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The AFL International Cup needs more recognition

cos789 new author
Roar Rookie
21st December, 2015
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cos789 new author
Roar Rookie
21st December, 2015
150
2397 Reads

The AFL International Cup is the pinnacle event on the Australian Football International calendar and has grown steadily in stature and standard every three years.

Despite financial considerations limiting numbers, participation is greater than some other football World Cups, yet the competition’s profile remains low.

With this in mind, an electronic petition has been created for SBS to broadcast the 2017 International Cup. It is an ideal event for SBS as it fulfills all its charter points.

The petition can be found here, where you can simply sign and share on Facebook.

The International Cup is multicultural, multilingual, entertaining, educational and advances the spirit of world friendship.

Without jumping too far ahead, any lift in the profile of the AFL International Cup will produce direct and indirect benefits for all involved in this competition. Those benefits in all probability will be small at first, but it is the ‘foot in the door’ to leverage the future.

Overseas leagues, clubs and individuals have battled hard for many years to develop football in their part of the world, but the biggest barrier to growth is the lack of knowledge on Australian’s behalf.

Put simply, if more Australians new about football overseas, then there’d be more interest and interest more than ever has a monetary value. It originated as coins paid at the turnstiles, then television advertising revenue, sponsorship deals, assorted grants and now has many variations.

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Internationally, the sole focus of Australian media is on overseas players making the grade in the AFL. Hopefully, this petition will change the public and media perceptions.

This has already started with the proposed new national women’s league in 2017 with calls for world players to be included.

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