World Footy News

From humble beginnings

It might be an Australian game for most of us, but Australian Football has a large presence on the international sporting scene. By Will McKenzie.

Many Australians may be surprised that Australian Football is played outside Australia, let alone that it is now played in more than 30 countries, 11 of which will be represented in the inaugural Australian Football International Cup.

However, Australian Football does have a long and proud international history. The first step along the road to the International Cup was taken back in 1908 when football teams representing the six states of the recently federated Commonwealth of Australia, and New Zealand, assembled in Melbourne to compete in the Jubilee Australasian Football Carnival held to celebrate the first 50 years of Australasian football.

The first international match involving a national representative side was a classic. In front of 7017 spectators at the MCG, New Zealand trailed New South Wales 2.4 to 6.6 at half-time but rallied strongly in the third quarter and finally took the lead midway through the final term. NSW goaled to sneak back ahead by a single point and then scored four behinds in succession to lead by five points in the dying minutes of the match. Finally, as reported by the Argus, "Paul, of New Zealand, with the last kick of the match, scored a goal, and landed his side winners by a single point amidst a scene of intense excitement and enthusiasm."

The carnival, won by Victoria, was a great success and the forerunner of many successful interstate carnivals. Unfortunately, the international game, which at that stage also included South Africa and a popular 17-team competition based in the dock area of Glasgow in Scotland, was stopped in its tracks by World War I.

Football has been played in Nauru since the 1930s, Papua New Guinea since the 1950s, New Zealand returned to the fray in the 1970s and was joined by Great Britain, Japan and Canada in the 1980s.

International football exploded during the latter half of the 1990s, as the internet gave enthusiasts all over the world the chance to keep in touch with the game and each other.

Earlier in the decade, Northern Territory sports administrator and football visionary Darryl Window, had the idea to include Australian Football in the Arafura Games, a regional sporting event attracting over 5000 athletes from 20 countries held every second May in Darwin.

Five teams lined up in 1995 for the inaugural Australian Football championship. Papua New Guinea defeated New Zealand in the final with the Japan/Singapore team, Nauru and Hong Kong making up the third to fifth placings.

During the championship, a meeting of the competing countries was held and an International Council was formed which adopted a goal of holding an "official World Cup of Australian Football, in Melbourne during 2008 to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the founding of the game".

Another successful International Championship was held in Darwin in 1997 and a meeting of the International Council was held. While no new countries participated in the championships, the international game was growing at pace, greatly assisted by the world-wide-web.

Following the 1999 championships, New Zealand AFL decided that the game had advanced so rapidly that it was desirable to bring forward the planned World Cup from 2008 to 2002. It circulated a proposal which included playing the event in August, 2002, in Melbourne with the final at the MCG. Brian Clarke, the International Council publicity officer, worked tirelessly to draw up and circulate draft rules for the competition and embarked on a 30-day budget world tour of all the potential participants to sell the concept.

During 2000, the AFL took over the management of the Cup which was officially named the "Australian Football International Cup".

Many people within the AFL, particularly manager administration game development, Ed Biggs, and the International Cup committee, have put in an enormous amount of work over 18 months to deliver what will be an historic event.

The objective of the Cup is to develop football outside Australia by providing a prestige competition that all countries playing the game will aspire to participate in and win. In order to foster home grown players, player eligibility is governed by the 'state of origin' principle adapted to 'country of origin'. A player qualifies for a particular country by being a citizen and by having lived predominantly in that country between the ages of 10 and 16. The rules allow the AFL to grant exceptions to the eligibility criteria on a case-by-case basis if it is satisfied that the player is a bona fide resident of the country concerned, and that "his participation would be in the best interests of the competition".

Will McKenzie lives in Auckland, is a member of the International Cup organising committee, NZAFL past president, former NZAFL general manager, founder and past president of the International Australian Football Council.