Known for their fun attitudes to life off the field and sportsmanship on it, the Geckos have won many friends all over the Asian football world and beyond. Being the only team in the world that wears boardshorts on the field helps cement the laid back, fun loving attitude that is typical of the Geckos
About Us
History:
The Bali Geckos formed in 1997 off the back of a challenge from a player from the Jakarta Bintangs spruiking his football ability. Our founder told him that he would love to play against him, whereby the Bintang quipped you don’t have a team. Our founder told him if he brought his team to Bali then we would make one, and the Bali Geckos were born. With borrowed jumpers and a hotch-potch of surfers and Bali rugby players, the Geckos took the field for the first time against the Bintangs at Sidakarya in October, 1997.
Bi-annual games occurred thereafter against the Bintangs and once other Asian teams heard of the existence of the Geckos, they too started touring to play against the Geckos. In the early years, the Geckos’ best players would be invited to join with the Bintangs to play in the Asian Championship and were victorious in 2000 and 2002.
As the Geckos became larger and able to stand alone, they entered the Asian Championships under their own banner from 2004. Always the smallest squad at these tournaments, the Geckos played above expectations and finished runners-up on three occasions, 2005, 2006 and 2007. The winners frequently had a squad three times the size of the Geckos which was telling by the end of such a gruelling tournament.
The Geckos were frequently semi finalists at the Champs and in 2015 after the introduction of a second division, the Geckos settled into a league which was filled with smaller squads. Our first title in the Geckos Guernsey was in 2016 in Ho Chi Minh, and we dominated the following year in Manila with another Division 2 title.
With Jakarta finding it tough in Division 1, it made sense to join forces, bringing in the other domestic football club the Borneo Bears to play under the 1 banner. The Indonesian Volcanoes were formed, and we won the Division 1 title at our first attempt in 2018.
The Geckos have also been successful in hosting tournaments in Bali and created a 9-a-side version of the game that suits the soccer sized grounds available on the island. Open Aged Bali 9’s competitions began in 2000 and Masters competitions of the same format began in 2005.
The Masters competition held in June of each year has been hugely successful with it being the largest gathering of teams for any AFL Masters tournament in the world, with 3 age divisions, over 35s, 45s, and 55s.
The introduction of our Women’s team in 2019 has assisted the growth of the sport, particularly introducing Australian football to many non-Australians.
An introduction of the game to the locals has always been a focus for the Geckos and there have been many Indonesians playing for the Geckos and the Garudas, the All Indonesian team. This continues to grow as does the junior Geckos program for children aged 5 and above.
