The Observer, Sunday June 12, 2005

“Teenagers want to experience the adrenaline charge of climbing, cheerleading and Aussie Rules, rather than more traditional sports like soccer. Schools, worried that so many students give up all physical exercise at 16, hope that offering newer, adrenaline-fuelled pursuits will encourage teenagers to stay active.

In Sutton, south London, Carshalton Boys' School has taken soccer out of its PE curriculum altogether and replaced it with Australian Rules football.

'About 500 pupils have done it so far, and around 30 per cent of them are those who are the shyer, less confident and more unfit', said Paul Avery, the school's head of sport. 'Pupils like the fact that because it's new, no one here has played it before, everyone is equal and there is no hierarchy.”