ON the back of their strong performances at the past three Clash of the Cultures Trans-Tasman tournaments, the Australian First Nations men's team are about to kick goals in uncharted waters.
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The First Nations Mariya are the latest indigenous culture to be invited into Confederation of Independent Football Associations (CONIFA) - who's goal is to build bridges between people, nations, minorities and isolated regions all over the world through friendship, culture and the joy of playing football.
"This membership will give our First Nations peoples an opportunity to showcase their unique abilities and skills at an international level," Mariya chairman Bernie McLeod said.
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"Our people seem to have a natural ability to excel in football - as they do in other sports such as rugby league and Aussie Rules.
"We are very honoured to become members of CONIFA."
This will enable the Mariya to play international football on a more consistent basis.
"After four years of successfully organising the National Indigenous Football Championships at South Nowra, we thought joining CONIFA would be a unique experience to further discover great talents and become even more competitive," McLeod, who is part of the Wreck Bay Sharks FC, said.
"Indigenous footballers have added plenty of excitement and a degree of unpredictability and the x-factor to this tournament, which makes us deadly.
"By becoming members of CONIFA, our players look forward to representing our people and culture abroad with pride."
Making their inclusion even more exciting is that in January, is was confirmed the Mariya, who's men's team won two and drew one of their matches on the recent Clash of the Cultures tour of New Zealand, are one of 16 indigenous groups - out of a possible 59 - to qualify for the 2020 World Football Cup at Skopje, North Macedonia from May 30 to June 7, 2020.
At the tournament, which was first held at Sapmi in 2014, before being held at Abkhazia (2016) and Barawa/London (2018), the Mariya - who are the Oceania representative - have been pooled with Mapuche (Chile), Matabeleland (Zimbabwe) and Kernow (England) in Group C.
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Making the trip to Macedonia will be a squad of 18 players, headlined by former Socceroos legends Jade North and Mark Bridge.
"We intend on taking a very exciting squad, which will have plenty of experience thanks to Jade and Mark - who will form the team's leadership group," McLeod said.
"This tournament will not only give our people a chance to prove their quality on the world stage but also a platform for them to showcase their talents.
"We are excited for the oldest living culture to meet the world game at such an elite level - it's an opportunity we are going to make the most of."
McLeod is also proud that this opportunity - which could see the Mariya play in front of 40,000 fans if they make the finals - all stemmed from his National Indigenous Football Championships, which started in 2016 at South Nowra's Ison Park.
"It's really special that this all stemmed from a little area like the Shoalhaven and the hard work of the Wreck Bay Sharks FC board," he said.
"As they say, from little things, big things grow, we hope this is just the start of a long and successful association with the World Cup."
The Mariya, who are joined by Parishes of Jersey, Mapuche and Kernow as tournament debutants, are expected to unveil their inaugural squad in the coming weeks.
Other teams to qualify for the nine-day tournament are Panjab, Kurdistan, Chagos Islands, Karpatalya, Western Armenia, Tamil Eelam, Kabylia, South Ossetia, Cascadia, United Koreans in Japan and Darfur United.