why does everyone get hung about what this silly event is attracting?
surely none of us care one way or the other?

AFL tv deal and sponsorship pays for it. Money isn't a problem.

It won't disappear. It will change/evolve

And, if a breaking point comes, who will the big losers be? Will it be a case of Cricket Australia and the AFL growing some of their products while cannibalising their other games? Or will it be that other competitions, such as the A-League, are swallowed up or lost in the dominant narratives of other, bigger sports organisations?
But then again, perhaps organisations like the AFL sense a tipping point could be coming sooner rather than later and have developed a game, AFLX, that can be marketed and sold overseas to a fresh batch of consumers, businesses and sponsors.

https://www.theage.com.au/sport/afl/when-too-much-sport-really-is-just-too-much-20180217-p4z0oo.html

Won't be going anywhere, I see Friday nights aflx rated 200k fox footy/7mate combined, still blows anything we do out of the water.

Thats pretty bad considering how many people, myself included, were curious to see what it was like.

I agree though. Its not going anywhere. They'll chop and change until they make it relatively enjoyable to watch. The whole point of AFLX is to invade rectangular pitches. 

International Rules never went anywhere

And compared to this crap it's half watchable. With at least one actual opponent. Theoretically two if the AFL discovered the USA has an active GAA playing gaelic football throughout the continent at a reasonable level.

The AFL can't grow outside its heartland. Any efforts to expand outside them has only resulted in the slow death in its heartland.

The aspect I find funny is that the Irish virtually slaughter the AFL clan when they use their feet to pass the ball and they always try to score under the bar. The AFL were the ones who wanted wrestling and other body contact in the rules so they could compete. 
After all these years and a hiatus, the Australians can actually compete as they have come to grips with kicking under the bar and having keepers who move!

Its more the fact that the afl can throw just about any garbage on tv and stll somehow pull out that viewership. This circus deserved A league ratings at best.

Aflw carlton v brisbane - 81k on fox. This was one of the worst games of football i have ever seen on tv and its still smashed every A league broadcast this week.

“ carlton v brisbane - 81k on fox“

How many of those viewers were Victorians?

What was the viewership in NSW and Qld?

Historically 60% of AFL ratings come from Vic, 15% each from SA and WA and the other 10% from NSW/Qld so the answer to your question is most likely not much.

WE can all see the problem.... but solving it is a different matter.... 

For me, we are in a deep hole, I am unsure of how to get out of it...what is obvious neither do FFA's current controllers.. 

What I find hhhhmmmmmm searching for the right word ... say """baffled """" ... Say in Hal 8 we were singing along, cricket was worried etc...

Along comes the Big Bash, which CA is now talking about extending till the end of Feb and starting in mid Nov... AFLX & AFWL, Rugby Women's, Rugby 7's, the NRL attempting to create an end of season Oceania based competition, Netball starts a NZ / Oz league then an Aust league, Basketball makes a comeback....

FFA have been ""baffled""" and simply do not or have not reacted  to the changing sporting environment around them ... and if anything have chosen to fight many groups within Football....

I am a strong believer in letting the clubs run Hal... however I don't think the solutions are as easy as many seem to think... 

AFLX here to stay with a tweak or two

Love it or loathe it, AFLX is here to stay, albeit with a few tweaks, after a largely positive response from coaches, players and administrators.

Traditionalists lamented the lack of stoppages and contests, and the emphasis on running and booting 10-point goals from over 40 metres.

But players and coaches were generally supportive of the fast-paced, seven-a-side, 20-minute a game concept, which drew almost 43,00 fans across the three tournaments.

A crowd of 9892 at Sydney’s Allianz Stadium on Saturday followed attendances of 22,585 at Melbourne’s Etihad Stadium on Friday and 10,253 at Adelaide”s Coopers Stadium on Thursday.

“Overall we feel very positive with the whole AFLX tournaments,” AFLX project manager David Stevenson said.

“If you look through the crowd numbers that we got at each of the three, through the player feedback, through the club feedback, through the (TV) ratings, it very much exceeded our expectations, so we feel really good,”

Asked if AFLX was here to stay, Stevenson said “Yeah, certainly.

“We wouldn’t have put all this effort in if we thought it was just a one-year proposition.

“There’s definitely some things we’ll change and we’ll tweak along the way.

“We learnt some things that we’ll improve and we’ll get some feedback from the players.

“We’ll do a post-mortem next week and we’re going to go out and survey all the clubs and the players, and the fans and broadcasters, and work out what worked and what didn’t, and what we’ll change for next year.”

Questioned about potential changes for 2019, Stevenson said “There’s a couple of things on field. Trying to create some more high marks which will be great, some more contested football would be good, how can we use the corners more,”

One issue set to be reviewed is the fixtures and the short time between the last pool game and the grand final, with Hawthorn and Sydney having around a 10-minute break before their respective decider.

