In New Zealand, Australian rules football dates back to the 1860s, was home to the first club formed outside Australia in 1876 and was the first colony outside of Australia to take up the sport. The sport's official name was changed in 1890 to Australasian Football acknowledge New Zealand's participation and remained for some time even after the country was expelled from the Australasian Football Council. After a half century hiatus of organised competition, it has grown rapidly as an amateur sport. Today five of New Zealand's sixteen regions have organised competitions: Auckland (Auckland AFL); Canterbury (Canterbury AFL); Wellington (Wellington AFL); Waikato (Waikato AFL) and Otago (Otago AFL). A four-team national competition with a national draft has been contested at the North Harbour Stadium in Auckland since 2016 for men and 2019 for women. The national team were crowned International champions at the 2005 Australian Football International Cup and competed annually against the AFL Academy between 2012 and 2019. Between the 2010s until 2022 the game was played in New Zealand schools.College Sport: Aussie Rules grows in NZ schools from New Zealand Herald 15 September 2020School Sport New Zealand Census 2010-2022

The first Australian Football League match in New Zealand was played in 1991 and the first AFL premiership match played outside of Australia was the 25 April 2013 match held in Wellington. The average attendance for AFL premiership matches is 16,027. New Zealand is now considered as having the potential to host a professional team. The sport's athletes from New Zealand have become a major talent pool for both professional Australian rules and rugby football competitions and an AFL New Zealand Combine was held between 2013 and 2019.

More than 25 players have been listed by clubs in both the AFL and the AFLW since 2010, including descendants of both Māori and European New Zealanders.AFL players with international backgrounds#New Zealand Wayne Schwass is the country's first AFL premiership player and with 282 matches has played more than any other New Zealand born player. Trent Croad has kicked the most goals with 189. Jesse Tawhiao-Wardlaw holds similar honours (premiership, most games and goals) in the AFLW.

History

Beginnings Before Europeans arrived in New Zealand, the Māori were playing a traditional ball game called kī-o-rahi which resembled Australian Rules Football in that included several features unique to the code including movement of the ball by hand and foot without an offside, protected zones and a rule similar to holding the ball.Shane Gilchrist, 'Game on, the "ki" is back in court', Otago Daily Times, 5 October 2007

Christ's College in Christchurch from 1851 was playing by "College Rules", inspired from public school football game played by the Church of England School in Oxfordshire. Though few details of the rules exists it has been claimed that from descriptions of the way it was played that it was remarkably similar to Melbourne Football Club rules. The college was later to play matches against the Christchurch Football Clubs which was also playing by similar rules.

Victorians accounted for more than half of New Zealand's gold rush immigrants, including those at Otago, Aorere and Coromandel in the 1850s and 1860s, and the associated settlements were later to exhibit influences of early Australian football.

The Christchurch Football Club, founded in 1863 and playing according to its own rules, one of which was the running bounce (every 4 yards) a feature which appeared 2 years later in Victorian rules. The club adopted rugby rules in 1876.

Australian football is thought to have been first organised in New Zealand around 1868. The Nelson Football Club was formed this year and played a hybrid version of Victorian and Association (soccer) rules in its first two seasons.Swan, Arthur C. (1948). History of New Zealand Rugby Football, Vol. 1, 1870–1945."Early Rugby in the Manawatu – Talk" Clive Akers, 10 April 2008Camilla Obel, "Unions, Leagues and Franchises: The Social Organisation of Rugby Union in New Zealand", University of Canterbury thesis, 2001 By the 1860s, there was regular trade between New Zealand ports and Victoria, and the Victorian rules would have been known by some of the immigrants.Blainey, Geoffrey (2003), A game of our own: the origins of Australian football, Black Inc, p. 142 The Nelson Club was the first club in New Zealand to adopt Rugby rules, in 1870.Turley, A. (2009). Rugby-The Pioneer Years, How Rugby Captured the Heart of a Nation, Auckland, N.Z.: Harper Collins.

The Wellington Football Club was formed on 12 May 1871.Wellington Independent, 12 May 1871 The club initially adopted Victorian rules, but it soon switched to Rugby rules "principally for the reason that the clubs in adjoining provinces play under those rules, and as the club contemplate playing a match with the Nelson club before long the necessity of such a course is apparent." The last match played under Victorian rules was on 24 June 1871.Wellington Independent, 24 June 1871 This was not the end of the matter, however, with the club for a short period in 1875 adding the Victorian rule of bouncing the ball. The club reverted to full Rugby rules soon thereafter.Evening Post 3 May 1875 & 12 May 1875

