By Mtutuzeli Hlomela
14 March 2006
The AFL Indigenous Youth Football Tour of South Africa and the North West Province has come to an end with the AFL Indigenous Team winning all three matches comfortably. The tour was a great experience for both the AFL Indigenous Team and the North West Team and now that the tour has been officially announced to be a regular event the benefits will much greater for South Africa. Following is review of the three games, played in Potchefstroom, Mafikeng and Stellenbosch.
Game 1 – International Rules (Potchefstroom, North West Province)
AFL North West 5 – 1 – 6 – 39
Australia 9 – 12 – 17 – 107
Best players for AFL North West – Benji Motuba, Odin Williams, Steven Malinga, Obed Phologane, Keagile Garenamotse
The game was played at Mohadin Stadium in the Indian township, where the Convicts played the first game in their 2005 tour. Steven ‘Papi’ Malinga kicked 4 unders for North West. Malinga was a classy player in the 2005 International Cup, booting 5 goals in the Buffaloes’ match against Spain in Wangaratta and regularly his side’s best player. Benji Motuba, who spent a season with Lyrup in South Australia’s Riverland courtesy of a scholarship, was best for the locals on the day. There was a small crowd, mainly invited guests and local kids from the township. The Potch Herald and SABC were there to cover the game, along with the Australian ABC Indigenous affairs program ‘Message Stick’. New recruits such as Phologane, Garenamotse fitted in nicely with the experienced group and showed lots of initiative at most times and were very impressive in their first match against the much more superior opposition.
The game was played to a high standard considering that it was the first time both teams had played with the round ball. North West got blown away in the first quarter but managed a great fight back in the second, but again in the third got blown away. The last quarter was a fairly even affair. When the Indigenous boys got on top, they took control and piled on the goals, whilst North West couldn’t manage to play consistently good football.
Jason McCartney was assisting Head Coach Mtutu Hlomela and Jack Arnold with the coaching and was also on the ground the majority of the game helping the North West players, and it proved very valuable for the rest of the tour.
Game 2 – Footy (Mafikeng, North West Province)
AFL North West 3 – 3 – 21
Australia 13 – 10 – 88
Best Players for AFL North West – Bryan Mitchell, Odin Williams, Benjamin Motuba, Obed Phologane, Paseka Matshana
The game was played at the International School of South Africa. Unfortunately on the day it poured with rain, limiting the crowd a lot.
The game was played in pouring rain making it a more even contest. The North West Team outscored the Indigenous Team 2 – 2 – 14 to nothing in the last quarter. It should be remembered that the indigenous team are a top quality outfit, with predictions some will ultimately play at the highest level. The Indigenous Team was too good for the North West Team but. In the first half the North West Team was pretty much out classed, the Australians were far more skilled, had cleaner hands and were quicker. Again in this game the North West Team managed to play a good quarter and a bit. In total it was a very good performance, an improvement of about 30% from the first game in Potchefstroom.
Game 3 – Footy (Stellenbosch, Western Cape)
AFL North West 6 – 6 – 42
Australia 18 – 9 – 117
Best Players for the North West – Odin Williams, Julian Horn, McDonald Mashigo.
The game was played at the Stellenbosch town cricket field. A small crowd made up of invited guests, students and people passing by – unfortunately it rained again. The Stellenbosch University paper covered the game, the ABC program again, but no other media. A paper in Cape Town ran a story and picture of both teams meeting with former Archbishop Desmond Tutu, which was also widely reported in the Australian press.
The North West Team was again outclassed, but played a brilliant second half. The video analysis sessions that Jason McCartney conducted in assisting the North West Team improve the way they played helped out tremendously, one could physically see the improvement from the time the boys in the International Cup to date.
The final match of the series also saw the debut of a promising new recruit. Cape Town’s Sandile Xhasa had his first game of AFL football and performed very well, with hopes that more players like him can be recruited from the Western Cape. Moving into more provinces will be important for the sport. I recruited Xhasa over the Christmas holidays when I was visiting family in Cape Town. He is a rugby full back, has very good hands and can read the ball well in the air.
The player of the series for the North West Team was Odin Williams. For AFL North West the scoreboard was not overly important in this early stage of the game’s development. The North West Coaching Staff were just looking to see improvement in the players and the way we played the game. We saw this and hopefully we can get some more experiences like this in the near future. This AFL Indigenous Tour was excellent for football in South Africa, it gave our players experience to high quality opposition and I am sure they learnt a lot from it.
The AFL saw enough to keep investing in the country. There’s no denying that they made an encouraging first advance back in 1997 before effectively turning away from the continent. After solid investment in the last year or two it seems likely that the commitment this time around is much greater and hopefully we’ll see continuous growth and improvement for the game amongst the people of our Nation.
AFL South Africa would like to hank the AFL, Clontarf Foundation, Tattersall’s and the North West Department for Sport, Art and Cultural Affairs for the initiative, support and contribution towards the success of the tour, because with the above – mentioned organizations this historical tour was a success.
