By Michael Preston
For hosts Malaysia, their goal for the upcoming IFAF Asia Oceania Flag Football Championships is to create lasting memories for all who play a part in the inaugural continental tournament.
Ensuring a positive experience for the athletes visiting from far and wide across two continents is top of the agenda, alongside welcoming fans and media watching the games at the EV Arena Shah Alam in the state of Selangor from October 27-29.
The Malaysian American Football Association (MAFA) will create a friendly athletes’ village style atmosphere at the host hotel location where all teams will be housed during their stay on the outskirts of Kuala Lumpur. A welcome dinner will help break the ice among all participants before they become competitors on the field and once the medals have been presented and the final flags pulled, the teams will celebrate at a closing dinner themed around each’s team’s nationality.
“Creating memories and taking memories home with you is the theme of the tournament for us,” says former MAFA president Daryll Nathaniel who is the head of the association’s local organizing committee. “Right from the start we want to create the community feeling that we know is strong in the flag football world and has been evident at the continental tournaments played in the United States and Ireland.
“We speak so many languages in Southeast Asia and English is not a language that everyone understands, so we have to make sure we break those barriers down. We’ll bring people together and they’ll meet each other all the time at the event’s facilities.”
Beyond the tournament itself, MAFA seeks to benefit from the high-profile nature of the event, which has gained further traction in recent days with the confirmation that flag football will debut as part of the Olympic Games programme in Los Angeles in 2028.
“Through that news and being the tournament hosts, we have gained a lot more eyes from the perspective of our sports ministry, the Olympic council and a lot of governing bodies noticing that flag football is a hot topic, and we are the ones hosting the first-ever continental championships,” Daryll adds. “We have created a lot of curiosity among people and that has spilled over to the media who are asking what is happening. It has opened doors for us to talk to people about the sport that we love.”
Malaysia also plans to be successful on the field, with their men’s and women’s teams selected from a six-month process that began with about 250 athletes attending tryouts and was then whittled down in four phases to the final two squads of 12 players.
“These are the best of the best that the nation has to offer,” says Daryll. “We have some veterans and some rookies, and throughout the national team program a lot of people have surprised us and stepped up and shown their potential.
“Every nation wants to take home the gold, but on top of those aspirations of being the champions this is a good opportunity for us to gain experience from nations who have been playing the sport for many years and a sharing of knowledge and resources in the flag football community.”
Previously, Malaysia’s men’s team has traveled to the Philippines and Thailand, while the women’s team has won tournaments in both Thailand and Indonesia.
“Now on this bigger stage it is going to be a lot more interesting and challenging for everyone,” Daryll added.
If home field advantage is to play a part, that might manifest in the form of the weather that envelopes Malaysia at this time of year. Temperatures in the 90-degree Fahrenheit / 30-degree Celsius range will be supplemented by humidity and thunderstorms.
“Maybe that is going to give a slight edge to us and to Southeast Asia nations like Singapore, Thailand, the Philippines, and Indonesia, who all experience similar weather,” says Daryll. “But that’s Asia for you. I think the best teams will show through regardless.”
Whatever the weather, the IFAF Asia Oceania Flag Football Championships are poised to create lasting memories.
