World Footy News

Port Adelaide AFL professional, Suva-born David Rodan, and his fiancée, Carla Di Pasquale recently travelled to Suva, Fiji, to promote the code and talk through the aims and objectives of the game they hope will bring the youth of Fiji into Aussie Rules football.

Rodan and Pasquale plan, with the assistance of Port Adelaide and the Western Bulldogs football clubs, to run clinics at schools around the country, aimed predominantly at 14-15 year old boys. The footy clinics are planned for once a week in schools, taking on up to 90 kids per session.

The aim is to introduce and coach the sport in preparation for the Oceania Youth Cup, in which a Fiji under 16 side will compete in December. The championship will be held in Fiji on the 12th to 13th of December this year and will see competitors from all over the Pacific including Fiji, New Zealand, Tonga, Nauru and Papua New Guinea. The AFL have agreed to fund the Oceania Youth Cup, paying accommodation and food costs for all of the players, who have only to finance their return flights to Fiji, if they are participating outside of the host country.

The Fijian team will be aptly named Fiji Power, after the Port Power Adelaide AFL team who have lent support to the event, and from which Rodan originates.

A couple of articles in the Fijian media: Aussie rules kicks off and Rodan to promote AFL in Fiji