History of the game in New Zealand

Australian Rules Football has a long and proud history in New Zealand, so much so that the game was officially called Australasian Football from the 1880’s through to the start of World War 1.

The game was first played in Otago by many of the thousands of Australians who poured into the mainland during the 1860’s gold rush.

By 1901 there were 115 Football clubs throughout New Zealand. The high point of the pre-war game came in 1908 when New Zealand competed in the Jubilee Australasian Football Carnival as a full member of the Australasian Football council, with all matches played at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.

World War 1 stopped the development of the Australian game in New Zealand. Many of the Australian players returned to Australia after the war, the ranks of the homegrown players were depleted by the ravages of combat and the game petered out in the 1930’s.

It was restarted in 1974 with senior competitions in Christchurch, Wellington and Auckland. The game continued with both formal and informal competition during the 70’s, 80’s and early 90’s with a resurgence of players from other codes using the Aussie game to keep fit and with the younger players already playing our game socially, number gathered momentum.

The Manurewa Raiders was formed in 1991.

In November 1997, the AFL entered into a three-year license agreement with the NZAFL to develop the game in New Zealand by implementing the NZAFL development plan. The plan includes a range of football development programs and aims to lift the profile of the AFL and the game in New Zealand securing television coverage and assisting with the staging of high profile AFL matches in New Zealand.