Papua New Guinea

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr> <td valign="top" colspan=2 height=90 BGCOLOR="#FF0000" TEXT="#080000" bgproperties="fixed" background="3fa285a1dvlddx.png"> <div> <FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#FFCC66" FACE="Arial" ><B>Aussie Rules Global Invasion</B></FONT><B>     |     </B><A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Aussie Rules Global Invasion"><U><B>home</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id60.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Australia"><U>Australia</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id61.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Fiji"><U>Fiji</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id62.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Nauru"><U>Nauru</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id63.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="New Zealand"><U>New Zealand</U></A>   |   <B>Papua New Guinea</B>   |   <A HREF="id65.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Samoa"><U>Samoa</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id66.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Tonga"><U>Tonga</U></A></div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <div> </div> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" width=9.375% BGCOLOR="#000000" TEXT="#F7F7FF" background="3f9d4fe0dvldtc.png"> <bR> <bR> </td> <td valign="top" height=390 BGCOLOR="#FFCC33" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <I>Papua New Guinea</I></div> <div> <I><B><U> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="239" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="VOID" RULES="NONE" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 108 ><NOBR><div> <IMG SRC="44a51660.png" border=0 width="81" height="102" ALT="Bitmap Image" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP><NOBR><div> <A HREF="id104.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Papua New Guinea"><U><B>International Results</B></U></A></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id112.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="PNG"><U><B>Photo Gallery</B></U></A></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id127.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="PNG"><U><B>History</B></U></A></div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></U></B></I></div> <div> <I><B><U>News</U></B></I></div> <div> <I><B><U> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="708" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="VOID" RULES="NONE" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP BGCOLOR=#000000 HEIGHT= 20 WIDTH="702"><div> <B>AFL Eyes Local PNG Stars</B></div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 353 WIDTH="702"><div> Aug 11 2005</div> <div> From the Post Courier</div> <div> Our top players in rules footy are targeted by some of the premier clubs in the Australian Football League.</div> <div> Alestair Sioni is the pick of the crop, national talent manager Kevin Sheehan said.</div> <div> Sheehan was speaking as he visited the north-east Victorian town of Wangaratta to continue casting an eye over the talented players from foreign teams competing in the International Cup.</div> <div> Papua New Guinea has starred so far, scoring four wins from four games played in Melbourne.</div> <div> The PNG Mosquitoes team is to play in the semi-final against Ireland today. The winner will go into the grand final tomorrow, to be played at the “holy grail'' of rules footy, the Melbourne Cricket Ground, before the AFL clash of Collingwood and Carlton.</div> <div> Sheehan said from Wangaratta yesterday that the best young players from overseas stood a good chance of being picked up by the AFL clubs soon.</div> <div> This was because there would be an “apprentice'' list for AFL clubs, where players aged between 16 and 18 would be listed separately from the primary and rookie lists.</div> <div> This was a bid to recruit from the Sydney and international zones.</div> <div> Sioni, 18, was one of PNG's best in its cliffhanger one-point victory over the United States.</div> <div> He trialled with the Brisbane Lions last year and has been playing in the Cairns league this season, with several other Papua New Guineans.</div> <div> “He's quite a promising young player and there are clubs here today having a look,'' Sheehan told reporters.</div> <div> “We have some guys here, especially from PNG, who are 16, 17 and 18 years of age who are good young players and we're having a good look at them.''</div> <div> Other Mosquitoes under the talent scouts' gaze are Paul Philip, Morris Aka and David Evertius.