Australian rules football in Papua New Guinea

Australian rules football in Papua New Guinea
Papua New Guinea's Mosquitos celebrate taking the International Cup from New Zealand to become International champions in 2008.
Country	Papua New Guinea
Governing body	PNG Rules Football Council
National team	Papua New Guinea
First played	1944, Lae
Registered players	1,920 (adult)
Club competitions
Goroka Football League Kimbe Football League Lae Football League Mt Hagen Football League Port Moresby Football League Rabaul Football League Eastern Highlands Rules Football League
Audience records
Single match	7,500 (2009) Central Highlands vs Flying Boomerangs (Indigenous tour of PNG) Lae

Australian rules football in Papua New Guinea is a developing team sport which was initially introduced by Australian servicemen. The sport has a long and somewhat shaky history, but has recently achieved big strides in the Papua New Guinea community and is now the second most popular sport after rugby league.

The Papua New Guinea national Australian rules football team have been grand finalists in all AFL International Cups and won the 2008 Australian Football International Cup and 2014 AFL International Cup.

Players of Papua New Guinean heritage have played professionally in the Australian Football League, the most famous of which is "king" Mal Michael. In 2010, at least 4 players had been recruited from Papua New Guinea to AFL lists. A larger number of players of Papua New Guinean origin now participate in semi-professional state leagues around Australia. The AFL has established a pathway from PNG to the AFL mainly through Queensland but more recently through Tasmania.

The game is covered by both the The National and Papua New Guinea Post-Courier newspapers.

In PNG, the sport is typically referred to as "AFL", but also as "rules", "rules football" or "AFL rules".

Australian Rules was introduced to Papua New Guinea in the 1944 by Australian school teachers and defence force personnel in Lae and Nagada. At the time, Papua New Guinea was an Australian territory.

In November 1945, a match was played between Victoria and "The Rest" at Torokina, Bougainville.

A competition was played in Rabaul, New Britain in 1946 between servicemen, including the 29/46th infantry battalion, who played several matches against sides from New Guinea and New Britain.