In somewhat of a breakthrough for Australian football in New Zealand, the Kiwis have been invited to attend the 2006 Australian Country Championships. With Papua New Guinea and NZ both close neighbours of Australia, they are both benefiting from increased interaction with Aussie leagues. PNG has so far pursued a juniors pathway with AFL Queensland, and NZ now take a significant step towards their goal of being recognised as a football peer to the Australian states. As the championships pit region against region, the Kiwis will also bring some of their best Australian players, provided they are now based in New Zealand.

During the second International Cup, staged in Melbourne in August, World Footy News spoke with New Zealand AFL General Manager Rob Malone. Originally from Western Australia, where he played for West Perth in the WAFL (he also had a short stint at St Kilda), Malone has a professional background in football administration, including Football Manager at West Perth and General Manager at Claremont. During the train trip to Wangaratta we discussed the quality of the Kiwi team and the challenges facing the game. Their following game against Samoa confirmed for this author that Malone's rating of his squad was on the mark, as the Falcons demolished what was an otherwise competitive unit, before completing the tournament undefeated. Below is a transcript of the interview and a link to the audio, however the latter is relatively poor quality due to background noise levels on the train. We'll bring you further exciting news about NZ footy in the next few days.

Papua New Guinea boasts the biggest Australian-football playing stocks of any nation outside Australia, but fell one step short at the 2005 International Cup. Their real strengths lie in their junior programs, with a burgeoning squadron of players in the age range of 12 to 16 years and 80% of their 2005 International Cup squad under 20 years of age. World Footy News spoke with Andrew Cadzow and Walter Yangomina about where the next step will take the footy scene in PNG. Pictured is 2005 Captain Rex Leka.

The AFL has quashed plans by the Geelong Cats to play a pre-season AFL match in New Zealand next year, making it unlikely that the club will undertake a training and development camp in the Pacific nation.

The Kokoda International Cavaliers Klub (KICK), an organisation formed in Papua New Guinea to promote and raise funds for the AFLPNG and Australian Football in general in the country, is planning to open two new chapters in Adelaide and Melbourne. Last Wednesday, July 27th, the KICK Port Moresby chapter held a player auction in support of the Mosquitoes' assault on the IC - with special guest speaker Ron Barassi. WFN caught up with 'Mr Football' to talk about the Cup and international footy in general.

In the first game ever played by the New Zealand Falcons on home soil, powerhouse Victorian country side Maffra last Saturday July 9th defeated the locals by 70 points, running out 15.10.100 to 4.4.30 victors.