World Footy News

Vanuatu is a South Pacific island nation to the east of Australia, sitting between Australia and Fiji in the vicinity of New Caledonia. It has a population of around a quarter of a million, and the capital city is Port Vila, situated on the island of Efate.

Australian Football in Vanuatu was alluded to a couple of years ago with some mention of Auskick in the capital – and as it turns out there is still a small but growing community that represents AFL Vanuatu.

Justin Johnson is the president of AFL Vanuatu and can be contacted via justininvanuatu@gmail.com from anyone wishing to get involved. WFN communicated with Justin recently.

According to Johnson the game is in its infancy, however there is a “massive amount of potential in these islands.”

AFL Vanuatu runs Auskick clinics in Port Vila, Erakor Village and Mele Village. Plans are to expand into other Efate Island Villages next year too.

There are 2 clubs who play every three weeks or so.

According to Johnson, “We can’t really run a proper competition with only two teams however the standard of play is certainly improving as the boys get some game time under their belts.”

Vanuatu didn’t have any representatives in the recent U16’s nor compete at last year's Oceania Cup tournament. Presently though, Johnson reports they are “already seeing some good talent (14 – 16 year olds) playing with the senior club games so we aren’t far off sending some players out into the region.”

AFL Vanuatu has just applied for a youth ambassador position to begin early next year. This would help to consolidate the efforts of the code so far and help grow the Auskick programs through the local schools.