The code war exists, but it won't be a battle to the death

Paulo We're continually at each others' throats - that's how it's handled!! :)

National Volleyball team???.....whats that about? If thats the second biggest sport in Brazil, what can we do to help you change that?

How's the situation in Australia comparing to other country with a "code war", I mean, the United States? In US, American Football and Baseball manage to have different schedules, as Cricket and Australian Football down under. But Basketball, Hockey, Soccer and Lacrosse, with more or less success, try to find some space: Basketball and Hockey in winter, against NFL; and Soccer and Lacrosse in summer, against MLB. Oddly enough, besides being the strongest code, NFL's one-game-per-week schedule somehow allowed enough room specially to Basketball to develop. It seems Baseball is the hardest code to face against, as Soccer and Lacrosse leagues are still far behind the other sports. Since I live in a only-soccer-minded country (Brazil), that even the National Volleyball team, besides being the strongest in the world, cannot carry up the game, I'm curious how the problem is handled by the Australians.

http://www.emelbourne.net.au/biogs/EM00593b.htm ".........During the boom of the 1880s, three new clubs were formed: Footscray Football Club in 1883, a Protestant working-class club; Fitzroy Football Club (1884), based in the newly affluent inner-northern suburb; and Richmond Football Club (1885), a classic Catholic working-class club. ....."

This site goes into a lot of detail as well http://www.fullpointsfooty.net/western_bulldogs_(1).htm

You can talk about the the sterile atmosphere of the Olympic precinct, however the punters have voted with their feet. Only Lang Park had a higher average crowd in 2009 http://stats.rleague.com/rl/crowds/2009.html#venue

League attendances aren't down. http://stats.rleague.com/rl/crowds/summary.html

Yes, Patrick Smith is published in the weekend edition.

There weer not a few narrrow losses in that losing streak. You'd be pushed trying to find even one. http://www.footywire.com/afl/footy/tg-sydney-swans?year=1993 http://www.footywire.com/afl/footy/tg-sydney-swans?year=1992

Victoria aren’t struggling at cricket, they won the shield last season and finished second in the ford ranger cup. They also made the semi finals of this years champions league

It is not a kind of arrogant culturally imperialist code from Melbourne therefore........ no its not a common feeling here

I’m Australian. Australia is an old county it has the same constitution since 1901. Very few other countries are as old as that. South Australia has had the same constitution since 1857 http://www.parliament.sa.gov.au/AboutParliament/History/TheFirstParliament/SouthAustraliasParliamentaryConstitution.htm "......South Australia now had a Constitution which was one of the most advanced in the world. This was a time when many countries had no representative institutions, or where only the wealthier or landowning groups had the right to vote. There was great pride in this achievement........." NSW has had the same Constitution since 1856. Most most importantly, Australia has one of the oldest sporting cultures in the world. The first recorded cricket match in Australia took place in Sydney in December 1803. The rules of Australian rules football were written down in 1859.

it looks like it does wash http://www.heraldsun.com.au/opinion/editorials/melbourne-storm-should-inspire-us-all/story-e6frfhqo-1225782702384 "Melbourne Storm should inspire us all WITH its emphatic 23-16 NRL Grand Final victory yesterday over the Eels, Melbourne Storm has iced the cake for our town's sports lovers.......... ........Its win adds to the state's trophy cabinet. Our Bushrangers won the Sheffield Shield, state cricket's top prize, last summer, Victory won the soccer A-League, the Vixens triumphed in netball's ANZ championship and the South Dragons took the national basketball title. The AFL Grand Final, of course, was disputed by two Victorian teams. No one could seriously deny that Melbourne is Australia's sporting capital..................."

:D Hmmm well I was making a point, but if you insist. It's not that NZers don't passionately love Rugby and the reality is that it's by far the number one code but we're very rarely into nothing else full stop. Deaker on Sport (a SKY TV production) is a good example of the supposed popularity of minority sports in NZ. Yes they pretty much always use the first section for Rugbytalk and then diversifies from there. But having said that an AB loss constitutes a lonely dark day for many NZers...something similar happened with the Ashes loss mind you But by in large our sporting consumption is much broader than it seems some on the Roar have, and you guys live in a country where there's next to nothing stopping any sport from flourishing, apart from the media and well the Internet now means you no longer have any excuses... About metrosexuals, I was referring to Paul Henry (TV One's Breakfast Male presenter) who only started taking an interest in RL the year before last when it looked like the Warriors were in with a shot to win, before being manhandled bt the Eels and I have to say it's all beginning to make sense now: the Warriors gave the Eeels all the confidence they needed ;)

jarredsbro; "Now I’m a NZer, and we’re known for our one-eyed support of RU (and RL when you’re trying to impress the missus that you’re a true metrosexual ) but I can say with all honesty that few if any NZers of my age are truly satisfied by a game of Rugby and yet it speaks out so loud and so deeply to us." now i am going to pretend bro, that I didn't read that. These words that you write are never to spoken in public while wearing an ALL BLACK jumper or anywhere within 200 miles of the canterbury plains. Now run along to church and say 10 hail mary's my son. You need some help my bro because as a Kiwi, your brothers expect more. And metrosexuals following the warriors bro??? Ho long since you been to Auckland. Bro, its my bros in East Auckland that love the warriors and not too many of them are metrosexuals. By the way bro, what does metrosexual mean???? If its having sex on the metro link then yes, maybe some of them are warriors fans

