The Doha Kangaroos were initially formed to compete in the Dubai 9s. Gary Johnson, one of the club’s founding members was put in contact with other Australian expatriates in Qatar through Nigel Koch, a major player behind the Dingoes and 9s.
One of those people was Billy Barker who is affiliated with the Singapore Wombats and was somewhat familiar with setting up a club. From there they sought expressions of interest from parties at the Australian New Zealand Business in Qatar (ANZBIQ) function and three days later, around 10 Aussies showed up at the Legends Bar at Rydges Plaza and the club was born.
The Doha Kangaroos entered the Dubai 9s in 2007 and came a credible 3rd after only a few weeks of training.
There is a great Aussie Rules passion amongst the Doha community however it spreads beyond the Australians , with other expats being involved such as Irish, NZ and USA.
With the region growing the Doha Kangaroos want to build a legacy for other joining the community.
The Doha Kangaroos are also planning to get juniors involved (As the Dubai Dingoes have in the UAE). They are in the process of organizing Auskick clinics for the coming weeks, and the response so far has been great. Integration of the sport into school’s physical education programs will follow as the club grows. Eventually they will begin to open dialogue with the Qatar National Olympic Committee, and explore whether an agreement can be reached suiting both parties, “certainly the programs we want to offer will be beneficial to kids being in, or playing sport but I suspect that AFL will always be funded privately”. The biggest issue facing the club in the future is finding suitably-sized playing fields.
And the rest is history.