Let me start with painting a picture that all Aussie sports fans will brand a nightmare: imagine life from 1992 to 2007 without Shane Warne the cricketer.
Now dry those teary eyes, pick your jaw off the carpet and admit that those glorious 15 years would not have been so glorious if instead we had Warney the forward pocket lining up for St Kilda.
Well, that’s why the AFL is an anchor around the ankles of our international sporting success.
In recent times sports fans have been fortunate enough to watch some of the greatest sporting contests on offer – the Ashes, a Lions tour, Wimbledon, the Open Golf Championship and the Tour de France, and let’s not forget the diabolical 2012 Olympics campaign.
So far Australia has had no success at all, and if the Ashes continues with the current form of both teams, it’s unlikely that we will.
There is only one conclusion to reach given our recent poor form on the international stage – AFL is choking our competitiveness in true global sports.
From the highs of 2000, there has been a steady decline in our global performances. This decline would be even more drastic if not for our female athletes and the success they have had recently.
During this time AFL has seen steady increases in participation, audiences and revenue.
Below are some statistics from the AFL 2012 Annual Report. It would be interesting to see the change in numbers since the early 1990’s when a lot of our current Australian representatives across all sports were born.
– Participation is up 6.7% on 2011 to 844,779
– Revenue up 24% on 2011 to $425m
– Average attendance during the premiership season is in the top four globally in world professional sport.
So what do we get from AFL?
Firstly, it is now part of our national identity. People from all over the world are fascinated with our strange style of football and associate it with Australia as much as kangaroos, Paul Hogan and Fosters beer.
And let’s be honest about it, AFL is a fantastic sport to watch with many of the key elements that fans want in a sport – heroics, athleticism, full body contact. I know because I am a big fan.
I grew up in Adelaide, played the game myself for 30 years and watch at least two games a week during the season. This brings me to the big dilemma: would I give up AFL for more glory on the world sports stage? Absolutely.
The pleasure I would feel from us winning the current Ashes series, winning the recent Lions tour series, seeing an Aussie on the podium in the Tour de France, having an Aussie compete in the final at Wimbledon and seeing glory in the swimming pool at the 2012 Olympics would far out way any personal benefit I derive from AFL.
Come on Aussie, come on… let’s kick our AFL addiction and turn over to true international sports and once again bask in the glory of sporting success.
Here are some genuine examples of AFL athletes that could credibly compete in other sports at an elite level.
– Adelaide’s Patrick Dangerfield, Sydney’s Lewis Jetta and Carlton’s Chris Yarran adding to our sprinting stocks.
– Collinwood’s Alan Didak’s or Hawthorns Lance Franklin’s ball control would do wonders on the soccer field.
– Barry Hall representing Australia in the boxing ring at the Olympics.
– Aaron Sandilands at 211cms playing basketball for Australia.
Not to mention the other 844,771 participants who could be contributing to rugby, cricket, golf, swimming, tennis, rowing, volleyball, long-distance running, hockey, squash and cycling. Even snooker would benefit from a few hundred more contestants.
How many other examples of AFL players showing potential in global sports can we find?
Ed Norton
Guest
The AFL doesnt have to be abolished to spread the talent pool to other codes. It just has to be reduced in relevancy.
Andrew
Guest
Why can't all sporting codes in Australia just get along? Why do we have to have one try and dominate another. for a start it will never happen. One is popular in the South, the other in the North and Association Football (soccer) has a niche market. This will always be the case. So stop trying to think one will outdo the other. Nothing will change.
Rowan Day
Guest
What rubbish. What a bunch of distorted opinions. AFL is a great Australian invention. We should be proud as a nation for it. It is the 4th most attended live game IN THE WORLD. Given it being domiciled here with our tiny population that's pretty amazing. Furthermore, while attendances are down, GWS already has more members than your average NRL team. And they haven't even won a game! And for those who think NSW follows other sports 1. you're wrong, it's mostly just Sydney and the north coast, and 2. who cares? what about the rest of Australia that plays our nation's game? I mean look at NFL in the US. nobody in the US cares that the US is no good at English private school sports like Rugby. They only care about exporting their games. We should be the same. AFL is a unique game that caters to the modern athlete. It would be a great thing to push into professionalism internationally. There are already amatuer teams playing AFL around the globe, which again is great achievement for an Aussie invention. We need to back the game here so it can be invested in overseas. Put your bit in for your country!
Bill C
Guest
Ermmmm..................Ralph, no idea.
Post hoc
Guest
Further to my post above (this time on a computer and not mobile sorry for the missing letters) The 1859 rules for instance didn't allow for bouncing the ball, you could run as far as you wanted (didn't come in until 1865) You didn't kick the ball through the posts you ran through them (this didn't change until 1874) Center Bounce 1891 20 men per team 1880's I would say the first two and the limit on numbers are pretty important developments, and yet you try to claim Aussie Rules is the first? Please.
