I like the sport of Australian Rules football (let's differentiate the sport from the name of the one professional league that exists to play it), but 100% agree to frustration at the waste that goes into international promotion and trying to force it into markets that don't exist. 

As someone more interested in state league footy than the AFL it absolutely disgusts me how is thrown down the toilet when the state leagues are crying for money. They're slowing destroying the foundations of the game with their stupidity and arrogance and I hope it all falls in on them one day.

Decentric,
Your relief in what you experience in other parts of the country when getting away from the southern state's daily diet of AFL propaganda I discovered decades ago. Can only be matched by a similar feel in getting away from the Victorian leftist unions.

I have to say I it was just as bad in Tasmania and by the sounds of it it hasn't changed much. Oh yes, sure we are hearing a lot more about soccer and how everyone wants it because there's a lack of national representation of football in any code in the state. But when push comes to shove the AFL will in an instance, when it so desires bully themselves into the scene and have soccer dumped into irrelevance. They will have most of the population backing them too, including the state government when it comes to a choice.

As someone from NSW I never once touched a Sherrin until I was 15 and played it in PE class. There were few (if any) local leagues in Sydney at that time for juniors.

My biggest objection is not to the sport itself, which deserves respect. I still casually follow the Swans and I can appreciate the skill. I celebrated in 2005 with everyone else.

My biggest objection is to what I call "football imperialism" - the billions of dollars spent by State and Federal governments to promote AFL in NSW, whether it be stadium upgrades or school programs or whatever.

If you think back over the last 20 years, the AFL has got whatever it wanted in NSW from governments - funding the oval shaped Olympic stadium, upgrading Spotless and the SCG, and govt funding all over the place on grassroots AFL programs.

Every time the AFL has rattled the tin the governments have thrown money at them, but when Football, Rugby Union Rugby League come asking for stadium and facilities upgrades they have (until very recently) been told to wait their turn.

More money has been spent on trying to convert people in NSW to sports we don't follow than to give funding to sports we actually do play in big numbers.

No one kicks the egg on the school grounds lol. 

LOL!

Music to my ears!

In southern states any sportsperson often of international standing is frequently compared to AFL players as some sort of criterion of high quality!

I find it really annoying that Nathan Lyon, one of  the best off spin bowlers to play for Australia,  has been nicknamed 'Gary' because of a talentless AFL nobody hack, called Gary Lyon, who has played domestic club Aussie rules in OZ.

Nobody in NSW and Queensland, or any other  international cricket playing nation, would know who Gary Lyon is!

I'm not sure where you live, but people  who are supposedly intelligent in every other sphere  in southern states, still think that AFL just has to be exposed to any country and it will become the dominant sport!

NSW residents correctly argue that they have 100 years  exposure to AFL and it has gained virtually no traction.

Decentric, one for you..

I live in Sydney & AFL is irrelevant here, despite all the money they are shoving in NSW, it's till a shit sport that we cannot understand, no knock on when you drop the ball, no cross bar, no goalie, pts for missing.
As the Guardian portrayed it. 'It's like seagulls fighting over a chip'.

Always a laugh to read about the AFL and their international efforts. Last time they were ignored in China they were hyping the global appeal of Jason Akermanis.

I grew up in Qld and played AFL. That's why I hate myself.

But tbf growing up watching Wayne Bennett interviews on the news didn't do much for my character.

I am so sick of hearing about about AFL living in Tasmania.

When I'm in the league/union states, of NSW and Queensland, it is a pleasure to hear far less about AFL and consigning it to the irrelevance it is in terms of international sport. It is the only thing I dislike about living in a southern state in Australia.

 So much wasted money and media coverage is wasted on a sport nobody plays anywhere else on the world. I've travelled to 25 odd countries and  have never heard or read one word about stupid Aussie Rules!  Kids in urban school playgrounds don't play Aussie rules  anymore. Media saturation keeps it alive.

All other sports with the possible  exception of cricket's BBL are adversely effected by the amount  of resources that go into this stupid, irrelevant game.

I love reading comments on this  forum when residents of Queensland and NSW make disparaging comments about AFL. It is music to my ears! 

AFL reveals its Twenty20 vision that can be taken to the world

THE AFL is continuing to secretly trial a Twenty20-inspired version of the game that it believes can take hold in countries across the world, including China.

