Saturday at Millhouse Reserve was All Star Day. We had North v South or Auckland Vulcans v Counites Manukau Chiefs,  playing and contesting for bragging rights. The weather was great, the football was excellent, unfortunately the organization needs a lot of work.

One of the highlights of the day was the American Hotdog Stand, which came complete with a guy “Making Dogs” with his American Accent.  I don’t know if it was authentic, because anyone who is a Mormon can tell you that all Mormons sound like Americans every Sunday morning.

Now getting back to my point. AFA here is a little bit of Prowler Constructive Criticism. If you guys are going to organize an All Star Day then make sure of the following …

1.      All the players know about it in advance then you will actually get a lot more player’ s  TURN UP.

2.      Organise a season draw which actually records the date of the All Star Games.

3.      Get some decent uniforms. U-16s Vulcans played in Metro gear v  Wildcats and Raiders gear. And as for the Seniors it was the Wildcats colours v Auckland Vulcans uniforms

4.      Play the game on a properly marked field.

5.      Get some original mascot names for the Teams. Vulcans is so very NZAFA – Thanks Leroy Sisnett and as for the Chiefs – Has the GNZ been resurrected? Tommy Wynne are you not telling us something here.

6.      Use the All Star Game as a Trial where the Coach and a Team of Selectors actually select players to play at Thunder Bowl. This year’s criteria does not have the best players in the AFA playing at Thunderbowl as a lot of good players miss out because they happen to be on a losing Team.

Now if I was the AFA I will print out the above points and use them as Agenda Items at their next meeting. And yes readers Prowler is not a AFA Delegate or on the committee.

Now getting back to the Football. The U-16s were up first the Vulcan U-16s were made up of Metro and Typhoon Players while the Chiefs had a lot of Wildcat, Spartans, Raiders and a couple of Hawks. Where’s the Pride? Maybe the drive out to East from Glenfield was too much for the players. The Vulcans U-16s won 22-8 in a game where I must admit the future of American Football in Auckland is looking real good.

The U-16s really supported the All Star concept and there was some great Team work between all players from both Teams, the game was played in good spirit; AFW develop your youth program we had kids here who were real disappointed that they couldn’t play you slack Wellingtonians.

The Vulcan U-19s struggled to make up a Team, calling on Behlow Matia and Jerome McGregor, Daniel Mauu and some of the other U-16 Juniors to at least make up a Team, this was Iron Man Football at its best. Remember what I said about ORGANISATION AFA.  The game was played on a concrete like surface at Millhouse, with the Chiefs U-19s winning in a close game 12-0.

Then along came the Seniors! Well really it was the Wildcat Chiefs with a handful of Raiders, a couple of Hawks and about 4 Spartans against …. The Vulcans who had 7 Metro boys, 2 played in the Colts game 4 Lightning, 1 Pride and 5 U-19 Players who had just played in the Colts comp. REMEMBER WHAT I SAID ABOUT ORGANISATION AFA.

However the Senior Game happened to be the most exciting game of the day. There was everything from brilliant attack, killer defense and even a fight. Let’s not forget the Hot Dog Man with his America Accent.

Both Teams came to play and both Teams sung Soccer Songs when they scored. The Counties Manaukau GNZ Chiefs defeated the Auckland NZAFA Vulcans 22-12. The Wildcats O-Line had a few holes with DT Starsky Maiava sacking their Hawks QB twice. However a nice screen and blown coverage from the Vulcans saw the Chiefs race out to to a 22-0 lead going into the 4^th Quarter.

Now Prowler was hungry again and what happened next made me choke on my 3^rd American Dogg from the Hot Dog Guy. Vulcans QB Jesse Pilisi through a 58yard pass to Vulcans TE Uani Talagi to close out the game 22-12.

So the GNZ Chiefs are now going to represent the AFA against the AFW. Here are questions to think about and Bruce Harold and Tommy Wynne you guys need to think about this one.

Are the best players going to Wellington? To be honest with you NO! Guys like Vulcans DT Starsky Maiava blitzed through that Chiefs O-Line on a regular basis, QB Jesse Pilisi threw some nice passes which should guarantee his position in any Rep Team and as for FB Alma Clayton he troubled the Chiefs DTs all day long.

There are also a couple of the Chiefs U-19 players who should be considered like their Middle Linebacker he shut down the Vulcans U-19s RBs. Now come on AFA I would have to say that you should bend the rules and take the BEST PLAYERS to Wellington. So far this year we have had to put up with a lot of short notice so this rule should not be the only rule that you are not going to be flexible on.

If the Vulcans had won the Senior game I would be saying the EXACT same thing. This game should be viewed as a trial and not one where some of the best players in the comp are left behind.