The Western Bulldogs Australian Football League club are
planning to stage matches in Wellington in a bid to increase
the sport's popularity in New Zealand.
Campbell Rose, chief executive of the Melbourne based
franchise, hoped the games could be held at the capital's
Basin Reserve within two years.
Wellington has been identified as an alternative to the
Bulldogs current `homes away from home' - Darwin and
Canberra.
"I think there is a real opportunity for Melbourne and
Wellington to establish a kindred, sister city relationship
with our sport," Rose told The Australian newspaper.
AFL football has been played in New Zealand but only in
exhibition pre-season matches, never as part of the actual
premiership.
Hawthorn and the Western Bulldogs played there in the summer
of 2000, as Melbourne and Sydney did in the pre-season of
1998.
Most recently, Brisbane and Adelaide squared off in
Wellington in 2001.
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