Ala Kaufana: Iron Blacks captain on the Festival of Football, clash against Australia

The Festival of Football is taking place in Auckland today, with three Kiwi gridiron sides taking on three Australian sides at Trust Arena. 

The marquee fixture is between the Iron Blacks and the Aussie side, and it’s the first time since 2003 that the match will be played on New Zealand soil. 

Following last year’s narrow 20-16 loss over on the Gold Coast, the Iron Blacks will be eager to get one over our neighbours across the ditch. 

Captain of the Kiwi side, Ala Kaufana joined D’Arcy Waldegrave to chat about the upcoming clash. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the All Sport Breakfast podcast with Darcy
Waldgrave from News Talk ZEDB nine.

Speaker 2 (00:12):
This morning, g Dad's early American football is going to
be the talk of the town, well the talk of
West Aukland at least. Festival of Football is taking place
at the Trust's arena. Three New Zealand sides are taking
on three Australian sides over the course of the day.
The marquee fixture is the Iron Blacks. They'll be taking
on Australia. This is the first time the fixture has

(00:33):
actually taken place in New Zealand since two thousand and three,
and following last year's narrow twenty sixteen loss and on
the Gold Coast, New Zealand really want to get one
back over top of the Australians again. So how well
we're going to find out now as we're joined by
Ala Kalfana, captain of the Iron Black's defensive line, is
with us now. Marina, Ala, good morning morning, massive day

(00:57):
for you and two other teams as well, the NZA
doublef the New Zealand American Football Federation. You're up and running.
You've got three games going on the safternoon. Three different
squads and you're playing well out in west.

Speaker 3 (01:11):
Auckland, Yes, West Oakland Trust Arena.

Speaker 2 (01:14):
That's the place to be for everybody. Tell us what
we can expect in this fexture. We all know football
when it comes to what happens in the States. I
don't think there'll be quite as many Taylor Swifts floating around.

Speaker 3 (01:25):
But what are the.

Speaker 2 (01:26):
Expectations for what we're going to see out with these
three games?

Speaker 3 (01:30):
Man?

Speaker 4 (01:30):
I guess you guys can expect a lot of big
hits because a lot of the boys that are playing
from our under sixteens to our under eighteenes and then
to our men's especially come from rugby and they like
to hit. So you know, great Iron is an opportunity
for those boys to put on those big hits too.

Speaker 2 (01:48):
And this is something obviously you like because you're I
think you're the captain of the defensive units, so you
understand big yats.

Speaker 3 (01:56):
Yes, exactly, we love that.

Speaker 2 (01:57):
Could you explain to the uninitiated, which is probably me
quite frankly, Allah, what you do in that role as
the captain of the defensive side.

Speaker 4 (02:06):
Yeah, just I guess hold everyone to their assignment and
make sure that everyone knows what they're doing. Our main
goal is to stop our opponents, so for this weekend,
obviously Australia from scoring.

Speaker 2 (02:19):
So yeah, it's pretty simple, and isn't it. You can't
go past me. Wait when you look at the amount
of young talent that's coming into the side, and we
see a lot of players can't remember his name, but
there was a broad at Kelston High a few years
back that went out of the States and ended up
doing very very well. And there are a lot of
young men now moving toward this space away from rugby

(02:41):
league and rugby union.

Speaker 3 (02:42):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (02:43):
So man, it's mind blowing the talent that we have
on this side of the world. And you know from
coaches that I've met in Australia that we played last
year and coaches here.

Speaker 3 (02:53):
In New Zealand that you know, had the opportunities.

Speaker 4 (02:55):
To go to America, they say that we're bigger over here,
We hit bigger, and we're just bigger blokes over here.

Speaker 2 (03:01):
So I can see I'm starting off and just putting
your helmet to one side game. We don't need this
bro check this out, yeah, man, right in the collision.
Now let's talk about the Iron Blacks and where people
can find out more about the side and where they
can find out more about engaging in the game, because

(03:21):
the earlier the better. What's it looking like health wise
in New Zealand and the Auckland region. Where do people
go if they want to find out more?

Speaker 4 (03:28):
Are you know in the modern data? It's social media
so on our social media's were found at n z
n z aff on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok and that's where
you can find all everything, all the information about grid
iron here in New Zealand.

Speaker 2 (03:47):
Well, what kind of systems are here? And I'll look
at Auckland specifically around games, around leagues, around opportunities to play.
Is there a healthy league over here? Is it sporadic?
How does that work?

Speaker 4 (04:00):
I believe that we have a great league here as
in club level we're here in Auckland. We have about
eight to ten clubs and we run a competition from
October to the end of December just before Christmas, and
then everyone that plays in that competition they get to
get selected for the national team to play Australia.

Speaker 2 (04:21):
So what was your drive? Why did you decide to
grab a helmet, some big old pads and get on
the grid iron?

Speaker 3 (04:27):
Yeah? No, so long story short.

Speaker 4 (04:31):
I was born and raised in the States and then
moved over here to the South Island and Omuru, and
then I didn't realize that there was football here until
I moved up here to Auckland and married my wife,
and then my brother.

Speaker 3 (04:43):
In law introduced me to football. It's here, so I
jumped back into it and yeah.

Speaker 2 (04:49):
United States of America to amaru, mate, that's quite a
culture shock for.

Speaker 3 (04:53):
You, bro.

Speaker 4 (04:55):
Yeah, so that's where my dad was born and raised,
and yeah, we came back to his roots and it's
been a blessing ever since.

Speaker 2 (05:02):
And as far as our national side, the Iron Blacks,
he Black's any good?

Speaker 3 (05:06):
Oh man, you just have to come and see. But
I reckon we're pretty good.

Speaker 2 (05:11):
What's the prevalent requirement for a good football player? What
do you think they have to possess? What dynamic skill
do they need on both sides of the loan?

Speaker 3 (05:21):
Yep. So you got to have belief in yourself.

Speaker 4 (05:24):
I guess this is this comes for every sport that
you you try to play. You have to have belief
in yourself and then that transitions to the type of
athlete that you are. You have to have a strong
character and especially like me, being in a captaincy role. Uh,
you have to be able to lead and you know,
especially in the men's it's leading other men.

Speaker 3 (05:46):
So you have to put the ego aside and I'll
put the team first. A yeah.

Speaker 2 (05:51):
And more importantly, where can I buy a jersey? I
need to have one of these? I'm sure they look fantastic.

Speaker 3 (05:58):
Oh man.

Speaker 4 (05:59):
On on our social media there will be a link
in the bio and then you can click that link.
Our shop is open, but for you, I'll make sure
our coaches sends you your personal jersey.

Speaker 3 (06:09):
Man.

Speaker 2 (06:09):
Yeah, man, I'm tiny a. I don't think there's any
place for me on the gridine. You know, fifty six
and like seventy four kg. I don't think I've got
a future.

Speaker 4 (06:17):
Mate, Hey, brother, you have a future with us.

Speaker 3 (06:20):
Man.

Speaker 2 (06:21):
I love your work. Ela, sorry, Ala Kalfana, thanks so
much for your time. A rip shit and bus mate.
Go well this afternoon, impress and roll the Australians. I'm
sure you can.

Speaker 3 (06:32):
I appreciate it, brother, We'll do it.

Speaker 1 (06:34):
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