World Footy News

The 2016 BSP PNG Games are to be hosted in the West New Britain Province of Papua New Guinea. 22 provinces take part in 24 games – including para-sports and including AFL. Across 4 locations within the provincial capital of Kimbe. As a note, Kimbe Bay is said to host more than 60% of the coral species of the entire Indo-Pacific while Kimbe itself is the third largest port in PNG and said to be the fastest growing city in the South Pacific.

This years tournament runs from 24th November to 10th December. The objective of the PNG Games is to provide grassroot athletes access to pathways and competition that otherwise would not be available and allows national selectors and scouts to identify raw sporting talents.

Across PNG squads in various sports are being finalised in preparation. And when the NCD (National Capital District) mens and womens squads are announced it draws some attention - Team NCD announces AFL squad for PNG Games.

The 30 man mens squad includes some well known names to WFN readys and International footy followers including Brendan Beno, Michael Macca, Theo Gavuri, Jason So-ong and Paul Philip. The side is being coached by Douglas Lai. For the women’s squad the coach is Casper Gelu.

With cricket also included amongst the sports it is interesting to note the primary venue illustrations from earlier this year – with oval marked for AFL with AFL goal posts in place. The recent years inclusion of AFL in the PNG games is clearly a major step forward in the provincial development of AFL with decent ovals and illustrates the mutual benefit with cricket.