</div> </tD> </tR> </TABLE></U></B></I></div> <div> <I><B><U> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="712" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="VOID" RULES="NONE" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP BGCOLOR=#000000 HEIGHT= 20 WIDTH="706"><div> <B>Mal Michael returns to PNG</B></div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 1595 WIDTH="706"><div> July 8 2005</div> <div> From The Age</div> <div> Mal Michael is the face of Australian football in Papua New Guinea and, as Jake Niall reports, he wants to use the connection to make a difference in the land of his birth. </div> <div> On his annual midseason pilgrimage to Papua New Guinea last weekend, Mal Michael was introduced to babies who'd just been named Mal after the PNG-born triple premiership full-back. In his first public appearance at a Port Moresby football clinic on the Friday, Michael was stampeded by hundreds of kids the moment he walked on to the ground, a crush that prompted local officials to act as bodyguards in Michael's subsequent audiences with worshippers. </div> <div> There were genuine fears that, if the rock star were not protected from his fans, 102-kilogram Michael might be injured and someone would have to explain to Leigh Matthews that his gun defender had been hurt - not by Barry Hall's forearm or Byron Pickett's shoulder, but in a collision with several hundred children at a PNG footy clinic. </div> <div> As one of the top sporting identities in PNG, Michael conceivably could leverage his profile and enter PNG politics, a much rougher arena than the MCG or Gabba. </div> <div> Knowing that Michael has had a sore back, one of the organisers of his PNG visit placed a cap on the number of autographs he should sign. "If we didn't, he'd still be here,"' said Scott Reid, the executive director of AFLPNG and a Melbourne-reared lawyer who has developed strong friendships with Mal and his father Peter over the past three years.</div> <bR> <div> Mal Michael is surely the only AFL player who's more feted and famous in another country. His relationship to PNG, where he was born and spent his first three years, is unparalleled in Australian football. He appeared on a series of ghastly biscuit commercials on PNG television, including one that sold beef and chicken biscuits as "the secret of Mal's success", and last year hosted a popular football segment on a weekly television show.</div> <div> As one of the top two or three sporting identities in PNG - rugby league player Marcus Bai was certainly bigger before he moved to England - Michael one day conceivably could leverage his profile like a Pakistani cricketer and enter the hurly-burly of PNG politics, a much rougher arena than the MCG or Gabba. </div> <div> "I'd love to do that," Michael said of a political career in PNG. “It just seems like they have so much infrastructure that's not right. Just being in Australia, we take so many little things for granted . . . the roads, maintenance, gutters." </div> <div> The Honorable Mal Michael, PNG Minister for Sport, or Roads, won't happen, however, if Michael's Canadian wife Kimberley has her way. "She's already said she ain't going there." For now, last week's creation of the Mal Michael Foundation in PNG will have to sate his desire to make a difference. </div> <div> Since 2002, Michael has flown to PNG during the bye weekend to press the flesh, promote football and visit his dad and extended family. Peter Michael is a Melbourne-born civil engineer and former Ormond Amateurs player who moved to PNG in the '70s and married Mal's mother Alice, a local from a village near Port Moresby. </div> <div> The Michaels moved to Brisbane when Mal was three, but after their separation, Peter Michael returned to his adopted country, while in another twist Alice stayed in Brisbane. Michael snr founded the Bomana Football Club near Kokoda's main war cemetery, was heavily involved in another two clubs and is founding president of AFL-PNG, but his greatest contribution to the game in PNG was the production of a son who plays full-back for the Brisbane Lions. It's difficult to precisely measure Mal Michael's impact on football in PNG. What we know is that there has been an astonishing growth in the game since 2002, when Peter Michael and Scott Reid established AFLPNG and Mal made his return to the country of his birth after a 22-year absence. </div> <div> Reid estimated that there are now 30,000 kids passing through football programs such as the PNG version of Auskick, compared with a few thousand back in 2002. In the same timeframe, the number of players at either club or school level had mushroomed from 2000-3000 to 10,000-12,000. PNG has 10 leagues in three distinct regions. </div> <div> This was happening while Mal Michael was the premiership full-back for the Lions. In a fortuitous piece of timing, football was getting its act together in PNG while it had a headline act and standardbearer in the Brisbane back line. Mal thinks the game has vast potential in the land of his