Anna Flanagan is a hockey superstar with a drag flick that sends shudders down the spines of the opposition’s defence but, during an interview while playing at the Champions Trophy in Mendoza, it emerged that the 23-year-old defender has a softer side.
Animal-loving Anna has two dogs at home in Australia – a cross-bred mongrel called Meatball, and Shaggy the Belgium Shepard. But Anna’s love of dogs is no surprise – her mother is heavily involved in a local Perth charity called the Shenton Park Dog Refuge Home, a charity that Anna supports, both through joining in fund-raising activities and helping to raise its profile through her status as a hockey icon.
“The charity is called the Dogs' Refuge Home. It rescues and re-homes Perth's unwanted and abandoned dogs, sometimes providing support and care for up to 150 dogs at a time while a suitable home is found,” explains the 2013 FIH Young Player of the Year. “More than 300 volunteers support the staff in providing love and care to the dogs as well as ensuring they are walked each day. The Home operates under a pro-life policy and no dog is euthanised on economic grounds. That is why it started – to give Perth's unwanted and abandoned dogs a second chance and to save them from death row.”
Since it opened in 1935, the home – which celebrates its 80th anniversary this year – has rescued and re-homed more than 400,000 dogs. It is one of the oldest animal rescue organisations in Australia. And any dog finding its way to Shenton Park can consider itself one lucky pooch, as more than 150,000 stray dogs are euthanised in Australia every year.
Anna, whose nickname among her fellow Hockeyroos is ‘Flanno’, is an ambassador for the annual dogs home charity walk. She says: “The home relies on donations and therefore it is important to raise as much money as possible, so the dogs have the best facilities and care they can get. I think it is important to give back to your community and use your profile in a positive way.
“I don’t think being part of a charity, as a hockey player, is something that is done to grab headlines but rather it puts into perspective how lucky we are and how we can help others, in this case dogs, and make their lives a little bit easier.”
Alongside the charity walk, the Dogs’ Refuge Home also runs a ‘Dogs for Dogs’ day, where people are encouraged to have barbecues and donate proceedings to the charity and ‘Jog for Dogs’ – a fun run for dogs and their owners.
“As part of my life as an international hockey player, you do visit countries where you see a lot of stray dogs. It is hard seeing all the strays and not being able to do anything about it, and that is why the dogs home in Perth is an amazing initiative.”
