For this latest instalment in the International Football series, Italked to Denis Ryan, the President of the USAFL, and Simon Boyce, the co-coach of the Austin Crows.
Most US players discovered the game via 1980s television, with the first match between two US clubs pitting Cincinnati against Louisville in 1996.
Since then, USAFL clubs have played more than 3,200 matches with more than 300 matches in 2012 alone according to the USAFL 2012 Annual Report.
Denis Ryan is the newly elected President of the United States Australian Football League and a member of the USAFL Hall of Fame. His role is to maintain a long term vision and he aims to kick-start the growth of the game in America.
He’s served as player, coach and vice president of the Baltimore-Washington Eagles club, as well as coaching the Revolution.
Ryan, who played some footy for Clayton in the Eastern Football league in Victoria, became involved in the US footy scene at the end of a round the world trip, when during a stopover in Baltimore he became interested in a local team that was starting there.
The USAFL administers Australian Football in America with a primary focus of growing the game. The USAFL manages the US Nationals and the National teams – the Revolution and the women’s team, the Freedom.
The board of the USAFL is primarily run by Americans – it had no Australians on it last year, but it recently added two. Ryan says that this mix is important, as the Americans can occasionally miss the history and culture that has gone into the game.
The USAFL is a non-profit organisation whose main sources of income are its AFL grant, player and club fees, and sponsorships in relation to the US National Championships.
There are 35 teams in the USAFL, some of which are very strong including New York and Denver. There are other clubs which tread a finer line with player numbers fluctuating from just above to just below the needed player numbers.
Ryan says its his mission to get these teams some help and get them viable.
Boyce says that around a third of clubs in the USAFL have associated women’s clubs. Some clubs began introducing Ausball, a touch footy version of the game as early as 2006, before the AFL formally introduced AFL 9s Ausball in a unisex competition.
Many teams have a metro team – essentially, local ten-a-side competitions that are run by and act as feeders to larger clubs, and can lead to selection in the main city side. These are typically played on rugby, football or American football fields.
Numbers per side can vary, there is no specific standard. Ryan says recreational leagues are a big thing in the United States, where you see adults playing all kind of sports ranging from touch American football to kick ball.
Ryan cites Sacremento as a model for development. They began by building a metro league, developed a larger representative side, and this year competed in the US Nationals third division playoffs just five years after starting.
The number of players in the USAFL is somewhat nebulous, as players only register with the league if they intend to play in the nationals.
Consequently the USAFL knows it has at least 1,000 players, but Ryan says that the total number of players including metro competitions is likely to be as high as 1,500 at most.
Boyce says that there are probably 120 players in the New York area alone, and that some clubs have double the number of players in the representative sides playing metro footy.
The 2011 Annual Report for the USAFL estimated that they were aiming for 10,000 Australian football players in the USA in 2016. Ryan says this number is probably going to be a stretch, but he’s hoping for significant progress towards and expects to reach the target a year or two late.
Ten years ago, Denis Ryan was the founder of FootyKids, conceived as a physical education program with the hope that kids would play the modified form of the game at school and then form their own school teams.
The proposal was put together and presented to the AFL, who gave them six months worth of funding to begin with. Ryan says that while the program hasn’t been as successful as he’d like, he still believes in the program but would dearly love more funding for it.
Matches between USAFL are loosely organised for the most part, with matches organised primarily by the clubs themselves. Player numbers at smaller clubs and the distance between clubs are all factors preventing the establishment of any real league.
Ryan says another hampering factor is American perceptions of the game compared to their own variety of contact sport. They see football as violent and requiring protection, whereas they see Australian football as being slightly the same but without protection.
The USAFL has a good relationship with AFL Canada, against whom they play an international match every year called the 49th Parallel Cup. The Canadians have beaten the US once in the history of the competition. Ryan says that he is working towards increasing the number of matches the two countries play.
