Get Inglis.. definitely. Slater and Idris are bonuses. Hayne as well…

And there, folks, is a prime example of why I’m very unlikely to be anything more than a soccer “bandwagoner” i.e. a World Cup Socceroos supporter. Soccer proselytism at its worst: disingenuous and obtuse.

Not sure why folks keep bringing up the “AFL world domination” strawman every time an informative piece like. I can’t recall in all the years I’ve been associated with Australian Football in Australia or overseas, of anyone even thinking along these lines.

Cultural cringe or tall poppy?

As I commented down below, next to zero Australian ex-pats have been involved with this league. I have been down there a couple of times to offer some formal representation and game development support. The Catalonian and Andorran government have been very supportive of the local bodies, and the locals really love the game and work hard at getting it established in new areas nearby the current base.

MC’s point is spot on. It no longer takes a homesick ex-pat to sow the seed and grow the game as recent examples in Italy and Iceland show.

Full Credit to the Catalunya league and the Andorrans!

Not only have they attended 4 EU Cups since 2005, they have pretty much developed and grown their competitiones with almost zero assistance from ex-pat Australians… purely for the love of playing the sport.

Can you imagine?

MC,

It isn’t unlikely that Denmark will play GB at the upcoming 2010 European Champions in Denmark & Sweden in early August; a week long 16-a-side tournament playing under the International Cup qualification rule (ie non-Australians who have learnt the sport outside of Australia). 8 countries for different corners of the European region have already signed up:

Ireland
Great Britain
Denmark
Sweden
Germany
Finland
Croatia
Iceland

www.ec2010.info

– SSB

This has been touched on a few times before. Maybe in New Zealand it might be an issue to call the sport “Australian Football”, but up here in Europe it is actually quite a useful advantage. The Australian brand is strong and the locals tend to be genuinely interested in Australia and its own code of football, once they have seen it and the basics explained.

I think there are very good reasons to get more live AFL matches to FTA or main-stream cable up here in the longer term, and this level of broadcasting is only going to open more doors to local participation and support.

Or like moi, who is actually overseas DOING it – which could be kinda important too.

Then it’s not much of a cerebral challenge for you Norm.

WC929406, do you have a link to that article online?

A little suprised George Doig (WAFL) didn’t make the list.

He would have to be somewhere near the top, IMO.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Doig

Redb, undeed, I’ve heard there have been a number of caricatures of Kevin Sheedy and Allan Jeans made.

The Greater Western Sydney Sprawl

Now that you’ve reminded me, I do remember seeing an Auskick tent at Woodstock and the launch of the iPad…

Serious concerns with long term head injuries in American Football.

http://www.time.com/time/video/player/0,32068,64253995001_1957921,00.html

http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2009/10/19/091019fa_fact_gladwell?currentPage=all

Given that reverting to playing without helmets (as it once was when the sport was in its infancy) is off the table, the NFL would be hard pressed to maintain the status quo without any reduction in the current quality of the spectacle.

An interesting article on the ordeals endured during a short pre-season stint at the Western Bulldogs, from the perspective of an Irish rookie under trial:

http://www.arfli.com/index.php?p=news#b45363

Definitely a cause for concern.

Here’s a little bit more on the increasing identification and recognition of internal brain injuries in American Football:

http://www.time.com/time/video/player/0,32068,64253995001_1957921,00.html

http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2009/10/19/091019fa_fact_gladwell?currentPage=all

Given the remote chance of reverting to playing American Football without the traditional hard helmet, both Rugby and Australian Football could emerge as alternatives to concerned parents.

An update from todays New Zealand Herald:

“…So confident is (AFLNZ CEO) Vanstam that Aussie Rules will take off in New Zealand he predicts that in 10 years every All Black will have had the opportunity to choose between Aussie Rules and rugby…”

Aussies luring Kiwi kids into kicking and jumping game
———————————————————————————-

The Australians are invading – but in a sporting way.

And New Zealand schools and rugby clubs are showing little sign of fighting them on the beaches, the playing fields or the streets.

Aussie Rules football is booming in schools across the country, with top Melbourne club Hawthorn leading the drive.

The club, in league with the New Zealand Australian Football League, has invested hundreds of thousands of dollars to get the sport approved by the New Zealand Secondary Schools Sports Council.

One teenage Waikato player – the nephew of an All Black – has already made his choice.

Kurt Heatherley, 14, has become the first AFL International Scholarship player to be signed by Hawthorn. Heatherley, whose uncle Geoff Hines debuted for the All Blacks in 1980 and played 12 matches as flanker, has chosen Aussie Rules over his own promising sporting career in rugby.

He will receive specialist training and coaching with Hawthorn over the next three years and make regular visits from his home in Tauranga to Melbourne to train with the club.

