Our gratitude goes to Fiji Football Association’s technical director, Timo Jankowski, for having the heart to reach out to a rural school outside Lautoka.
Students of Teidamu Primary School outside Lautoka playing football on their school ground. Photo: Fiji FA Media
Our gratitude goes to Fiji Football Association’s technical director, Timo Jankowski, for having the heart to reach out to a rural school outside Lautoka.
Jankowski watched Teidamu Primary School participate in the Lautoka Inter-Primary School competition and was impressed.
This prompted him to visit the school and to his surprise discovered that it did not have a proper playing group.
“The kids have passion for football despite playing on red soil,” Jankowski told Fiji FA Media.
Despite all that, he took the students (girls and boys) through several drills to help improve their playing skills.
This was where he introduced the McDonald’s skills challenge, which became a hit among the students.
For most of the students, it was probably the time of their lives.
It was something they would never forget.
The Teidamu Primary School, like any other rural school in the country, have students who are passion- ate about football.
This is reflected in the big turnout of children to the McDonald’s sponsored- skills challenge, anywhere it is held in the country. So obviously, the future looks bright for football in Fiji.
However, the question that needs to be asked is where from here for our football players?
Is the football fraternity going to stand and watch these rising stars turn to other sports like rugby or rugby league to earn a living?
The challenge for parent body is not to look within but instead think outside the box. It should provide pathways that lead them to play professional foot- ball, anywhere around the globe.
With the number of talented players at our disposal for the past decades, it’s sad that Roy Krishna is our only professional footballer around.
Roy is among a handful of local-based players who have played professionally. The others include Esala Masi and Ivor Evans.
It’s time to act.
The decision makers at Fiji FA should be exploring avenues on the possibility of having a team of local- based players playing in the Australian A-League or any other professional competitions in Asia.
They only must see the success of the Fijian Drua in the Super Rugby Pacific competition and the Kaiviti Silktails in the New South Wales Rugby League’s Ron Massey Cup.
Also, Netball Fiji and Weightlifting Fiji have benefitted from our sporting partnership with Australia. So, it’s time to start talks of taking football in the country to a higher level.
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