World Footy News

As strange as it first sounds, the New Zealand Australian Football League (NZAFL) wants to play in the Charles Perkins National Aboriginal Football Championships in Australia! NZ attended the Australian Country Football Championships on the Gold Coast during 2006 and played the Aboriginal All-Stars there. The result was a pasting, as the ex-Brisbane Lion Darryl White lead his team to a resounding thumping. However NZAFL CEO Robert Vanstam has revealed that he wants to send a team to play at the carnival and will explore that possibility with the organisers of the next event.

According to Aboriginal Football writer Darren Moncrieff, "The Kiwis' inclusion could open up financial opportunities for the championships which have struggled to secure regular funds since its primary source of funding, the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission (ATSIC) was abolished in 2005". These championships have traditionally been held in October but last year they were cancelled as a result of funding difficulties. If the competition goes ahead it could possibly be in Victoria in February 2008 which would make it an extremely beneficial lead in to the third Australian Football International Cup in August (and replace the cancelled Convicts tour which had been pencilled in as valuable match practice).

According to Moncrieff when he followed up with NZAFL CEO as to why the Kiwis wanted in, Vanstam said "The players considered it an honour", speaking of the game, not the result. "After our defeat, we formed a guard of honour to show our appreciation of the performance by the All-Stars".

A future benefit of attending such a key development event for the NZ competitions might be return visits from various Aboriginal teams. In previous years NZ personnel have been in discussion with the Clontarf Academy in Perth about something along these lines eventuating. Vanstam added "If we were able to attend (the Charles Perkins football championships), we would love to see our visit reciprocated with Aboriginal teams touring New Zealand. The opportunity to learn more about a different culture would be something those lucky enough to participate would remember for the rest of their lives."

As with most overseas competitions the Kiwis see getting their players involved in Australian competitions, where possible, and playing against Australian clubs or Australian representative teams as often as possible as the best way to fast track the game's development in NZ. Vanstam added in the Aboriginal Football article that "The best opportunity to better the standard of Australian Football in New Zealand is by exposing the players to Australian competition" and "The tournament structure over a three- or four-day period provides the opportunity to participate in several games against varied opposition."

Given where NZ are at, the ideal of the Kiwis sending a Maori only team is unlikely as although there are a good percentage of Maori players (and islanders) across the competitions the depth in such a squad would be lacking. No matter the make up, there is little doubt the inclusion of a NZ team at the competition would open up eyes about the possibility of our game really taking off so that it would be of appropriate quality to capture the attention of the average Aussie Rules follower.

Vanstam added to Moncrieff "When we played at the Australian Country Championships last year, I think it captured the imagination of those involved with the tournament. Here was a new frontier with the opportunity to play Australian Football against international competitors. People start to think 'How far can this really go?'."

How far indeed is the question those of us who have been or are currently involved in the expansion of our game often wonder, but there is now plenty of evidence such as seen recently on WFN.

Excerpts provided kindly from the Darren Moncrieff article.