Barassi International Australian Football Youth Tournament
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The Barassi Youth Tournament is an international Australian rules football tournament for junior players. In conjunction with the Australian Football International Cup senior competition, the youth cup is an important event for the development of Aussie Rules internationally giving the opportunity for junior players to compete and share a cultural experience.
The tournament is currently held every 2-3 years in Canberra, the national capital of Australia.
The tournament is officially endorsed by the Australian Football League as part of its International Policy.
[edit] History
The tournament began in 1998 as the Jim Stynes Cup international tournament, named after Jim Stynes a player who had a fairytale football career, converting from Gaelic football to Aussie Rules, moved from Ireland to play with the Melbourne Football Club and later awarded the Brownlow medal as the fairest and best player in the elite Australian Football League.
Recently, the competition was renamed to honour the football legend Ron Barassi a player with Italian origins that is widely acknowledged as one of the greatest ever Aussie Rules identities as both player and coach.
Subsequent tournaments have been held in 2001, 2003. As well as Australian amateur teams from the Australian Capital Territory, Western Australia and the Northern Territory other countries (depending on availability) including New Zealand, South Africa, Samoa, Denmark, New Zealand and Nauru have participated.
The 2006 tournament featured teams from South Africa and New Zealand, as well as an all-indigenous Clontarf Foundation team from the Kimberleys and a local team from the Australian Capital Territory represented. Papua New Guinea did not participate.
