Kevin Sheehan

This time I was going to get to my Tel Aviv invitation on time. I don’t know what it is but I almost always get lost in Israel’s version of the big smoke, or get stuck in traffic, and miss out. This time there wasn’t too much to get my knickers all in a knot about, the Azrieli Complex is right after the turn off from the highway.
It’s the first time I’ve been there. I guess the Azrieli Complex is pretty much like any other Israeli shopping centre, which makes it rather like shopping centres anywhere else in the western world. But we were there to meet Kevin Sheehan, AFL Talent & International Manager and former Geelong player, which made us a bit different from your run of the mill Israeli shopping centre trawler.
Once again the AICC had invited me to another Australian do. This time the rendezvous point was in Yotvata. I found a smallish group of Aussie’s there, mainly young adults and the rest of us a bit longer in the tooth.
While I was still getting used to the idea of another generation of Australians committing voluntary transfer, this unassuming middle aged bloke with a somewhat shy smile was ushered in to the middle of the circle. This was Kevin Sheehan. He was over here for a short visit to help a joint team of Israelis and Palestinians prepare for an international footy competition to be held in Australia just before the final four later this year.
Kevin’s stop over in Israel was on his way home from Dubai where a televised match was held between the Adelaide Crows and Collingwood Magpies. True to form he stood up and ran us through a couple of anecdotes. Kevin told us a couple of tales from similar official jaunts to South Africa and Japan. The AFL has a more cosmopolitan façade today than you’d credit footy with, going by memory, something more than football, meat pies and Holden cars. Australian rules footy is going international with leagues in all sorts of places you wouldn’t expect like Scandinavia, Japan and Germany. The aim of Kevin’s visit to Israel was to conduct a three-day clinic teaching Israelis and Palestinians the basics of the game, and as he reported back to Oz, the goal posts at the training pitch will be set up later, in April.
The amusing associative picture these training sessions conjure up in my mind is a group of guys trying to come to terms for the first time with the egg shaped ball, trying to handball, bounce and kick on the run. For Sheehan young men are essentially the same all over the world, so the story of a young team member facing 3 years of drafted army service soon after he finishes high school is an idea that it takes the Australian a little effort to get a handle on.