it's only an issue if they knew the old rules!

Can someone email this to Koche please?

Or if there are any local fans

A brand that no one has ever heard of is one of our leading luxury brands? We must suck at luxury.

this is happening again on saturday it's pretty interesting to see if they will get any momentum this year 

it's coming up? heard nothing about it

I think I heard on the radio last week that the AFL is opening and office in China, not sure if I heard right but i think it said Shanghai. No shit.

edit - https://www.afl.com.au/news/2019-05-21/afl-set-to-open-office-in-china

AFL whale in a pond.
So happy I live in Sydney & don't have to put up with this crap.

The AFL are a deluded bunch who's overblown sense of importance is entertaining to watch from outside of VIC, SA, WA.

I'm actually interested in it as a sporting fan though i would like to see how they go. It's the same as the nfl trying to expand into london 

at least in London they've heard of gridiron

It's not the game, as a sporting fan, its a sport, it's just the ALF media & it's fans.

NFL in London, sells out (true paying customers) Wembley with 100K & attracts huge TV audience in the UK.

AFL in China, well, ummm.....

Expect the usual AFL paid media personalities to go into overdrive with AFL china PR in a few days

People do not know Asian people generally are not into contact sports (yes sumo and martial art are for minority). Games like afl and rugby etc only confirm the Aussie stereotype  i.e. big rough physical violent people who are not exactly bright.

How much money are they wasting on this??

its entertaining from VIC as well.


not sure about the AFL but the SA govt is paying $350K and the federal govt a few hundred k as well. thats what stinks about this whole concept. 

I think showcasing AFL as part of a trade fair is kind of like showcasing Vegemite, it's fine so long as we can demonstrate that we also are good at producing world class products and services that the world would be interested in.

that won't even cover the flights

Shanghai game is on tv right now...crowd looks less than impressive. It really is embarrassing. I presume Kochy's corporate fat cat mates are enjoying the junket, though.

Lol at the empty seats. AFL was banging in that it was a sellout. 

I used to think they were just being facetious but it’s become apparent that many AFL fans sincerely think that AFL is truly a global game and the centre of the sporting world. 

As a 5-12 year old kid growing up in Victoria I certainly did. The way the AFL has been essentially everything in media in Victoria for a long time contributes to that but really grown adults should know better.

Absolutely woeful crowd at the game.
Plenty of empty seats. 

I'm from Queensland and I just....I can't understand. I don't hate their attempts to grow, it's a natural impulse, I'm just completely and totally baffled by their belief that this will work. I get that if you grow up with the game and understand it, their would be enjoyment, as there would be with any game, but watching it is like watching kids play a made up game in primary school. Even at a professional level, it's such a messy unsatisfying game to watch. 

You'd think that their failure to convince a sizeable portion of Australians to enjoy the game, despite the fact that it has 'Australia' in the name, convincing another country with not even passing knowledge of the sport's existence would seem a bridge too far.

Even if you were going to spread overseas, India and New Zealand seem far better options considering the availability of cricket pitches and a common language.

They already tried India, New Zealand and even South Africa, with their #mastermind Kevin Sheedy always leading the charge saying this country is the one. Turns out every time, the local people in those countries also think it's shit.

I think the only cricket playing region they haven't tried is the West Indies. 

they don't seem to understand that we already play real official games of football in China

There is a belief among AFL fans that is best summed up as  "if people see it they will instantly want to watch more" because they all say that football is so dull they think if someone is presented with AFL they will instantly chose it over football. Because of this they think if they just play a couple of games in China they will convert the whole country because the starting point of their beliefs is that AFL is so exciting compared to every other sport. As a kid I had these conversations with other AFL fans, always not understanding why anyone would chose another sport over AFL. I grew out of it, none of the AFL media ever seem to.

They might not get supporters but will they get sponsors?

They will get sponsors  as the afl big wigs  know how to smooze.  Hell Melbourne demons got kaspersky  lab to Australia by chance 

Kermit once sang It's not easy being Green, but it's a hell of a lot harder living in Victoria if you don't like AFL.