birth, noting that it was the premier sport during the '70s, before rugby league took over in the post-colonial transformation that followed the country's independence and formal separation from Australian control. </div> <div> The total annual AFL funding for PNG is $50,000 - a minuscule amount relative to the development dollars spent on, say, greater Sydney (or even the Irish series), considering the country has a population of more than five million, an explosive birth-rate and less competition from rival sports. The AFL has recognised PNG's potential by deeming it one of the new, official breeding grounds for international rookies, but Michael believes PNG's prospects for growth warrant far more resources. </div> <div> He sees strong similarities between the PNG kids and Aboriginal communities in Australia, in both shared athletic attributes and the kids' desire to play constantly, despite - or perhaps because of - a lack of material wealth and equipment. As in the outback, the PNG kids play barefoot. </div> <div> "For most of those kids, that's all they have," Michael said of sport's prominence in PNG. "The basic living standards are very low. But one guy has a football - or sometimes it's a taped-up coconut - that's enough for the kids every afternoon to play until it gets dark. </div> <div> "Most of them have very good attributes - very good leap, very powerful, explosive speed. If anything, most of the players up there aren't really that tall. It's almost like a clone of the Aboriginal community - very quick, good leap, but not that tall." </div> <div> AFL PNG has modelled its junior programs on those that have been successful in remote indigenous communities in Australia. </div> <div> When Michael was asked what these PNG kids needed most, the assumption was he would nominate boots, Sherrins or goal posts. </div> <div> It turned out they had more urgent needs. "It's even more basic things like getting them food. Like some of them turn up to school and training and . . . some of them haven't eaten for a couple of days . . . some of these guys can't even afford food, let alone a plane fare from, just say, Lae to Port Moresby." </div> <div> In that 2002 homecoming, when he was accompanied by teammate Luke Power, Michael was shocked to find a Third World country that was much tougher than the more idyllic place his parents had described. With no preconceived notions of PNG, Power enjoyed the trip more than the expat Mal, who grieved for a paradise lost. </div> <div> "From what my parents had told me when we left, it was almost like another state in Australia. I think once Australia pulled out - PNG had their independence back in '75 - they sort of had to run the country themselves and I don't think they've done a great job of that. </div> <div> "From what my parents had told me when we left in 1980, it was like going to Tasmania, or going to an island off the coast of Australia. When I went back in 2002, I was really shocked how much the place had run down." </div> <div> As an increasingly serious man with political views and ambitions for PNG and his own charitable foundation - which will provide football scholarships to teenagers - Michael has moved some distance from the irreverent rogue who partied with a teenage Chris Tarrant and whom Mick Malthouse chose to trade, partly to improve the Collingwood culture. </div> <div> The transition to sober adulthood was apparent following last year's grand final, when Michael broke ranks to criticise teammates such as Jason Akermanis and Jonathan Brown for undisciplined acts. Michael now thinks the Lions "lost focus on why were down in Melbourne". </div> <div> "Looking back on it, that's why we lost the game, in some ways." "Tired legs" were the other, not insignificant, factor. </div> <div> Michael, who turned 28 last week and has a young daughter, felt that his maturation was something that "happens to pretty much everyone". He viewed his maiden PNG return in 2002 as another catalyst for change. "It really opened my eyes." </div> <div> Michael's role as a football missionary in PNG carries an inherent irony, given that when he and Brad Scott attacked Nick Riewoldt's sore shoulder on Good Friday eve, they were also said to have delivered a blow to footy's grassroots image. Based on his PNG experiences, Michael reckoned the reaction to the Riewoldt incident was totally overblown. </div> <div> "You know, people are so caught up with this (Riewoldt getting attacked) and they're talking about mums and their kids and then I see another side of life when I go up to PNG and these kids don't have shoes. Some of them haven't showered for three days. In Australia, we worry about the smallest things." </div> <div> Michael says there is "no question" that PNG, now under the auspices of AFL Queensland, will produce AFL-level footballers. He is miffed that his 10-minute football