Belushi’s Presents: Player Spotlight – Buster Sund

Each week, AFL Europe in combination with Belushi’s will take a look at one of our star players competing in fixtures across the continent in Player Spotlight. 

With his massive smile and energy, Buster Sund is the epitome of AFL Europe.

Born and raised in Sweden, Buster grew up with no knowledge of AFL, but since joining the great Australian game he has found a real passion and believes it cannot be compared to anything else.

“You can’t compare AFL to any other sport, I just loved AFL from the start. It is such a fun sport to play, especially with the tackles and big hits. Even the team-spirit that you have in  AFL is unbelievable, I’ve never seen such a good vibe in any other sports or teams!” Sund said.

Buster started playing Australian Football in 2012 for the Norrtälje Dockers at the age of just 16, and continues to play in Sweden where he is an AFL Sweden ambassador and will do anything to help the growth of the game.

After playing in Sweden for five years, Buster moved to Australia for his University studies, where he was able to play for a local team on the Gold Coast.

Being around Australians who love the sport as much as he did was an amazing feeling for him and when moving back to Sweden, the experience helped his enthusiasm to grow, and his desire for AFL Sweden to go to another level.

Since 2012 Buster has built upon his game, and with his great leaping ability and strong hands in aerial contests, he has been a part of many of the major AFL Europe tournaments for his local Dockers side and even the national side of the Swedish Elks.

One of his greatest achievements, was being able to represent Sweden at the 2014 International Cup that was held in Melbourne.

Since then Buster has been a part of all the major AFL Europe tournaments, including the Champions League playing for the Norrtälje Dockers, where he was selected in the 2019 Team of the Tournament and the Euro Cup playing for his national side, the Swedish Elks where he is also the Captain.

Buster is known for wanting to grow the game in Europe and in particular his home country. On top of helping to organise the teams he plays in, he’s been pivotal in setting up venues, and even making the goal posts used for matches or tournaments.

In an act then went viral on the official AFL page, Buster, in the most recent Euro Cup helped by heading to the woods, chopping down some trees and making his very own homemade goalposts which were perfect for the event. This type of effort is driven by his love for the game and his aim to give as many people as possible a way of accessing the sport.

With this passion Buster is genuinely excited in the direction that AFL in Europe is heading and with the recent Euro Cup being held in Sweden, is keen to see the growth of the game in his home country in the near future.