Probably the most favorite sports in Australia is Australian Rules Football (AFL). To those outside Australia it is regarded as relatively odd because they have observed no sport similar to it, but are in awe of just what marvelous athletes those who play the sport at the professional elite level can be. It's a entirely professional men's competition of Australian rules football and has been enjoyed for over a hundred years. It began in the state of Victoria, but now some other states have teams in what is now regarded as a national league. The 18 professional teams which compete in the AFL spend heavily in the sports sciences and also sports medicine to get the most from the players in each club. The podiatrists with each club has a podiatrist associated to help manage the foot injuries and footwear needs of the athletes. The function of Podiatry practitioners in the AFL in Australia is considered a model of how sports medicine team could be included in professional squads worldwide.
For one of the episodes of the podiatry relevant livestream, PodChatLive the hosts spoke with 5 of the podiatrists related to Australian Rules Football clubs to discuss the world leading template for Podiatry inside an elite sports competition and the emerging function of the recently formed, AFL Podiatry Association. The Podiatrists which were on this show ended up Ben Holland from the North Melbourne Kangaroos, Emma Poynton from the Western Bulldogs, c from the Hawthorn Hawks, Todd Brown with the Geelong Cats and Tom May with the Adelaide Crows. They described the needs of AFL and how this impacts the athletes along with what the prevalent injuries observed. There was a good conversation concerning the footwear used and the issues that can bring. There was also a conversation of the preseason assessment process that is typically used in the 44-man teams. The livestream was sent out live on Facebook, but is also now available on YouTube.