Australia and Indonesia United in the Sporting Arena

The Australian Embassy today hosted an event to celebrate the sporting cooperation between Australia and Indonesia which coincided with the live telecast of the crucial Asian Football Cup Qualifying match between the two nations.

Australia’s Ambassador to Indonesia Bill Farmer announced the opening of applications for the 2010 Allan Taylor Award at the event attended by many of Indonesia’s senior sporting figures including Mrs Rita Subowo, Indonesia’s representative on the International Olympic Committee.

“The Allan Taylor Award is a great example of an initiative that exhibits the cooperation through sport between Australia and Indonesia. The Award enables organisations to apply for a grant from the Australia-Indonesia Institute to be put towards further development of youth sports in Indonesia,” said Ambassador Farmer.

Previous recipients of the Allan Taylor Award include Cricket Indonesia and the Jakarta Bintangs Australian Rules Football Club. Through the Award, these organisations were able to provide opportunities for young Indonesian children to engage in regular training and receive the benefits of being part of a team. The deadline for applications is close of business 19 March 2010 and details are available at http://www.dfat.gov.au/aii.

The guests at the event were also treated to a Kata demonstration by Faizal Zainuddin, the winner of two gold medals in Karate at the recent South-East Asia Games in Laos. Faizal is part of the six member Indonesian Karate team heading to Australia to compete in the Australian Karate Open in Melbourne in April.

“Close cooperation and exchanges through sport is a wonderful way to build bridges between the people of our two countries. The people-to-people links that we are able to create are a great enduring strength of the bilateral relationship,” said Ambassador Farmer.

Australia and Indonesia already have cooperation in a wide range of sporting areas including football, basketball, rugby union, cricket and elite sports management and training. Earlier this year, Football Federation Australia (FFA) and the Indonesian Football Association (PSSI) signed a Memorandum of Understanding providing a framework for cooperation between Australia and Indonesia in areas including coaching education, development of talented players and women’s football.

Australia is bidding to host either the 2018 or 2022 Football World Cup which would bring this premier sporting event to the region for the first time and provide football lovers in Indonesia the chance to see this competition on their doorstep.

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