Australian Football Association of North America

AFANA announced today that Rob de Santos (Chairman) and Ann Solomon (Editor-in-Chief), will be retiring effective April 1st, 2009.  Rob and Ann issued the following statement: 

"After much deliberation and thought, Ann and I have decided that the time has come for us to move on from AFANA. We’ve both been on board since the founding in early 1996 and after 13 years, the time has come to do other things. We will step away from our roles in AFANA effective April 1st. AFANA is ready for new leadership and new ideas. It’s time for Rob to move on to work on the writing projects he has put off too long and spend time with his daughter and for Ann to start her new life in London with her Welsh husband-to-be. This decision had nothing to do with our financial situation and was made after the end of last season but withheld so as not to interfere with the fundraising efforts.  We won’t be leaving the sport behind and you’ll still hear from us from time to time but our day to day roles will end. Between now and the beginning of the AFL season, we’ll still be here and getting things ready for another year.

On behalf of both of us, I want to express our thanks to all the fans of the sport for your faith in the vision of AFANA and your unwavering support of our efforts to promote Australian football. It has been a great pleasure to get to know hundreds of you.  We’re sure you’ll you find the new leadership of AFANA eager to continue to work with you. We don’t know yet who that will be and it is up to the other officers and members to decide, but you will be kept informed as things move along."

Individuals interested in either position should contact Kimber Smith ( ksm...@afana.com ) at AFANA with a letter of interest and qualifications.  (Please note that Ms. Smith's only responsibility here is to be the point of contact regarding applications for the open positions and is not a candidate for either position nor will she be acting head of AFANA after April 1st.)