Yeah sorry bout not being able to edit my last piece, I did leave it a bit on a perilous point there :) Basically what I am saying is that for all of Aussie rules' beautiful/rough/tough.skillful/talent-laden aspects there is not enough in it for Sydneysiders. Maybe orig it was a matter of Sydney v Melbourne, being a loser in that contest would've done exactly the opposite of what 150 years since has done: that is give each side a credible understanding of its own invincibility. However now it's not a game that speaks to people who don't want a single code. Now I'm a NZer, and we're known for our one-eyed support of RU (and RL when you're trying to impress the missus that you're a true metrosexual ;) ) but I can say with all honesty that few if any NZers of my age are truly satisfied by a game of Rugby and yet it speaks out so loud and so deeply to us. You fans from Aussie rules states are spoiled in that you have both a great spectacle and a multi-faceted game which tells a great story, but if you were to use the same logic which captured Melbourne town's sporting allegiance to put your case forward for a truly 'National' code you might as well resign yourself to nothing more than Cold War bravado. What does Aussie rules offer to the Northerner? Or will you let them make their own meaning or even worse let the media make it for them?

Michael C are you saying Germany has no relevance to Australian sports marketplace or that Germany is an entirely different kettle of fish? ;) Don't forget that Football Clubs in Europe, South America were essentially expat-oriented at the entry-point phase of the 'evangelist' movement. The expats being British 'engineers' apparently Scots being the most prolific. But in England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland as far as I can tell, Football Clubs were originally established to play any/all football code: Cambridge rules after it was 'codified') Association (ditto), Rugby school rules (and of course Rugby Football Union rules and there was some significant differences) and other rule variations like Harrow (which was quite popular in South Africa apparently) and Shefield FA rules etc Now again this may not have any relevance to Melbourne, and being a New World Culture there is susually a fair bit of arrogance that comes with those who cross the Equator, I've heard it did weird things to Vasco De Gama's crew :D, but over all it is not about whose older than who, but whose got the most capital. For a time England did and thus the game of Association Football was assumed to be the best thing since sliced cheese. Everyone followed England, until it was proven that there was a way to beat them (and even transcend them entirely). But Melbourne as we've discussed was independent of this, or rather had enough capital (early enough) to deviate in its own way. Problem is by playing (and espousing) a single code they forget the wonderful thing called competition. What does competition do, it is what streamlines, what forces players but more importantly administrators to have a think about what is good about their sport and what needs fixing. I mean is it simply a matter of watchability (making the game easier to watch) or is it that by playing the game a certain way you get more and more people to buy into the stroy you're telling them. Why Rugby football was not mass-popular was because the everyday person questioned whether it was a story they liked the ending of. Of course there's no guarantee it'll ever be fixable, but without an external reference point the game becomes increasingly like a religion: fewer and fewer people with the power to suggest/alter things that aren't working out so well. I mean why do you think the game drew such huge crowds Michael C? My personal opinion is not that the VFA/VFL/AFL has an agenda in keeping other sports on the margins (which is no more than a conspiracy theory, but in my darker days I do wonder whether the AFL wants anything less than the total subordination of all other footy codes) but rather the game itself leaves little room for outsiders to make their own meaning of the typical AFL game-narrative It's a great narrative for Melburnians, a Beethoven's ninth kind of thing, but for outsiders who have another vantage point it's hard to like what they see, not because they hate new things or because they don't understand it, but because success on the AFL footy field does not quite translate into the kind of success one draws from their native code.

re media buddies etc - I read this back in July : "Last night Nine lost its all-important Thursday night to Seven. But all the networks took a hit with SBS screening the Ashes series and managing a 14% share. The Footy Show plummeted to 785,000, most of which went to the AFL edition. The NRL version slumped to an appalling 138,000 in Sydney. It continues to be immune from any axe because of Nine’s NRL branding and it is known to be a favourite of David Gyngell’s." Hmm - is it okay that the NRL has it's own 'buddies'?? Such as David Gyngell. Wonder what'd happen without the home town NRL bias?

Bringing up the guy tragically killed at East Geelong is inappropriate. Firstly - it did not occur 'at the game'. It was later that evening and peripheral to the senior side premiership celebrations. Secondly - it is a very sad fact that Geelong, the community and local media have started the "Just think" campaign, which only 3-4 weeks ago the AFL captains helped take national. In light of this, no is not the time to try to point score - - but, more the time to push home the message of responsible drinking and celebration and to "Just think". From GFC.com.au, Friday Aug 29 "We’re not saying don’t drink, Just Think. This is a simple message and the Cats urge all AFL supporters to get behind the campaign." I'm not sure how you want this handled anyway, it's been reported on ABC nationally, SMH, WAtoday etc etc. What are you after??

2 words "Ground rationalisatin" btw - ch.9 is the NRL broadcast partner - - how do you figure the AFL and it's broadcast partners play any role whatsoever?? Note - the AFL deal includes contractual stipulation of minimum broadcast into Sydney and Brisbane - which might be argued devalues the whole deal anyway. Blame the NRL for the NRL coverage - - not the AFL.