Sudanese players ready to make the grade

We’ve heard and seen much of North Melbourne and Majak Daw. Rookie listed by the Roos, Majak is continuing his footy apprenticeship with Werribee in the VFL.

However, this week sees the AFL Under 18 National championships being held in Sydney at Blacktown Oval. And it’s Tasmania that has an interesting player in their squad: 17 year old Tour Miar, a lightly built (69 kg 195 cm) ruckman.

His older brother Andrea made headlines about twelve months ago, being touted as the next Sudanese ruckman on the up.

The older Miar is in his early to mid 20s and has continued on his way, having been named in the Tasmanian state squad to take on Queensland in June.

However, the story doesn’t start and end with Andrea and Tour. There’s another brother Majak down at South Launceston.

ABC Tasmania’s Stateline ran an article in July last year featuring the brothers Andrea and Majak, speaking of their journey from refugee camps in Sudan to, of all places, the cold of Tasmania, and along the way swapping soccer balls for sherrins.

The universal language is sport. The code is just a dialect, and in this case, these lads have picked up the local dialect.

Now it remains to be seen if young Tour can attract attention through the junior pathways. His stature suggests he’s seen as a development project and would likely be eligible for the 2011 championships.