Six nations to join football c'ships

JAKARTA (JP): Host Indonesia and five other countries from Asia will compete in the Asian Australian Football Championships at Cibubur Cricket Ground, West Java, on June 17.

The five other countries are Hong Kong, Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia and Brunei Darussalam.

Indonesia will be represented by the Indonesia Bintangs, Hong Kong by the Hong Kong Dragons, Malaysia by the Malaysian Warriors, Thailand by the Thailand Tigers, Singapore by the Singapore Wombats and Brunei by the Brunei Sharks.

Each team consists of 14 players which comprise four forwards, four backenders, three wingers and three followers. Each team will meet each other for a 30-minute game. The two top-scoring teams will fight for the top place. The other four teams will become runner-ups.

The winner and the runner-ups will all receive trophies.

The tournament on June 17 will start at 9 a.m. and end at 5 p.m. It is open to the public and is free of charge. Julian Clark, the president of the Asian Australian Football League, will open the tournament.

Organizer Tim Hakfoort said on Thursday that this is the first time Indonesia has hosted the championships.

"The Australian Football Championships is held annually in various countries. Singapore held last year's championships which it won," Hakfoort said.

Hakfoort added that Japan and China had intended to compete in the tournament but they withdrew due to a lack of preparation.

Hakfoort said this year's championships would be attended by amateur football players. He expected that through the tournament, the sport would become better known to Indonesians.

"Australian football is not so popular in Indonesia and we hope that through this tournament, Indonesians will learn about the sport and play it here as well," Hakfoort said.

Australian football is the most popular spectator sport in Australia, playing regularly to crowds of 50,000. The game is often described as a mixture of rugby and soccer. It draws worldwide praise for its speed, athleticism and controlled aggression.

The object of the game is to move the oval leather ball into the opposing team's scoring area and then kicking the ball between two large posts to register six points. Unlike soccer, players are permitted to use their hands. As it is a contact sport, there is a heavy emphasis on applying pressure to opponents when defending (in the same form as rugby). (lnt)