“The model we took was to fixture all the games out, so an alternative could be to have a more fluid fixture so you could try and engineer the live games a little bit earlier and give the teams a break,” Stevenson said.

He wasn’t overly concerned that most clubs named just a handful of established stars.

“We think the game was really strong even without all of those established stars,” he said.

“I felt we had a good mix, established stars, and we saw some new names that I think will give us some pretty good excitement as the year goes on.”

https://www.sportsnews.com.au/afl/aflx-here-to-stay-with-a-tweak-or-two/418787

@boh

I have read some local Sydney articles which state AFL is growing. Football is also. It's RL that is declining.

You would have to take the girls boost into consideration though.

NRLW will start soon, but I can see it catching on participation wise.

Lol 9,000 ykthey reckon? You could literally count the people. Fmd

Kosmina telling the truth about the politics of Football in Adelaide

KURZ upset at pitch but won’t start a turf war” read the headline.Well, he mightn’t but I will. The state of Coopers Stadium after the AFLX experiment last Thursday evening is a nothing short of a disgrace.To expect Adelaide United, a club known not only in Australia but the whole of Asia, to play a competition match in the A-League, the country’s premier football competition that is viewed around the world, on a pitch in that condition, is scandalous.

It’s embarrassing for whoever is responsible. Ultimately it’s the State Government that needs to wear this one – and not just the current one but those that preceded it ... at least all the way back to when the bidding process was beginning for the 2000 Olympics.Back then the old Soccer Federation had a long-term lease on the ground. But when the State Government wanted to jump on the Olympic bandwagon only football (soccer) could provide the means. So Hindmarsh, as it was then, fell into the government’s hands and what we see today was built. Apart from a lick of paint here and there, nothing has changed since.Adelaide United is the major tenant and it is disrespectful to the club by whichever bunch of muppets are in control to allow this situation to occur.The Foo Fighters were there the week preceding the club’s last home game and now, two days before an important match, they allow a game of “lollipop” footy to destroy the surface. Couldn’t it have been played at Norwood Oval like the AFLW was? Why doesn’t Adelaide have a designated concert venue that has at least the capacity of Coopers? Why isn’t Coopers under the control of football?Reds filthy at AFLXGovernments in South Australia have invested some funds into the local game at the local level with artificial pitches at West Beach and The Parks and more recently funded an artificial pitch at Modbury. But the amounts are chicken feed compared to what’s been invested into footy and cricket.Half a billion dollars at Adelaide Oval for Aussie rules and cricket, and the latter copped an $80m write-off of debts along the way – hardly a fair spread of funds.But then, it is only soccer, as those outside the game still refer to it, and they have to spend something because it might be worth a few votes.Which leads me to FFA chief executive David Gallop’s comments that the game needs to be marketed better to grassroots players to turn them into A-League fans.Sounds nice, David, but that will take a long time. Marketing football is very difficult in this country because, as I’ve said in this forum before, the media is dominated by rival codes – maybe controlled is a better word.Reds press conferenceEvery time football bobs its head up there’s always a foot nearby to stomp it back down. That may sound a tad cynical but I’ve been around long enough to know it’s true.I get plenty of calls from radio stations that more often than not want to talk about the doom and gloom.Short of winning this year’s World Cup nothing is going to change for quite a while. And when you have governments of whichever persuasion that just pay lip service to the sport, that just makes it all the more difficult.

That was actually higher than what the AFLX got.

WTF @FFA @WLeague we’re at @AllianzStadium for final today and only one side of the stadium is available to fans!? So the shady side is empty whilst everyone has to sit in the baking sun. What, you want the stands look full on tv? Women’s game treated as second best. @LucyZelic
Embedded
Embedded


At least AFL let people sit in the shade to not try and make it look better on tv. #FFAstuff

Unless there was 8 000 sitting on the camera side that figure is complete garbage.

Did see a photo confirming this.

Yes the camera side appeared full.

Why are all of you so obsessed with AFLX?

You're just like the AFL with football.

People are discussing something that directly impacts Australian football on an Australian football forum.

AFLX’s spectacular debut sets up global campaign

12:00AM February 19, 2018
Brisbane Lion’s midfielder Mitch Robinson in action against the Richmond Tigers during their AFLX clash at Allianz Stadium. Picture: Getty Images
Brisbane Lion’s midfielder Mitch Robinson in action against the Richmond Tigers during their AFLX clash at Allianz Stadium. Picture: Getty Images
AFLX is here to stay following a hugely popular three-day introduction.

The inaugural short-game ­concept with new and adapted rules attracted more than 40,000 fans to tournaments in Adelaide, Melbourne and Sydney, and rated well on television.

