A suitcase full of footballs isn’t typical overseas luggage, but that’s what Ben Vile will be carrying to Papau New Guniea next month.
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Ben, a Community Outreach and Education Officer for AFL PNG, aims to collect footballs to help teach kids in PNG to play AFL.
“Anyone from individuals to footy clubs, any condition, doesn’t matter if they’re old, I’ll gladly accept it,” he said.
“If clubs or people were to donate we could write their names on the footy and if I saw them in person I could do a video message to show the kids so every time they use the footy they know where it’s come from.”
This will be Ben’s second volunteer trip, having taken Auskick style clinics with around 8,100 PNG kids last year.
“One of the best things I’ve found is, it’s almost a bit sad, but they obviously just don’t have the level of organised sport that we’ve been so lucky with in Australia.
“We established a short weekly competition and I think the kids really love that, getting that regular sport on the weekend, that was probably our main achievement.”
You can contact Ben about donations, bvile@outlook.com