AFL back in black with AC/DC for season 2012 ad
Roar Guru By John Davidson, 19 Mar 2012 John Davidson is a Roar Guru
- Tagged:
- AFL, AFL premiership, Andrew Demetriou, GWS Giants
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The NRL may have Bon Jovi, but the AFL have gone home-grown and old school with AC/DC starring in their new season advertisement.
The one-minute television commercial ‘Australia’s Game’ promotes that very fact: that AFL is a born and bred Australian sporting code that originates purely down under.
The AFL is also spruiking its national strength with the inclusion of the Greater Western Sydney Giants, and its regional and grassroots strength.
AC/DC’s song ‘Long Way to the Top’ features in the commercial and will be played before matches during the 2012 season.
The AFL is using contra deals with Seven, Foxtel and Telstra to give the ad increased air-time. It will also have a presence on the AFL’s new content division, AFL Media.
The AFL is out to show that Aussie Rules is for everyone – hence the images of girls playing the game and the shots of Aborigines and people with Asian heritage. It wants to be seen as diverse and inclusive, national, distinctly Australian and dynamic.
See the ad here.
What do you think of it Roarers?
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- AFL, AFL premiership, Andrew Demetriou, GWS Giants
March 19th 2012 @ 1:59pm
JamesP said | March 19th 2012 @ 1:59pm | Report comment
Not a bad ad. Nothing will beat those “I’d like to see that” ads from the 90′s for mine.
Challenge now is to get AC/DC to perform in the Grand Final.
http://www.smh.com.au/afl/afl-news/acdc-and-the-sausage-rolls-20120317-1vcfi.html
March 19th 2012 @ 2:23pm
The Cattery said | March 19th 2012 @ 2:23pm | Report comment
About time the AFL had a decent ad.
yes – get AC/DC to the grand final
March 21st 2012 @ 5:04pm
seanoroo said | March 21st 2012 @ 5:04pm | Report comment
AC/DC center stage at a night grand final! I would die a happy man.
March 19th 2012 @ 2:27pm
The Cattery said | March 19th 2012 @ 2:27pm | Report comment
I really like the philsophy of linking Australian football with Australian music, because there is a shared sense of purpose in valuing Australian culture, at least to the equivalent level as we might value foreign culture.
Why stop at music: literature, film, theatre, the decorative arts – there has always been a strong link between Australian Football and Australian Art generally.
It’s about marking out and valuing a shared Australian identity.
March 19th 2012 @ 5:51pm
Titus said | March 19th 2012 @ 5:51pm | Report comment
It’s perfect because as with football the lads from ACDC were imported from the British Isles.
March 19th 2012 @ 6:08pm
The Cattery said | March 19th 2012 @ 6:08pm | Report comment
Not only imported from the British Isles, but dabbled in music with roots in the US, but created a truly Australian rock sound, and we celebrate ACDC as being a genuine Australian rock act playing quintessentially Australian rock.
March 19th 2012 @ 6:17pm
Titus said | March 19th 2012 @ 6:17pm | Report comment
They are also mad Football fans….being Scot’s and all : )
March 19th 2012 @ 3:34pm
Matt F said | March 19th 2012 @ 3:34pm | Report comment
It’s a solid and pretty safe ad. Not brilliant by any means but it’s not too bad. Then again I’ve never been that impressed by the NRL’s Bon Jovi ad either.
Nothing will beat the “I’d like to see that” ads for the AFL in the 90′s just like nothing will beat “Simply the Best” for the NRL, or ARL as it was at the time. That being said the Hoodoo Guru’s “That’s my team” went close.
March 19th 2012 @ 3:40pm
The Cattery said | March 19th 2012 @ 3:40pm | Report comment
Yeh, Hoodoo Guru’s was a good ad for the NRL.
March 19th 2012 @ 4:28pm
Jaceman said | March 19th 2012 @ 4:28pm | Report comment
I wish they wouldnt go on about Australias game – too adversarial. Werent AC/DC formed from scottish immigrats in Sydney or is that the idea…
March 19th 2012 @ 5:07pm
The Cattery said | March 19th 2012 @ 5:07pm | Report comment
Yep, they were all Scottish and English immigrants, I think from Elizabeth, SA, which had a very strong British working class base – is that the home of Central Districts?
