Indigenous football team tours Thailand and China

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CORBEN: The 25 under-18 foot ball players known as the Wawitima Warriors from Queensland prepare themselves for a game against a Bangkok team with a brave dance. The team, however, is special. The boys are all indigenous Australians brought together through a special education program to foster leadership in the community back home. The 25 are part of a program under the Pass Australia Indigenous Leadership and Mentoring Program through the Lloyd McDermott Rugby Development Trust.

The program's main goal is aimed at reducing low levels of literacy and numeracy as well as high levels of truancy anti-social behaviour by providing an alternative program of school-based traineeship.

Seventeen year old Joshua Batalibasi is the captain of the team.

BATALIBASI: Basically the most important thing is coming out and representing our country and our people and showing them what we are about through football.

CORBEN: How do you see yourselves - do you see yourselves as ambassadors of Australia or of football and indigenous Australia.

BATALIBASI: Both definitely - because we're out here from our country playing against other countries so we're definitely got to represent Australia but at the same time we're all indigenous - every single one of us we we're definitely representing our people as well - it is a big burden to carry.

CORBEN: The students have been brought together from all over Queensland, most studying at high school on student scholarships from rugby league and rugby union. Links have also been established with University of Queensland.

Leaf Bennet is a cultural ambassador for the Lloyd McDermott Trust. He says the tour is just part of the program of building leadership in the group.

BENNET: In a nutshell, they've all come together as part of this tour as a rugby team basically to take them over here to Thailand and Beijing, China and Hong Kong - to give them a taste of the world -take them out of their comfort zones - or in some cases not so comfortable - but definitely take them out of the country and show them a different light.

CORBEN: While Bennet has played the role of cultural ambassador in past, representing Australia in 2006 in New York at the United Nations Young World Leaders programme - the latest trip to Asia is a major plus in the work he does in acting as a mentor to the young players.

BENNET: My passion's working with young people, young teenagers and even little ones - to basically I suppose in a mentor role but also a brotherly role at times - an uncle as well - but mostly as a brotherly role to help the progression of our young men - our indigenous men.

CORBEN: Brendan Jones is the chief operating officer of Pass Australia, who came together with Queensland football player, Mal Maninga, to promote the development of the traineeship program. I asked Jones what is in the near future for the boys once they return to Australia.

JONES: We continue to monitor their school attendance - they have to keep their attendance up. Most of the boys are in year 11 so they're in the second year of the program - it's a three year program. What happens from there is we profile the kids throughout years 10,11, and 12 - then we decide on which job for them in conjunction with them and their parents what kind of job they want to look for - and then we find employers who want to take them on.
CORBEN: So it's really a big plus on their CV (curriculum vitea).

JONES: Yes absolutely it's the sort of program that we want all indigenous kids to want to be involved in - Obviously, the opportunities to get tours overseas and things like that is opportunities to have travel overseas and become more worldly themselves - it's a great opportunity and we sort of link all that back to sport.

The Wawitima Warriors came away defeating the Bangkok Lions under-18 team by 42 points to 12. Next stop games in Beijing and Hong Kong before returning to Australia.