calls for a local club to compete against visiting sides. Modern Competition, Sport gains an audience In 1974, senior competitions began in Christchurch (The Canterbury Australian Rules Football Association), Auckland (Auckland Australian Football League) and Wellington. In 1978 New Zealand sent a representative team to play against a representative test against the South West Gippsland Football Association. This was the earliest recorded overseas match of the national team. In 1980, the game's premier league at the time, the VFL, sold its first ever television broadcasting rights to New Zealand, with highlight packages with the Grand Final going live into the country. By 1984, the finals series was also televised. The Australian Rules Football Council of New Zealand formed in the early 1980s and began requesting representative matches against the Australian Capital Territory as early as 1983. However it was not invited to any national carnivals until the 1990s. In 1996, the Australian Defence Force side visited New Zealand to conduct clinics and promote the game. The Arafura Games gave the side the first opportunity for the newly branded Falcons to compete at an international level. In 1995, 1997 and 1999, New Zealand took the silver medal in Australian Football at the event in Darwin, Northern Territory, running second to Papua New Guinea. In 1997, the New Zealand Australian Football Development Foundation (NZAFDF) was formed. 1998 saw the debut of New Zealand born Trent Croad into the Australian Football League, the beginnings of what is a successful career at elite level. In 1999, NZAFDF incorporated as governing body and was renamed New Zealand AFL. Exhibition Matches The years of 1991, 1998, 2000 and 2001 saw official Australian Football League exhibition matches staged in New Zealand so that the AFL could gauge local support. International Success In the inaugural Australian Football International Cup in 2002, New Zealand finished 3rd. In 2003, local Aussie Rules convert Nick Evans debuted for the famous All Blacks rugby union side against England. Since 2004, there have been talks of a New Zealand Australian Football League franchise or club relocation as a possible expansion plan for the league. New Zealand fields teams in several Australian competitions in other football codes including the National Rugby League and A-League. The country came to be regarded as an Australian state by the Australian Football League's international development department. 2005 was a huge year for Australian Football in New Zealand. The