CARLTON Football Club is delighted to announce it has entered into an expanded partnership with one of Australia’s top universities.

Offering more sport-related courses than any other university in the country, La Trobe University will be Carlton’s exclusive Higher Education partner and assist in the development of a full education suite with the Blues over the coming years through a Sports Development Institute to be located at Ikon Park, Carlton’s AFL and AFLW home.

Carlton and La Trobe established their partnership in 2016 with a mutual commitment to enhance education and community outcomes in Melbourne’s North, and La Trobe students will continue to benefit from exclusive work placements across the Club.

The renewed partnership will see increased student experiences from the number of internships, research and game day opportunities, as well as access to the Club’s specialist facilities. The Club will also bring its presence to the new La Trobe Sports Park, with their VFLW and AFLW scheduled to train there in 2019.

Across the coming months, both Carlton and La Trobe University will work to establish a new Sports Development Institute where young students will be given greater opportunity to study a range of diploma-level sports qualifications, with a pathway to enrol into the University’s degree courses upon successful completion. Executive education opportunities will also be explored.

Given the growth of the existing two year partnership, the La Trobe University logo will also now adorn Carlton’s players’ match day and training shorts across the next five years, positioning them alongside global brands Virgin Australia and Hyundai on the famous navy blue playing kit.



The La Trobe University logo will adorn Carlton's playing shorts for the next five years. (Photo: Carlton Media)

Carlton CEO Cain Liddle said the expanded partnership would pave the way for game changing collaborations between the organisations, with a particular shared commitment and emphasis on Melbourne’s northern corridor.

“La Trobe University is Australia's University of choice for sport and is committed to making a substantial contribution to the sustainability of the Australian Sport industry. We are therefore delighted to expand our strong mutually beneficial partnership,” Liddle said.

“We are particularly excited about the establishment of the Sports Development Institute across the coming months and we soon look forward to taking expressions of interests from students across the state for this innovative initiative.

“Partnering with La Trobe in the development of an elite sport education program in the heart of Melbourne’s education precinct provides us with scalable, non-traditional business opportunities that are perfectly aligned to our core purpose as a sporting club.”

La Trobe Vice-Chancellor, Professor John Dewar said the University had been working with Carlton for many years and this announcement was a natural next-step.

“We are really looking forward to working even more closely with Carlton, in what is a significant partnership for the club and the University,” Professor Dewar said.

“Our students will continue to have exclusive access to internship opportunities, our research students will work alongside staff across all aspects of the club, students and staff will benefit from unique behind the scenes opportunities and our international students will experience our unique sporting culture at game day experiences.

“In addition, the presence of AFLW and VFLW teams on our Melbourne campus will further build the reputation of the city’s northern suburbs as a destination for elite sports,” he said.



Carlton CEO Cain Liddle La Trobe Vice-Chancellor, Professor John Dewar, sign off the new deal. (Photo: Carlton Media)

The extended partnership with La Trobe University follows the recent expansions with the Club’s long-standing joint major partner Hyundai, and a further five-year joint major partnership with Virgin Australia. Carlton has also significantly strengthened its platinum and gold partnership portfolio, proudly announcing new and renewed agreements with Grunt, Carlton and United Breweries, OnTime Group and Ikon Services Australia.

La Trobe has a breadth of education partnerships spanning sport and the arts including: Melbourne City FC, The Australian Ballet, Melbourne Rebels, AFL Players Association and the NGV, meaning students have access to a variety of premium industry connections unavailable elsewhere.



Carlton captain Marc Murphy, AFLW player Sarah Last, La Trobe Vice-Chancellor, Professor John Dewar and Blues CEO Cain Liddle at the announcement. (Photo: Carlton Media)