Flag footie arrives in Raro

Canterbury ‘flag footie’ coordinator Steve Cate (left) and CISA tutor Bilsy Gukisuva demonstrate some of the rules of the new sport to the academy students.

Cate is on the island to introduce the non tackle sport of flag footie, which has taken Australia and New Zealand by storm, to Rarotongan athletes.

He has come at the request of CISA director Kevin Iro funded through the Oceania Sports Education Programme facilitated by CISNOC.

Flag footie is a non contact version of rugby league where tackles are replaced by the ripping of tags from the ball carrier – similar to ripper rugby but more dynamic.

Cate says that the sport has overtaken touch rugby in Australia and is fast growing in New Zealand purely because of the greater dynamics of the game compared to touch rugby.

The sport is for all shapes and sizes and age.

Each team is made up of eight players and the aim is to score tries within the teams allocated six ‘flags’ or rips of the tag.

A special exhibition tournament of the game will be run today at the Titikaveka field and the community at large is welcome to enter a team or two into what should be a fun afternoon.

If you are keen to play and learn more about the sport – get on down to Titikaveka this afternoon and register a team by 3.30pm for a 4pm kick off.