World Footy News

Nauru, the tiny Pacific nation that made a fortune from bird guano and then ran out of the stuff sending the country near broke, has relaunched its domestic competition under a exciting new system. This is a country that came 5th in the 2008 International Cup, with most of the country AFL mad and looking for a long term solution to getting domestic footy happening again.

Unfortunately the Nauruans played the game on a village/tribal basis which created quite a violent contest at times, especially when you consider that the ovals lacked any great covering of grass. As a result it has been some years since the domestic competition has been played in a formal manner and given the nation’s excellent results at IC08 the place was cherry ripe for the game to reinvent itself.

A pool of 120 players nominated, were finalised and then drafted into 4 newly formed identities. The teams are the Stingrays, Marlins, Barracudas and Sharks and were supported by the AFL who donated the time of AFL Oceania Manager Andrew Cadzow and the jumpers for the four teams. Nauru's International Cup captain, Trent Depaune, went at number one in the Nauru draft.

Cadzow spent a week in Nauru, not only presenting new jumpers for the squads and launching the season but also setting up the Ourkick (Auskick) program, organizing scholarships, running coaching/admin courses and preparing for the Youth Competition.

With 100's of spectators and over 100 keen footy players the Minister for Sport, and mastermind behind the new system, Mathew Batsiua officially launched AFL Nauru 2009 as "The Friendly Games".

The umpires and officials reported incident free and exciting free flowing football played in great spirits. There are already plans to expand the concept being discussed.

The reinstatement of domestic football, both junior and senior, the implementation of Auskick and the continued scholarship program into Country Victoria augers well for the future. The results should be seen not only domestically but also at the next couple of International Cups.

The coaches of the 4 new teams with jumpers donated from the AFL. AFL Oceania Manager Andrew Cadzow and Minister Mathew Batsiua complete the line up.