A FORMER AFL player is playing a role in aiding the rapid growth of Australian rules football in a part of the world that might not be clear to many followers of the game — the South American country of Colombia.

In 2024, Colombia has a national squad that is dreaming of playing at its first-ever international championship and Sydney Swans champion Josh Kennedy is front and centre of the game’s progress in the country. But, in order to make it to Canada for the event in a few months, help from the wider football community is required. More about that below.

First, how did we get here and what is the story behind footy in Colombia?

What started in 2015 as a casual kick in the park amongst friends, developed into a fully-fledged footy team, known as the Bogota Bulldogs, situated in the country’s capital. The club was created in response to a challenge from the Santiago Saints (Chile’s national squad), to play an international Aussie rules match in 2016. The Bogota Bulldogs won that first ‘Andes Cup’ and haven’t looked back, with involvement in the country expanding year-on-year since.

Eight years ago, in January 2024, Kennedy officially founded AFL Colombia at the Australian Embassy in Bogota alongside the just created AFL Colombia board. Josh’s connection with the Colombian community began 12 years ago when he met his Colombian wife, Ana.

AFL Colombia today proudly offers two leagues, one in Bogota and another over 400 kilometers distant in the city of Medellin. Comprised of a mix of Australian and other international expats and Colombian residents, AFL Colombia has put out a number of school and community programs to bring more youngsters and adults to the game.

As of 2024, AFL Colombia has over 300 registered players across men’s and women’s domestic competitions, an outreach program in conflict impacted regions of the country and a scholarship program (the Orica Future Leaders program), which sent the first three Colombian players to Melbourne to play a season for local clubs and learn English.

The three scholarship winners – Estefanía Gualteros, Alejandro Susa and Óscar Marina – travelled to Melbourne earlier this year to play for the Darebin Falcons (Estefania) and Fitzroy Stars (Alejandro and Óscar) in the Northern Football Netball League and attend English classes provided by Discover English. The goal of this scholarship program is for the three recipients to return to Colombia with the skills and knowledge of how local football is run in Australia to help to further develop the game in their home country.

Josh and his family are generously housing one of the scholarship winners, Estefanía, and Josh has also been active in coaching workshops both in Australia and Colombia.

“It’s a great experience for them…Estefanía is living with us, with my family and children in Glen Iris, and the three of them are playing footy here on a team, working, and learning English,” he told SBS in April. Click here to read the SBS article.

In an exciting first for the country, the men’s and women’s national team, the Jaguares, are preparing to visit the 2024 Transatlantic Cup in Toronto, Canada, as the first national team to represent Colombia in an AFL-sanctioned international competition. The Transatlantic Cup will place from August 2-11, 2024 at Humber College, Toronto. The other invited countries include Canada, USA and other connected AFL Europe Countries, with competing nations to be revealed at a later date.

To aid the Jaguares in supporting their participation in the Transatlantic Cup, they have set up a GoFundMe with a goal of generating $15,000 to cover the cost of player uniforms, housing and flights. Unlike their opponents from North America and Europe, many of the Colombian players need to apply for passports for the first time, require Canadian visas, and are not in a position to cover their own fees for flights and accommodation. For almost every gamer, it will be the first time they have ever left their town or city, let alone the country.

A $50 donation can pay for one player’s uniform, and donations of $250 and $750 can help cover one player’s hotel and return travel fees correspondingly. The squad is currently at 40 per cent of their fundraising objective, with booking deadlines quickly approaching ahead of the event in early August.

GET MORE NEWS HERE