World Footy News

The United Arab Emirates is now home to four Australian Football clubs, following the recent establishment of the Dubai Dragons. Sharing Dubai as their "home city" with the Dragons are Middle Eastern football pioneers, the Dingoes and two-time Dubai 9s champions, the Heat. The Emirates' fourth club are the Falcons, who are located in the capital, Abu Dhabi. Dragons' President, Matthew Gribble shared a brief background of the club with WFN.

A third Dubai team was the brainchild of Nick Hart, Dave Storey, Damian McNair, Chris Neuman and Matthew Gribble, all Australian expatriates and former players in the VAFA. Hart, Storey and Neuman are former Old Xaverians, McNair is a former St. Kevin's Old Boy and Gribble was an Old Collegian. Gribble admits that this great idea for a club actually followed the consumption of "a few too many beers by the boys at the Oasis Beach Club Pool Bar". Luckily for them, there was indeed sufficient interest in a third Australian Football club for Dubai, with the clubs roster now around the 30 player mark. The majority of players are Australian, "with a few Poms thrown in for good measure." The Dragons pride themselves on offering players "a chance to play good footy in a relaxed environment and enjoy a good range of social activities." Training is at Safa Park.

The club's unusual moniker is due to their affiliation with the Hong Kong Dragons, through coach Damian McNair. An annual "Dragon Derby" involving Dubai and Hong Kong has even been proposed, with each club taking turns to host the event.

The Dragons have played a few matches to date. They beat the Abu Dhabi Falcons by five goals on a outing that "involved all the elements of a great footy trip", and also partook in the Dubai 9s, enjoying mixed results. They plan to field a very competitive unit in the Middle East AFL's inaugural season, a league WFN will reveal more about in coming weeks.

If you would like to sponsor or be a part of the new Dubai Dragons football club, contact: mattgribble [at] live [dot] com