Should the AFL market the game as Football?

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Soccer Australia made a huge blunder with the football name change. It helped squander the kickstart they got from the government by putting Football and Rugby fans offside which has really hurt the A-League (which has half the league in financial trouble)
 
Puddy said:
Soccer Australia made a huge blunder with the football name change. It helped squander the kickstart they got from the government by putting Football and Rugby fans offside which has really hurt the A-League (which has half the league in financial trouble)
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If someone is turned off a game simply by the name, they're a moron and unlikely to be a loyal fan.
 
Underdog said:
If someone is turned off a game simply by the name, they're a moron and unlikely to be a loyal fan.
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Soccer in Australia needs more than loyal fans, that is why the A-league is in trouble. They need to target Football and Rugby fans to gain any foothold, the government concessions wont last forever when the govt. finally see Soccer as the waste of money it has been (almost $50 million lost on a world cup Australia didnt want).

If the AFL marketed Football as Football would they get Rugby fans offside?
 

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Underdog said:
If someone is turned off a game simply by the name, they're a moron and unlikely to be a loyal fan.
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if it were ONLY the naming issue then there'd be far, far less of an issue.

The problems I've had are numourous and the 'name' is but one.

The thing that get's me is the argument that we HAVE to fit in with the worldwide conventions which in any comparable nation were NOT conventions.

ME - I prefer to trade on unique selling points rather than generic sameness.

In Australia though - the soccer fraternity have fought a campaign anti the use of 'soccer' and anti the sharing of 'football'.

Mostly they ignore the commonality of 'football' (i.e. it is an umbrella term, like beer, as distinct to individual variants like stout, draught, and further distinct to individual brands).
Most they ignore the use of 'soccer' back home in the UK, such well regarded publications as 'World Soccer' (ask Les Murray how much he reveres his first edition copy), and the famous Soccer Scene shop in Carnaby street.
Mostly they ignore that 'soccer' was a British invention and not a pseudo 4 letter word invented by Americans or Ch.7 to kill off their game.
 
I hate it when someone from a soccer or rugby back ground asks do you play "AFL"??

No I play footy, I wish I was good enough to play AFL..

I like most people call our game 'footy' or 'football' or even 'aussie rules football' but to be honest I wish we had a different name like soccer and rugby.. Because then we could just call our game that, not worry about comparing it to the other sports and let it build up and take over the world.

It is the best game in the world, the name doesn't really matter. The game is different to rugby and soccer, yet constantly gets compared. You don't see people comparing soccer and basketball, or even people saying tennis is better than cricket. They are accepted as two different sports.

Maybe brand the name 'footy'? And get away from football. So it would be the Australian Footy League? Or just come up with a completely different name. We could start calling the game 'Marngrook'
 
Dimenhydrinate said:
Hang on, so would you say that countries like France, Germany, Italy, etc. are "culturally weak" because they prefer playing an English game rather than a game of their own?
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No, I think he is saying they play European style Football.
England is part of Europe ergo European football the same as Victorian Rules is now Australian Rules.

FWIW, the simple solution is for everyone to call soccer FIFA. :p
 
bebji said:
I hate it when someone from a soccer or rugby back ground asks do you play "AFL"??

No I play footy, I wish I was good enough to play AFL..

I like most people call our game 'footy' or 'football' or even 'aussie rules football' but to be honest I wish we had a different name like soccer and rugby.. Because then we could just call our game that, not worry about comparing it to the other sports and let it build up and take over the world.

It is the best game in the world, the name doesn't really matter. The game is different to rugby and soccer, yet constantly gets compared. You don't see people comparing soccer and basketball, or even people saying tennis is better than cricket. They are accepted as two different sports.

Maybe brand the name 'footy'? And get away from football. So it would be the Australian Footy League? Or just come up with a completely different name. We could start calling the game 'Marngrook'
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I like to think 'footy' to Australian Football is the equivalent of 'soccer' to Association Football.

Agree with the rest of your post, though.
 
LightTower4 said:
No, I think he is saying they play European style Football.
England is part of Europe ergo European football the same as Victorian Rules is now Australian Rules.

FWIW, the simple solution is for everyone to call soccer FIFA. :p
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Yeah and the Germans drink English beer and the French eat sauerkraut, and the Belgians play cricket. :rolleyes:
 
I can provide examples and it is usually from the media or corporations who have little respect for Australian culture. In contrast, in America you couldn't get away with the same type of advertisement as mentioned below about Qantas supporting "Australian football"(soccer).

