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Much like the logo for the proposed Greater Western Sydney team, a new dawn of Australian football has begun, a red dawn of Sherrins being kicked in faraway fields.
The AFL recently announced a combined World XV111 Under 16 team from mainly PNG, South Africa and New Zealand, with the rest from Ireland, Japan, Fiji, Tonga, Nauru, Canada, the US and Europe would compete in the Under 16 AFL Championships from 2010.
The growth and success of the amateur International Cup, where 16 teams competed, with only nationals (no Australian expats), may have been the catalyst for an expansion of the AFL’s game development strategy.
It has certainly taken the AFL long enough to realise the good work of Australian expats who started these overseas leagues over the last 10 years and that there is potential in other countries, if done well, to grow the game and expand the talent pool.
It’s difficult to know what plunged Australian football’s international expansion plans into darkness for most of the Twentieth Century from a promising start, albeit confined to an isolated part of the world.
Perhaps it was Melbourne’s weakening position against Sydney, which saw the sphere of influence move from Melbourne to Sydney post-Federation. Or the still dominant British ruling class in Sydney who hooked up with English and New Zealand sporting teams and prevailed to keep the empire games of rugby union and league at the forefront.
It’s history now and not relevant anymore.
Of course, the growing power base within Victorian football clubs like Collingwood, Melbourne, Essendon, Fitzroy did not help. Self-interest plagued the old VFL until a commission was formed in the late 1980s.
For most fans, this was fine and it’s still true largely to this day. We care more about beating Carlton, Collingwood or Hawthorn than a Sydney or Adelaide, let alone an Auckland or Jo’berg.
For all of the AFL’s massive crowds figures in Melbourne (per capita, up there with anywhere in the world), it has been almost too successful. So successful that looking further afield was considered unnecessary.
We have all we want just here with the MCG providing a world class sporting area and atmosphere.
From the 1960s to the 1990s, the VFL/AFL took exhibition games to various places around the globe, particularly London in the hope that miraculously grass roots Aussie Rules teams would spring up like Australian wild flowers on the British Moor.
That was never going to work.
Those exhibition games, which no doubt were great fun for expats to attend, simply became end of season footy extravaganzas for the players, and were treated as such.
The cart well and truly before the horse?
The World Under 16 team will create a pathway for all those leagues to use to attract young players to our game. Obviously South Africa is well advanced, PNG is of good standard, New Zealand is starting from scratch at junior level, but with the aid of Kiwikick and Hawthorn’s recent schools initiative, will hopefully produce results, Canada has a junior AFL program, the UK has managed to get Aussie Rues into schools, etc.
This pathway can create opportunities and clear direction where none existed before.
There is already talk of including a World XV11 Under 18 team down the track
Success is not guaranteed, but it’s entirely possible that eventually South Africa will field a team in its own right, PNG as well.
There’s a lot of work ahead, but who said AFL can’t become international in the future. As least now we won’t die wondering.
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