How Chol Majok’s 100m footy dash scores dazzling goal: the new faces of local footy making a mark
SOME of Aussie Rules’ newest recruits are making an impressive mark on the game. Watch this 100m dash and freakish, soccer-inspired goal from a local African star ...
FLAGSTAFF Hill footballer Chol Majok reckons it was “just a spur-of-the-moment thing”.
When the ball spilt to his feet from a marking contest in a Southern Football League match against Brighton on August 1, the athletic Sudan-born ruckman’s instinct was to start kicking it along the ground.
First there was a toe poke near his side’s defensive 50m arc, then successive longer kicks and finally a short dribble beyond an outstretched Bombers player before steadying to slot a soccered major.
Flagstaff coach Rod Mitchell estimates Majok, a former soccer player who only took up football four years ago, ran about 100m to finish the stunning goal — all while being hotly pursued by two opponents and never taking possession on a muddied Brighton Oval.
“My initial thought was just to get some ground and kick it forward to the next contest,” Majok, 25, says.
“I realised I was by myself pretty much and as soon as I saw my teammate shepherding I thought ‘there’s a chance here’ and have just gone for it.
“I kind of did it subconsciously — it played differently in my mind.”
Mitchell asked Majok to recreate the goal at training the following week.
“It didn’t work,” Majok says with a wry smile.
Majok, of Brooklyn Park, was born in Khartoum, moved to Egypt for a few years then migrated to Australia in 2003.
“It was my Dad’s idea.
“He wanted to bring us overseas but he passed away (in Africa) so mum was just fulfilling his dream in wanting his kids to be educated.”
Majok played soccer before following a mate out to Flagstaff Hill in 2012.
“Soccer was getting a bit boring and I wanted a new adventure.
“I had no knowledge (of football) whatsoever but had an eagerness to learn.”
He weaves such football lingo as “chucked up forward” and “keeping a lid on it” into conversation as if he has been playing his whole life.
“It’s the stuff you pick up — and I’ve picked it up quickly.”
His skills are constantly improving.
“There’s no doubt there are times I wish I’d been playing footy when I was younger but here I am, I’m just trying to make the most of it and be a student of the game.
“Flaggies have been amazing.
“The support we get is really good, I enjoy playing with the boys and I’ve picked up a few fans along the way.”
Majok believes he can help Flagstaff, sitting equal top, claim its first ever top-flight premiership this season.
“It’d be very special.”
The future of football
WOODVILLE-WEST Torrens star Andrew Ainger says African players can become the future of football.
“They’ve got that X-factor — a lot of them are tall, they can run fast and jump,” says Ainger, who co-ordinates the SANFL’s diversity programs.
“I think they’re truly the future of this sport if the AFL continues to be based around athleticism.”
The SANFL has seven players of African descent players in its ranks this season — mostly migrants from east African countries including Kenya, Uganda, Sudan and South Sudan.
Chol Anyang (North Adelaide), Ariek Lual (Norwood) and Robert Irra (South Adelaide) are in the under-18 competition, Kutzi Motsi (Central District) and brothers Martin and Michael Frederick (Woodville-West Torrens) play under-16s, while Emmanuel Irra is a league regular for the Panthers.
Ainger expects more to join SANFL ranks in coming seasons.
He says Irra, understood to be the first African-born refugee to play league football in SA, is a role model.
The SANFL fields a team in the AFL’s All-Nations Cup, a national under-15 competition featuring players from non-English speaking backgrounds.
This year the SANFL launched the Alipate Carlile Elite Academy to help bridge the gap between the cup and SANFL junior ranks.
Fiji-born Port Adelaide defender Carlile runs skills sessions for multicultural under-17s.
“It’s a program we started to assist these guys who would’ve come into football late,” Ainger says.