Imagine if in America they did that with soccer. American Airlines supports "American football" ala soccer. They wouldn't even dare.

Then you have newspapers - a lot of them The Australian, The Sydney Morning Herald etc - if you go onto their websites- refer to soccer as football and in some articles "Australian football". Again, imagine if they even tried that in America....it just wouldn't even be an option.

You also have the pure distaste of many media outlets/tv stations of Australian football in preference to English rugby league and rugby union. All to me indicate culturally we aren't as strong as the Americans are with their culture.

This seems to prove to me is that we are weak culturally when compared to the Americans. Do you think the Americans would give one cohoot about what the result of wolverhampton divers vs uptheclackers united?
Yet we are saturated in the media with stories/results of sports played 40,000 kilometres away from us.
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lol @ the weak culture argument. *shaking my head in disbelief*

Culture has nothing to do with it.

The fact is that in Australia nobody has a monopoly on the term "football". Football can be used to refer to the rugbies, footy and soccer depending on the region and the context of the person that says it.

Unlike in the US where it is unanimous across the country. Don't try to find a conspiracy where there isn't any and get a life.
 
This thread highlights the real problem of hardcore AFL fans unable to accept any other code besides there own.

AFL - The only code that gets offended due to a massive insecurity at it only being popular in a few states.

:thumbsdown:
 
TriX78 said:
This thread highlights the real problem of hardcore AFL fans unable to accept any other code besides there own.

AFL - The only code that gets offended due to a massive insecurity at it only being popular in a few states.

:thumbsdown:
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Its actually popular in all states depending where abouts you are in that state. Wagga Wagga , Cairns. Popular at both.
As for the other states ( yes there 4 others ) its the majority.
Some of the territories rate it highly as well, though not the one where the ********s sit.


Cmon if Monaco declared war on China, China wouldn't be but hurt but they would marvel at the absurdity of it.

I marvel at the absurdity of Australian Football , meaning anything other than Aussie Rules.
 
TriX78 said:
This thread highlights the real problem of hardcore AFL fans unable to accept any other code besides there own.
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How can draw that conclusion ?
Australian Football is football and has always been known as football and only needs an adjective when in the company of other footballs.

If anything that comment should be directed at soccer.

TriX78 said:
only being popular in a few states.
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Australian Football is popular in all states and the most popular in four of the states and sometimes five depending on what criteria is used.
Your comment would be better directed at rl.
 

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I think the AFL commission should at the very least drop the L as they are the governing body of the sport, so they would be the Australian Football Commission that operates the AFL on behalf of the clubs and oversees the sport of Australian Football

Would be good is they renamed the state bodies whilst they are at it.

i.e. AFL Victoria, should probably be either Australian Football Victoria (AFV) or Victorian Football Commission (VFC) or the Victorian Australian Football Commission (VAFC) or Victorian Football Association (VFA)

AFL Queensland, should be AFQ or QFC or QAFC ect.

or stipulate that the L in governing bodies signifies Leagues not League.
 
randyzany said:
lol @ the weak culture argument. *shaking my head in disbelief*

Culture has nothing to do with it.

The fact is that in Australia nobody has a monopoly on the term "football". Football can be used to refer to the rugbies, footy and soccer depending on the region and the context of the person that says it.

Unlike in the US where it is unanimous across the country. Don't try to find a conspiracy where there isn't any and get a life.
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The trouble is that soccer claims a monopoly on it, and alot of the media goes along with that. They call soccer football but call Australian football AFL even when they are talking about other leagues or the game in general. When they absolutely have to distinguish between codes the ABC will sometimes go to the absurd lengths of saying "Football (soccer)". But they will never call our game Football, Australian Football or even "Football (Australian)"
But it really s**ts me when people like Francis Leach call soccer "Australian Football".
 
In SA, all our media outlets (The Advertiser, Channel 7, 9 and 10 news, radio 5aa etc) all call it football.
 
cos789 said:
How can draw that conclusion ?
Australian Football is football and has always been known as football and only needs an adjective when in the company of other footballs.

If anything that comment should be directed at soccer.
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Wut? I follow all four codes: Melbourne Victory in the A-League, Melbourne Storm in the NRL, Melbourne Rebels in Super Rugby and Carlton in the AFL. Most Victory supporters also follow the AFL.

AFL supporters are usually the only ones calling for an "our way or the highway" solution.
 
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