This includes Northern, Morobe, Madang East and West Sepik Provinces. With the exception of Lae the Northern Region is largely an untapped area for AFL. The newly appointed Regional Coordinator Mr. Connie Papau, does not see this as an obstacle but as a challenge.

The advantages of having a full-time person in Lae has already borne fruit as we now see a strong school competition being played on Saturdays. It involves sixteen schools with teams in the U13 and U15 Boys and girls and the Under 17 boy’s teams.

This year Peter Labi was selected in the Under sixteen Queensland State Squad

AFL LAE
2007 JUNIOR SCHOOLS COMPETITION

In its inaugural year the Lae AFL School competition had 16 schools involved. The competition commenced in May and ran through until September with a three week break during the election period and some weekends cancelled due to inclement weather. . There were three age groups for the boys, U13, U15, & U17 and an U15 age group for girls. Due to the growing popularity of AFL among the girls it is envisaged that their will be an increase in girls divisions in 2008.

2007 Grand final Day was held at Eriku Oval and a large number of spectators gathered to watch the skills on display. All games were closely contested and additional time had to be played in the Under 15 Boys division to determine a winner.

The Grand Final Day was officiated by Cornelius Papua and guest umpires Mesea Dorogori and Henry Henry from Port Moresby. Official guests for the day were the Assistant ant Police Commissioner for the Momase Region Mr Giossi Labi, and Mr Peter Cates, AFLPNG National Operations Manager. Mr Labi was extremely delighted to present the U17 Premier shield to his old school Bugandi Secondary.

GRAND–FINAL RESULTS
22 SEPTEMBER 07

UNDER 13
ST PAULS	3.4 (22)	DEF	OMILI	2.4 (16)
UNDER 15
MARKHAM ROAD	3.6(24)	DEF	ST MARYS	3.5(23)
UNDER 17
BUGANDI SECONDARY	5.10. [40]	DEF	LAE SECONDARY	3.5(23)
UNDER 15 GIRLS
MARKHAM ROAD	4.7(31)	DEF	OMILI	2.4 (16)

Contact the AFL PNG office for more details on AFL footy in this Region.