Team Canada, the Northwind, at the 2024 Transatlantic Cup. Greg Bridges is third from the left (with headband).Mitchell McDonald-Roberts, AFL Canada
When Greg Bridges first tried playing Australian rules football in 2013, while living in Halifax for his university co-op, he quickly saw the appeal of the game. “It’s fast, it’s competitive, but then afterwards everybody celebrates. Through the game, he says you’ll meet “your best friends in the world”.
Now based in Ottawa, Bridges is helping to expand the game as national development manager for AFL Canada – the sport’s official governing body in Canada and the driving force behind its expansion at the grassroots and national levels.
The Northern Lights play France.Mitchell McDonald-Roberts, AFL Canada
The sport – also known as Australian football, Aussie rules or, more informally, footy – is contested with an oval ball on an oval field, often on a modified cricket ground. Players move the ball by kicking it, running with it or using a controlled punch pass called a handball (no throwing allowed). Unlike rugby, they can move in any direction. Points are scored by kicking the ball between central goal posts, or a central and outer post.
Professional teams have 18 players a side (six forwards, six midfielders and six backs), but the positions and field can be modified. Some leagues play on a soccer field with teams of nine.
Australian expats brought the game to Canada. Today, AFL Canada reports that there are 70,000 participants playing at local clubs and leagues across Canada. That includes men’s, women’s, junior, school and wheelchair footy.
In 2024, Canada hosted the AFL Transatlantic Cup in Toronto, where six countries competed. “It was really a showcase of the game. That was a big achievement for us,” says Bridges.
Bridges has played footy with Team Canada (called the Northwind), and served on AFL Canada’s board before joining the staff side this year to attract more players to the game. He feels that footy could become a mainstream sports option in Canada one day, and raising awareness is the continuing challenge.
The Northern Lights at the 2024 Transatlantic Cup.Mitchell McDonald-Roberts, AFL Canada
AFL Canada aims to expose more children to the sport at a young age. In Calgary, for instance, the organization has been running a school program that offers the sport to between 10,000 and 20,000 students a year.
More women are also taking part in footy. Canada’s official women’s team, the Northern Lights, made their debut in 2007 and competed in the first-ever Women’s AFL International Cup in 2011.
Footy player Anna Brancati, who was raised in the suburbs outside Vancouver, grew up playing soccer with her three older brothers. She says she discovered footy after one of her brothers saw a game while backpacking in Australia. Soon after coming home, he joined a footy team in Burnaby.
Although Brancati liked the game, there were no women’s teams to join at the time. That changed in 2016 when former Northern Lights player Marlene Ginocchio formed the Vancouver Vixens. “I just fell in love with it,” Brancati says.
She has played for the Burnaby Eagles and the national team. As more leagues open up, “It’s really cool to see those opportunities develop for the younger generation,” she says.
Bridges never imagined that footy would open so many doors – from playing in nine countries to a career building the sport he loves. “There’s a lot of positives with the sport, and the more people we can introduce to it, the better.”