March 19th 2012 @ 5:57pm
Titus said | March 19th 2012 @ 5:57pm | Report comment
The Young brothers immigrated to Western Sydney and ACDC was formed in Sydney.
Don’t know of any SA connection.
March 19th 2012 @ 6:01pm
The Cattery said | March 19th 2012 @ 6:01pm | Report comment
Someone came from Elizabeth – perhaps I’m getting confused.
March 19th 2012 @ 6:06pm
The Cattery said | March 19th 2012 @ 6:06pm | Report comment
I did make a mistake, this is from Wikipedia:
Elizabeth also had a strong music scene, providing homes for many including Jimmy Barnes, John Swan, Glenn Shorrock and others.
March 19th 2012 @ 8:03pm
stabpass said | March 19th 2012 @ 8:03pm | Report comment
You forgot Billy Thorpe, he was from Elizabeth, AC/DC does have a bit of a connection to Elizabeth, but were originally from Sydney.
WA has its own Elizabeth, we call it Rockingham !!, Bon Scott before moving to Freo, went to Primary school in Sunshine Melbourne, and i think the original drummer, was born in Melbourne.
March 19th 2012 @ 6:11pm
Titus said | March 19th 2012 @ 6:11pm | Report comment
For some reason I’m pretty sure they were from around Punchbowl, unless I am getting them mixed up with The Hard-Ons.
Edit: Angus went to Ashfield High, thats where the Uniform comes from.
March 19th 2012 @ 6:18pm
JVGO said | March 19th 2012 @ 6:18pm | Report comment
Angus and Malcolm Young went to Ashfield Boys high in the inner west of Sydney but were born in scotland. They were the younger brothers of George Young of the Easybeats and the songwriting team Vanda and Young who produced their early records. Bon Scott was a Scottish immigrant also from Perth originally who was recruited when the original singer was deemed too soft. Bon lived in Adelaide when he was with the band fraternity which I understand had some connection or influence upon Barnesy’s older brother Swanee perhaps.
September 6th 2012 @ 4:03pm
Ben said | September 6th 2012 @ 4:03pm | Report comment
ACDC formed in Perth
March 19th 2012 @ 5:15pm
samwise said | March 19th 2012 @ 5:15pm | Report comment
Has anyone seen the GWS ad backed by Stevie Wright’s ‘I’ve got the power’?
Not sure if other teams have used the song too. It’s a tad unorthodox but I think that makes it so much more noticeable and enjoyable.
March 19th 2012 @ 7:11pm
Jackson said | March 19th 2012 @ 7:11pm | Report comment
that AFL is a born and bred Australian sporting code that originates purely down under.
heard of gaelic football?
March 20th 2012 @ 1:21pm
ManInBlack said | March 20th 2012 @ 1:21pm | Report comment
Jackson – this get’s done to death.
Firstly – argue with Sean Fagan who believes the sole parent of Aust Footy is Rugby!
Secondly – the original authors had 1 of 4 with Irish heritage (Thomas Smith), then there were Thompson (Yorkshire born) and Hammersley (Surrey born – both eductaed at Trinity college – Cambridge), and Tom Wills (who get’s almost the exclusive credit from Sean Fagan) who was born in NSW and educated at Rugby school.
There was no clear rule set of Gaelic to copy at the time, nor for that matter a clear rule set of ‘soccer’ (that started about 4-5 years later but took about 8-10 years to ‘bed down’ – as the London rules of 1863 were very similar to the Melbourne 1859 rules – but, the Sheffield FA contribute x-bars and headers etc to make soccer look more like the game today).
The Australian Game has had influences – but, how much of what from where is very much up in the air. When people from Gaelic, Soccer and Rugby all claim credit……perhaps in part they are all right to some degree.
Gaelic and Aust Footy have no off-side which puts them in a bucket compared to the other bucket with RU,RL and Soccer.
The early ‘sponsored’ competition was the Caledonian Cup – so, back on topic, quite apt that AC/DC with Scots/Aust heritage should lend their tune to the AFL!!! (ok, a bit of a stretch).
