The Navi Mumbai Bombers (Sr.) Champion squad
The Inaugural Australian Rules Football Tournament in Maharashtra organized by Footy Association of Maharashtra (FAM) – ‘FAM CUP 2016’ was held at the Nerul Gymkhana in Navi Mumbai on 4th December, 2016. In a very closely contested game between Mumbai Cats and Navi Mumbai Bombers, Saeed Yahiya Khan led the Navi Mumbai Bombers to a well deserved win over the Mumbai Cats to lift the trophy in the junior division. For the seniors, the Navi Mumbai Bombers led by captain Amos Thombe defeated the Mumbai Cats with a crucial margin of 3 points (Bombers – 2 goals, 2 behind = 14 points & Cats 1 goal, 5 behind = 11 points) to be crowned as the first champions of Australian Rules Football in state of Maharashtra.
The tournament comprised both seniors and juniors where 4 seniors team boys named after the AFL clubs like Richmond Tigers, Essendon Bombers, Geelong Cats and Hawthorn Hawks while juniors teams namely Richmond Tigers and Essendon Bombers.
Mr.Shashi Pandey, Hon. President of Nerul Gymkhana, Mr.Dhananjay Vanmali, Hon. Vice President of Nerul Gymkhana, Mr.Harsharan Singh, Hon.Gen.Secretary of Nerul Gymkhana, Mr.Vikas Shetty, Hon. Jt.Secretary of Nerul Gymkhana, Mr.Vinay Roa, Hon.Member of Nerul Gymkhana, Mr.Satish Kadu, Hon.Member of Nerul Gymkhana, were present to inaugurate the tournament for the first time in the state of Maharashtra.
Mumbai Cats vs Pune Hawks (Sr.)
The tournament started with the National Anthem of India which got the players pumped up to showcase their willingness to win the coveted Inaugural trophy at Maharashtra. Footy skills on offer were of very high quality and it was very evident that the kids practiced hard during the year and took the game very seriously. A huge share of this achievement goes to the FAM coaches who travelled to various locations every weekend in the last few months to train new bunch of players, to update the boys on skills and knowledge about the game. Marking and kicking was top notch from most of the players which made almost all the matches very competitive and all the teams were fighting for a place in the ‘Grand Finals’. Mr. Mayur Vora, Umpires’ Coordinator of Australian Rules Football Association of India (ARFAI) helped players to understand the rules of the sport better during the matches.
In the end the Mumbai Cats and Navi Mumbai Bombers made to the Grand finals by defeating Pune Hawks and Thane Tigers respectively in close encounters for the seniors. The juniors had two matches fought directly for a place in the Grand Finals.
Mr. John Gloster, former physiotherapist of the Indian cricket Team and Rajasthan Royals (IPL team, Mr. Sayed Zahiruddin Khatib, Hon. Chairman of FAM, Mr.Zuber Baig, Indian Footy Player and Secretary General of FAM, Mr.Peter Gaikwad, Founder Member and Hon. Board Member of FAM, Mrs.Sayed Ruksana Khatib Founder Member and Hon. Treasurer of FAM, Miss. Kanchan Bagdwal of FAM, Founder Member, Miss. Prajakta Chati, Founder Member of FAM, Mr.Jalal R Shaikh, Hon. Board Member of FAM, were present to make the tournament a success. It was delightful to have Mr. Brett Caldwell, Conditioning coach at South Adelaide Football club, Mr.Zac Cross, both of whom are from Flinders University in Adelaide and were in India for a month to intern for ARFAI werepresent to support and encourage the players.
All teams during the National Anthem
The presentation was a celebration of footy in the state where all the teams were presented with medallions and certificates while the “Runners” and the “Champions” were also awarded trophies for brilliant display of skills and teamwork on the field. For juniors, the award for the ‘Best Mark’ went to Sohail Ansari from the Bombers, ‘Best Goal’ went to Saeed Khan from the Bombers and ‘Emerging Player of the Tournament’went to Jafar Ali Khan from the Cats. For seniors, the ‘Best Mark’ award and the ‘Best Goal’ award was won by Sagar Toraskar and Gouraj Surve from the Bombersand the most dominating performance throughout the tournament made Fahad Shaikh from the Cats the ‘Player of the Tournament’.
Special acknowledgement required for the FAM officials, who worked tirelessly leading up to the tournament to make the event a grand success. Cheers to many more tournaments in Maharashtra as Mr. Brett Caldwell and Mr.Zac Cross signed off saying “Hope to be back here next year for a bigger tournament of Footy! Now Team Maharashtra will get ready for their next destination National Championship 2017 in January at Kolkata, West Bengal. Lots of support can make their dream come true in couple of months.
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