U19 Kulas – U19 Fiji National Football Women’s Team
We were invited to present The Ball at the Fiji Football Association’s Annual Congress. After the President of the FFA (Rajesh Patel) and Fiji’s most famous ever footballer and Captain of the Men’s National Team – Roy Krishna – signed The Ball, we said to the audience: “If anyone wants to have The Ball visit their community, please let us know.” After the presentation, Timo Jankowski, Technical Director of the FFA approached: „Come to Ba with me today”, he said. And so it was. Later that day we were in his car en route to the north-west of the main Fiji Island of Viti Leu to the traditional heart of Fijian Football – Ba. One the way, Timo dreamt out-loud: “I want every child in Fiji to have their own football. 200,000 balls for Fijian kids!”
Before we knew it, we were helping Timo run a team-building workshop with the Fiji U19 Women’s National Team who are in the middle of a month long training camp preparing for the fast approaching Oceania region U-20 FIFA World Cup qualifiers. The Women’s Football teams in Fiji are called the Kulas – because of the national bird.
The following 2 days provided insight on the state of play in Fijian football. We learned that the football playing surfaces in Fiji are suboptimal for free flowing passing football and that schools offer the cornerstone for developing the game here. We learned much about Timo’s plans for tapping into the wealth of possibilities for funding and other support from FIFA for the development of football in Fiji. We were all ears as Timo talked about his female-driven philosophy for growing the game.
Fiji’s football staff has increased significantly in recent years and that especially females are being engaged and employed to help build the structure for the future of football here. The U-19 women are one of the first groups to be on the receiving end of opportunities that previous female teams haven’t had. We met them and learnt too about their dreams for the future (football and otherwise). These young ladies are playing the sport they love in a male dominated society that struggles to embrace their sporting dreams. But now they are beginning to have an infrastructure that might also help them to be successful on the pitch but with a slight twist.
One of these opportunities was Timo’s vision of teamwork. “We can’t outplay opponents who have much greater technical capabilities and football infrastructure like New Zealand. We can make tactical adjustments, and we can especially build a team spirit that is unparalleled. This is our chance.” In the 2-days we spent with the U19 Women’s National Team we saw and were even a part of the development of that team spirit. A spirit being built upon the ideas and vision of the team itself. A spirit built upon the fun and never ending energy and strength that are in abundance in Fijian youth. In 2 days in Ba and on the road to Suva we witnessed this team develop as a group and as individuals. They played football together, sang beautiful gospel songs together, danced around the campfire, developed their own goals and vision for their team and even hashtags and mottos. We will follow their progress and wish them and Timo and the FAA all the best as they aim to harness women power to develop football from the grassroots up all over Fiji.
