The Port Moresby Australian Football League (also known as the Port Moresby Australian Rules Football League or POM AFL) is the longest running Australian rules football league outside of Australia, founded in 1955.[1] It is Papua New Guinea's most popular league in the sport and for a time in the 1970s shared similar prominence to the Port Moresby Rugby League competition playing to large paying crowds at Hubert Murray Stadium.
Port Moresby's Koboni Demons club (founded 1965 it is one of the longest running outside Australia), consisting mainly of players from the Central Province with 19 premierships has dominated the competition along with its major rival West (consisting of players from West New Britain).
The league since the 1980s has struggled for recognition, and following ongoing disputes with Cricket PNG over use of its grounds plays mainly out of Bisini Park Colts Oval - however due to the rapid growth of the sport in 2023 funding was allocated for its re-development to AFL standards.[2]
The POMAFL premiership is contested by 11 clubs with senior men's (10 teams), men's reserves (10 teams), senior women's (6 teams) and junior/colts divisions.
The league began in Port Moresby in 1955.[1] Initially it was mostly expatriate Victorians, including many from the Warrnambool district working in Moresby at the time, whose numbers rapidly swelled the competition to 8 teams.[3] Port Moresby was one of the founding clubs. Initially the competition maintained a low profile, with rugby league being the main sport for locals in Moresby. Despite having several clubs, other Australian Rules Football leagues in Madang and Lae were more popular. By the end of the 1960s, the Port Moresby league had shrunk to a handful of clubs consisting almost entirely of expatriates.
By 1970, a wave of interest in the sport across the country saw the Port Moresby league grow rapidly. This saw an influx of players to the national capital. With Boroko, Goroka, Elcom and PIR entering the league, it now had 6 clubs.[4][5] An increase in the number of Papuans in the league saw its media profile lift considerably.[6]
In 1972 the league played its first match at the newly developed Hubert Murray Stadium under lights.[7] The match was a success and during the 1970s due the league's increasing popularity, it played a match of the round there at night, drawing large crowds despite charging spectators for admission.[8] Due to the popularity of the games the league scheduled all of its matches at the stadium in 1973.[9] During this period, the league ran A, B and C grades with most clubs fielding a side in all three grades.
In 1975 all matches were played at Boroko Sports Ground.[10]
In 1976 the competition expanded with 3 new sides: Police, NBC and Bomana.[11] By this time, most of the Australian expatriates had left the competition, due to the increasing standard and increased competition with Papua New Guinean nationals.[12]
The league along with the sport across the country, reached a height in popularity in 1977 with the Grand Final that year attracting a record crowd of 6,000 paying spectators to the Hubert Murray Stadium.[13]
Despite booming in the 1970s in the 1980s the sport in Papua New Guinea went into rapid decline following a failed restructure by Australian interests and the POMAFL came close to folding due to withdrawal of funding for the sport at senior level. The league considered radical changes to stay afloat including shifting the season to the summer months to avoid clashes with other sports, primarily rugby league.
The competition expanded to ten clubs in 2013[14] with the addition of 3 new teams.[15]
Due to ongoing disputes with PNG Cricket in the 2010s, the league was restricted from utilising grounds used for cricket. Access to Amini Park for occasional finals matches was granted in the 2010s before the league had to find its own facilities.
While member clubs sell naming rights to local business sponsors the league suffered from inadequate infrastructure, relying heavily on support from Australia.[16] Matches were played at Murray Barracks Oval before settling on its current home in 2019, the Bisini Colts Oval one of its historic homes which was in desperate need of redevelopment due to its degraded surface after funding for its redevelopment was reallocated.[17] The league receives donations of equipment from its affiliation with AFL Queensland.[16]
The league added a women's division in 2022.[16] However the season was cancelled during the finals series due to controversy over player eligibility with clubs fielding star rugby players who had not played sufficient games during the season proper to qualify.[18]
Due to the rapid growth of the sport in 2023 funding was allocated for the re-development of Bisini Park Colts Oval to AFL standards.[2]
Port Moresby, also referred to as Pom City or simply Moresby, is the capital and largest city of Papua New Guinea. It is one of the largest cities in the southwestern Pacific outside of Australia and New Zealand. It is located on the shores of the Gulf of Papua, on the south-western coast of the Papuan Peninsula of the island of New Guinea. The city emerged as a trade centre in the second half of the 19th century. During World War II, it was a prime objective for conquest by the Imperial Japanese forces during 1942–43 as a staging point and air base to cut off Australia from Southeast Asia and the Americas.
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The Papua New Guinea national Australian rules football team represents Papua New Guinea in the team sport of Australian rules football. It is one of the nation's most successful sporting teams, currently ranked 2nd in the world behind Australia.
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Australian rules football in Papua New Guinea (PNG) is a developing team sport which was initially introduced by Australian servicemen during World War II. The governing body for the sport is the PNG Rules Football Council, with the development body being AFL PNG. The junior development version is known locally as Niukick. Regionally, AFL PNG is affiliated with AFL Oceania.
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The Papua New Guinea Post-Courier is a newspaper based in Konedobu, Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea.
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Edene Gebbie is a Papua New Guinean professional rugby league footballer who plays as a fullback and winger for the Port Moresby Vipers in the Digicel Cup and Papua New Guinea at international level.
St John Ambulance is a health and humanitarian charity that operates the national ambulance service in Papua New Guinea. It is an association of the International Order of St John.
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2023
