The year is 2013, and Glen Iris Under 13’s coach & former Hawthorn player Paul Cooper & his assistants have an idea that would allow there Under 13 players to experience Footy & life from a different perspective. Fast forward 11 years later, and what was once a “wouldn’t it be great if” idea, has now turned into the Papunya Foundation with its core focus to ‘Connect Communities through Football’.
Each year since 2013 (excluding COVID effected seasons), a group Papunya children & adults come & experience Melbourne for 5 days, with a group of Glen Iris players & their parents then returning the Favour by spending 5 days in Papunya.
Papunya Foundation Founder Paul Cooper said that he & some of his assistant coaches wanted to take the players somewhere that was different to what they were used to in the Inner-City Suburbs of Glen Iris. “We landed on a town called Papunya in the Northern Territory, 250 Kilometers Northwest of Alice Springs. It’s the furthest point from any coastline in Australia, which has earnt it the nickname ‘The pole of inaccessibility’, so it’s a really remote area”.
Joining the Papunya players on this year’s trip is Aben Sandy, who was part of the very first trip way back in 2013. Aben, who himself is a very talented Footballer, spoke about how excited the kids were about this trip to Melbourne. He said that when they were arriving in Melbourne via plane, they couldn’t contain their excitement and were looking at out the windows to see the bright lights of our city. He also said that the kids were blown away by the MCG and its size after attending the Round 16 Geelong vs Essendon match, which saw nearly eighty thousand spectators.
Sandy is also the local Police Officer for the Papunya community, a job he took up after completing his schooling in Darwin, where he was offered plenty of job opportunities, but ultimately decided to return home to help mentor & nurture the younger generation, through the power of Footy & the role it plays amongst their community.
We asked Papunya Foundation Founder Paul Cooper if back in 2013 he envisioned the program being as big & successful as it is today. Cooper responded by saying “We didn’t know what to expect when we first went out there given how different things are up there compared to Melbourne. It has definitely grown beyond what we expected it to be back in 2013 though. Through our relationships we have built an enormous amount of trust which makes things so much easier. They welcome us into their community, and we welcome them into ours. We will continue to build upon the foundations that have been established which will organically see it continue to grow into something bigger”.
The Glen Iris Junior Football Club has also just completed its return trip up to Papunya this year, which saw fourteen boys & girls from their Under 13 teams head up there to experience life & footy in the Papunya community. Keep an eye out across our socials & website for a story around their trip experience to Papunya in the coming weeks.
The Papunya Foundation in conjunction with the Glen Iris Junior Football Club continues to showcase the fantastic work our YJFL clubs are doing to educate & support our participants in gaining an understanding of how powerful sport & in particular AFL can be, as it brings people together regardless of the community you are from.
If you or your club would like to find out more about the Papunya Foundation and how they got things started, then please contact Paul Cooper on 0417 317 633. To find out more about the Papunya Foundation, visit their website www.pupunyafoundation.org.
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