2005 Australian Football International Cup

2005 AFL International Cup
Tournament details
Host country	Australia
Dates	3 August – 13 August 2005
Teams	10
Final positions
Champions	New Zealand (1st title)
Runners-up	Papua New Guinea
Third place	United States
Fourth place	Ireland
← 2002 Australian Football International Cup 2008 Australian Football International Cup →

The 2005 Australian Football International Cup was the second time that the Australian Football International Cup tournament, an international Australian rules football competition was held.

The event was hosted by both Melbourne and Wangaratta, Australia, in 2005.

10 nations participated following the late withdrawal of both Nauru and Denmark and the introduction of Spain.

All sides were scheduled to play 4 games, after which the top 4 sides played off in semi-finals for a berth in the Grand Final decider. The Grand Final was between Papua New Guinea and New Zealand. Both sides went through the tournament undefeated. It was played as a curtain raiser to an official Australian Football League premiership season match and was replayed on Fox Sports (Australia) and the Fox Footy Channel.

New Zealand were crowned international champions for the first time.

Tournament results

Round 1

(Wednesday 3 August 2005)

	Japan	88–17	Spain	Stadium: Murphy Reserve, Port Melbourne, Victoria
	13 10	Goals Behinds	2 5

	Ireland	31–23	Canada	Stadium: Murphy Reserve, Port Melbourne, Victoria
	4 7	Goals Behinds	3 5

	United States	62–34	South Africa	Stadium: Murphy Reserve, Port Melbourne, Victoria
	9 8	Goals Behinds	4 10

	New Zealand	56–22	Great Britain	Stadium: Murphy Reserve, Port Melbourne, Victoria
	8 8	Goals Behinds	3 4

	Papua New Guinea	59–42	Samoa	Stadium: Murphy Reserve, Port Melbourne, Victoria
	8 11	Goals Behinds	6 6

Round 2

(Friday 5 August 2005)

	New Zealand	105–3	Spain	Stadium: Murphy Reserve, Port Melbourne, Victoria
	15 15	Goals Behinds	0 3

	Papua New Guinea	41–27	Canada	Stadium: Murphy Reserve, Port Melbourne, Victoria
	5 11	Goals Behinds	4 3

	USA	17–13	Ireland	Stadium: Murphy Reserve, Port Melbourne, Victoria
	2 5	Goals Behinds	1 7

	South Africa	30–28	Japan	Stadium: Murphy Reserve, Port Melbourne, Victoria
	4 6	Goals Behinds	4 4

	Samoa	78–8	Great Britain	Stadium: Murphy Reserve, Port Melbourne, Victoria
	12 6	Goals Behinds	1 2

Round 3

(Sunday 7 August 2005)

	Ireland	69–10	South Africa	Stadium: TEAC Oval, Port Melbourne, Victoria
	10 9	Goals Behinds	1 4

	USA	41–12	Spain	Stadium: TEAC Oval, Port Melbourne, Victoria
	5 11	Goals Behinds	2 0

	Samoa	46–42	Canada	Stadium: Optus Oval, Carlton, Victoria
	7 4	Goals Behinds	6 6

	New Zealand	79–6	Japan	Stadium: TEAC Oval, Port Melbourne, Victoria
	11 13	Goals Behinds	1 0

	Papua New Guinea	59–14	Great Britain	Stadium: Optus Oval, Carlton, Victoria
	8 11	Goals Behinds	2 2

Round 4

(Tuesday 9 August 2005)

	Ireland	53–6	Japan	Stadium: City Oval, Wangaratta, Victoria
	7 11	Goals Behinds	1 0

	Great Britain	25–23	Canada	Stadium: Wangaratta Showgrounds, Wangaratta, Victoria
	3 7	Goals Behinds	3 5

	Papua New Guinea	47–46	USA	Stadium: City Oval, Wangaratta, Victoria
	7 5	Goals Behinds	7 4

	South Africa	84–13	Spain	Stadium: City Oval, Wangaratta, Victoria
	12 12	Goals Behinds	2 1

	New Zealand	98–27	Samoa	Stadium: Wangaratta Showgrounds, Wangaratta, Victoria
	16 2	Goals Behinds	4 3

