World Footy News

As the end of October draws near and Australian based AFL fans wonder whether 2 or 3 weeks is the right length for the trade period or whether the Irish series is worth persisting with or not – we could be forgiving for thinking there’s not much going on in footy. Certainly the same can’t be said for AFL Fiji who have been working feverishly on many fronts.

The month of October kicked off with a big week of clinics with visits from Monday October 7 to Friday October 11 including around Nausori, Namsoi (all week), and Ben Drew arrived from Brisbane on the Wednesday the 9th and joined clinics in the west. By the Thursday was the Fiji Day Cup at Suva Grammar and by Friday was a clinic at the Gospel Deaf school.

The Fiji Day Cup was reported in the Fijitimes with Lelean Memorial School winning the what was the 5th AFL Under 16 Fiji Day Cup Tournament. AFL Fiji’s Robert Wolfgramm reported record numbers with over 150 players from 40 schools.

AFL Fiji states that more than 200 students turned up at Suva grammar School by 10am and 150 players from more than 30 schools qualified for a 10 teams X 2 rounds competition; Culminating with the Grand Final at 4pm which was won by Team 7 comprising players from Lelean Memorial High School.

After defeating France in the 2011 AFL International Cup Division 2 Grand Final; AFL Fiji will be hoping to challenge Division 1 nations and towards that end is preparing well for 2014. Included in this AFL Fiji has been running trials (as reported in the FijiTimes“ Aussie Rules conduct trials” Oct 14) for the senior and junior Fiji Tribe squads for the international schedule that lies ahead. AFL Asia Pacific Development Officer Ben Drew oversaw Combine style trials held on Saturday October 12 at Veiuto Primary School and was impressed with some of the results including a 2.8 second 20 metre sprint (which is right up there with the best results in AFL combines – and of interest Adam Goodes referred to an Irish International Rules player through commentary recently as having a 2.8 second 20m sprint being equal with the best. And Goodes himself is only a 3.4).

The combine also included tasks such as a 3.2 km run, agility test and vertical leap. On the same day, another important step forward was a coaching/umpiring course that saw 15 new coaches and umpires set to assist with AFL Fiji. Another recent highlight has been an important development of the first Fijian indigenous language introduction and instruction booklet.

Coming out of that week a junior Tribe preliminary squad of 50 was announced who have subsequently partaken in Wednesday and Friday training as well as the Sunday before last (Oct 20) practice match. Final selections for the Fiji Junior Tribe were scheduled for Friday evening (Oct 25th). The Oceania Cup is scheduled for Suva across December 9-13 against Nauru, Tonga, Vanuatu and Solomon Islands.

Meanwhile, training and Sunday matches for the seniors continues, irrespective of weather. Well, not entirely.