World Footy News

Final results are in for the Barassi Youth Tournament for 2006. It's very important to remember that the juniors representing New Zealand and South Africa are in most cases very new to the sport, but there's no hiding the fact that there were some big losses recorded against non-elite opposition. Papua New Guinea chose not to enter, but it would have been very interesting to see how they would have gone. One suspects they would have been very competitive with the top sides, demonstrating what may be a growing gap between their juniors and the rest of the emerging international Australian Football countries.

As we reported in New Zealand versus South Africa in under 16s, New Zealand's boys got off to a good start, defeating South Africa by 64 points. The event also featured two ACT selections, a squad from the Northern Territory (from Kormilda College) and a specially selected group of indigenous boys from the challenging environment of the East Kimberleys (in WA).

Next up the Kiwis took on ACT Blue and South Africa tackled Kormilda. Both resulted in losses for the internationals, with the African's losing heavily, though New Zealand's result was very tight. It was a busy Monday as South Africa then tasted their first victory, defeating the younger squad from Kimberley, while NZ lost by a big margin to ACT Gold.

New Zealand 5.7 (39)
ACT Blue 7.5 (47)

South Africa 3.3 (21)
Kormilda 13.11 (89)

New Zealand 2.3 (15)
ACT Gold 15.11 (101)

South Africa 12.9 (81)
Kimberley 0.0 (0)

On the Tuesday evening the Kiwis suffered at the hands of the rampant Kormilda team, while South Africa nearly grabbed their match against ACT Blue. Without knowing what players were put on the park each match, the scores suggest the Africans improved throughout the tournament.

New Zealand 0.4 (4)
Kormilda 25.12 (162)

South Africa 5.5 (35)
ACT Blue 5.8 (38)

After recreational functions and a tour of the Australian Institute of Sport on Wednesday, it was back into action on Thursday. We don't have the scores available but we would assume the junior Falcons were far too strong for the Kimberley side but expect South Africa struggled against ACT Gold.

The scene was then set for the finals, with the top two playing off for the Jim Stynes Cup, third and fourth contesting the President of the Senate Cup (named for the position that is effectively the chairperson of Australia's Upper House in Parliament), and fifth playing sixth for the DOTARS Cup. Kormilda again showed their strength against ACT Gold, New Zealand couldn't quite match ACT Blue as well as they had earlier in the tournament, and South Africa cruised home against Kimberley (Aboriginal name Tjurabalan).

Jim Stynes Trophy

Kormilda College, Darwin - 17.7.109 defeated ACT Gold - 7.4.46

David Parkin Medal for Best in Final - Davin Hall of Kormilda College

President of the Senate Cup

ACT Blue - 10.8.68 defeated New Zealand - 4.10.34

Ross Smith Medal for Best in Final - Marcus Doughty of ACT Blue

DOTARS Cup

South Africa - 22.16.148 defeated Kimberley (Tjurabalan) - 2.2.14

Michael Long Medal for Best in Final - Josef Van Zyl of South Africa

VFL Club Award for the Leading Goalkicker - John Van Meurs of ACT Gold

Chris "Dizzy" Smith Award for the Best Umpire of the Tournament - Rebecca Goddard

Barassi All Star Team Lachlan JOHNS - Kimberley (Tjurabalan) Preston SEELA - Kimberley (Tjurabalan) Chris MILER - Kormilda College, Darwin Barak SAMBONO - Kormilda College, Darwin William SAMS - Kormilda College, Darwin Sampson MUNGATOPI - Kormilda College, Darwin Roy FARMER - Kormilda College, Darwin Roderick MACMILLAN - Kormilda College, Darwin Cameron PLANT - New Zealand Jason WOODWARD - New Zealand Cameron HEKA - New Zealand Joel BYATT - ACT Blue Toby RICHARDS - ACT Blue Will GRIGGS - ACT Gold Nathan BARB - ACT Gold Ben SPENCER - ACT Gold Sinethemba BOKI - South Africa Pako MATHUBE - South Africa Thabiso Richards PHAKEDI - South Africa Gabriel Erens STRYDOM - South Africa Thabo Tiro Baden TONYANE - South Africa Josef Benjamin VAN ZYL - South Africa

President of the Barassi Youth Tournament board, Mark Cloney

Ron Barassi Medal for the Player of the Tournament and Captain of the All Star Team - Nathan Barb of ACT Gold

More stories and photos from the tournament will follow soon.