Ladder after four rounds

	TEAM	W	L	PF	PA	%
1	New Zealand	4	0	338	58	582.76
2	Papua New Guinea	4	0	206	129	159.69
3	Ireland	3	1	166	56	296.42
4	United States	3	1	166	106	156.60
5	Samoa	2	2	193	207	93.24
6	South Africa	2	2	158	172	91.86
7	Japan	1	3	128	179	71.51
8	Great Britain	1	3	69	216	31.94
9	Canada	0	4	115	143	80.42
10	Spain	0	4	45	318	14.15
Key: W = Won, L = Lost, PF = Points For, PA = Points Against, % = Goal average

Semifinals

(Thursday 11 August 2005)

	New Zealand	64–46	USA	Stadium: Murphy Reserve, Port Melbourne, Victoria
	10 4	Goals Behinds	7 4

	Papua New Guinea	34–25	Ireland	Stadium: Murphy Reserve, Port Melbourne, Victoria
	5 4	Goals Behinds	3 7

Qualifying finals round

(Thursday 11 August 2005)

	Canada	Canada won by forfeit	Spain	Stadium: Murphy Reserve, Port Melbourne, Victoria

	Great Britain	63–23	Japan	Stadium: Murphy Reserve, Port Melbourne, Victoria
	9 9	Goals Behinds	3 5

	Samoa	50–21	South Africa	Stadium: Murphy Reserve, Port Melbourne, Victoria
	7 8	Goals Behinds	3 3

Minor placing finals

(Saturday 13 August 2005)

Seventh place
	Canada	29–18	South Africa	Stadium: Optus Oval, Port Melbourne, Victoria
	4 5	Goals Behinds	2 6

Fifth place
	Samoa	27–15	Great Britain	Stadium: TEAC Oval, Port Melbourne, Victoria
	3 9	Goals Behinds	2 3

Ninth place
	Japan	73–13	Spain	Stadium: Optus Oval, Port Melbourne, Victoria
	11 7	Goals Behinds	2 1

Third place
	USA	65–30	Ireland	Stadium: TEAC Oval, Port Melbourne, Victoria
	10 5	Goals Behinds	4 6

Grand final

(Saturday 13 August 2005)

	New Zealand	50–32	Papua New Guinea	Stadium: Melbourne Cricket Ground Attendance: 48,287
	7 8	Goals Behinds	5 2

The grand final was replayed on Fox Sports (Australia) and the Fox Footy Channel.

The best and fairest medal was awarded to New Zealand's James Bowden.

Note: the grand final was played as a curtain-raiser to the round 20 AFL match between Collingwood vs Carlton, so this figure is the total crowd for the match, although not all spectators were inside the stadium at the start or conclusion of the curtain-raiser event.

Final standings

1. New Zealand
2. Papua New Guinea
3. USA
4. Ireland
5. Samoa
6. Great Britain
7. Canada
8. South Africa
9. Japan
10. Spain

2005 Australian Football International Cup All Stars Team

Like the All-Australian Team in the Australian Football League, a team selected from the best players in the International Cup was selected. Team members were unplaced and not allocated to any specific field position.

Player	Nation	Club
Navu Maha	Papua New Guinea	Centrals
David Gavara-Nanu	Papua New Guinea	New Ireland
Stanley Tapend	Papua New Guinea	Enga
Alister Sioni	Papua New Guinea	West New Britain
Richard Bradley	New Zealand	Eastern Blues
Craig Ashton	New Zealand	Takapuna Eagles
James Bowden	New Zealand	Eastern Blues
Andrew Congalton	New Zealand	Takapuna Eagles
Todd Danks	New Zealand	North Shore Tigers
James Brunmeier	United States	Milwaukee Bombers
Donnie Lucero	United States	Orange County Bombers
Michito Sakaki	Japan	Waseda University
Mtutuzeli Hlomela	South Africa	Eldorado Park
Steven Malinga	South Africa	Itoseng
Clifford Richardson	Ireland	Edinburgh Old Town Bloods
Mike Finn	Ireland
Rob Burgess	Great Britain	Wandsworth Demons
Jose Francisco Lorente	Spain	Madrid Bears
Fia Tootoo	Samoa	Moorabbin Kangaroos / Fasitoo-Uta Tigers
Mateta Kirisome	Samoa	Fasitoo-Uta Tigers
Rob McEwan	Canada	Windsor Mariners
Paul Loghanne	Canada	Mississauga Demons

Tournament Best & Fairest winners

Player	Nation	Club
Navu Maha	Papua New Guinea	Centrals
Fia Tootoo	Samoa	Moorabbin Kangaroos / Fasitoo-Uta Tigers