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Australian rules football in Tonga has its origins in local schools the 1980s, but has been played on an organised basis only since 2003, when the game's governing body, the Tonga Australian Football Association was founded. There are currently approximately 150 or more Tongans regularly playing Australian rules football.〔(World Footy Census - Summary )〕 Tonga's senior team competed internationally at their 2011 Australian Football International Cup debut achieving the highly creditable position of ninth out of 18 teams defeating many more fancied teams.. ==History== The first Australian rules football believed to have been played in Tonga was during the Christmas break of 1985–1986, when a Melbourne teacher named Denis Towers visited the country briefly with his Tongan-born wife, and played the game with some 40 Tongan men from the local villages of Hautu-Fahefa on the grounds of the local primary school. Further, during the late 1990s, Ewen Gracie, a former Melbourne primary school and sports teacher, also spent a few years employed at Liahona High School, in Tonga, during which time he also made time to teach young Tongans the skills of the Australian football game. A schools competition has been played yearly since then, including a tour to Samoa. Development officers from Australia have visited to islands to assist in creating development programs. In 2006 the first TAFA PTH junior scholarship was awarded to Alex Fungavaka who was placed at Norwood Morialta High School in Adelaide.〔(Young Tongan loving his footy and time in Adelaide )〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Australian rules football in Tonga」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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