segment is no longer screened on PNG's Sports Scene - the local equivalent of The Footy Show - because of its failure to secure a $750-a-week sponsorship. </div> <div> Sports Scene had given football a gigantic free kick, helping to win back some of the territory it ceded to rugby league in the 1980s. For Michael, the only benefit of his segment's demise was the greater freedom it might afford him on future trips to PNG. "It lifted the profile so much that when I went back again last weekend, it was almost to the point where I couldn't get around anywhere." </div> <div> Mal Michael is the face of Australian football in Papua New Guinea and, as Jake Niall reports, he wants to use the connection to make a difference in the land of his birth. </div> </tD> </tR> </TABLE></U></B></I></div> <div> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="714" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="VOID" RULES="NONE" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP BGCOLOR=#000000 HEIGHT= 20 WIDTH="708"><div> <B>PNG Launch Website</B></div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 32 ><NOBR><div> Apr 15 2005</div> <div> AFL - PNG have launched theire first ever website which you can check it out at <A HREF="http://www.afl-png.com/" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.afl-png.com/"><U>www.afl-png.com</U></A></div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <div> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="711" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="VOID" RULES="NONE" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP BGCOLOR=#000000 HEIGHT= 20 WIDTH="705"><div> <B>Wapenamanda to get rules footy</B></div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP BGCOLOR=#FFCC33 HEIGHT= 246 WIDTH="705"><div> Nov 10 2004</div> <div> Wapenamanda district in Enga Province will introduce rules football in the area next month. The president of Wapenamanda Local Level Government (LLG) and provincial minister for Transport and Works Nick Andake officially accepted the introduction of AFL last weekend. During a ceremony Andake told the people of Wapenamanda that sports was very important for the people in order to stay healthy and keep themselves physically fit. He said the entire district would take part in AFL when it starts during Christmas. Highlands regional AFL co-ordinator Pastor Moses Kar and AFL development officer Kera Doa attended the ceremony. Pastor Kar told the people that AFL was being introduced in the district to engage youths and keep them away from some of the common problems most of the youths were facing today.  “This is a junior development program of AFL-Papua New Guinea,” Kar said. “We want all the youths to partake in AFL because this will minimise some of the problems that most of the youths are facing.”  He said to become a qualified AFL player, the youths had to abstain from smoke, alcohol and other drugs. He said AFL would persuade the youths to concentrate on sports and do away with prostitution, drugs and alcohol. He also urged them to get involved and support church work. Pastor Kar said AFL would target youths and help them to become productive citizens of the nation. Meanwhile, Pastor Kar said they have got positive feedback from the areas where the game had been introduced, adding the Kuruk Primary School in Western Highlands had responded positively to taking part in AFL. </div> </tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <div> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="711" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="VOID" RULES="NONE" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP BGCOLOR=#000000 HEIGHT= 20 WIDTH="705"><div> <B>AFL-PNG trio affirm their commitment to Cairns City team</B></div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP BGCOLOR=#FFCC33 HEIGHT= 208 WIDTH="705"><div> Sep 28 2004</div> <div> by HENRY MORABANG</div> <div> Two young AFL-PNG players returned home last Friday after a six-month stint with Cairns City Cobras club in the AFL-Cairns competition in Australia.Desmond Kaumu and Glen Tom arrived in Port Moresby - minus Thomas Linge - from their stint in Cairns, where they have made a commitment to return for next season.</div> <div> At a press conference organised by AFL-PNG, Dominic Kaumu speaking on behalf of Scott Reid said AFL-PNG was very proud of what the three fine ambassadors had done in Australia.</div> <div> “These young men went in for a training stint and eventually stayed on to play football with the Cairns Cobras,” Kaumu said.</div> <div> The trio's attachment to the Cobras was made possible through Oil Search Limited-sponsored AFL-PNG Pathway Program for the Under 18s.</div> <div> Both Glen and Desmond said it was their commitment that saw them complete the season in Cairns.