Australian rules football in Nauru

In Nauru Australian Football is the national sport since no other sport is popular there and is practiced frequently. Also a Nauruan league exists, which is organized by the Nauru Australian Football Association ( NAFA ). The seat of NAFA is located at the Linkbelt Oval, currently the only football stadium in Nauru. NAFA is composed of the president, a secretary, a treasurer and a member of each team. The executive branch is how the State executive, elected for three years. Until 1999 Valdon Dowiyogo was president.

The Government supports the sports department, especially the weight lifting, because in this discipline most international success has been achieved. In addition, Australian Football and Golf is marginally supported. Australian football is in Nauru is of great importance for the population. There are many young people to do something, otherwise there are not many alternatives in leisure time, and it leaves thousands of people participate in it, whether players or spectators. The population is also interested in the professional league in Australia; per week a game from Australia is transmitted. However, this interest is not mutual: It is not possible to follow games from Nauru by radio, since the NAFA has no funds for transfers available and also because the interest for Nauruan Australian Football outside of Nauru is too low.

History

Australian football was first played in the 1930s by Nauruan students of the school in Victoria. Under these hammerhead DeRoburt, the Nauru was later led to independence. Schools Victoria and Geelong in Melbourne were popular schools for secondary education of Nauruan students who could not complete more than primary education before the Second World War in Nauru.

After DeRoburt returned from Geelong, he led with a few other students a Australian football and made ​​it to those popular sport that it is today. His preference for Australian Football he was in Geelong, while there completed the secondary education. He was a big supporter of the Football Association of Geelongschule, the Cats, and remained faithful to him always. Whenever he was in Melbourne, he attended the Games of the Cats.

1994 preserved Kinza Clodumar, then chairman of the Nauru Insurance Corporation, the Australian Australian football team Fitzroy Lions by a seven-year million deal before the bankruptcy.

Between 1987 and 1999, the national championship was dominated by the Menaida Tigers; they won ten league titles in a row. 1996 played eight teams in the senior league. 1997 Championship was held in either the elderly, yet in the juniors. Nevertheless, the Nauru Secondary School sent a U14 team, which was invited to the Queensland Junior State Championships. They won all four games. Thereafter Paner Baguga, one of the then best U18 player, sent to Brisbane to play in the team Morningside in the Queensland State Football League. 2001, no national championship was played again.

Leagues and Teams

National

In 1995, the Nauruan national team at the Arafura Games in Darwin, where she won the bronze medal. The " frigate " (as they were then called) were from former players of the Geelong Cats, Mark Yeates, trained.

In March 2000, took over the national team, now called the Chiefs, on the Web Sports Cup in Queensland in part, in which they won against the national teams from Samoa and an Australian selection. They repeated this success at the Pacific Cup a year later. In 2001 they won at the Arafura Games in Darwin, the Gold Medal.

2002, the national team on the first Australian Football International Cup in Melbourne in part, and held it the 7th Place. For financial reasons, the national team on the second Cup ( 2005) was unable to attend, and it is still questionable whether they will come to Melbourne in 2008 for the next one.

League teams

• The Menaida Tigers are the most successful team in the league. They won 1987-1999 twelve times in succession the championship (1997 was not played ). The team comes from Buada and Aiwo and plays for the power plant. Its former name was Linkbelt Tigers. With René Harris Menaida the Tigers have a prominent supporter, who worked previously as a sponsor. More hundreds of fans support the Tigers regularly at their games.

• The tanks Saints are the second major team in the league. They won two league titles in 1986 and 2000. When the Saints earlier played the coach of the national team, Wes Illig, and successful in Australia striker Paner Baguga. The Saints come from Meneng, enjoy great popularity there and have a correspondingly large fanbase. The U17 Panzer Saints won the 2003 European Under-17 Championship
• The Blues from Anabar and Anetan are a less successful team. A well-known former player Sean Oppenheimer, founder of the Junior League and the largest private company Nauru, Capelle & Partner. The U14 Blues won the first Junior Championship in 1999 against Ubenited. The elite was in 2000 in the final, but lost it clearly against the tanks Saints.
• The Ubenited Power are a team that have emerged from the ranks Ubenide Power and Ubenited. Inter alia Valdon Dowiyogo played for the Ubenited Power. They come from Ubenide and have the only one in all leagues with one team. The greatest success of the club achieved the U17 when they won the championship in 2000.
• The Aces are a team with small ambitions. With them played among others Wes Illig and Marcus Stephen, Nauru 's most successful weightlifter. Presumably they come from Anetan.
• The Supercats or even Cats are an independent team without a home district. It took its name from the Geelong Cats, an Australian team, in which have already played many Nauruans. The Supercats had in 1996 two Australian Under-19 players in their ranks.
• The Boe Lions are a team of Boe. They are named after the Australian team Fitzroy Lions and received prominent support by Kinza Clodumar. Their greatest success was winning the U14 championship in 2000.

About the Team Esso, the Eagles, the Frigates and the Magpies Yaren is not known.

The season lasts from May to December. The league is so to speak, isolated from other foreign leagues. Only rarely play foreigners in the Nauruan League; only six Australians played since 1989 in Nauru. 1996 played two players of the Geelong College three games for the Supercats. Other foreigners who played in the league, came from Kiribati, Tuvalu and Fiji. Also Nauruan players in the professional league in Australia are rare; so far only managed Paner Baguga for a short time the leap into a professional team.

Senior Leagues

The senior league is made up of an elite class with seven teams and a reserve class with five teams. It can be played on the Linkbelt Oval only two games a week, as it currently is the only oval in Nauru. The Menen Stadium is still under construction, and the Denig stage is not suitable for football.

Teams of seniors League (Elite):

Teams of seniors League (Reserves):

Junior Leagues

NAFA will host no Junior Championship. She organized an earlier U16 Championship, which was however discontinued.

Championships for the U17, U14 and U11 teams organized Nauru Mini Football Federation ( NMFF ). It is not connected with the NAFA. The NMFF was founded by Sean Oppenheimer, a former player of the blues and chairman of the private enterprise Capelle & Partner. Oppenheimer tried when NAFA to reach an introduction of junior leagues. He also had sponsors who have invested $ 3000 for it. But the NAFA dismissed the claim.

Therefore, Oppenheimer started with some like-minded people in 1999 their own championships for U14 teams. The Capelle & Partner donated balls, jerseys, trophies and More. They met every week to plan the championship. They planned to get enough players for two teams. Instead of the required 36 players came forward about 400 young people, so that six teams could be formed.

When the championship was and was played, the NAFA wanted to integrate it; the NMFF refused, however. The population supported the new junior league and many attended the games. The championship ran from June to November and was a great success. It was played on an area in Ewa at the headquarters of Capelle & Partner, as the Linkbelt Oval was leased by the NAFA.

The first championship final of the Junior 500 spectators were present when the U14 team the Blues defeated the U14 the Ubenited Power. 2000 then a U11 and a U17 Championship has started, both also organized by the NMFF. The NAFA still only organized the championship of the seniors.

Teams of Junior Leagues:

Sponsoring / referee

Officials Referee does not exist; the six referees, which are needed in the Australian Football, are made up of independent players. They do not carry official workwear; instead they are to wear white clothes.

The main sponsor of the NAFA is the Q Store, a department store, which is sponsoring the trophies. The price of the prize is a flight to Australia with Air Nauru, which is sponsoring the trip. The airline Air Nauru is next to the Q Store is the largest donor of NAFA.