is where the countries newest team, the Dulwich Dragons, came from after Mark De Stefanis turned to his colleague to chat about AFL in Britain. His colleague just happened to be Jonathan Boyle, legend of the game in Britain and current captain of the GB Bulldogs. The discussion wandered from general topics along to why there were no teams in South East London and ended up with the question - could it be done? Could a brand new team come together and compete in the London region?
Mark took it
upon himself to investigate further by contacting the AFL Britain committee and
asking whether they might be able to help put together a team over the course of
2008 with an aim of competing in 2009.
Sam Percy, AFL Britain President, followed this up and between the two of
them they decided ‘why wait?!', promptly beginning working out how to make the
Dragons come to life in time for the start of the 2008 season.
This effort was successful, and the Dragons ran out for the first time in the AFL London Social League. The result on the pitch was almost not important, the real result was the amazing result off the pitch and the amount of support Mark and the Dragons have had so far. "We currently have 13 players registered," Mark told AFL Britain, "and have at least another 32 who have expressed an interest and sent us their support. Not bad at all for 1½ months! Even more amazing is that 60-70% of those are non-Australian, in fact we've got English, Irish, Scottish, even French guys on the books." This ties in with the demographic make up of the area, which the club are keen to remember. They have created strong links with the local Gaelic football club, the Dulwich Harps, and plan to continue tapping this incredible resource for talent by exposing Irish players to the AFL code. They are also trying to source a logo for the club which brings together all that the club is about.
High aims indeed, for the moment we're sure that Mark and the Dragons will be happy to continue in their quest for competitiveness and keeping their bench open to any who want to get involved. South East London is a big place but there's only one AFL team there - why not give them a call and get involved in the Dragon's quest? |
Some of the best
work happens over a cup of tea. 
Short term the
aims for the Dragons are simple: to dispel some myths about the game and to have
a good time. | < Prev | Next > |
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