The Dunedin Football Club, formed in 1872, initially played under its own rules. Shortly thereafter, a second club in Dunedin, the Union Club, was formed; it is thought to have adopted Victorian rules. Poor weather meant that few games were played in both the 1873 and 1874 seasons. The Dunedin Club adopted Association (soccer) rules in 1875, while the Union club retained Victorian rules.Rex W. Thomson, "Provincial Rugby in New Zealand: Otago's Academic Pioneers", Fall 1996 The clubs were able to compromise, and the first match between the clubs that year was played under Victorian rules on 19 June 1875.Otago Witness, 26 June 1875 The return match was played under Association rules a few weeks later. In 1876, a hybrid match was played between the two clubs. The first half was played according to rugby rules, and the second half according to Victorian Rules. By 1877, both clubs had adopted Rugby rules. "At the annual meeting of the Union Club in 1877 it was decided by 17 votes to five to adopt the Rugby Union Laws, the club in all its matches with the D.F.C. previous to that date having stipulated for one spell of every game being under Victorian rules."Otago Witness, 6 June 1889, Page 26

The first games of football in Auckland were played in 1870 with the rules being a mix of Victorian and Association. In 1873, the Auckland Football Club adopted Rugby rules following a visit by two members of the Wellington Club. At the 1874 AGM of the Auckland Football Club, discussion continued around rules, with motions put to either adopt the Victorian Rules of 1866, or form a committee to consider other rules. These motions were defeated in favour of continuing with Rugby rules.Daily Southern Cross, 2 May 1874.

An Auckland team undertook the first inter-provincial Rugby tour in late 1875. This sparked additional interest in Rugby in regions such as Canterbury and Dunedin where several codes were being played. Ultimately, the success of this led to further representative tours, and proved to be a catalyst for Rugby to become the dominant code in the main regions.

1880–1884: New Zealand Football Association The Reform Football Club was formed in Wellington in 1879 to "play under the Victorian rules". In the same article, several clubs are also reported to have been formed in Dunedin as well as one in Nelson. The Reform club's first practice match was held in the Hon. J. Sheehan's paddock, Hobson St, on 5 April 1879 in front of a "considerable number of spectators". The Reform club enjoyed a reasonable amount of press coverage throughout 1879, though faded into obscurity from 1880. Another short lived club formed to play under the code in 1879 was the Victorian Football Club at a meeting at Dunedin's Southern Cross Hotel, however it too was shortlived.

The New Zealand Football Association was formed on 12 July 1880 in Christchurch. The competition continued to operate with several clubs across New Zealand until 1884. However it struggled with the New Zealand press, which was enamoured with rugby and continually derisive toward the Australian code. Although the code struggled with negativity from the media, in these early days rugby authorities were generally cooperative with access to grounds, enabling the codes to coexist.

In 1880, a proposal was put forward to send an Australasian team of players from Melbourne, Sydney and Adelaide to New Zealand and combine and tour England. Otago, one of the game's last strongholds, along with Auckland, pledged to send players for the tour. However, the only football team that set sail was the Australian (New South Wales) rugby side in 1881. This helped dispel assurances from Australasian Rules advocates that the Australasian game was fast overtaking Rugby in popularity in Sydney the reaction that year was that in its Otago stronghold 5 of the 8 clubs affiliated with the Otago Rugby Union and saw the code's popularity across the country plummet.

H C A Harrison toured Auckland in 1883 with the cricket team and met with the governing body of Rugby Union proposing that it switch to Victorian Association Rules and would be in turn raising the idea of a universal form of football with football authorities in England. New Zealand football officials also noted English officials rejection of Harrison's suggestion during his visit to London that rugby clubs there adopt some of the Victorian Rules. The fallout would lead to the continually sharp decline in the fortunes of the game locally.

The 1888-1889 New Zealand Native football team matches saw a Māori team visit Victoria, as part of a year long tour of the UK and Australia, to play a programme of Victorian Rules games. The team played eight games, winning three and losing five. It defeated South Melbourne Football Club, which at that stage was Victoria's premier club.

New century: Australasian rules boom

After being virtually nonexistent since the 1880s, interest in Australian football was rekindled on the back of a wave of immigration from Australia in the first decade of the 20th century. In 1903, the 'New Zealand Association of Australian Football' was formed in Christchurch by a committee of expat Victorians.Otago Witness, 1 April 1903, Page 50 The league had 4 clubs (City Wanderers, Sydenham, Woolston, and Imperial with a fifth, Carlton, formed a year later).

By 1904, a number of leagues were being established throughout the country. In Wellington, a league of five clubs was formed (City, Newtown, Petone, Wanderers, and Federal),Evening Post, 3 June 1904 and 22 June 1904 and Auckland had three clubs in the new league (Auckland Imperial, Victoria, and Austral football clubs).New Zealand Herald, 14 May 1904 Other centres also had clubs form in 1904, including Dunedin (Australian Pioneer Football ClubOtago Witness, 11 May 1904, page 53), Kaitangata (WanderersBruce Herald, 7 June 1904, Page 5), Waihi and Waikino. Vic Cumberland who played with Auckland Imperial was something of a drawcard for the local game on his arrival from Australia.

The first inter-provincial match was held between Wellington and Christchurch in August 1905.PRESS, VOLUME LXII, ISSUE 12284, 30 August 1905, PAGE 5

In 1905, two New Zealand representatives (one from the North Island and one from the South) attended the Australasian Football Conference where the Australasian Football Council was formed. The North and South Islands did not receive separate representation.