Post hoc
Guest
Brad You are simply wrong, not on logic but simply wrong on facts. You said, the massive drop off in soccer between junior and senior is confimation that football (soccer) players are soft ABS data AFL 15-17 yr olds 613,000 Soccer (indoor) 15-17 yr olds 297,000 Soccer (outdoor) 15-17 yr olds 1,247,000 AFL 18-24 yr olds 667,000 Soccer (indoor) 18-24 yr olds 663,000 Soccer (outdoor) 18-24 yr olds 1,191,000 AFL 25-35 yr olds 656,000 Soccer (indoor) 25-25 yr olds 578,000 Soccer (outdoor) 25-35 yr olds 1,172,000 AFL 35-45 yr olds 406,000 Soccer (indoor) 35-45 yr olds 289,000 Soccer (outdoor) 35-45 yr olds 926,000 You are simply wrong, no massive drop off at all, unless you want to call roughly the same drop for AFL a massive drop off, therefore it would then make th point that AFL Players are soft
Pot Stirrer
Guest
When you say in yur opinion AFL is the best to play,watch etc you lose all credibility, Every Fan of every code feels the same about thier code so imo its a dumb statement if your trying to write somethig serious. However i do agree the footy codes in Australia Hinder our development of Olympic quality athletes.
Mark
Guest
I see your 'argument' has now changed tack !. http://www.sportspromedia.com/news/list/category/all/australian_rules_football/ Renault kaspersky Toshiba satchi Woodside Sky Rightster Mission etc etc
Post hoc
Guest
Brad You think the rrules codified in 1859 are what yu se unning aroun on the weekend? If you read my pot you will see that i say, the cambridge rules are as close to assciation football as the Melbourne Football Club rules are as what you see running around now. If youaccept the Melboune Fotball Club rules of 1859 as being the start" then you have to accept Camridge as being the start for asociation football, ie 10 years ahead of Melborne. The simple fact is, Australianrles was not the first, eal with it and move on.
Anthony
Guest
That would defeat the point of JAJI's posting! Better still - post some figures from English club soccer. Liverpool's biggest crowd was at MCG - a ground familiar with big crowds for AFL
SportsFanGC
Roar Guru
Jaji - they are impressive figures no doubt but they are mostly one off special events (except Origin). 3 of those events wont happen next year and Sydney only has 1 origin fixture for the next 2 years. If you want to compare "apples with apples" so to speak then pull out the stats for the regular club games that occur each week.
SportsFanGC
Roar Guru
Ralph having seen your comments across the AFL tabs I only have one question - Why bother? You clearly don't like the game (which is fine) and just sprout nonsense opinions that you attempt to portray as facts. You seem to have a particular passion for GWS also, seemingly not being able to stay clear of any GWS article or live blog. Why not stick to worrying about sports that you actually like rather than spend all your time on sports that you don't? You are the biggest troll on the Roar at the moment.
Matthew Grove
Roar Rookie
The Ashton Agar example is the whole point of the article. There are many athletes that could play both but many choose AFL. The chances of making the top level in AFL are greater and in my opinion it is more fun to play.
Matthew Grove
Roar Rookie
I'll give you Emirates and Skoda, they don't have much of an operational base in Australia (although they probably are registered as a legal entity). But Toyota manufacture in Vic and are as local as Holden (in terms of operation I'm not referring to the history or the brand). Coca Cola Amatil are listed on the ASX and head office is in Sydney. I guess we can say that some foriegn sponsorship dollars are attracted to AFL but tourism would be small.
Matthew Grove
Roar Rookie
Good point Mark.
bryan
Guest
Most people throughout the world don't really know much at all about anything outside their own country,so why is it so distressing that they know nothing about Australian sports? We can't live our lives using "what foreigners think" as the criteria of the value of our society. That is just another example of the "cultural cringe". We have as much right to our cultural identity as any other country. If that identity includes Australian Rules football,Rugby Union,Rugby League,Association Football,Cricket & even Tiddlywinks,that is just a fact of life.
Brad
Guest
How are Gold Coast United going? Or North Queensland Fury? Oh wait.... Oh and how are Melbourne Hearts crowds going? What did they average for 2012? 8,000 wasn't it? Wow, I'm impressed. But nah, keep talking about WSW, its far more convenient I know!
Brad
Guest
A quick glance at Robin Van Pierse is all you need to realise Buddy Franklin is far superior physically (although we could argue all day about who's more technically gifted.) Van Pierce is hardly impressive - he's built like a rake. Buddy's a beast.
Mark
Guest
Cricket gains more out of the success of Australian Football than what it loses. Not only at the grassroots level as pointed out but at the elite. It has access to fantastic stadiums across the country that have been largely redeveloped because of football's enormous spectator and corporate support. Without the revenue created from these stadia, cricket would have far less money to invest in its grassroots and elite talent development programmes. Just look at the following list of the stadia that cricket has been able to utilise and profit from: MCG - would be nowhere near a 100,000 seat modern stadium without football; Gabba - the main reason for the redevelopment was to handle the huge surge of support for the Lions; SCG - without the Swans, recent improvements would have been far harder to justify and probably far smaller; Adelaide Oval - being expanded to a modern 50000 seat stadium primarily for the Crows and Port. Then consider Manuka, Cazalys and Marrara all largely football venues that cricket has been able to play tests and other matches at. Even better think of Western Sydney. The Blacktown joint facility, partly funded by both the AFL and the ACB will greatly aid NSW cricket and its talent programmes. The Olympic stadium, partly funded by both the AFL and ACB, retained in oval mode and being used for 20/20 matches. With 20/20 expansion there's a good chance that cricket will utilise Kardinia Park, Sydney Showgrounds and Carrara as well. If someone was really concerned with the health of Australian cricket, they would advocate ditching the rectangular codes and adopting the oval game of football.
Mark
Guest
Going nicely thanks Allan, their million $ training ground, complex, offices are nearly ready, pop down and have a look !.