The US National championships were completed just weeks ago, having been hosted for a second time in Austin, Texas. The event requires space for five full size football fields and with over 1,000 players attending, it is the largest Australian Football tournament in the world.
Teams come from all over the US and Canada with four divisions of men’s teams and a division of women’s teams. Matches among the top divisions are 18-a-side, with the number of players reducing through the lower divisions and 12-a-side for the women’s division.
Simon Boyce says that the ratio of Australians on the field cannot exceed 50 percent, with it being mandatory that 50 percent of players on the field be American born.
Boyce says that Austin played very close to its quota. Some clubs, like New York and Calgary from Canada, end up with a large number of Australians on the bench.
He doesn’t believe that Australians are as influential in deciding match incomes as you might expect, although there are a number of good players in the competition including ex-VFL and even ex-AFL listed players.
This year saw several American AFL draftees attend the weekend event, as well as Nick Riewoldt and AFL officials.
America will be at the International Cup in both men’s and women’s competitions. Ryan says that while its tough to break the hold of the big three (Ireland, Papua New Guinea, New Zealand), advances in coaching using the Internet and Google hangouts means the US sides will be even more competitive in Melbourne next year.
The US has competed at all four International Cups, with their record sitting at 16-7 and a best result of third place at the 2005 event.
Ronny
Roar Rookie
@ ctar, wow, just wow, oh my dear, wow, thats not what i said, talk about twisting words .. wow. !!. and furthermore .... wow.
ctar
Guest
So Ronny believes NZ should show more pride and enthusiasm for getting to support a melbourne suburb in the AFL than the defending world cup champions NZ League team. Talk about insular.. Just wow...
TW
Guest
It is official folks - Storm Boy is very prominent in the NRL threads- H
Are you there Harry
Guest
They started it.
Are you there Harry
Guest
$$$ - Emric, ever noticed the crowds at an AFL match? They all pay overs for crap food and drink at the ground, merchandise, accommodation, transport. Can't wait to see the visiting Wellington Woolies perform the Haka at The G.
andyincanberra
Guest
Whilst I'm a little hesitant to make a comment about AFL in NZ in the comments sections of an AFL in the USA, I'll take the bait. The reason that it's good for the NZ to have the AFL play a game in NZ is pretty simple. If AFL supporters have shown one thing, is that they're great travellers. In April, there were 22k watching the St Kilda match in Wellington. I'm not sure how many were local, but I'd venture a guess and say there would have been an influx of Melbournians taking their $$'s over the ditch. I'm sure most of them would have spent a few nights there, pumping up the local economy. The Wellington city council is very supportive of hosting the match, as it brings a lot of cash with it. I'm not saying that NZ will ever take St Kilda to heart, I don't think anybody expects that, nor will NZ ever have their own team. But, make no mistake, an AFL presence in NZ brings tangible benefits to the Kiwis.
Ian Whitchurch
Guest
Everything for the state, everything inside the state ! Sport must be harnessed to the ever-lasting glory of the People ! Without being an expression of the National Destiny, sport is nothing !
Redb
Roar Guru
Emric, You're giving Kiwis a bad name, poor insular dolt.
Emric
Guest
Roony I've not changed tack at all my message has been and continues to be - AFL brings no international prestige to New Zealand. Obviously I've failed to get my message across so lets focus on a break down When the All Blacks go to Japan they got the name of New Zealand in front of the 30,000 people who turned out to watch the game When the All Whites played Mexico they put the name of New Zealand infront of 80,000 mexicans and then when they played Mexico in Wellington in front of a sold out stadium it showed our country in a good light. When the Kiwis go forward to the Rugby League World Cup Final then it will show once again our nation in a good light to the millions who will watch What can one expect from the AFL? A team who has nothing to do with Wellington, let alone New Zealand wanting us kiwis to believe that we have some sort of natural connection to this team and should support it - and on top of that - it wants to suck up our natural sporting talent for a competition which is no bigger then a footnote in world sport. I ask you Ronny - What marketing ability would winning the AFL final bring to New Zealand?
