Japan

Australian football is known as 'Aussie Ball' in the Land of the Rising Sun. While baseball remains far and away the most popular sport in Japan, footy has enormous potential there.

The controlling body is the Japanese Australian Football Association (JAFA), which is based in Tokyo. Teams:

Tokyo Goannas
Japan Samurais
Gokongs
Osaka Dingos

History

Australian Rules Football was first introduced to Japan in 1910 by a Mr. A. W. McLean from Melbourne. He was successful in introducing it as a sport to four large high schools in Tokyo by having the rules translated into Japanese.

"I introduced the game into Japan this winter, and so far the results have been better than anticipated. Already four middle schools in this city are playing it, and it is probable that more may be induced to take it up in the near future. I have been personally coaching them all, and it has been encouraging to note the keenness they display. Some six years ago English Rugby was introduced into one of the universities here, but so far it has not taken on with others. English Association has also been played by another large school in Tokio for a few years, but there are no signs that it is becoming popular. When I introduced the Australian game I had the rules translated into Japanese, and provided the various clubs as they were formed with the necessary materials. I heard that it was proposed to send a party of 40 boys from Western Australia to America to give exhibitions of our game there. If such a party could be sent to Japan for the same purpose the results would be immediate, as I think it safe to predict that schools in places like Nagasaki, Kobe, Kioto, and Yokohama would be anxious to take the game up after seeing it played once by foreigners." (The Australasian, May 7, 1910)

It is uncertain what happened to Aussie Rules for the next 80 years but it is known that the spread of "the good word" went into hibernation somewhere during this period. Sooner, rather than later, is most likely.

Then, in 1986, the VFL sent two teams to Japan in an effort to encourage the international recognition of the sport. Hawthorn and Carlton played an exhibition match at in Tokyo in front of a mix of expats and locals.

The following year saw Hawthorn take on Essendon in the second 'Aussie Bowl'. The curtain raiser for this match was played by a make-shift team of Japanese university students. The nation's two most famous private universities scraped together teams of inexperienced Japanese boys to play Japan's first "real" footy match of the 1980s. The two teams, Keio and Waseda, are arch rivals in almost every sport - creating for a classic rivalry along the lines of Carlton v. Collingwood.

That match was the birth of the Japanese Australian Football Association (JAFA). Those two universities still play a large part, together with another private university, Senshu University. Together they came to form the "Japan Samurais."

Not wanting to miss the opportunity a group of ex-pat Australians formed the Tokyo Goannas in November 1991. Their aims were to publicise and promote Australian football in Japan, arrange games on a regular and more organised basis, and to provide social events and a network of support for independent ex-pats in Japan. As well as Australians, their members include Japanese and ex-pats from Europe and North America.

There is a league competition and regular one-off games, including the Qantas Cup (a Goannas intra-club, Victoria vs. The Rest Of The World match) and the Ned Kelly Cup (a "Combined Rules" match against the Irish ex-pats). As well as playing in Japan, the Goannas have disturbed the peace of Hong Kong and Singapore and JAFA has sent a national team to take part in the Arafura Games in Darwin in 1995, 1997, 1999 and 2001.

Their newsletter, Bungarra, is the best publication in Japan on the subject of Australian Football and many readers, who hold it in pride of place in the W.C., have described it as "very moving".

JAFA Teams

The Samurai - A team of Japanese students from Senshu, Keio, Waseda and other universities. What they lack in size and experience, they make up for in determination and sheer courage. They are totally fearless. (Perhaps not having grown up with the game, they are, for the most part, blissfully ignorant of the severity of injuries that can be incurred...) All aged under 22, they are speedy and fit and highly entertaining. The club trains regularly and tours Australia in August every year where they attract an enormous amount of media attention.

The Goannas - The expats - old and cunning. "Training" is a word vaguely remembered from the mists of time. A true blue group of Aussies who regard our national code as the greatest means of working up a thirst ever devised. They have consistently dominated the Australian football scene in Japan due to skills built up over a lifetime such as reading the play, body work and the short, sharp nudge behind the play.

Gokongs - Made up of "Samurai graduates" (upon leaving university, they are also obliged to leave the Samurai). They have some very impressive individuals, but they have yet managed to come together as a team. They are, however, most impressive in the employment division, where many of them are rising stars in MITI, Jetro, Itochou, Panasonic etc.

International Matches

1995	Japan/Singapore 6.5 (41) d. Nauru 4.11 (35)
1995	Japan/Singapore 6.11 (47) d. Hong Kong 1.10 (16)
1995	Papua New Guinea 10.11 (71) d. Japan/Singapore 5.7 (37)
1995	New Zealand 7.7 (49) d. Japan/Singapore 4.11 (35)
1995	Nauru 13.6 (84) d. Japan/Singapore 9.5 (59)
1997	Central Desert Eagles 9.16 (70) d. Japan 6.4 (40)
1997	Singapore 9.7 (61) d. Japan 3.2 (20)
1997	Hong Kong 11.7 (73) d. Japan 1.4 (10)
1997	Singapore 16.9 (105) d. Japan 3.2 (20)
1999	Northern Territory 19.11 (125) d. Japan 1.0 (6)
1999	Hong Kong 9.8 (62) d. Japan 8.8 (56)
1999	Papua New Guinea 20.5 (125) d. Japan 1.0 (6)
2001	Nauru 21.16 (142) d. Japan 1.3 (9)
2001	Central Desert Eagles 15.13 (103) d. Japan 7.4 (46)
2001	NT Superules 9.8 (62) d. Japan 5.8 (38)
2001	AFL Cairns Under 17 Squad 22.14 (146) d. Japan 4.5 (29)
2002	Nauru 17.17 (119) d. Japan 1.8 (14)
2002	Great Britain 7.3 (45) d. Japan 4.6 (30)
2002	PNG 23.9 (147) d. Japan 0.0 (0)
2002	Denmark 10.6 (66) d. Japan 4.7 (32)
2002	Canada 6.5 (41) d. Japan 5.2 (32)