Throughout New Zealand primary schools, a junior development programme called Kiwi Kick has already been going for eight months, and 1200 children are now playing the sport regularly.

Next year organisers hope to get 5000 school children playing Aussie Rules when the programme will move into 70 schools nationwide.

Hawthorn’s general manager of personnel and strategy, Chris Pelchen, was quoted in The Australian as saying: “Every secondary school child will be exposed to AFL Football, every one of them.”

One of the Auckland schools to take up the Aussie game with gusto is Green Bay High School, where 50 year 9 and 10 pupils are playing regularly after school.

Two have been picked to play in the Oceania Cup in Fiji in December.

The school’s sports co-ordinator, Casey Redman, said the sport took off when it was introduced this year.

Garry Carnachan, executive director of the New Zealand Secondary Schools Sports Council, said Aussie Rules had to meet some criteria before it became the 43rd sport sanctioned to be taught in New Zealand schools.

Now it is available for all schoolkids to have a go – and Carnachan think it will become popular.

“We’ve always said that if it wasn’t called Aussie Rules New Zealanders would have been playing it years ago.”

Robert Vanstam, NZAFL CEO, said the sport was marketing itself as an alternative to rugby and soccer. “Sometimes rugby can be a bit rough for some children, and soccer a little bland, so we’re a middle ground.”

Vanstam said the fact that no visa is required and Australia is only three hours away makes us an untapped resource of future players.

“There’s no reason why New Zealand can’t take up a new game and be just as successful as Australia.

“First choice athletes are limited, there’s a lot of different sports trying to get the same kids.”

So confident is Vanstam that Aussie Rules will take off in New Zealand he predicts that in 10 years every All Black will have had the opportunity to choose between Aussie Rules and rugby. (!!!!!!!)

Kurt Heatherley, for one, has already made that choice.

Source: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/sport/news/article.cfm?c_id=4&objectid=10612332

Good work from the Doggies.

But it brings forth a few initial thoughts..

Interesting to know who will be the first to really invest into the US & Canada? Collingwood? Sydney?

And who will make the first significant, serious moves into Europe, Asia, and really push into the rest of Africa?

Will any of these ventures be to the same degree as the Hawthorn/AFLNZ HanzUp program?

At the moment, realistically only 3 teams can win the International Cup. For the good of the game elsewhere, for competition, and for the future healthiness of the internationalisation of the sport, it is preferable to have 6-8 countries as possible winners (as in soccer).

Hawthorn have raised the bar here. Let’s see if any of the other clubs follow…

My 2 swedish krowns for the S15 team name:

“Melbourne Mafia RFC”

🙂

Probably been mentioned before, but I like the idea of having Kevin Sheedy directly involved with the coaching staff of the World XVIII team for the next 2 years for the simple reason of getting some overseas talent on his radar for 2012.

MC,

The junior program there is rapidly expanding and the latest I have heard is that atleast 6 of the London boroughs are about to kickoff a series of BritKick (AusKick) programs in a few of their schools. Jobs are being advertised in the UK and Australia order to have enough trained, experienced footy personnel in place to meet the demand.

ARUK has done a massive amount of juniors pioneering work in and around London, and in getting the sport on the radar in a few key schools (apparently 2 have dropped soccer from their sporting curriculum in favour of aussie rules!). The new program will be managed directly via AFL London, which already employs a local full time GM.

Footy in the UK is doing a lot of good things to get the long term juniors & schools structures in place. The next step will be to move the program out to the countryside to the 20 odd ARUK clubs based outside of London + take the knowledge base learnt from the UK, adapt, and replicate to the other European countries mature enough to run the programs themselves.

The rest of Europe will be watching with keen interest.

— SSB

Watching the game, particularly the second half display from the Wallaby backline, it became apparent that it is no longer enough to simply to crash over the advantage line for umpteen phases but to run different lines of attack, create space/holes and evade the tackler(s) through sheer skill, agility and will. An art, I feel, that has to been lost to the Wallabies game plan for some time. When they flexed their arm in this way, it looked very exciting rugby indeed.

I have high hopes for a Wallaby grand slam, however it will take much more cleverness, guile and clinical ball handling than what was on display against England to beat the Irish and the Welsh.

Looking forward to the next tests with great interest.

Pure speculation here bit maybe with the addition of 2 new clubs there’s perhaps not enough “playstation generation” talent coming through the Australian system to maintain product quality as the league grows. They are casting the net wider to see what it brings in, and that net happens to be the rest of the world (with parts of it now reaching a mature stage in junior development programs ie SA, PNG & NZ).

I would think that the AFL would want the best possible talent to play in its competition, regardless from where they come. People are attracted to exciting, skillful and athletic competition; and in Australia there is real domestic competition for bums-on-seats and pay TV rights dollars between the major 4 football sporting codes.

Why limit yourself?