Allianz Stadium in Sydney got its first taste of modified Australian football with 9892 spectators on Saturday night. Coopers Stadium in Adelaide launched the series on Thursday night with a near-­capacity crowd of 10,253 while ­Etihad Stadium in Melbourne ­attracted 22,585 on Friday night.

The success of AFLX will prompt the league to introduce the new concept around the world, starting almost certainly in Hong Kong in November next year with as many as six clubs initially involved.

Before then, AFLX general manager of China and India Dave Stevenson said there would be “some tinkering” around the structure of the shortened version of the game. “We might look at such things as changing the zones or adding more players than the current seven,” he said.

Seven-a-side AFLX marked the start to the code’s pre-season ­practice matches, with the JLT Com­mun­ity Series beginning on Saturday before the first game of the premiership season on March 22.

The Crows, Demons and ­Brisbane remained undefeated in their games by taking out the grand ­finals in the three divisions.

Stevenson told The Australian yesterday the league had interest from “multiple” clubs, promoters and international stadiums to play the game overseas from 2019. “We’ve even been contacted by ­recently retired players interested in participating in the new format in the future,” Stevenson said.

The AFL will today send out surveys to clubs, players, fans and broadcasters on their AFLX ­experience with a full executive ­review to be conducted on ­Wednesday.

“Across the board, we were very happy, and crowd figures at all three venues came in above forecast,” Stevenson said.

“If you look through the crowd numbers that we got at each of the three, through the player feedback, through the club feedback, through the ratings, it very much exceeded our expectations.”

On opening night, the 3½-hour broadcast on Fox Footy drew 82,000 viewers, while a free-to-air audience on 7Two peaked at 643,000 viewers, with an average audience of 171,000.

The AFL was encouraged that viewers were not turned off by a lack of involvement of each club’s best players, which is not unusual at this time of the year.

“We wouldn’t have put all this effort in if we thought it was just a one-year proposition,” Stevenson said. “There’s definitely some things we’ll change and we’ll tweak along the way. We learned some things that we’ll improve and we’ll get feedback from all our stakeholders, including the fans. We’ll do a post mortem … and work out what worked and what didn’t, and what we’ll change for next year.”

High on the list of improvements will be initiatives to encourage high marks and more contested football.

The AFLX fixture will also be reviewed, but clubs will not be forced to play their most experienced stars. “An alternative could be to have a more fluid fixture so you could try and engineer the live games a little bit earlier and give the teams a break before the grand finals,” Stevenson said.

“We think the game was really strong even without all of those ­established stars. I felt we had a good mix of established stars, and we saw some new names that I think will give us some pretty good excitement as the year goes on.”

There were teething problems and the silver balls were replaced by yellow ones midway through the Adelaide tournament after complaints from the Seven Network. The broadcasters found the silver ball difficult to see on television, as did the players in action.

Coaches and players were generally very supportive of the concept. Geelong coach Chris Scott led a chorus of support, which included his twin brother Brad at North Melbourne, in approving the format, saying it was not only an elite-level spectacle but an invaluable game involving just seven players at any one time for children to become accustomed to before graduating to the traditional game.

“Our footy club really supports the concept,” he said. “We think it not only has a good chance at the top level but probably, more ­importantly, it has a good chance to succeed at the amateur level, and internationally as well.

“I have a view, and I think it’s shared by a few of the senior coaches around the competition, that 18 versus 18 on a huge field is not the right way to go for young kids who can only kick the ball 30m. I think this (AFLX) is a really good way to learn the game.”

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/sport/afl/aflxs-spectacular-debut-sets-up-global-campaign/news-story/0daab46984ea6d7cacbb8e6ebcb09d48

You can see them wanting to do 3 mini tournaments overseas spread out. So it takes over the media in some areas.
"Who is going to HK."

"These are the first Australian to ever visit Singapore"

"Tigers star Johno and Pies star Robbo try to eat with chop sticks"

Then after that 9 weeks is over, have more games in Australia.

So basically , instead of the bogans going to Bali. They are now hopping onto the AFLX overseas junkets... Subsidised by govt who are hoodwinked into thinking its going to boost trade and tourism relations ? LoL

The shanghai event , in real terms whats the net gain here ? certainly no new sponsors or not the massive influx of new fans..

The A League needs to sort it shit out, and better and more engagement with SEAsia...Local Football in thailand & Malaysia is growing....

What’s the most popular sport In Hong Kong?

table tennis ?
dragon boat racing ?
golf?
AFL

Gambling??/

  While crowd numbers were comparatively low and the television ratings modest, the Australian Football League is claiming success after the first round of its experimental format, AFLX.

  "We want to listen to the fans and the players and the clubs, and the broadcasters, and decide how do we make some of those changes and make it even better next year.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-02-19/was-the-afls-new-experimental-format-aflx-a-success/9460896