March 20th 2012 @ 1:41pm
The Cattery said | March 20th 2012 @ 1:41pm | Report comment
The other thing I will add to MIBs very good summary is that the rules of the different footballs around the time of the late 1850s resembled each other so much that clearly they are drawing from earlier forms of folk football that all carried similar characteristics.
People appear to not understand that forms of folk football had existed on the British Isles and the continent for centuries prior to the advent of the modern forms of football, so the concept of “football” was known and understood already by the time 1858 came along.
So on top of the influences of rugby, Cambridge and Sheffield rules (and perhaps Irish forms of football), you can add the influence of folk football generally (the other forms, themselves, coming directly from forms of folk football).
In 1858, when Melburnians from different backgrounds got to together to play some scratch matches of “football”, different people from different backgrounds brought with them knowledge of different footballs, all related, and amongst that would have been knowledge of various forms of folk football.
One could argue that Australian Football has remained closest to the earlier forms of folk football (as we understand them today), where gamse usually involved very large distances and lots of participants (often a 1 or 2 km of paddocks separating two nearby villages).
March 20th 2012 @ 2:08pm
Sean Fagan said | March 20th 2012 @ 2:08pm | Report comment
@ ManInBlack – don’t misrepresent what I’ve written/said re Tom Wills – I’m not the one that built a statue of Wills outside the MCG, nor the one that has suggested in the media or at school presentations that Tom Wills as the code’s founder “belongs” to Canberra, Queanbeyan, Sydney’s west, Sydney, NSW, Victoria, Australia, Moyston, marn grook, Geelong, and/or Melbourne (change depending upon the venue/audience). I might have used Wills’ place to make a point, but anything I’ve put forward re Wills has always been prefaced on the basis that most fans/officials/media in AFL accept that Wills is the founding father – it isn’t something I agree with at all, indeed that whole “No, we shall have a game of our own” line attributed to Wills is a myth http://jottingsonrugby.com/2010/11/27/no-we-shall-have-a-game-of-own/ I’ll stand by my argument that the first rules of the Melb FC in 1858 are simplified & depowered rugby football, that Wills initially wanted rugby rules and didn’t get them, but not that Wills devised the first Melb rules.
March 20th 2012 @ 3:28pm
The Cattery said | March 20th 2012 @ 3:28pm | Report comment
Geez Sean, you have some radar there, whenever any hint of Australian footballing history is in the offing, you’re there on the spot.
You’re article makes a strong case against Wills ever saying: “we’ll have a game of our own”, even if Harrison’s recollection remains one of a handfuldirectly referencing the 1858-59 period.
On the other hand, you successfully paint a picture of a group of men looking to play football, and seeking out rules that they all can agree with, and clearly, rugby is one of a number of influences, rather than the only influence, as you often claim.
The statue outside the MCG (my avatar no less), commemorates a famed game between to private schools in 1858, pretty much on that same spot, and while it clearly is not a game of Australian Football (the first rules being written up the following year), it is one of a series of documented events that occurred during 1858 in the lead up to the codification of the first set or rules.
Wills was involved in a number of those events, so it is correct that he be remembered, but equally, Demetriou is right when he says that others need to be remembered as well. The birth of Australian Football is as much about the socio-economic factors of the day as it is about individuals proffering views on rules (and yes, I agree that the British concept of muscular christianity is very much a part of the mix).
But the key point that all must bear in mind is that a lot went into that mix over 1858-59, in part, because of the circumstances of Melbourne town at that point, but equally important was the fact that there were no uniform rules handed down from the mount – they were forced to create their own from whatever it was that they knew at the time, informed from the practical experience from their first scratch matches in 1858.
This is precisely why Blainey refers to 1858 as the first football season, even though, it’s not and cannot be Australian Football as such, but it’s the early experimentation which ultimately led to Australian Football.
March 21st 2012 @ 8:08am
ManInBlack said | March 21st 2012 @ 8:08am | Report comment
never wanting to be accused of misrepresenting any, such as Sean Fagan – I draw upon his logic where he ridiculeed the (and I admit flimsy) notions of deep seeded historical links for Aust Footy to Sydney(‘s West) from Kevin Sheedy (re Jock McHale born in Botany and moved to Melb age 5) and Tom Wills’ mum residing at an orphan school on the banks of the Parramatta for much of her early life.
