Interview to the President of the Australian Football League of Catalonia (LFAC)

I met Pere Casan, president of the Australian Football League of Catalonia (LFAC), the federation of Catalan footy clubs at the Michael Collins Pub while we were watching the Australian Football League Grand Final. He agreed to answer some questions to inform about the situation of Aussie Rules in Catalonia.

Does footy have many followers in this country?
Footy is still fairly unknown in this country. Most people know about it, but they don't know what is it about, what it stands for and the fact that they can play it in here. Footy is more known for its fights, hits and tackles than for what it really is: a great sport with a lot of strategy, dinamism, perfect to get fit and a lot of history behind.

How many clubs are in the LFAC?
Currently there are three clubs, two of which coexist in the southern part of Catalonia (near the city of Valls) and the other one in the outskirts of Barcelona.

Do they play international matches?
The clubs have played a few friendly games against other clubs from Spain, France and the UK. Our Catalan national team is a founding member of the nowadays called AFL Europe, organization through which footy is arranged around Europe. We have been playing in the Euro Cup (the 9-a-side European Championship since 2005). We have only missed 2012 due to the economic crisis, but we hope we can travel again to participate next year.

Can anyone practise Australian football?
In Catalonia, yes. We're amateur, so we're in it to have a good time. In Australia, they are professional athletes who earn salaries for playing footy. To be honest, we're also far from the best countries in Europe on this sport (Ireland, Denmark, UK, etc), but we still manage to compete with passion nonetheless. We welcome both catalans who want to try the sport for the first time (and we teach them) as well as seasoned Aussies who either live here for a short period of time and need to mantain their fitness, or those who live here in a more permanent basis and just want to keep some kind of contact with their background. The more the merrier.

If you are interested in playing footy, who should you contact?
Anyone interested should send an e-mail to info@lfac.cat and we will try to get the information required, and help in any other way we can. We are always looking for more players, everyone will be welcome.

Joan