Kanga Cup something for teams to aim for

Tasmanian football clubs, schools, associations and community-based teams affiliated to the Football Federation of Australia are invited to register for the 2009 McDonald’s Kanga Cup.

In its 19th year, the McDonald’s Kanga Cup is the biggest international youth football tournament in the southern hemisphere with the inclusion of over 200 teams and will be played over five days, with the opening ceremony scheduled for Sunday, July 12, and matches played from 13-17 July in Canberra.

The McDonald’s Kanga Cup is open to teams that are part of the Football Federation Australia Football Family and the tournament caters for male and female youth ranging from 10 years to 18 years of age.

Local owner and licensee of four McDonald’s restaurants in the ACT, Joe Sammut, is proud to celebrate McDonald’s fourth year of sponsorship of the Kanga Cup and is encouraging teams from across the country to enter and be a part of the McDonald’s Kanga Cup.

Local, interstate and international teams may be competing for the prestigious silverware, but the tournament’s sole focus isn’t on results, but rather on ‘uniting the youth of the world through football’, with a number of cultural and social activities organised for the week.

The McDonald’s Kanga Cup tournament is hosted by Capital Football and sanctioned by Football Federation of Australia.

The 2009 McDonald’s Kanga Cup Coordinator, Sarah Body, said: “The tournament is a great multicultural event as it encourages the fantastic opportunity for participants to make new friends from a variety of backgrounds”.

Each year, an Asian team is sponsored to come over for the McDonald’s Kanga Cup.

This year’s winning team of the Asian Fellowship will be invited to the McDonald’s Belconnen Lake Restaurant and will be awarded with a sports pack and the opportunity to meet Australian A-League football players.

“I encourage all junior football teams in Tasmania to enter the 2009 McDonald’s Kanga Cup,” said Body.

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Tasmanian soccer missionary, Glenn Thompson, who is a maintenance man at the school in Borroloola, on the Gulf of Carpentaria, recently took a team of Indigenous youngsters from Borroloola to Darwin for the Arafura Games.

The Arafura Games involve a whole range of sporting events - athletics, track and field, soccer, boxing - and is like a mini Olympic Games.

Forty or so countries from South-East Asia and the Pacific Rim countries send teams.

That's where Glenn took his team, the Borroloola Cyclones, an under-18 soccer team.

They were the revelation of the Games and The Sydney Morning Herald published a story, accompanied by a big colour photo of Glenn and his boys , on the front page, while SBS did a story about the team.

The Borroloola Cyclones, coached by Thompson, won only one of their four games, a 4-0 victory over the Northern Territory 'B' side.

They lost 3-0 to Macau, 7-1 to Aceh (Indonesia), 7-2 to Timor, the eventual gold medal winners, and 5-3 to the Northern Territory 'A' team.

But, it was a marvellous experience for the boys and they were the toast of the Games.

Glenn would love to bring his team to Tasmania on tour. Let's hope that one day we see them here.