</div> <div> The duo said they were now committed to the Cobras, who had given them the opportunities from the start. </div> <div> “Cairns City Cobras will have first preference despite offers coming from other clubs,” they said.</div> </tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <div> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="711" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="VOID" RULES="NONE" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP BGCOLOR=#000000 HEIGHT= 20 WIDTH="705"><div> <B>City powers rules footy</B></div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP BGCOLOR=#FFCC33 HEIGHT= 373 WIDTH="705"><div> Sep 22 2004</div> <div> by Kamo Kini - The National</div> <div> National Capital District escaped a last quarter rally by Kimbe to take out the national rules football title by three points. NCD can count themselves lucky, thanks to some poor kicking display by the Kimbe forward line. The men from West New Britain fought back courageously in the final quarter to kick 1.5.11 while NCD could only manage a behind. After trailing badly 2.3.15 to NCD's 6.6.42 at half time, Kimbe regrouped in the third and final quarters to come close to what could have been one of the greatest comebacks in a championship final. Centre half forward John Baki helped inspired Kimbe's fightback in three-quarter time when he contributed two successive goals to cut the 27-point halfway margin to just 13 as his side cruised to 5.6.36 to NCD 7.7.47. Kimbe took full advantage when NCD full forward Peter Meli left the field injured just before half time. NCD's junior elite squad members led by centre half back Junior Amb, centre man Chris Legisa, left wing Joshua Geru along with experienced players, centre half forward Overa Gibson and fullback Nick Apamumu all blended well to restrict Kimbe from causing an embarrassing result.</div> <div> The final score NCD 7.8.50 defeating Kimbe 6.11.47.</div> <div> Winning coach and former great Mathew Pula expressed relief when the full-time siren sounded. "We were under a lot of pressure but the guys played a defensive type of football to hold off Kimbe," Pula said. "We tried to follow their pace and that's how we allowed them to come back into the game but, overall, I'm happy with the result."</div> <div> AFL NCD president Bernard Aka also heaped praise on the squad for remaining undefeated throughout the three-day tournament. "They showed a lot of commitment and the result speaks for itself," Aka said.</div> <div> The rules championship was played in two pools with both finalists proving unbeatable in their respective divisions. NCD proved to strong for Goroka, Mt Hagen and Lae Two while Kimbe outclassed Lae One and Kove to set up an exciting finale. Kimbe's Andrew Boko was named best & fairest player during the championships while Paul Lapu of NCD took the leading goal kicker's trophy.</div> <div> In the under-18 final, Lae One 7.4.46 defeated Daulo 5.3.33.</div> </tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <div> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="709" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="VOID" RULES="NONE" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP BGCOLOR=#000000 HEIGHT= 20 WIDTH="703"><div> <B>Five centres set for rules titles in Lae</B></div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP BGCOLOR=#FFCC33 HEIGHT= 260 WIDTH="703"><div> Sep 17 2004</div> <div> Five centres will do battle in the AFL national championship in Lae over the next three days, starting today. AFL PNG president Peter Michael said all centres were expected to arrive in Lae yesterday for today's kick-off. The competition will be in the seniors and Under-18 divisions. The finals in both divisions will be held at the Eriku oval on Sunday, starting at 9am. Michael said the championship would be used to identify players to join the PNG Mosquitoes squad for the International Cup in Melbourne next year.</div> <div> The senior competition, to be played at Eriku Oval, will involve Lae One, Mt Hagen, West New Britain, Goroka, NCD and Lae Two.</div> <div> The U-18 competition will be contested by Lae One, Hagen, Goroka One, Lae Two, Goroka Two and Lae Three. All teams will each play five games over two halves of 25 minutes duration. The play-off for third in the seniors on Sunday will be over four by 15 minute quarters, starting at 10.30am.</div> <div> It will follow the U-18 third-place play-off. </div> <div> The U-18 grand final has been scheduled for midday and the seniors decider at 2.30pm.</div> <div> The finals in both divisions will be over four quarters each of 20 minute duration. </div> <div> Trophies will be awarded to the winner, runner-up, leading goalkicker and best and fairest player.</div> <div> The championship has been jointly sponsored by Shorncliffe (PNG) Limited, Arnotts Biscuits and Coca-Cola Amatil.</div> </tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>