World Footy News

Since the establishment of the Dubai Dingoes and their recent Dubai 9s tournament, there has been a flurry of football activity in the Middle East - additional clubs have been formed, rumour of a preseason AFL match in Dubai has surfaced and now we have been informed that preliminary talks have taken place investigating the possibility of league in the region, spanning as many as five countries. WFN spoke to Gary Johnson about the Doha Kangaroos and the heights footy might reach in the Middle East.

Qatar, like many other Middle Eastern countries is a major gas and oil producer and consequently they have an economy that is growing at an incredible rate. Life is very different to Australia, with a large wealth disparity and different living standards. It is an Islamic country, and the culture and laws are reflective of that, but differing quite considerably from the illustration painted by many western media organisations. Your average Qatari family has very similar family values to your average Australian family and they are confronted with the same issues of Inflation, Health, Education and Law enforcement. Soccer is the most popular sport in the country, but other games like basketball, handball and falconry are widely played. The country’s Aspire complex is one of the world’s best sporting precincts.

Doha is Qatar’s capital city, host of the Asian Games in 2006 and in the process of a construction boom, with tall buildings beginning to dominate the skyline. It is also home to the newly formed football club the Kangaroos.

The Kangaroos were initially formed to compete in the Dubai 9s. Johnson, one of the club’s founding members was put in contact with other Australian expatriates in Qatar through Nigel Koch, a major player behind the Dingoes and 9s. One of those people was Billy Barker who is affiliated with the Singapore Wombats and was somewhat familiar with setting up a club. From there they sought expressions of interest from parties at the Australian New Zealand Business in Qatar (ANZBIQ) function and three days later, around 10 Aussies showed up at the Legends Bar at Rydges Plaza and the club was born.

Sure enough the Kangaroos made it to the Dubai 9s, secured sponsorships in GHD, Crown Relocations, HSBC, Marinespect, Rydges Plaza (Doha) and East-West Transport and won all of their qualifying matches. Unfortunately, they were narrowly beaten in the Semi-final by tournament hosts the Dingoes (who they actually defeated earlier in the day) and missed out on the final as a result. Encouragingly for football, those involved at the Kangaroos weren’t simply interested in being a once-off competitor.

They currently have 15 players on their lists and are hopeful this will be 25 in a week’s time. Not only are they open to all nationalities, but they encourage everyone interested to join up, "one of the great things about being an Australian or New Zealand club is that you are accepted as you are, if you play well that’s great too." Johnson is especially keen about getting some of the local Gaelic boys involved, "some of whom would be naturals at this game, as you will see with Colm Begley at Brisbane and Martin Clarke at Collingwood".

They also plan to get juniors involved, as have the Dubai Dingoes have in the UAE. They are in the process of organising Auskick clinics for the coming weeks, and the response so far has been great. One of the biggest issues facing the club in the future is finding suitably-sized playing fields.

For the remainder of this year the seniors are trying to get as much game time as possible, involving as many people as possible and adding additional arms to the club. They are hopeful of adding both a netball club and possibly even a Touch Rugby side. They are trying to host monthly functions, clinics for juniors and building a positive relationship with the broader community. They will also be playing monthly matches. As mentioned before, the other issue is trying to find a ground big enough to play 18-a-side matches on. The club will also be hosting their own 9-a-side tournament pencilled in for either October or November and they are hopeful of attracting Middle Eastern, Asian and European competition. At this stage, it looks set to be a one day carnival.

The club was also part of general preliminary talks last week about the possibility of a limited-number (probably 9-a-side) multinational football league set in the Middle East. This could be established as soon as next year if an Abu Dhabi club put their hand up to compete. It would involve three clubs from the Emirates (two from Dubai and one from Abu Dhabi) and the Doha Kangaroos from Qatar. Johnson is also hopeful that a club each from Oman, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia would also compete, even if this wasn’t until after the league had been operational for a few years. Other than the planning required, the other major issue facing those involved is the weather. Summer is from June to August there and it is simply too hot to play any sport. Furthermore many families use this time to return to their homelands. Requiring the rugby grounds to play on, which are used regularly in the last three months of the year leaves a narrow window for competition.

WFN also asked Johnson on his thoughts of the preseason AFL game in Dubai between Collingwood and Adelaide that looks scheduled for February in 2008. He saw benefits for everyone involved if it was a success but would hate to see shadows of each team’s actual squad make the journey, thus largely defeating the game’s purpose. It would have to be about showcasing the spectacle and generating greater local interest, rather than a simply expatriate game. "It will be a fantastic week though for Australians in the Middle East and remind us why Aussie Rules is the best game in the world".

Johnson was also quizzed on the chances of another footy club in Qatar although that looks like a long shot. The country is home to less than 1 million people and unless the "satellite towns of Ras Lafan and Dhurkan grow and more Australians join them" it is very unlikely. Even then, "it would be a year-to-year proposition because of the work contracts of each employee".

Photos are from the Dubai 9s (March 30, 2007) and courtesy of Gary Johnson.