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The International Australian
Football Council was formed in 1995 to promote and develop
Australian football internationally.
The concept of Australian football being
an international sport is one that many people greet
with scepticism. However, few are aware just how widely
the game is now known and played.
Since Australian football began in Australia
there had been sporadic attempts to introduce the game
to other countries. For example, there was a strong
17 team competition based around the docklands of Glasgow
in Scotland before World War I. There is also evidence
of the game being played in South Africa at this time.
Aussie Rules quickly spread to New Zealand,
with over 100 clubs forming by the turn of the century.
Indeed, the Kiwis competed in the Jubilee Australasian
Football Carnival in Melbourne in 1908, defeating New
South Wales and Queensland to finish fourth out of the
seven competing teams. And in the 1930’s and 1950’s
the game was introduced to the Pacific nations of Nauru
and Papua New Guinea respectively.
Apart from a kick in the park by a few
ex-pats, however, no other countries played Australian
football.
This all changed in the late 1980’s/early
1990’s when a number of countries such as Canada,
Denmark, Japan and Great Britain formed organised competitions.
The advent of the tremendous advantages afforded by
the Internet, such as the promotion of these international
competitions via web sites and the cost effective nature
of e-mail, meant that these far flung outposts were
soon in regular contact with each other and organising
international matches.
Such has been the tremendous growth of
Australian rules football that the greatest game of
all has now established a presence in the following
countries:
Argentina, Brunei, Canada, China, Denmark,
El Salvador, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Indonesia,
Ireland, Israel, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Nauru, New
Zealand, Norway, Papua New Guinea, The Philippines,
Samoa, Senegal, Singapore, South Africa, Sweden, Thailand,
United Kingdom, USA and Vietnam.
This list will no doubt swell as more
and more people overseas are made aware of the greatest
spectator sport in the world.
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In some countries Australian football
is little more than a recreational pursuit for ex-patriot
Australians. However, more and more football leagues
are developing with non-Australians playing the sport.
For example, Japan, Papua New Guinea, New Zealand, Nauru,
Canada, the United States, Great Britain and Denmark
are all capable of fielding teams without Australian
players.
The British league comprises nine clubs;
the Danish league seven clubs (including one from Sweden).
A fierce rivalry has developed between New Zealand and
Papua New Guinea through their encounters at the Arafura
Games, with both teams playing at a very high standard.
Four years ago in the United States the
game was played in two cities. Today it is played in
over thirty cities. In Chicago, over twenty schools
include Australian football in their Physical Education
Curriculum.
A further exciting development is that
as a result of the Arafura Games, the South African
government is keen to adopt Australian football as 'the
new sport for South Africa'. As soccer has been the
sport of black South Africans, and Rugby Union the sport
of white South Africans, they have been searching for
a new game that will have widespread appeal and combine
the skills of both codes. Concrete developments have
already taken place to further this objective, including
a visit by the Australian Defence Force, coaching clinics
by the Adelaide Crows and an AFL Ansett Cup match in
Cape Town in 1998.
Also in 1998, the Jim Stynes Cup, the
first ever junior (Under 16) international tournament,
was held in Canberra. The teams involved were South
Africa, Western Australia, Northern Territory and the
ACT. In 2000 the USA, Denmark and Samoa all attended
the event.
In 1999 Papua New Guinea won its third
successive gold medal at the Arafura Games in Darwin,
with New Zealand and Samoa taking home the silver and
bronze medals respectively. The next International Australian
Football Championship will again be held in Darwin in
May 2001.
The first International Cup will be held
in Melbourne in August 2002. The competing teams will
be the USA, Canada, South Africa, Japan, Ireland, England,
Denmark, Sweden, Papua New Guinea, Nauru, New Zealand
and Samoa.
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