AFLX is a high-octane, seven-a-side version of football played on soccer-sized grounds with quarters shortened to 10 minutes.

The concept only needs one umpire, there are no centre bounces and the game is restarted with a kick in from full-back after each goal.

Port Adelaide chairman David Koch believes AFLX is ideal to help their push into China.

Koch said there were already 14 Chinese schools playing an AFL competition in Shanghai.

“We’ve had Auskick and AFL approved by the Chinese education department in Beijing to be an approved sport to play at school,” he said.

“So they’re massive steps forward for us to try the game up there. But it’s all about the field and that’s why sevens is a way better option.”


David Koch’s Port Adelaide will play Gold Coast in Shanghai for premiership points. Picture: Glenn Hampson
AFL general manager of game development Simon Lethlean told the Sunday Herald Sun they have had two trials, one involving North Melbourne at Arden St last month, with a third to be held in the next two weeks.

But Lethlean said AFLX was still some time away from being rolled out in public.

“We got some great feedback from the Kangaroos about some of the rules and what they enjoyed,” he said.

“We’re going to trial a few more things to bed down how we think the game looks and feels and then the next plan after that is to work out when we’re going to roll it out in some competitive fashion.”

Koch said Port Adelaide’s Round 8 clash with the Gold Coast Suns in Shanghai on Sunday, May 14 was being played on an old golf driving range.

“You can’t find big grass areas in China,” he said.

“There are lots of soccer pitches and there’s a massive move in China to win the soccer World Cup in the late 2020s so they’re building all these soccer stadiums over there.

“It (AFLX) is certainly the way to take the game overseas, to play on rectangular fields so it makes absolute sense to do it.”


AFL general manager of game development Simon Lethlean.
A source who was involved in one of the AFLX trials said while he had been sceptical, the concept could take off overseas.

“It’s fast-paced, high scoring. It’s just go, go, go,” the source said.

“All the best aspects of the game remain. You could see schools in China making it part of their curriculum where they’ve got soccer pitches. It actually has a little bit of merit.”

Lethlean said while AFLX had been developed for an international audience it could also feature on the domestic sporting calendar.

“Whether there’s a domestic opportunity here for us to have AFL clubs or others competing in an AFL Express type competition or round robin or in some sort of pre-season environment or we have an exhibition game with the best 20 players in Australia, who knows,” he said.

“Any time you can get the best players playing in a different, fun format, I think it’s shown it can be successful in other sports and we think our product’s as good as everyone’s so we’re trying to find different ways and options to play.”

Legendary coach Kevin Sheedy said he always enjoyed the promotion of AFL internationally.

“As I said previously at the AFL conference, we haven’t really broken away from Australia yet,” Sheedy said.

“We haven’t earnt one euro, one yen, one US dollar out of any other country. So it’s good to see that we’re going to start now.”

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/afl/more-news/afl-reveals-its-twenty20-vision-that-can-be-taken-to-the-world/news-story/549181c5574f9770eed8e2b84b3fd0f6

No Olympics no chance.

China is investing heavily in Union. They also have a domestic team in the KHL.

AFL are just doing more media to get Australians used to the idea. This is about running AFL comps 52 weeks a year in Australia.

Don't deflect wanker. Answer the question.

"Many local soccer coaches and players believe it should be the other way round – that AFL junior clubs which sometimes field only one age group side should be told by councils to share grounds with local rivals to free up their expansive ovals to junior soccer teams, who could make several training pitches out of one footy oval."

Fucking amen! 

Perhaps the AFL can take the minutes.

Steady on, at this very moment we have FIFA and their Asian friends about to review the books and teach the FFA all about governance.

Would it really get in the way of soccer over the summer?

Are FIFA laws of the game passed by both houses smart arse?

They just want to phyically get in the way of football now. . Invade and occupy. Dickheads.

That coupled with the fact that they have such little belief in their flagship product, that they're clutching at straws with this ridulous idea... i actually pity them.

Who was that poster who was convinced I had been hired by the Qatar WC organising committee?  One of the charming aspects of being a regular poster here.

I tell you what - no shortage of tin foil hats on this board.

If you don't get paid by the AFL you are stupid. If you do....

