AFL oddity in west Sydney as Giants and Suns rise

I understand.

Up north you don't really get many South, West Aussies, all the Vics play it thats where it gets its name i suppose

You try telling that to South Australians! :P Seriously, as a Victorian, I have no problem if you want to call it 'Vicball'. That makes me feel incredibly proud. :D

It was invented in Vic though

James; "You can call it bonza ball if you like I call it.... Vicball" Quite a few South/Western Australians and Tasmanians won't like that. :P

You can call it bonza ball if you like I call it AFL or Vicball

In recognition of its truely and uniquley Australian status.

Why bonza ball?

Ok, can you call AFL "Bonza Ball" then? Just to avoid confusion.

I agree its more of an umbrella term than anything else

Theres nothing wrong with it. I find that its somewhat ironic that a game which abandoned its ethnic roots not too long ago has so many people trying to get back to it. "futbol" is my favorite example. The issue as I see it, is one of branding in Australia. There are so many types of football played here, two of which are very dominant within the country - and neither of them is soccer - and so its going to lead to confusion. It simply cant be helped. There has to be a reason why the US still uses soccer, and its because the NFL is so freaking dominant over there. But then, as Fussball likes to tell us, it doesnt really matter what the man in the street thinks because he cant understand the friggin game anyway.

Im still amused by Jetstar sponsoring the Titans, and Virgin sponsoring the Suns. Interesting to read that the deal has been modified a little to increase player comfort on flights.

Jason you say "it's callled soccer" im sorry but its not called soccer by the people who play and watch the game it's not or by those who know better. By the way what is a "typical Australian"? A typical Australian for me is likely to have either been born outside of Australia or their parents were born outside of Australia and in that case they know the game as football. By the way the world cup venue was called soccer city only for illiteration purposes because it was in Soweto . Soccer city Soweto

Koops, to take it further, most fans, players etc... call it football. The only time it is referred to as Australian Football is either officially or to differentiate it from Association Football. Generally speaking, however, the vast majority of fans, players, etc dont call it AFL or Australian Football, but football. Chris, that is really the point. You can call soccer whatever you want, but you don't have more of a right to call soccer football than Aussie Rules fans do to call Aussie Rules football. The term football isn't owned by anyone. BTW, it should be noted that the stadium which hosted many World Cup matches in 2010 is known as Soccer City, and Pele has used the word soccer. So, while you may prefer the term football (as do Aussie Rules fans), the term soccer isn't unique to the Australian context in the slightest.

According to the Presifent of FIFA, 'soccer' is called Association Football.. Looks like we have to widen quite a few tabs..

Yeah I concur. Hunt definately put in a solid effort - many have commented that he didn't look out of place at all, if they weren't aware that it was his first AFL hitout then they wouldn't have noticed.. I saw him do some pretty good things - get the ball in heavy traffic and dispose of it well whilst being tackled.. His kicking was a lot beter than I expected, and yeah he god outmarked by Goodes once or twice, but Goodes is an elite player with a height advantage.

And yet the president of FIFA calls it Association Football..

No - that doesn't work. The definition of indiginous implies 'native to / originates in'. The sport - or any sport - that is created exclusively in one nation can be said to be indeginous to that area.. And I think that is irrespective of wheter the seeds of that sport were imported from overseas or not.. For example, if the First Australians played a game quite similar to what we know as Australian Football - could that be describes as indigenous to Australia? The First Australians are as indigenous to Australia as the British and Chinese settlers are. Perhaps they picked up the ideas or concepts of the sport from their travels through Africa and Indonesia, and only when they got here over time did it take on it's own forms..

Titus - with out being a knob - yes, to a degree I agree with you. What Qantas did was chose it's path and it was happy enough to burn one it's many domestic 'partners'. And, perhaps it makes all the more obvious the benefits they might be able to drive by replacing more and more domestic Qantas services with Jetstar. Could you have Qantas supporting Australian (Assocation) Football with Jetstar supporting Australian Football.

Yes, but Virgin blue wants to increase its market share in Australia, it will pay the AFL almost as much as what Qantas will spread across the other football codes.