User:The-Pope/NSW AFL scholarship program

The NSW AFL scholarship program is a system that actively promotes the career opportunities in Australian rules football to young athletes living in New South Wales. It enables clubs in the Australian Football League to offer up to three-year scholarships worth between $10,000 and $20,000 per year to eligible 15-17 year olds. A scholarship includes training with your sponsor AFL club up to 3 times a year. When a scholarship listed player reaches the minimum draft age (currently 18 years old), he can be selected by their club directly to either the senior or rookie lists, bypassing the draft process. The aim of the program is to increase the participation in Australian rules football by NSW youngsters so that 10 players are drafted into the AFL by 2010.

History
The program was first announced in June 2005 and the first players (23 in total) signed during the 2006 season. Each of the 16 AFL clubs were required to sign at least one player. Since then, the clubs have been able to recruit up to six players each year, but with no requirement to do so. In it's first three years of operation, a total of 65 players were signed, with ten players being elevated to their club's senior or rookie lists. Of these, three have played senior football, Taylor Walker for the Adelaide Crows, Craig Bird for the Sydney Swans and Ryan Davis for the West Coast Eagles.

From the first three seasons, the AFL subsidised each club with a $10,000 payment per player, but this was withdrawn at the end of the 2008 season.

Players
Despite Australian rules football being a much less popular sport in New South Wales than Soccer, Rugby League or Rugby Union, some of the players selected have played Aussie Rules from a young age, others were gifted athletes in other sports, such as basketball, rugby union or track and field athletics , or rugby league.

Concerns
The AFL has announced plans to introduce a Western Sydney team into the AFL competition by the 2012 season. Concerns have been raised about the likelihood of most of the best young talent from the local area being tied to other clubs via this scholarship program, forcing the Western Sydney club to either recruit players from other states or the scrapping of this program.

Rugby League supporters and past players, such as