In a 2010 article in the SMH Fagan talks of the ridiculousness of this and using such ironic comparisons –
”
Yeah right – by the logic of Sheedy and de Moore, Warrington-born Bob Fulton (who moved to NSW when four) is a great of English rugby league, John Farnham (born in Dagenham) is an icon of the British entertainment industry, and AC/DC are one of Scotland’s greatest ever bands.”
And so – to NOT be accused of misrepresenting anyone – let me suggest that using Fagan’s own approach here – that calling Aust Football Gaelic, or calling it Rugby, or calling it Soccer is as ridiculous as calling AC/DC one of Scotland’s greatest ever bands.
March 21st 2012 @ 9:26am
JottingsOnRugby.com said | March 21st 2012 @ 9:26am | Report comment
No ManInBlack – given you’re aware of that article I wrote (and therefore the claims others made that triggered it) I’ve no idea how you concluded yesterday that it was me that was acclaiming Tom Wills as the code’s sole founder. All I’ve challenged is the established myths re the DNA of the code’s first rules in the beginning decade of its birth – I’ve never asserted the code hasn’t gone on like AC-DC and John Farnham to be regarded as Australia’s own despite their British blood.
March 22nd 2012 @ 6:44am
ManInBlack said | March 22nd 2012 @ 6:44am | Report comment
Gee – some people are getting serious – the AC/DC references are being lost!!!
careful Mr.Fagan about your own ‘misrepresentation’. You assert that I said you said (this is sounding childish already) that “Tom Wills as the code’s sole founder”
What I said was “Wills (who get’s almost the exclusive credit from Sean Fagan) “.
There is a difference.
Now, whilst I agree with you that Wills gets an inordinate amount of attention – and I think due to his letter to the editor of Bells Life – I must point out the folly of your attempt to justify your focus on Wills.
Instead of arguing with someone about who invented the ‘flat earth theory’ – how about instead disprove the ‘flat earth theory’.
But, I don’t think it suits your position on this front to invalidate the amount of previously focussed attention on T.W.Wills. Because, you need the solid links to Rugby. Tom Browns schooldays (lucky he describe this schoolyard version of ‘football’ rather than Quidditch!!) and Wills attendance at Rugby school (yes, he played football but cricket was still his game).
Personally, J.B.Thompson and Hammersley capture my attention. Both attended Trinity College at Cambridge. Both sportsmen and journos, Thompson who at the time (1859-1860 timeframe) was publishing a cricketers ‘annual’ (Victorian Cricketers Guide) that also included a small football section. In 1859 that included the rules of MFC plus others. In 1860 specifically the Victorian Rules plus those of Eton and Rugby.
Hammersley was the man credited with attending the May 1859 rules committee meeting with the rules of Eton, Rugby, Winchester and Harrow. There’s no obvious reason to doubt this.
Rugby therefore had a 1 in 4 influence of the 4 committee members.
Rugby therefore had a 1 in 4 influence in the accounted rule sets considered.
However, with 2 in 4 fellows from Cambridge University, perhaps 2 in 4 might’ve considered the Cambridge Rules of football? At very least 2 in 4 look to have been intelligent enough to be able to consider other rule sets available at the time.
After that first committee meeting – it’s hard to find evidence of Wills again being involved in Rules review. Certain Thompson and Hammersley were latter in 1859 and by 1860 we saw the Victorian Rules validated by delegates from 9 clubs and no mention of Wills anywhere (although he was on the MFC committee that year, but, he never proved much of an administrator – he also captained Richmond on at least one occassion that year!!).
So, I’ll agree with Mr.Fagan that Wills should get nearly as much credit as he seems to. And then we can both agree that as a consequence the early games of football in 1858 were not ‘rugby’ (but, just variations of ‘football’ as understood at the time which might include similarities to ‘rugby’ and specifically introduced rules/concepts as understood of the highly localised school of rugby rules) and that the Melb Rules of 1859 were seriously NOT just Rugby minus 2 rules as Fagan has asserted previously.
