Kingdom of Tonga

The seeds of the Tongan team were sown on Australia Day (January 26), 2003, when Australian expatriates Tim Valente and Mark Korsten became involved in a hearty bragging competition.

The pair attempted to settle the score the following morning at Tonga's Teufaiva (pronounced 'Tafa forever') Stadium and were observed by some early bird locals who emerged from the stands with an emphatic "What gives, man!"

Ten minutes later, Valente and Korsten had the Tongans practising drop punts. Twenty minutes later, they were slotting banana kicks from the boundary.

The talent of the locals was obvious, and still is. In the subsequent weeks they came back to play Australian Football every so often, and each time they brought along mates and brothers, and the numbers grew steadily.

In March 2004, the first Tongan played in a national team, when Sila Va'enuku, also a rugby union player, was invited to play with the expatriate community in the Multicultural Cup in Melbourne.

Tonga performed reasonably well, winning its first pool match comfortably, but losing the second to traditional rival Samoa by a small margin. While a little disappointing, this proved a great opportunity to get the Tongan ex-pat community on board and to demonstrate Pacific talent.

Participation in Australian Football is encouraging after just a few short years in Tonga, with five high schools involved along with primary schools, providing around 150 junior players. The main emphasis at this stage is on the 12-14 age group, but players across the system range from five to 35. All in all, there appears to be a very solid base from which to grow.

Meanwhile, the Tongan community in Melbourne is very supportive of Australian Football, with many youngsters keen to play the game. While fundraising efforts were not sufficient to bring out a team from the Kingdom of Tonga in 2008, the team fielded in the Multicultural Challenge allows the Tongan flag to at least be unfurled.

• Top