Auckland, New Zealand

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In August 1999 I departed Australia for a 4 week trip around the globe. Countries visited included New Zealand, the USA, Canada, Ireland, England, Denmark, Hong Kong and Singapore.

The purpose of the trip was to have a look at international Australian football first hand. This was accomplished by attending some matches and meeting some of the key people in each country.

Matches attended included the Auckland Lightning Premiership, the Canadian, British and Danish grand finals, and Singapore v Malaysia in Singapore.




DAY 1 - SATURDAY 21st AUGUST

I Departed Brisbane on Friday 20th August at 7.15pm, arriving in Auckland at 12.15am. Caught a cab to Will McKenzie's place and we ended up talking footy until approximately 2.30am before calling it a night.

Will McKenzie is the General Manager of the New Zealand Australian Football League (NZAFL). A New Zealander, Will lived in Australian from 1972 until 1985,where he played school footy. After graduating with a Bachelor of Commerce degree from Canterbury University in 1990, Will wrote to former AFL CEO Ross Oakley in regards to staging an AFL match in New Zealand. Things progressed quickly and in 1991 Will was the match coordinator of the Geelong v St. Kilda exhibition match in Auckland.

In 1991 Will became the President of the Auckland Australian Football League, becoming President of the New Zealand Australian Football Council the following year. Prior to taking up his current position he worked for a sports marketing company and Auckland Badminton.

Later that morning I had breakfast with Will and Paul, President of the Canterbury Australian Football League, which has expanded to 4 teams this year. Afterwards accompanied Will to the NZAFL?s storage shed, which is full of footys, footy literature and goal posts.

Went back to Will?s place and helped prepare the portable siren and line-marking machine for the next day?s Lightning Premiership, involving all 6 Auckland teams. At 4pm Prime TV showed the Carlton v. St Kilda match live (NZ is 2 hours ahead of Melbourne), which is invaluable in promoting the game in New Zealand. In fact Australian football is the only football code shown live on free to air television here.

Speaking of TV coverage, the Canterbury league has arranged for 14 weeks of live local coverage of their matches this year, a sensational effort.

The NZ season runs from the second last Sunday of August to the first Sunday in December. There are teams in Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch and Dunedin. There are 6 Auckland teams, with each team fielding Seniors, Reserves and Under 16?s. The Under 16 competition is played on Wednesday afternoons at 4pm over 5 weeks, followed by a finals day. A Secondary Schools Championship will also be held on September 11th for 16 to 17 year olds.

With the Auckland season, the first 5 rounds involve just the seniors. The reserves start in round 6 with 14 players per side, which allows teams to build up a player base as the winter sports (e.g.. soccer, rugby union and rugby league) finish.

New Zealand Teams

Auckland Australian Football League
Teams: Eagles, University Blues, North Shore Tigers, Mt Roskill Saints, Manurewa Raiders, Waitakere

Canterbury Australian Football League
Teams: Burnside Barracudas, Southern Storm, Eastern Blues, Northern Lions

Wellington Australian Football League
Teams: North City Demons, Hutt Valley Eagles, Eastern Suburbs Bulldogs, Wellington City Saints

DAY 2 - SUNDAY 22nd AUGUST
A Lightning Premiership has been played since 1994. It is played over 2 weekends and teams are 14 a side. Previous winners:

1994 Takapuna Eagles
1995 University Blues
1996 North Shore Tigers
1997 Mt Roskill Saints
1998 Manurewa Raiders

The venue was Memorial Park in Mt Roskill, which is essentially a group of rugby fields.

Before arriving at the field we had to pick up some more portable goal posts. Time was of the essence so a particularly difficult padlock (i.e.. couldn?t find the key) was removed by the mighty strokes of Will ?Thor? McKenzie. Nothing was going to get in the way of the footy!

Will, Rob Greenwood (NZAFL Board), Mark Andrews (umpire) and myself put the goalposts in and marked the field. We had to remove two sets of rugby posts first. This was real at the coalface stuff, although all analogies to warmth cease here. It was bloody cold!

Two Australian football fields were then set up. After measuring the required distance, stakes were sledgehammered into the ground, with PVC piping placed over the stakes. Instant goalposts! I guess we take such things for granted in Australia.

It was good to catch up with some of the people who attended the 1999 Arafura Games. It was still very cold (and muddy and windy) and showing some of them my blue hands caused much mirth.

It was so cold that I volunteered to run the boundary in the last game, in a vain attempt to get warm. The thought of a warm fire and a hot cup of coffee sustained me in my time of need.

Auckland AFL Lightning Premiership
Sunday 22 August 1999
Results

Mt. Roskill 1.3 (9) d University 1.2 (8)
North Shore 4.1 (25) d Manurewa 1.1 (7)
University 4.0 (24) d North Shore 0.4 (4)
Mt. Roskill 5.4 (34) d Manurewa 0.0 (0)
North Shore 3.0 (18) d Waitakere 1.3 (9)
Eagles 2.1 (13) d University 1.4 (10)
Waitakere 3.4 (22) d Manurewa 0.0 (0)
Mt. Roskill 3.0 (18) d Eagles 1.3 (9)
Eagles 5.4 (34) d Waitakere 0.0 (0)

DAY 3 - MONDAY 23rd AUGUST
Went out to the offices of NZAFL with Will, situated at Sport Auckland in Grafton. Sport Auckland is an impressive building which contains the administrative offices of many sports. Photocopied some historical info, which I hope to include in a book on the history of international footy. Discovered some really interesting stuff here. Like the result in 1980, when Canterbury defeated the Queensland Schoolboys by a point, ?the first time Canterbury had beaten Queensland schoolboys in four visits.? Likewise, the Queensland U21 v Canterbury match in 1979.

Said goodbye to Ian Francis, Director of Coaching, who was off to Christchurch to conduct some coaching clinics. Ian, 24, is a former Port Adelaide player (SANFL) and coached the NZ team at the Arafura Games.

The NZ team at the Arafura Games were known as the Gold Ferns. Apparently one of the suggestions mentioned when they were throwing names around was the Black Sheep. Personally I think this is a great name and would be a great marketing tool. As a minor sport (and an Australian one to boot) in NZ, footy could be described as the black sheep of NZ sports. Apparently the NZ Board felt it wasn?t serious enough, although that didn?t stop the NZ national basketball team calling themselves the ?Tall Blacks?.

Will and I then drove out to the offices of Sports Web, who had just designed the official NZAFL website. It looks great and can be found at www.nzafl.com.au

After the meeting Will showed me some of the playing fields available. Despite the proliferation of rugby fields, there are quite a few adequately sized grounds. One of them, the venue of this year?s Auckland grand final, looked sensational, although some idiot has installed concrete circles for discus throwing. Apparently these circles are hardly used.

Also had a look at North Harbour Stadium. The back oval has been previously earmarked for cricket and is a good size. However, cricket is now out of the running, leaving Aussie rules and Sports Medicine as competitors. It would be great if footy could get such a venue.

Will dropped me off at the airport for my 5.30pm flight to Los Angeles.

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