While the AFL tries to take China, football will take Australia

Im 75 and right from when the first WW 2 migrants and their kids started arriving in the 1950s all we got from them was that Australian Football yes real Australian Football would soon enough be killed off by the 'world " game Well you know what? 65 years later it still hasent happened and wont for a very long time if ever But please soccer types dream on. We live in Australia not Europe or South America and just because soccer is the #1 sport in those places dosent mean it will be here as well.

#Ian??? Gone missing again? It's frustrating that you can't even admit when you've mistakenly attacked someone.

#Ian From my original post on this article (May 15th 2017 @ 11:46am) - please tell me what part of it is crapping all over soccer?? So - you used to follow NRL - it appears you recovered from that - congratulations are in order. Pardon me for asking - did you frequent 'LeagueUnlimited'? #Nemesis is the one who doesn't follow any other sport - and seemingly proud of it - don't confuse the confrontations with that poster as being representative of attitudes to all other posters!!! Anyway #Ian - I put to you - why we saw articles like #Mike Tuckerman's GF review and this article by #MWM have to resort to commentary on the AFL match in China? Especially because most of said commentary is either totally false observation of largely ignorant opinion. Why go there? (other than to entice??)

Thanks for coming back to the article. I'm not offended by your rants......more bemused you come on here and pretend you aren't trying to crap all over football. As for your misconceptions and rant about the sports I may or may not have followed.......I followed rugby league very closely for two decades and it was my number one professional sport to follow in that period up until a few years ago. Another misconception is that, I have noticed die hard AFL followers, proclaim people that support football don't like any other sports at all in an attempt to put them into a corner and categorise them.. Usually as not being Australian. Because I don't follow 'local' sports.....you know the ones that actually originated in England/Ireland.

Listen ok, you making excuses, make it the biggest stadium in Sao Paulo, Brazil's 2nd city, we are comparing it to Australia's 2nd city.

How long do we have to sell it out?? (just trying to work it out.....Australian Crawl used to be big in Rio.....James Reyne plays "Crawl" pre game....half time....post game.....)

The biggest stadium in RIO.

#punter Now clearly that depends on the capacity of the venue!!!

#Post Hoc Why would the EPL look at playing in China? Ask them. I suspect you're in part answered it yourself. The EPL broadcast rights - and they could grow more. And merchandise etc. Ironically, made in china for a pittance and sold back for a premium. The EPL claims to "We work proactively and constructively with our Member Clubs and the other football authorities to improve the quality of football, both in England and across the world." So - let's be clear - they DO claim an interest in what #Ian might regard as 'world domination'. Now - the EPL clubs are privately owned and the value of such property can only increase by tapping properly into the Chinese market. So - why wouldn't the EPL be looking at playing live H&A matches in China?? And individual clubs - back in March it was reported by Arsenal : "BNN Technology, our official lottery partner in China, has expanded its relationship with the club." Also Man Utd claimed earlier this year 108 million Chinese Man U supporters whilst promoting a Thomas Cook Sport deal in China. In 2015 a UK/China football forum committed to future collaboration between the countries. So - - plenty of snouts in the trough. So - again I ask why they wouldn't be looking into H&A matches in China. I would suggest it's in the pipeline and will happen - only question is when.

#Ian See above response - the 'only' 40,000 etc was NOT my typing. That belonged to the author of the article. I quoted that. You have an over developed anti-AFL reflex that seems to repress your comprehension abilities. With respect to "AFL wants nothing else but world domination" - - what I find odd about this narrative you and your anti-AFL types have - is that the world game of soccer has largely achieved world domination. Okay - not total absolute domination in all markets but it's big enough to make the call. So - you have to jump up and down like spoilt children when 'local' sports like the AFL or NRL in Australia display any sort of aspiration. In this case - the notion of 'world domination' as the aspiration is totally ludicrous - and you know that. So get off your high horse - - and learn to read who said what because your mindless abuse is infantile - you came to this 2 days late and still couldn't read the original article. I very much suspect that you're simply looking through (a limited selection of) the posts and trying your hardest to be offended.

#Post Hoc and #Ian "So not sure why you bring in crowd figures for finals" Um....let's see - I READ the original article and was commenting in reference to the BELOW comments by the author: "I do find it funny that people complain about only getting 40,000 to a grand final – imagine if the old NSL could hear us now! I wonder ten years from now how we will look back at this era." So #Ian - Please note that the phrasing with 'only' was NOT mine and I never used 'only' in that context. I made no reference to AFL or NRL finals. You've gone off on that tangent. I only referenced the old NSL where the Glory and Brisbane Strikers both managed crowds around the 38-40k mark. It's a popular narrative to dismiss the old NSL and to proclaim the A-League as this shiny great thing. Way to let your own anti-AFL agenda get in the way of reading an article and the specific comments responding to it. So - to you both - I'll accept your apologies in advance - I can understand you couldn't be bothered actually reading the article or the context but gee - - I even double quoted the authors comments.

I'm two days late but I have to say it........even if no one reads it. AFL wants nothing else but world domination but the reality is that the sport is at the complete opposite of that spectrum. The reason you refute the assertion is that it paints AFL in a bad light - so if you refute the claim and say it doesn't matter then AFL is still a success. it's ok........I know what you are doing when you type that over and over. By the way.......'only' 40,000 only 50,000..........you can't sell more tickets than what the stadium holds. Very basic stuff. Keep up your mission in life though Perry.

This is right post-hoc. I was going to post but realise I'm about two days behind this article as I missed it. The alarming inaccuracies in these expert comments from perry bridge, pioneer etc....is that you can't sell more tickets than what the stadium allows. It is mind-boggling these guys' insecurities and defensiveness. All because AFL is only big in half of one country - and apparently that is all that matters.

VB, typical bloody Victorians thinking their beer is some sort of National Beer.

why would the EPL play for points in China? They are the English Premier League, ie they play their games in England (and Wales) home and away. The simple fact that China recently paid US$700 million dollars for the EPL rights indicates to me the EPL doesn't really need to 'play' a game in China. The fact that the AFL claims some sort of first is rather sad. The ACL is a LEAGUE it's in the name. It's played for points, and it is international. AFL couldn't even make their lies believable.

So in recent years we have had grandfinals in Brisbane, Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne, Adelaide and Sydney. As far as I am aware ever single one of them have been sell outs, ie they are unable to sell any more tickets they are at capacity. In that same period the AFL has had grandfinals in Melbourne. So unlike a claimed National Sport like the AFL who only ever has their final in 1 city which can give an unfair advantage to a team that is from Melbourne because they may actually play their regular season games at the same venue. Football has played Finals Nationally (or nearly so) and the final is played at the team that has earned it. So not sure why you bring in crowd figures for finals, oh yea sorry that and TV is all you really have.

Depends how many people you ship in from Australia

What does that mean? Argentina v Brazil is a sellout in Melbourne in football. Could Australia v Ireland in AFL do the same in Rio?

Last time I looked Argentina, who has a Rugby team & basketball is also quite big, is in Latin America, Brazil, where basketball is very big, so is Volleyball is also in Latin America. In Europe, Italy, France & the British countries has Rugby & England, Wales & France has Rugby League, while Ireland has Gaelic football. Lots of northern European countries are huge on Ice hockey &hanball. Spain are huge on basketball & cycling, while handball is also quite big. But let's not let facts in get in your way.

so fishing and jogging are number 1 in your eyes, Fuss?