PNG is undoubtedly a power in Australian football in the South Pacific-Oceania region. And along with the AFL PNG academy; the best juniors from PNG have access to some exciting opportunities to play representative football. In May, the PNG Coca Cola U/16 Binatangs took on the best young players in QLD in Queensland State Championships; but unfortunately the PNG Women were unable to make it to Cairns for 2012 Kooga AFL Queensland Women’s State Championships due to visa issues.

With representative footy a recent hot topic in AFL circles - it's timely for the big Solomon Islands East vs West rep game this Saturday. To be held at the King George VI oval in Honiara.

The following is a press release from the SIAFL:

East versus West: AFL rep game this Saturday at King George VI school oval

Last Saturday AFL Samoa celebrated Samoa’s 50th Anniversary of Independence with a footy match between the Samoan Kangaroos and the Australian Navy crew of the HMAS Darwin. The social game was played in excellent spirits by both teams.

The following article was provided by AFL Samoa Development officer Gabel Stathis.

Fiji, whom I thought performed very credibly at their inaugural International Cup in 2012, are now building on their start. AFL Fiji has begun building the national side for a likely friendly match against New Zealand later in the year.

AFL Fiji have commenced a weekly 9s club competition every Sunday at Albert Park in Suva in their bid to secure players to form a national side to take on the NZ Hawks.

AFL Fiji spokesperson Lupe Wolfgramm said they had two teams competing since last month.

With apologies to Australian 70’s sensation Skyhooks, current NZ captain Andrew Crighton has made his senior debut for the Balwyn Tigers in Division One of the very strong Melbourne metropolitan league, the Eastern Football League.

Andrew Crighton, 24, landed with the Tigers for pre-season after coming across the Tasman to improve his footy. He moved to Australia in November with the intent of lifting his game, lobbed at Balwyn Park for the first pre-season session and hasn\'t looked back. Crighton had achieved almost everything he could hope to in New Zealand.

Six years in the national team, the New Zealand Hawks, which he has captained since 2010, combined with a premiership in 2008 for home club North Shore in the Auckland league (http://www.aafl.co.nz) left little more to achieve.

AFL international development manager Tony Woods and St Kilda chief executive Michael Nettlefold have recently departed Wellington and it appears that there will be a wide-ranging deal between the AFL, St Kilda Football Club and Wellington City Council with finalising the games appearing a formality after several months of talks.

Both the AFL and Wellington officials have suggested they are hopeful of selling out the 34,500 seat stadium, which would be a landmark moment for the sport.

For more see:

AFL aims to sell out Anzac Game
Radio story
 

At the selection table yesterday Collingwood selected Marley Williams (pictured) to debut this weekend. He was formally elevated off Collingwood's rookie list to the senior list on Thursday, making the 18-year-old eligible for AFL selection. He replaced veteran Luke Ball, who has been put on the long-term injury list. Williams, who stands 181 centimetres, was drafted by the Magpies from WAFL club Claremont in the 2011 Rookie Draft with the 35th overall pick. He was working as a fencer when told he had been picked up by Collingwood.

From Albany in Western Australia, Williams, whose father is Maori, played his junior football for North Albany, before moving to Perth to play for Claremont Colts. He managed a couple of senior WAFL appearances for Claremont last year, and also represented WA in the under 18 national championships.

AFL Samoa in conjunction with the Samoa International Cricket Association will be holding a combined sports day on Saturday June 2nd at the Faleata Cricket grounds. RAN ship HMAS Darwin will be in port and the AFL Samoa seniors will take on the Darwin crew from 2pm on the ‘bottom oval’.

2012 marks the 50th anniversary Independence Celebrations throughout the Pacific island nation of Samoa. Originally known as Western Samoa; since July 1997 as Samoa. Independence was achieved on January 1st, 1962, although the push for independence dated back to around 1908 with the establishment the Mau movement.

Hot off the presses is the official media release from the AFL promoting the South Pacific Under 16s squad for the 2012 NAB AFL Under-16 Championships between July 7-14.

With the continued expansion of AFL into NZ apay to view channel has picked up further AFL content for its Auckland audience.

Rather than it being replays of prior games the program will focus on local football from Victoria. Now in its fifteenth year promoting Victorian Australian Rules football, The Local Footy Show features stories from more than 280 clubs from across 16 leagues, with 11 leagues featuring in its full match-of-the-day coverage in 2011 alone.

It is highly likely ratings will not be enormous but nonetheless it shows a raised level of interest in our code.

For more plese see:- http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/CU1204...v-slot.htm