The 2002

Australian Football International Cup The Australian Football International Cup (also known as the AFL International Cup or simply the IC) is a triennial international Australian rules football sport competition. It is the biggest worldwide tournament in the sport and is open to ...

was the inaugural international

Australian rules football Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an oval field, often a modified cricket ground. Points are scored by k ...

tournament held in

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

in 2002. 11 nations participated from around the world and the tournament was officiated by the

International Australian Football Council The International Australian Football Council (IAFC) was a body established in 1995 to govern the sport of Australian rules football internationally. It was established by a small number of amateur football bodies. The IAFC was established aft ...

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

won the tournament, finishing undefeated and victorious over

Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea (abbreviated PNG; , ; tpi, Papua Niugini; ho, Papua Niu Gini), officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea ( tpi, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niugini; ho, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niu Gini), is a country i ...

in the

Grand Final Primarily in Australian sports, a grand final (sometimes colloquially abbreviated to "grannie") is a game that decides a sports league's premiership (or championship) winning team, i.e. the conclusive game of a finals (or play-off) series. Sy ...

on 23 August at the

Melbourne Cricket Ground The Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG), also known locally as "The 'G", is an Australian sports stadium located in Yarra Park, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, Victoria. Founded and managed by the Melbourne Cricket Club, it is the largest stadiu ...

(MCG).

Pool A

Pool B

Round 1

*PNG 13.11 (89) d. Great Britain 2.2 (14) – Warrawee Park, Oakleigh *Nauru 17.17 (119) d. Japan 1.8 (14) – Warrawee Park, Oakleigh *USA 7.10 (52) d. Samoa 4.7 (31) –

TEAC Oval North Port Oval, also known as the Port Melbourne Cricket Ground or by the sponsored name ETU Stadium, is an Australian rules football and cricket stadium located in Port Melbourne, Australia. The capacity of the venue is 6,000 people. It is ...

Port Melbourne Port Melbourne is an inner-city suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, south-west of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the Cities of Melbourne and Port Phillip local government areas. Port Melbourne recorded a populatio ...

*New Zealand 25.13 (163) d. South Africa 0.1 (1) –

Trevor Barker Beach Oval Trevor Barker Beach Oval, currently known under naming rights as the Wilson Storage Trevor Barker Beach Oval, is an Australian rules football ground in Beach Road, on the border between Hampton and Sandringham, Victoria. Most commonly known as ...

Sandringham Sandringham can refer to: Places * Sandringham, New South Wales, Australia * Sandringham, Queensland, Australia * Sandringham, Victoria, Australia **Sandringham railway line **Sandringham railway station **Electoral district of Sandringham * Sand ...

*Ireland 7.14 (56) d. Canada 4.7 (31) –

Round 2

*PNG 9.15 (69) d. Denmark 3.5 (23) *Great Britain 9.11 (65) d. Nauru 8.11 (59) –

Elsternwick Park Elsternwick Park (currently known by its sponsored name Sportscover Arena) is an Australian rules football and cricket stadium in Brighton, a suburb of Melbourne in Victoria, Australia. The name also refers to the wider parkland in which the mai ...

Elsternwick Elsternwick is an inner suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 9 km south-east of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Glen Eira local government area. Elsternwick recorded a population of 10,887 at the 2021 ...

*Canada 4.11 (38) d. South Africa 1.5 (11) *Ireland 5.6 (36) d. Samoa 4.5 (29) *New Zealand 11.12 (78) d. USA 4.1 (25)

Round 3

*Great Britain 7.3 (45) d. Japan 4.6 (30) –

Whitten Oval Whitten Oval (also known as Victoria University Whitten Oval under a naming rights agreement) is a stadium in the inner-western suburbs of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, located in Barkly Street, West Footscray. It is the training and administra ...

, Footscray *Denmark 5.10 (40) d. Nauru 3.9 (27) *Samoa 12.15 (87) d. South Africa 1.4 (10) *New Zealand 10.8 (68) d. Canada 2.6 (18) *Ireland 7.7 (49) d. USA 6.3 (39)

Round 4

*Denmark 12.9 (81) d. Great Britain 4.2 (26) *PNG 23.9 (147) d. Japan 0.0 (0) *Ireland 15.8 (98) d. South Africa 3.3 (21) *USA 8.4 (52) d. Canada 1.1 (7) *New Zealand 10.10 (70) d. Samoa 5.8 (38)

Round 5

*Denmark 10.6 (66) d. Japan 4.7 (32) *PNG 13.13 (91) d. Nauru 6.8 (44) *USA 20.12 (132) d. South Africa 0.4 (4) *Samoa 9.15 (69) d. Canada 0.5 (5) *Ireland 4.10 (34) d. New Zealand 3.2 (20)

Minor Placing deciders

*New Zealand 3.7 (25) d. Denmark 2.4 (16) *Samoa 5.7 (37) d. Nauru 2.8 (20) *Canada 6.5 (41) d. Japan 5.2 (32) *USA 13.15 (93) d. Great Britain 2.3 (15) –

Junction Oval Junction Oval (also known as the St Kilda Cricket Ground, or the CitiPower Centre due to sponsorship reasons) is a historic sports ground in the suburb of St Kilda in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. The oval's location near the St Kilda Junc ...

, St Kilda

Grand final

Friday 23 August 2002 Grand Final was played as a curtain raiser to the round 21 AFL match between

Hawthorn Hawthorn or Hawthorns may refer to: Plants * '' Crataegus'' (hawthorn), a large genus of shrubs and trees in the family Rosaceae * ''Rhaphiolepis'' (hawthorn), a genus of about 15 species of evergreen shrubs and small trees in the family Rosace ...

North Melbourne North Melbourne is an inner-city suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, north-west of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Melbourne local government area. North Melbourne recorded a population of 14,953 at the ...

, 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.
Team Lists

Final standings

# Ireland # Papua New Guinea # New Zealand # Denmark # USA # Great Britain # Samoa # Nauru # Canada # Japan # South Africa

All-International Team

A 22 player All-International squad was named, however names were unplaced and not allocated to any specific field position.

References

External links

* http://www.aussierulesinternational.com
Australian Football International Cup, 2002 – World Footy News review
{{Aussie Rules Playing Nations links Australian Football International Cup Australian Football International Cup, 2002