Michael Lynch has got things a bit wrong.

This AFL7s idea is not really about grassroots footy, junior comps, or anything like that.

It's about playing a professional comp during the Summer, precisely when soccer pitches are NOT being used.

It's a perfect fit for everyone,  and soccer officials should be enthusiastic about the AFL using the major soccer infrastructure during the summer months.

AFL know their market 

https://thingsboganslike.com/tag/x/

Source?

Not enough facilities for soccer clubs to play on, never mind AFL X plan

 

Michael Lynch

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The AFL might have a fantasy about using soccer pitches to pioneer a new short form of the oval ball game, but unless millions of dollar are spent on developing new soccer infrastructure the chances of footy's governing body getting its new concept up and running are limited, according to soccer officials.

Fairfax Media revealed this week that the AFL brains trust had come up with a plan to develop a seven-a-side version of footy which could be played on a much smaller soccer pitch.

The idea, it was said, could help popularise the sport at home and abroad because the huge ovals required to play the nine-a-side version of Australian rules didn't exist overseas.

Soccer officials on Thursday reacted with surprise to reports about the AFL concept, suggesting there simply were not enough pitches and grounds in the country to sustain existing demand from burgeoning soccer clubs, never mind footy teams hoping to muscle in on the terrain.

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"The battle for facilities is already pretty intense around the country at grass-roots level between existing codes," said Emma Highwood, the head of the FFA's community and development department.

"There is a lot of sharing that already exists between different sports who lease grounds – soccer clubs often co-exist with cricket clubs using venues in the summer months. 

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"Our clubs all have leases on grounds, but oversubscription and shortages are the biggest issue we face. There are not enough pitches and training and playing grounds to cope with the demand that soccer has already.

"There are several clubs around the country who have to turn children away who want to play because they can't service the demand. Football is growing, and we need more pitches and facilities, synthetic pitches would be ideal."

Victorian soccer administrators gave the same message – that demand for soccer pitches widely outstrips supply.

"The AFL has not been in touch with us over this but there is definitely a capacity issue already which the state government and councils are all aware of," one insider said.

The government has given the FFA money to conduct a facilities audit to show where existing demand needs to be addressed for the thousands of youngsters who already play the game but lack the facilities to do so properly.

"We have plenty of anecdotal evidence about clubs, particularly in the south-east and the west, who have to turn kids away because they just don't have anywhere to train. We had a 20 per cent growth in registered players over the last two years, there are now just over 66,000 registered players in Victoria."

Many local soccer coaches and players believe it should be the other way round – that AFL junior clubs which sometimes field only one age group side should be told by councils to share grounds with local rivals to free up their expansive ovals to junior soccer teams, who could make several training pitches out of one footy oval.

*The turmoil at the Newcastle Jets continued on Thursday afternoon when assistant coach Luciano Trani, who had been at the club less than three months, parted company with the Hunter Valley team.

Jets CEO Lawrie McKinna, the former Central Coast Mariners coach, confirmed that Trani – who worked with Melbourne City for the previous two seasons – had been let go.

On Wednesday coach Scott Miller was sacked by the A-League club over what was described as differences of football philosophy.

McKinna said the club wanted to give whoever gets the job as head coach the chance to appoint his own assistant.

Former Socceroo striker and one-time Newcastle player Clayton Zane, who is the youth team boss, has been placed in interim charge.

This is true, in any event, AFL9s is a recreational product for the Summer months, it's not intended as being a product that can be sold to the networks.

Clearly, this 7s things is a small-sided variant with the express purpose of selling as a viewing product.  And given there isn't much live sport on TV during the Summer, and soccer pitches are available, it definitely looks like an idea worth exploring.

That is common in mixed sports. In some indoor soccer competitions men aren't allowed to score. In Oztag and touch female tries are worth 2 points opposed to 1 point for a male try.
It is so that you don't have the whole game come down to a match between one or two males on either team. If you have opportunity you are always going to try to involve a female player in scoring as it is worth more.

Well, it's hardly a statute.

Not really seeing as back then the kids would have been 9 years old. The effect of that should be seen in the next year or two not to mention the quality of young players coming through which at this age should be in their mid teens. Kids that are now 15 would have gone through the whole process.