Emily Buysen Awarded the 2014 Jill Lindsay Scholarship

AFL SportsReady is pleased to advise Emily Buysen from the North Melbourne Football Club was awarded the 2014 Jill Lindsay Scholarship at the AFL Women’s Industry Lunch in Melbourne today.

Jill Lindsay was the AFL’s longest serving employee having completed 41 years at the AFL in various roles including VFL Park match day manager and VFL membership manager before being appointed grounds operations manager in 1991. On February 7, 2011, Jill passed away after losing her battle with cancer. 

In recognition of her outstanding service the AFL Commission created the annual Jill Lindsay Scholarship to be awarded to the female graduate with the most potential to come through the AFL SportsReady program. The scholarship provides $20,000 to assist further education.

Emily, 27, has held the position of Membership Manager with the North Melbourne Football Club for six months. Prior to joining the Kangaroos she was the Consumer Communications Manager at the Western Bulldogs for two years. 

As an AFL SportsReady graduate, Emily went onto complete a Certificate in Public Relations at RMIT and a Diploma in Management at Victoria University. 

Emily said she was shocked but honoured when told she had received the scholarship.

“I was very honoured as I worked with Jill when I was an AFL Sportsready trainee in the AFL ticketing department. Jill was someone I admired greatly and I learnt a lot from her,” she said. 

Emily said the scholarship funding will help her complete a Masters in Marketing at Victoria University and she also has interest in the Disney management training program in the United States. 

AFL SportsReady will provide a laptop to assist Emily with her studies.

Leading Australian women’s fashion brand Perri Cutten has kindly made available a voucher to the value of $750, while Andi Pert, a HR consultant specializing in leadership development and executive coaching, will mentor Emily for 12 months. Andi is the wife of Collingwood FC Chief Executive Officer Gary Pert and played softball in teams coached by Jill Lindsay.

As the AFL’s official employment and training partner, AFL SportsReady is dedicated to helping all young Australians kick-start their careers through traineeships and educational opportunities. With offices across Australia, the not-for-profit company works in partnership with organisations across a range of industries including sport, business, arts, finance and education to provide real opportunities for both athletes and non-athletes. SportsReady has been providing training and career opportunities for AFL footballers for over two decades. In total there are 160 trainees working in the AFL industry across the country.

AFL SportsReady is a leading education provider in sport and business management courses and has supported more than 11,000 young Australians gain the skills they need to develop a successful career. 

Previous recipients of the Jill Lindsay Scholarship:

2011    Nicole Rawlings – Carlton Football Club
2012    Hayley Robinson – AFL Umpires Association
2013    Lauren Byrnes – AFL Sportsready

DATE: Monday 5 May, 2014 
IMAGE: Emily Buysen, the 2014 Jill Lindsay Scholarship recipient