New Zealand national Australian rules football team

The NZ side wear a distinctive silver and black uniform which consists of a guernsey (singlet), shorts and socks. The guernsey contains New Zealand's silver fern. Before every match, similar to the all blacks, the NZ team will perform a Haka.

The moniker is the Hawks, having originally adopted the Falcons moniker in 1997 AFL New Zealand sought to change the name in 2017.

The New Zealand team that played against South Australian state football team on the Adelaide Oval on 1st of September 1908

Silver Fern flag on the 1908 Official carnival programme. New Zealand defeated New South Wales and Queensland

New Zealander high marking in the team's 1908 defeat of New South Wales

The first Australian Football team from New Zealand was the New Zealand Native football team who competed against the colony of New South Wales in Sydney, on 29th June 1889 with the result being a 4 goal each draw[1] along with matches against Victorian clubs including a impressive 2 goal win against the powerhouse Victorian club South Melbourne.

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.[2] The national team traces its origins back to the forming of the first national body, the New Zealand Football League, formed in 1907 at the Naval & Family Hotel in Auckland, including representatives from all provinces, which set about planning for the Australian tour, noting the rapidly growing popularity of the code across the country.[3] At the meeting, the NZFL adopted a national code of laws and elected its first president Dr Tracy Inglis.[4]

New Zealand lobbied the Australasian Council to participate in the Jubilee Australasian Football Carnival in 1908. At the time any player registered with the NZFL qualified for selection (similar rules applied to the Australian state sides), as a result there were a number of Australians in the team including some former professionals. At the tournament the touring side defeated both New South Wales and Queensland, it went on to play matches around the country. It was originally known as the "All Blacks" or the "Silver Ferns" like their rugby counterparts, at a time when it was still common for players to switch codes.[5][6] This was the only time in the history of Australian rules "interstate" football matches that a team from New Zealand participated. It was anticipated that, immediately following the carnival, and before returning to New Zealand, the New Zealand team would play matches in Adelaide, Ballarat, Bendigo, Geelong, Sydney, Brisbane, and Newcastle.[7] New Zealand played a match, in Adelaide, on 1 September 1908 (Eight Hours Day), before the Governor, George Le Hunte,[8] on a very wet ground (in several places the water was inches deep). South Australia won the match 5.8 (38) to 3.10 (28). The match was not as one-sided as the final scores indicate: the score at quarter time was South Australia 4.5 (29) to New Zealand 0.1 (1). In the process of the day, the New Zealand team performed two hakas, one before the match commenced, the other before the second half began.[9] All in all, the New Zealand team won six out of the eleven matches they played on their tour, including the carnival matches against New South Wales and Queensland, and were described in the Melbourne press as "the surprise packet"; and, due to the fact that only two of their matches were played on dry grounds, they also became known as the "wet weather birds".[10]

The Australasian Football Council had decided in 1906 not to support overseas participation and after a long exclusion campaign led by the VFL's representative Con Hickey pushed for New Zealand's membership from the council to be revoked in 1910. Its final withdrawal from the council in 1919 spelled the end of its international Australian Football ambitions for more than half a century.[11]

New Zealand was reintroduced to international Australian Football at the Arafura Games in 1995. The team also competed in the 1997 and 1999 games, winning the Silver medal in each year of the competition as runners up to Papua New Guinea.

The team competed in the inaugural 2002 Australian Football International Cup finishing in 3rd place.

Warming up for the 2005 International Cup, the Falcons played a touring Maffra (from the strong Victorian Country Football League in Gippsland, Victoria, Australia) at Manurewa in New Zealand but were defeated by 70 points,[12] dulling expectations of the team's appearance in the next international event, but at the same time displaying the massive disparity between the competitive level of the sport in the two countries.

However, with the growing popularity of Aussie Rules in New Zealand, the much improved 2005 New Zealand International Cup side went through the competition undefeated, claiming the title of International Champions by defeating Papua New Guinea in the Grand Final at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, effectively claiming the title from previous winners Ireland. The team took most by surprise and no other side was able to come close to winning against them. The Falcon's best and fairest player (from the 2005 International Cup) was Matthew Callaghan.

Following the overwhelming success of the team's 2005 International Cup appearance, the Falcons were invited to play at the Australian Country Championships in 2006 to be held on the Gold Coast. The qualification rules of this competition are more lenient, and the Falcons were able to play non-New Zealand born players to make them competitive against Australian sides from country leagues. The Falcons were not successful at the event, losing heavily to Queensland, by 9 points to Victoria B and by 63 points to the Indigenous All-Stars.[13]

New Zealand captain Andrew Congalton takes a high mark in front of his Indian national team opponent during the 2008 International Cup

Warming up for the 2008 cup, New Zealand were once again convincingly defeated by Maffra. The team, however went on to win all of its first 3 rounds by massive margins, leading its pool by a massive percentage to play-off in the finals against Ireland, Papua New Guinea and South Africa. Though the Falcons lost to a determined Papua New Guinea in the Grand Final. Richard Bradley was the tournament's equal leading goalkicker with Canada's Scott Fleming and was one of three New Zealanders selected in the All-International (world) team.

Since 2009, New Zealand's Under 20s (and the Under 18 since 2011) have competed against the Victorian Amateur Football Association Under 18 squad in Christchurch, Wellington and Auckland. They are yet to defeat the VAFA.[14]

Since 2012 the national side has played against the National Australian Under 17 team (NAB AFL Academy). The first game was won convincingly by the AFL Academy by 91 points. In 2014 New Zealand came within a goal in the final minutes to lose by only 4 points, the closest it has ever come to a historic defeat of Australia at underage level.

AFL, St Kilda Football Club, Foundation North, AVJennings, Sport New Zealand, Sekem, New Zealand Racing Board

• 
  George A. Gillett part of the 1908 carnival team was also an All Black (Rugby Union) and then Kiwi (Rugby League) attributed his kicking game to Australian rules[26]
• 
  Nick Evans, All Black was a member of New Zealand's Under 20s, says Aussie Rules improved his kicking[27]
• 
  Matt Duffie dual rugby code international's kicking game is credited to his time in Aussie Rules[28]
• 
  Shaun Johnson Rugby League Kiwi was a member of New Zealand's Under 16s side, his kicking skills have been attributed to his time in Aussie Rules[29]
• 
  Cameron Ilett regarded as one of the greatest players in NTFL history with 8 premierships and 2 Nichols medals
• 
  Simon Black former AFL Brownlow medallist and triple premiership player was given special permission to represent New Zealand in 2017 and 2018 due to his heritage.

• New Zealand Representative Falcons page on NZAFL site
• Google Video of Falcons performing the 'Haka' at the 2005 International Cup
• Australian Rules coverage from the NZ Herald