Inaugural season 2002 | Official website [1] | |
 | ||
Sport Australian rules football No. of teams 2014: 18 men's, 7 women's Most recent
champion(s) Men's:
Papua New Guinea (2nd title)
Women's:
Canada Northern Lights (1st title) Most titles Men's:
Ireland (2 titles)
Papua New Guinea (2 titles)
Women's:
Ireland (1 title)
Canada (1 title) | ||
The Australian Football International Cup (also known as the AFL International Cup) is an international sport competition in Australian rules football. It is currently co-ordinated by the Australian Football League's game development arm and run every 3 years since 2002.
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The tournament is the largest international Australian rules football event and the only one that is open to worldwide senior competition; although Australia, the home and world's strongest nation in the game, does not participate as it would most likely dominate the competition.
The inaugural tournament was the 2002 Australian Football International Cup run by the International Australian Football Council under the auspices of the Australian Football League, which then assumed full control with the winding up of the IAFC.
The Cup was originally for male participants only, but in 2011 a women's competition was established. After some suggestions the tournament would be run every 4 years, the AFL is currently maintaining the 3-year cycle.
The grand final of each men's tournament has been held as a curtain raiser to a home-and-away match of the AFL premiership season.
Australia is not represented in the men's tournament; as the only nation where the sport is played professionally, the difference in skill level between an Australian national team and the nearest competitor is currently far too large for any contest to be worthwhile. As such, the tournament is geared towards development of the sport outside Australia and expatriate Australians may not compete, with the exception of the women's OzIM team, where only indigenous and multicultural Australians are able to enter.
Currently there are efforts to help raise the event's profile by broadcasting the 2017 International Cup on SBS, an organisation devoted to multicultural, multi-lingual entertainment.
History
When the International Australian Football Council was formed in 1995 one of its aims was to 'establish and promote an official World Cup of Australian Football'. At the time it was thought that 2008, being the 150th anniversary of the game, was the appropriate date.
However, in 1999 a proposal was received from the New Zealand Australian Football League (NZAFL), suggesting that the World Cup be brought forward to 2002. This was accepted by the council and, following visits to many countries, IAFC public relations officer Brian Clarke drafted a discussion paper and draft regulations for circulation to the various national bodies.
An approach was then made to the AFL, asking for their support in staging the event. The AFL agreed on the basis that the event was renamed the "International Cup". An organising committee, chaired by Ed Biggs and including AFL and IAFC representatives, was then appointed.
The inaugural competition was held between 14 August and 23 August 2002 (in conjunction with the International Australian Football Council), with 11 countries competing including Canada, Denmark, Ireland, Japan, Nauru, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, South Africa, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Ireland defeated Papua New Guinea in the final.
The second cup was held between 3 August and 13 August 2005 in Australia. Canada, Ireland, Japan, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, South Africa, Spain, the United Kingdom, and the United States competed. Denmark and Nauru competed in 2002 but withdrew from the 2005 tournament for financial reasons. Papua New Guinea were again runners up, this time defeated by New Zealand by 7.8 (50) to 5.2 (32).
The third cup was held in August and September 2008. Sixteen nations competed; all teams from the 2002 competition returned, joined by debutants China, India, Sweden, Finland and the Peres Peace Team (Israel-Palestine). Tonga competed as a seventeenth team, but as they were unable to commit to the full draw they played a series of matches against Team Asia and Team Africa, sides drawn from Melbourne's migrant communities.
The fourth tournament, the 2011 Australian Football International Cup was held in Melbourne and Sydney in August 2011 with 18 nations competing, as well as five women's teams.
Women's International Cup
Beginning in 2011, a Women's International Cup will be competed for alongside the men's competition. Teams competing in the women's division include: