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by Lisa Albergo reporting for AFANA from Chicago

Just ahead of Round Seven, Greater Western Sydney held a ceremony to officially open their new multimillion dollar training facility, christened the Tom Wills Oval in honor of one of the founding fathers of Australian Rules Football. New South Wales Minister for Sport and Recreation Graham Annesley and AFL boss Andrew Demetriou were present along with club officials. The elite training facility, also designed for community activities, was a joint development venture between the AFL, the Sydney Olympic Park Authority and the NSW government.

“I’m proud to officially open the Tom Wills Oval, in recognition of a New South Welshman who was one of the pioneers of Australian Rules football,” Mr Annesley said. GWS chairman Tony Shepherd thanked the NSW Government, SOPA and the AFL for their support and described the opening as a "significant milestone" for the club which "enlarges our footprint across Western Sydney". Demetriou said the facility would benefit the club, promising them long-term growth and the chance to extend the club's links with the community by giving access to local sports clubs.

Annesley and Shepherd both said naming the oval after Wills was fitting since he was born in New South Wales. A sculpture of Wills at the MCG has a plaque which reads that Wills "did more than any other person - as footballer and umpire, co-writer of the rules and promoter of the game - to develop Australian football during its first decade."

Wills was born in 1835 and the family later moved to Victoria to work the goldfields. He attended Rugby School and Cambridge in England where he was an accomplished cricket and rugby player. In 1858, he and several others came up with the idea of Australian Football as a way to keep cricket players fit during the winter months. Based partly on rugby, Wills and his associates devised rules for the game to suit the winter grounds of Melbourne. Wills was also one of the founders of the Melbourne Football Club.

Source: Leigh Meyrick, GWS Media Release, 100 Years of Australian Football, ed. notes

Article last changed on Tuesday, May 14, 2013 - 9:26 PM EDT


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