By Liam Evans
The AFL Inclusion Carnival is an annual Aussie Rules tournament for players with mental disabilities. 2016 marked the third year of the carnival, which pits each Australian state against each other, allowing competitors to represent their state on a national scale.
In partnership with AFL Tasmania, New Horizons Club sent over fourteen players to represent Tasmania in the tournament. A jumper presentation ceremony was held for the players, their families and friends at Aurora Stadium the Sunday before the carnival.
Held in Melbourne from 9 to 15 August, games took place at famous Victorian suburban grounds including Punt Road Oval and Victoria Park. Despite going winless in the tournament, Tasmania’s team manager Belinda Kitto labelled it a “fantastic improvement” over previous tournaments, with the Tassie team hitting the scoreboard more frequently than in the past.
AFL Tasmania Development manager Barry Gaby said this year was Tasmania’s best effort in the carnival: “It’s the best we’ve ever done. Even though we didn’t get the wins we were able to score a lot more goals than previously. We’ve picked up a few blokes who can really play.”
Further underlining Tasmania’s improvement, the state had two players included in the All Australian Inclusion team. Dennis O’Keefe and Jordan Irwin were rewarded for their impressive play named on the full forward and emergency line respectively.
All teams played in a series of five qualifying games against each other, resulting in Tasmania facing Queensland for their playoff for fifth place. In a hard fought game at Preston City Oval, Tasmania went down to Queensland by fifteen points: 3.10.28 to 1.7.13.
In addition to playing their roster matches across Melbourne, the team also had the opportunity to attend two AFL matches and play at half time on Etihad Stadium during the round 21 match between St Kilda and Sydney.
To be eligible to participate in next year’s inclusion carnival, participants must be male, over the age of sixteen and have an intellectual disability.
For more information visit www.newhorizonsclub.org.au