World Footy News

The Bali Geckos, an Indonesian football club that has previously fielded ex-AFL players such as Jason McCartney and has enjoyed high-profile support (former Australian Prime Minister Mr. John Howard watched a game), hosted the fourth annual Bali 9s Masters tournament earlier this month. As the tournament name suggests, teams consist of nine players on the field, in the 35-or-over age bracket. Matches were comprised of two twelve-minute halves, with the event held at The Canggu Club. Readers please note that the Bali 9s Masters tournament differs from the regular Bali 9s tournament, which is held yearly in October in remembrance of victims of the Bali Bombings.

Apart from the Geckos, teams present at the 2008 event were the Jakarta Bintangs, Singapore Wombats, Dubai Dingoes (pictured left), Darwin Dingoes (Northern Territory, Australia), Castlemaine Masters (Victoria, Australia), South Coast Buccaneers (NSW, Australia) and the Darwin Waratahs (Northern Territory, Australia). Also present were the recently formed Timor Leste Crocs and Borneo Bears.

Thanks to the Geckos' Peter Gun for supplying details for the article.

The event saw a total of 21 matches played using a modified 9-a-side version of the game. After 15 round-robin games, four teams were still in contention for the title - the Wombats, Waratahs, Geckos and Castlemaine. Darwin defeated Singapore by four points in the first Semi Final and earned a berth in the final against the Geckos who defeated Castlemaine by two goals an equally hard-fought game.

The Waratahs went on to win the day by fifteen points. Inaccurate kicking on the Geckos behalf was highlighted as a contributing factor. The second-place finish is the host club's second in two years, with the Geckos also runners-up at the Asian Championships for the past three years.

The standard of football was fantastic from all teams, with special mention going to the Indonesian members of the Borneo Bears side and the Timorese players from the Timor Leste Crocs. These players showed fantastic skill and courage competing against bigger and far more experienced expatriate players.

Bali 9s Masters continues to expand each year thanks to the support of Masters Australian Football. The Geckos next adventure is a tour of Darwin in late June, which is the club's first journey down under.

Borneo's cheerleaders were the envy of the other clubs

Team representatives pose for a photo

A Geckos player about to kick whilst his Singapore opponent gives chase

More photos can be viewed at the Bali 9s website.