World Footy News

In 2004, the creation of the Solomon Islands Australian Football Association (SIAFA) was creating a positive outlook for a new Pacific stronghold for footy, although it disappeared almost as quickly as it came.

In the meantime however, footy has still been continuing in and around the Solomons capital Honiara, assisted largely by Australian Defence Force and Police personnel stationed in the islands as part of the Regional Assistance Mission in the Solomon Islands (RAMSI).

One of the main drivers behind footy in Honiara is Captain Daniel Strack. WFN caught up with Captain Strack to talk about the current state of play regarding footy in the Solomons.

The Solomon Islands Australian Football Association (SIAFA) was formed back in 2004, but never really got off the ground. The only contact between the current group and the SIAFA is between Strack and a Federal Agent he worked with at Melbourne Airport. "He spent a bit of time here between 2003-6 and took a personal interest in the kids and footy development.

"Apart from that, there isn't any contact with the old SIAFA, although I am in the process of tracking down a man by the name of Golden Kiloko. I saw his picture in the paper recently and believe him to be associated with the Solomon Islands Rugby board. He apparently was on the board that had some input into the SIAFA establishment.

"As it stands now there is limited community awareness of AFL in Solomon Islands. In saying that, within certain communities in Honiara footy rules - it is the only sport they want to play. Of particular note is the community of Namoliki in southern Honiara.

"At its inception a set of jumpers were provided by a Melbourne Returned and Services League Club for use by young Solomon Islanders for this activity. The children have since outgrown the jumpers, which are now old and no longer usable.

A weekly Australian Rules football activity has been conducted in Honiara by members of RAMSI since 2004 and continues to be popular today. Every Saturday afternoon the locals gather together at the grounds of Rove Prison and participate in a series of training exercises conducted by Australian Army personnel.

After the skills drills, the soldiers and locals combine to play a match, with the Police providing umpires. Unfortunately due to COMCARE arrangements the Police are not authorised to participate in the game itself.

Currently there are no officially organised teams in the Solomon Islands, with Strack describing the scene as "a regular gathering of like-minded people interested in doing something a little different." The vast majority of players come from the Namoliki community. Strack has named the boys the Namoliki Saints – the name reflecting the old-style St Kilda jumpers donated by the Heathcote footy club in country Victoria, as well as the deep religious views of the locals in the squad.

As Strack tells, "Each Saturday night the boys head off to a small prayer area where they spend the night praying. It was quite moving once, my team (Sergeant/Corporal) and I visited the village outside of footy and had a good chat to the boys about what they want to do with their lives. They took us for a short walk into the mountains and showed us their special place of prayer. One of the boys gave me a shell necklace as a token of thanks and said they pray for us here that we will be safe and bring peace to their country."

Plans to create a national body haven’t yet coalesced, Strack believing more structure needs to be created first. "One of the biggest inhibitors at the moment is continuity. Military personnel rotate in and out of the Solomons every 4 months. The Police stay for 4 months then have a month leave in Australia and return for their next 4 months. Trying to get a consistent group of trainers or interested officers to assist the kids each week is a challenge in itself.

Says Strack, "The current military rotation is made up of Victorian, South Australian and Tasmanian units, so they primarily play AFL. The next rotation is from WA, so are again AFL inclined. There is no guarantee however that the people in my role for the next rotation will have the same passion to do what we have done.

"Considering what I’ve said about continuity, I think a dedicated development officer is clearly the way ahead. This person would be able to provide the ongoing support required to develop the game in the Solomons. I’ve spoken to development personnel from RAMSI's Office of the Special Coordinator with regards to this sort of initiative.

"There have been youth ambassadors in the past for sports such as triathlon with good success. Capitalising on what we already have here in Honiara with a central point of contact that has the specific task of developing the game".

Preliminary discussions have been held with the AFL regarding possible funding to send a Solomon Islands team to the Indigenous Cup competition and/or International Cup 2008. The biggest catch is the lack of funding - with both what the locals can earn and what they can get access to through Solomon Islands Government grants. Although as Strack says, there has already been sufficient interest in support by way of accommodation and support should a Solomons team make it.

"The Heathcote Football Club and surrounding community (home town of my Sergeant Ken Rowe) have expressed an interest in billeting. I have approached my footy team University Blues and requested sponsorship support for the IC2008 next September. At the upcoming AGM (Nov 20) will be discussing my proposal to align Uni Blues with the law enforcement community, in particular individual Australian Federal Police agents, Customs officers (where I work) and Defence personnel – all of whom have had contact with the Namoliki Saints, to provide support to the Solomon Islanders should they get a team for either the International Cup or Indigenous Games next year.

"At the moment Australian Defence Force personnel are the driving force behind AFL in the Solomon Islands, actively engaging the locals both on and off the field. Some of the activities we have undertaken include the ongoing Saturday training sessions and games, the recently held Clark-Dunning Memorial game to showcase the AFL in Honiara, and a pre-Grand final Footy night in Namoliki where footy videos were presented.

"Assistance does come in part from the Participating Police Force but that is limited to Saturday training sessions. Another likely area we could tap into is the expat community and other Australians currently residing in Honiara".

Plans for junior programs are also in development. Advertising for the demonstration game was targeted at local Honiara secondary schools with assistance from the Australian High Commission and around 200 people participated in an Auskick-style Solkick activity conducted prior to the game. Strack’s current role sees him doing this as a matter of course, filtering through Honiara communities and sewing the seeds of Australian rules by teaching the kids some basics skills and then giving them some AFL-donated footies to keep.

"At the Namoliki Grand Final footy night, we played a series of video clips for the entire community (close to 200 interested people of all ages). To start we showed parts of 'Bumps, Biffs and Brawlers' DVD to whet their appetite before playing the final quarter of the Essendon v Melbourne game at Telstra Dome this year where Essendon kicked a goal to win in the last 10 seconds.

"After that we showed a PowerPoint presentation with series of photos of the kids that we had taken at the preceding training sessions. As the locals don't have ready access to cameras etc they got a real buzz out of seeing themselves on the screen kicking and marking. The next Saturday training session I had to make sure the kids knew how to execute a proper hip-and-shoulder so they wouldn't hurt themselves and others. I took them through a few basic drills and taught them some tackling skills as well.

"Part of my team's role - Civilian-Military Liaison - is to engage with the locals. We've taken care to foster relations with the locals outside of the footy field, simply to get to know them a bit better and find out their concerns. One on the underlying lessons that I've being teaching the kids is self empowerment - doing things themselves rather than waiting for somebody to do it.

"The simple open-ended question I've been asking them is 'if you don't do it, who will?' Empowering the people of the Solomon Islands to be self-governed is one of the underlying aims of RAMSI. I believe that footy at the grass-roots level in Honiara has many similarities with what RAMSI is trying to achieve at a national/regional level - teaching the locals to do things for themselves, and then getting them to have a go.

"I honestly believe that what we have done is working and will continue to work. My team can see the fruits of our labour already – increased attendance, greater participation and more active involvement in footy from the locals. What we do need to do is provide the kids with a goal, whether it be the establishment of an ongoing local competition with a couple of teams, or for a one-off team to enter the International Cup next year."