March 22nd 2012 @ 8:10am
The Cattery said | March 22nd 2012 @ 8:10am | Report comment
Excellent summary MIB – that accords with my understanding of events over 1858-60.
And again, people have to not fall for the temptation of looking at thta period through 2012 eyes, but rather have to look at the socio-economic factors that existed in Melbourne at that precise moment, and also understand the various types of football that existed at that point, and also understand that these themselves are derived from forms of folk football that had existed for centuries.
So when people start talking about shapes of fields and shapes of balls, as if these somehow carried some sort of meaning back in 1860, they are off on a wild goose chase – it’s got nothing to do with anything.
March 20th 2012 @ 10:57pm
stabpass said | March 20th 2012 @ 10:57pm | Report comment
My theory is, that the game of Australian football was formed out of a combination of things, we have Wills, we have the goldfields and huge Irish, Scottish, English, and American influences, not to forget of course Australian born diggers.
Remember Castlemaine Football Club was founded in 1859, placing its formation between Melbourne FC and Geelong FC, Wills visited the goldfields before he wrote the new rules.
So IMO Wills was exposed to marngrook, rugby, Irish Caid (gaelic), was obviously interested in sport, had his own ideas as well, as well as the other guys putting their ideas forward, and from all those ingredients we get Australian football …….simple.
March 20th 2012 @ 4:54pm
pete said | March 20th 2012 @ 4:54pm | Report comment
To link Gealic football with Australian football is like linking baseball with cricket, just because both involve hitting a ball with a bat.
March 20th 2012 @ 5:25pm
stabpass said | March 20th 2012 @ 5:25pm | Report comment
Just a guess but both sports ( baseball and cricket ) would be linked to rounders, a game that is still played in schools around the country, with a million variations.
IMO, Australian football is closely related to Gaelic Football, the Victorian goldfields, and the thousands of Irish there along with English, Scots, Italians, Americans, and of course Australian born people etc al have a part to playin developing our indigenous game, although it must be said that Gaelic football ( the name of the game ) did not exist formally in those days.
March 19th 2012 @ 7:28pm
Norm said | March 19th 2012 @ 7:28pm | Report comment
Better than that presumptuous soccer ad last year!
March 19th 2012 @ 7:35pm
Titus said | March 19th 2012 @ 7:35pm | Report comment
The AFL ruined the song Shipping Off to Boston, by the Dropkick Murphies, for me. I pray they don’t do the same thing to Its a Long Way to the Top.
March 20th 2012 @ 10:04am
BigAl said | March 20th 2012 @ 10:04am | Report comment
sadly Titus, it’s a dead cert. “Its a Long Way to the Top” will be ruined for you . . . praying won’t help !
March 20th 2012 @ 10:31am
Titus said | March 20th 2012 @ 10:31am | Report comment
At least the NRL has the good grace to only use terrible songs and joke songs in its advertising.
March 20th 2012 @ 1:54pm
p.Tah said | March 20th 2012 @ 1:54pm | Report comment
It’s a long way to the top to kick the winning goal…
You heard it here first..
March 20th 2012 @ 3:32pm
The Cattery said | March 20th 2012 @ 3:32pm | Report comment
I can recall a favourite schoolboy alternative was: it’s a long way, to the shop, if you want a sausage roll, which is appropriate since an aussie rules goal is often referred to as a sausage roll in rhyming slang.
March 20th 2012 @ 5:29pm
stabpass said | March 20th 2012 @ 5:29pm | Report comment
Yep, the old ….. “he’s kicked a sausage roll through the high diddle diddle”…… is one i still use.
March 20th 2012 @ 3:49pm
BigAl said | March 20th 2012 @ 3:49pm | Report comment
or . . . it’s a long wait for a drop to be the winning goal ??
March 19th 2012 @ 8:51pm
Lachlan said | March 19th 2012 @ 8:51pm | Report comment
Love it, i remember the ad in 2005, was very good, but in this day and age, it would be considered terrible. In a league of their own, Shipping up to boston was perfect for the times, but this one, will fit perfectly for now, then there will be a better one in a few years which will be perfect for the future.