World Footy News

AFL Oceania's Andrew Cadzow has put the call out for interested parties to contact him with a view to forming a steering committee to create AFL Fiji, "to be put in place to assist and guide the structure and growth of AFL in Fiji". Early thoughts include Auskick (or Fijikick), Recreational football, community and life skills programs and talent development, with a theme of "Let’s give everybody a go".

There has been plenty to recommend Fiji recently. There has been the athleticism of Fijian-Australian Nick Naitanui (drafted to West Coast at number 2 a few months ago), the ongoing success of David Rodan and Alipate Carlisle with Port Adelaide, and the International Scholarship listing of Inoke Ratu and Solomoni Loki by the Western Bulldogs following a recruitment camp in Suva and Labassa in Fiji.

There's also some history, with Fiji footy gets the ball rolling. Unfortunately that faded out (see Fiji suspends football development), in part due to in-country political problems. But there are good early signs for this new program, with Cadzow saying "Interest is at an all time high and opportunity exists to take the game to Fiji. Already school clinics, talent search and small game blocks have commenced irregularly throughout the Country".

AFL Oceania are looking for people in both Australia and Fiji to get involved, saying "The more the merrier. Exciting times ahead". Interested parties can contact Andrew Cadzow, however we're always reluctant to list email addresses due to "spambots" so we'll be deliberately obscure. The general contact for AFL Oceania is afloceania@aflq.com.au