Lions romp with Vikings

By John Green

ERIK KROMARK was a keen European handball player in Copenhagen in the mid-1990s when he received a strange proposal from a friend. His associate, a former indoor hockey player, had become a ruckman in an Australian-style football competition and was hooked.

He suggested the 188cm Krolmark was "crazy enough" to make an attempt at this fast and furious sport from the far end of the world.

Australian football? Even Australian-born Jim Campion, coach of the Danish AFL team at this year's International Cup, conceded that the game had a dubious reputation in Denmark at the time, due to the level of fisticuffs on display in brief highlights packages shown on Danish TV.

At first all Krolmark could do was mark the ball, a skill he had developed in 20 years of playing handball. But he loved the physical nature of the game. Inexorably, the game grew on him and Krolmark became one of the mainstays of the Danish AFL competition.

Meanwhile, on the other sided of the world, in a township outside Johannesberg, South Africa, Benji Motuba discovered the weird antipodean sport while still a student at primary school.

Motuba had an athletics background and found that his lightning speed provided a natural advantage despite his lack of height. He loved the sensation of surging around a playing field and controlling an odd-shaped ball.

His obsession grew to the point where he had a Western Australian eagle tattooed on his right arm following a stint on a football scholarship in Adelaide. He also named his first son Burgoyne, after the brothers in the Port Adelaide line-up.

Both Krolmark and Motuba entered the 2008 International Cup tournament in red-hot form. Krolmark booted seven goals and helped his team, the North Copenhagen Barracudas, overcome the Farum Cats in the Grand Final just two weeks before meeting South Africa.

In July Motuba was awarded the "Extreme Medal" as the best player of the national championships while representing his provincial team, the Gauteng Blues.

During the International Cup in August, Denmark and South Africa were drawn to meet in the second round of the tournament at St Mary's Oval in Geelong. Denmark are the Vikings and wear red and white. South Africa, the Lions, array themselves in green, yellow, red and blue. The oval is a stone's throw from Skilled Stadium, the home ground of the Geelong Football Club.

South Africa, coached by former Magpie, Crow and Kangaroo Jason McCartney, had strolled to an effortless 146-point win over China in their first round match at Royal Park in Melbourne. The Danes had gone down to the USA Revolution by 62 points.

The teams lined up for the respective national anthems under a leaden sky. The freight trains coming in from the western district on the nearby rail line appeared to have brought the chill wind and rain of the surf coast with them.

The music for Denmark's anthem sputtered and died just a few bars into the song. It mattered little. The Danes sang accapella in rich baritones and finished with a guttural roar befitting their belligerent ancestors. Long-haired Jens Djernes cut a fearsome, archetypal Viking figure.

Would the conditions suit the Europeans more than the Africans? The rapidly falling temperatures would at least acclimatise both outfits for their next round of matches in Warrnambool during the coming week.

Some aspects of the game that unfolded were refreshingly different.

The respective national flags festooned the walls outside the change rooms. Smaller articles in national colours adorned the fence. Players called to each other in languages other than English. The Lions used a mixture of Xhosa, Tswana and Afrikaans.

I learned nothing from Jim Campion's quiet, measured instructions in the Danish huddle at quarter-time. Even the spectators were in on the act. One observer wearing Viking-horned helmet broke from his conversation in English to bellow advice in Danish when an errant kick sailed wide of the goals.

On several occasions South African players elected to meet an approaching ball with a boot in mid air rather than attempting to mark.

There was one breathtaking moment when South Africa's Stephen Matshane goaled on the run in the second term. Twenty-year-old Matshane took a few paces, turned his body around and celebrated with a spectacular double backflip. The feat was met with wild acclaim from spectators.

Yet other aspects of the match were more familiar.

The grunts of exasperation with a missed opportunity. The muffled expletive when a kick failed to find a target. The fierce contests in the packs. Players on the mark vigorously attempting to put opponents off their shots at goal, with Lions players applying themselves with particular enthusiasm.

I witnessed incidents of the sort that would have been taking place on hundreds of grounds around the country at the same time. Khaya Sikiti cheekily nudging opponent Rene Damborg and unbalancing him as he attempted to tie his bootlaces during a break in play. I could hear the smack of flesh as Erik Krolmark bumped his minder Odin Williams in the side while play was confined to the opposite end of the field.

At times combatants used English for maximum effect.

There were cries of "Baaaaaall" whenever opponents were caught in possession. Danish players urged each other to "Man up!" when South Africa kicked out after behinds.

Viking Michael Neugebauer confronted Lwazi Jawe with, "That's right mate, eyes for the ball!" after being awarded a free kick for a ruck infringement.

The Danes were noticeably bigger than their counterparts and usually stronger in the air. But the South Africans were considerably faster. Lions such as Sandikle Xhasa, Neo Sambo and skipper Mtutuzeli Hlomela pounced with cat-like reflexes on the loose ball and managed to keep their hands free for quick handballs when confronting tacklers. Several Lions made death-defying, spring-heeled leaps when attempting high marks. As the match wore on, they ran the Vikings off their feet.

Yet not all of the Lions were built like whippets. Solid Afrikaans boys with height,  such as Bryan Mitchell and the Prinsloo brothers, Richard and Toy, provided strong marking targets in attack.

One local who had wandered by while walking his dog enthused, "Those boys can play, can't they!" Curious Geelong supporters on the way to Skilled Stadium also loitered for a while.

The game was contested with a genuine spirit of fair play, right from the start of proceedings when both teams warmly applauded each other's national anthems. The only fireworks came late in the game. Toy Prinsloo took exception to a crude tackle and let fly with a short jab to the jaw of his assailant. He was yellow-carded, but the siren sounded for the end of hostilities just seconds later as he began his march from the field. He returned for the customary post-match handshakes.

Rounds of three cheers were called for (in English) for opponents and umpires.

Benji Motuba was among the Lions' best. He joined in the celebrations in the Lions' rooms after their comfortable 45-point victory. Not just one song for the winners; they sang a whole series and sounded like they could give the Soweto Gospel Choir a run for their money.

The circus was about to roll on across the park for the Geelong-West Coast match, before heading back to Melbourne for the Franklin-Fevola century shoot-out at Telstra Dome.

The visitors would be presented to fans at half-time. On the following day it was time to hit the Princes Highway for third round matches in Warrnambool. Denmark would eventually go on to crush China on the way to finishing the tournament in 11th place while South Africa would defeat the Americans on their path to a third placing.

At 34, Erik Krolmark suspects this may be his last International Cup appearance. Players have to find several thousand dollars each in order to fund the trip to Australia. He has two young children and an understanding wife who has generously supported him in his unusual sporting love. He is looking to repay their devotion over the next couple of years with more time spent at home.

Nevertheless, his son is proud to wear a Barracudas jumper and will no doubt be eager to display the colours at future fixtures in Copenhagen. Besides, Krolmark is loath to relinquish the camaraderie he has built up with fellow devotees over the years.

As for Benji Motuba, he will continue to work as an AFL community development officer in South Africa. He is hugely optimistic about the future of the game in his country and the possibility of players appearing in AFL competition in the future. His son, he says, has "good hands and good legs".

Motuba plans to add another tattoo; this time to his ankle: the lightning bolt symbol of his beloved Port Power. You might say he has been branded for life.