Help Get Cambodia to the AFL Asia Cup
$3,505 raised
TARGET $15,000
Please support this cause
$
AUD
About
Cambodia has qualified for the first ever AFL Asia Cup, where the Australian expats will step aside and watch the locals fight for supremacy in a 16-nation, three-day tournament.
We need your help to get the Cobras (men) and the Apsaras (women) to Saigon in December, where we will get to see the fruits of our 12 years developing local talent.
Traditionally, the volunteer-run Cambodian Eagles Footy Club is funded by expat members and sponsors, with the ethos of providing free access to Aussie Rules for locals.
In the past few years, we’ve been inundated by Cambodians keen to kick the Sherrin. We’d be about 90% Cambodian members now, and so the costs of running the club have skyrocketed.
We need a new model, we know. But in the meantime we need your help to get us through the year and to the club's biggest day.
Come fly with us!
OUR STORY:
The Cambodian Eagles Football Club was initially a bunch of Australians getting together to kick the footy, drink beer and sometimes travel to play against other Australian expats who'd set up their own Aussie Rules outposts around Asia.
Back in 2012, a handful of skinny Cambodian kids who had grown up at the rubbish dump began to train with us on a patch of grass that we shared with cows at the Navy base. We were one of the first countries to get locals involved in Aussie Rules.
Fast forward twelve years and our 'expat' footy team is an almost entirely Cambodian operation. Those 'skinny kids' are at the heart of the squad and inspire a generation of children who grew up as scavengers to follow their lead.
We have a women's team, too - quite possibly the coolest thing you'll ever see on a footy field: a 'mosquito squad' of pint-sized demons that cast aside cultural norms and made a name for themselves smashing giants. Everywhere we go, they are the stars of the show.
And they're not just a gimmick. The Apsaras, as they are known, made the final of the 2024 Asian Championships, throwing down with Australian and Irish women with years' experience playing contact sport.
And now, the Asia Cup.
It shapes as a fascinating three days. The Cambodians: fast and fearless, totally outsized but battle-hardened after years banging with the best expat footballers in Asia, up against rival nations who've been recruiting ready-made athletes from rugby, soccer and combat sports in a bid to win the cup.
And yes, we need your help to get there.
We are a volunteer-run club that functions like a charity. One of our primary objectives is to make organised sport accessible (free) to all Cambodians - something that is quite rare here, particularly in the rougher parts of town where most of our players come from. The footy club provides a pathway out of that world. The Asia Cup shapes as the trip of a lifetime.
Donations will be used to pay for travel to Saigon; new Cobras and Apsaras kits; passports for players; costs of training facilities; and boots for players.
If you're in Cambodia and would like to donate directly through ABA bank, our account number is 005333034 (name: Duncan Smith).
Check us out on Facebook and feel free to ask any questions. Here's links to some stories about our club.
FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/cambodianeaglesafl/
AFL Takes Flight in Cambodia (2013): https://shorturl.at/eM7AJ
Most Dangerous Woman in Asia (2024): https://shorturl.at/sAoxh
We need your help to get the Cobras (men) and the Apsaras (women) to Saigon in December, where we will get to see the fruits of our 12 years developing local talent.
Traditionally, the volunteer-run Cambodian Eagles Footy Club is funded by expat members and sponsors, with the ethos of providing free access to Aussie Rules for locals.
In the past few years, we’ve been inundated by Cambodians keen to kick the Sherrin. We’d be about 90% Cambodian members now, and so the costs of running the club have skyrocketed.
We need a new model, we know. But in the meantime we need your help to get us through the year and to the club's biggest day.
Come fly with us!
OUR STORY:
The Cambodian Eagles Football Club was initially a bunch of Australians getting together to kick the footy, drink beer and sometimes travel to play against other Australian expats who'd set up their own Aussie Rules outposts around Asia.
Back in 2012, a handful of skinny Cambodian kids who had grown up at the rubbish dump began to train with us on a patch of grass that we shared with cows at the Navy base. We were one of the first countries to get locals involved in Aussie Rules.
Fast forward twelve years and our 'expat' footy team is an almost entirely Cambodian operation. Those 'skinny kids' are at the heart of the squad and inspire a generation of children who grew up as scavengers to follow their lead.
We have a women's team, too - quite possibly the coolest thing you'll ever see on a footy field: a 'mosquito squad' of pint-sized demons that cast aside cultural norms and made a name for themselves smashing giants. Everywhere we go, they are the stars of the show.
And they're not just a gimmick. The Apsaras, as they are known, made the final of the 2024 Asian Championships, throwing down with Australian and Irish women with years' experience playing contact sport.
And now, the Asia Cup.
It shapes as a fascinating three days. The Cambodians: fast and fearless, totally outsized but battle-hardened after years banging with the best expat footballers in Asia, up against rival nations who've been recruiting ready-made athletes from rugby, soccer and combat sports in a bid to win the cup.
And yes, we need your help to get there.
We are a volunteer-run club that functions like a charity. One of our primary objectives is to make organised sport accessible (free) to all Cambodians - something that is quite rare here, particularly in the rougher parts of town where most of our players come from. The footy club provides a pathway out of that world. The Asia Cup shapes as the trip of a lifetime.
Donations will be used to pay for travel to Saigon; new Cobras and Apsaras kits; passports for players; costs of training facilities; and boots for players.
If you're in Cambodia and would like to donate directly through ABA bank, our account number is 005333034 (name: Duncan Smith).
Check us out on Facebook and feel free to ask any questions. Here's links to some stories about our club.
FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/cambodianeaglesafl/
AFL Takes Flight in Cambodia (2013): https://shorturl.at/eM7AJ
Most Dangerous Woman in Asia (2024): https://shorturl.at/sAoxh
Fundraising For
Cambodian Eagles Football Club
Funds Banked To
Peter Kokke
SINCE Oct 2024
38
Donations
$3,505 raised
TARGET $15,000
Please support this cause
$
AUD
Fundraising For
Cambodian Eagles Football Club
Funds Banked To
Peter Kokke
SINCE Oct 2024
38
Donations
Go Eagles, fly high.