EVEN as the AFL pours money and resources into growing the game in South Africa, AFL development officers in the Pacific, it appears, have been left to largely fend for themselves.

In Samoa, four live AFL games are shown on TV each weekend, a senior men's competition is thriving, and last year, more than 4400 children completed a six-week Auskick program. This August, Samoa will compete in its fourth International Cup in Melbourne, complete with the world's only female national coach.

Yet AFL Samoa's national game development officer Michael Roberts is paid just $12,000 per year — not one dollar of which is funded by the AFL. Half his wage is funded by VIDA (Volunteering for International Development from Australia), and the other half by AusAID, the Australian government body for delivering foreign aid.

Last year, Roberts ran the Auskick program for 4400 kids with a single box of gold Auskick footballs, 10 pairs of football socks and shorts, and 100 Auskick packs. The high school and senior men's competitions had to share three match balls for the year, and the under-18 squad was sent 14 uniforms.

Meanwhile, AFL South Africa will enjoy AFL funding and sponsorship support of more than $1 million this year, paying 10 full-time development officers.

Scott Reid, the chairman of AFL Papua New Guinea and one of the founding fathers of AFL in Samoa, says the league has long disregarded the Pacific nations. "They've spent a lot of money in South Africa and forgotten their own backyard," Reid said. "They've really neglected it."

Reid said that with two Pacific islanders likely to be drafted this year — probable No. 1 selection Nicholas Naitanui and PNG speedster Johnny James — the popularity of Australian football in the region was only going to grow. "They watch our game and they like it," he said. "They're absolute natural sportsmen — you only have to look at the way they have just dominated rugby union and rugby league. And they pick games up really quickly."

Roberts, who earned a full-time wage as an AFL development officer in western Sydney before grabbing the chance to grow the game in Samoa, wanted it known that The Age contacted him about this story — not vice-versa. He admitted he was concerned that funding for his position will end on July 5 — AusAID is redirecting its Pacific foreign aid focus from sport to disability access programs in schools — and he does not know whether the AFL was prepared to fund his position.

"The things we are doing at the moment are only sustainable while there's people on the ground," he said. "We've achieved some really exciting things here, but you've got to drive it. My fear is that if I leave, the programs will just fade away."

Kevin Sheehan, the AFL's talent and international manager, said the AFL realised it needed to increase its commitment to the Pacific. "It's not massive at the minute, that's true, but we're starting to really look at it — it's certainly now on the agenda."

Sheehan said the AFL had just employed a regional development manager for Oceania, Andrew Cadzow, to oversee the game's development in PNG, Fiji, New Zealand, the Solomons, Samoa, Tonga, Vanuatu and Nauru. "Andrew's first role is to do a stock-take, to provide a progress report on the game in each of the Pacific areas and indicate the sort of support we should be giving."

Sheehan said the AFL could not ignore its "massive chance" to grow the game in South Africa. "We talk about the 48 million (population) for a start, of which 38 million are black people, who, due to apartheid and various things, have been denied sporting opportunity … The South Africans have a natural flair for our type of game, and they love sport. Soccer doesn't invest a lot in its junior development, so there is a clear opportunity."

Sheehan said that 35,000 people in 32 countries were now playing Australian football overseas.