Sam Willatt arrived in Melbourne in November after graduating from university. The 21-year-old from Peterborough slept on a friend’s sofa, managed to find part-time work as a lifeguard and also started training with an Australian Rules team after playing in England. That fairly well trodden path deviated radically after he was recruited into the Footscray Bulldogs VFL side, partnered to the AFL’s top flight Western Bulldogs side. In layman’s terms, this is the equivalent of an Australian playing Sunday League football in Melbourne, flying to London and getting picked up by West Ham’s reserves.

Four years ago Willatt arrived at Birmingham University in search of a new sport at freshers week. He had played football and rugby at school without distinguishing himself in either and wanted a change. A poster for the Australian Rules team caught his eye and he found himself on a rutted rugby field trying to get to grips with the game. “I fell in love with the sport instantly. It was this amazing range of so many things, a different range of skills and speed, but I really was terrible initially. I was just trying to survive in all honesty.”

The sport held his attention completely between lectures. He spoke to his friends about AFL being played half the world away and watched recorded games to build his knowledge. Willatt was captivated by the game and studied its intricacies in his university bedroom. He trained alone to build muscle and fitness, and progressed to the Great Britain squad that played an international competition in Melbourne in 2014. After a run of games against a variety of countries, he was noticed as one of the top amateur players outside Australia and realised that he could take the sport further.

An invite to a select European team to play the Australian Institute of Sport gave him a further indication of his progress. “You are playing these guys who have been kicking an Australian football since very early childhood and sometimes you are just marvelling at their skills, but equally, at times in the game, I realised that I could absolutely hold my own, and it gave me confidence that I could do well in this game if I really pushed myself.”

After achieving everything he could playing for Birmingham University, Willatt went in search of the best level of Australian Football within England and found it at Regent’s Park in London, where there has been a longstanding Aussie Rules league filled with skilled Australian expats and British enthusiasts. “I wanted to play the best Aussie Rules I could, so I went to the North London Lions, and commuted from my home in Peterborough. I worked as a lifeguard during the week and travelled to London for games. They gave me extra coaching and really looked after me. The standard was so much higher than what I was used to. You’re playing with some Australians who are exceptional and I was on a constant learning curve.”

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After winning the AFL London Premiership with the North London Lions, Willatt boarded a plane to Melbourne. He had no team interested, simply a vague dream to play at the highest possible level and the promise of a friend’s sofa for as long as he needed it. Jet lagged and tired, Willatt opened his laptop in Melbourne and emailed every coach in the Victoria Football League. He told his story, writing about his insatiable desire to play in the AFL, and hoped that someone would reply. His email inbox stayed empty for days until he received a reply from Footscray Bulldogs coach Ashley Hansen.

Hansen had played at the highest level for the West Coast Eagles in Perth, winning a Premiership in 2006. He asked Willatt to come to training in the teeming sunshine in November and challenged him to try to win a spot in his extended squad. Neither the player nor the coach knew what would happen in the intervening months, but both tried to make it work. For a young man who had months earlier been playing in parks in London, he found himself competing against current AFL players and aspiring professionals.

“I was never daunted,” says Willatt. “Maybe I should have been. I felt I could hold myself more or less with skills and fitness, although you always want to get better. But you are playing against guys where Aussie Rules has been their whole life, and you are on a catch up in terms of knowledge. That’s a constant battle. There are times you just don’t know what’s going on. I did know that I was willing to work and dedicate myself to this sport and that’s certainly paid off.”

After months of training, Hansen picked Willatt in his 29-man squad for the season in the Victoria Football League, one level below the full AFL. The hope is that Willatt can make himself a regular in the VFL and adapt to the demands of the game that is a national obsession in Australia.

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Fitting training around working as a lifeguard, Willatt hopes to nail down a full-time contract with the club. There are three remaining full-time contracts available and he knows he must impress in upcoming games. He is due to make his debut against North Ballarat Roosters in a VFL friendly game on Saturday, months after arriving into Melbourne airport with his football boots.

“It’s been this crazy journey, it started playing a game for fun at university, then it’s just kept going and going. I love life here in Melbourne. It’s an incredible experience getting up and going after your dream everyday. I want to take everything in stages, you can never get too far ahead of yourself but I have a goal to play in the AFL and I will do everything I can possibly do to make that happen.”

The manicured grass ovals of Melbourne may be far from the humble fields in Birmingham that Willatt started on, but they have all served to build an athlete utterly dedicated to making it to the top of Australia’s game.



• This article is from Behind the Lines

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