Emric
Guest
What benefits does the sport bring to New Zealand?
Ronny
Roar Rookie
@ Emric, laughable, changing tack now, you stated that NZ should only play global sports, and menoned RL inthe same breath, no disrespect to RL, but it is not a global sport, what say you now ?. On a world wide scale, it is actually debateable who is bigger, St Kilda has 35/40k of members, turn over miillions of more $$, have bigger crowds, better facitlities and probably gets better TV ratings. Your argument is so full of holes, that even reverse osmosis will not fix it.
Emric
Guest
Roony Which do you think has a bigger international sporting brand name - The New Zealand Kiwis (New Zealand's Rugby League Team) - Saint Kilda (The Team which wants to represent New Zealand in the AFL)
Yank Paul
Guest
Gee, I thought this story was about Aussie Rules in America. It seems I was wrong and it's just more of that silly Aussie v. Kiwi stuff that I find quite childish.
Ronny
Roar Rookie
@ Emric, RL a global sport, good call ....LOL, lucky i am sitting down.
Ronny
Roar Rookie
Very interesting, it would be easy to catergorise someone like Emric, as a typical insular thinking Kiwi, but thankfully he is not, plenty of Kiwis take a interest in the AFL whilst not having to lose their identity.
Emric
Guest
Roony. As for your snide comment. The NRL make around 100 milion dollars on their contract with New Zealand TV. I'm sure this has nothing to do with the desire of the AFL to head south. AR - I currently live in Melbourne as a contract I'm working on over here has demanded it. I work with know and am friends with a wide range of kiwis living in Melbourne at the moment. A few follow AFL teams (mostly Saint Kilda) but mostly they have little interest in the sport itself preferring to support to the All Blacks in all things or heaven for bid the warriors. Us Kiwis have a tendency to remain loyal to our roots even when living, and working in Australia. Once again. New Zealand needs to focus on sports which brings it fame. My people would be dumb to allow a sport such as AFL to buy up generations of our sporting elite which will weaken our international sporting brands while strengthening the AFL. Anyway Kids will play what they want to play but the Government needs to focus encouragement on the global sports. Success in a global sports brings our name to the forefront of the world. A small local sport played in Australia with no New Zealand team representation. Brings New Zealand no international fame, or more importantly advertising.
Avon River
Guest
Thankfully 9s variants are finding their way to Australia now so I can vouch for 'proper' footy as not being reliant on being 18 aside (granted the touch variant is a tad less proper but even that allows good skill and situational awareness development). Heck the old VFA ran 16 aside and was proper.
Australian Rules
Guest
Emric: "New Zealand needs to focus on sports which bring us fame and help us over come the insurmountable odds of being a small country in a large world. AFL simply does not help achieve any of these goals." That's a pretty insecure attitude. At last check, there was about 700,000 New Zealanders residing in Australia. That's almost 15% of the NZ population. Clearly, some Kiwis enjoy the Australian culture and lifestyle, and that includes football to some extent. When a NZ kid succeeds at AFL level (as a couple a very talented kids at Hawthorn are expected to do) it will be a massive achievement and one that gains enormous traction. I can't see what's wrong with that.
Ronny
Roar Rookie
@ emric, .... we will miss them dearly !,. On the other hand, i guess more Kiwis moving home with a positve attitude and open mind to our indigenous game, unlike some of course !!.
TW
Guest
SB, I am being deliberately conservative in my comments, because I am not actually there to see for myself, but I also think our game has a lot to offer. Some kids will stick because they like what they see and others will not, and that is the bottom line. The NZAFL is going about its business very methodically and is very aware of the "footy politics" over there, because that is why they promote the "skills training" for all sports in our game which is seen as a positive. I think it is a very moot point we are improving the NZ RU game because of the low numbers involved ATM and also not all the children are involved in that sport. However "IF" the numbers grow expect to see a lot more than curious interest from the other codes.