2017 International Footy Coverage

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RedV3x said:
To have a meaningful discussion about Australian Football overseas you first have to recognize that different regions have different approaches.
Significant investment in the southern hemisphere w.r.t. the RSA, PNG and NZ.
AFL Combines in North america and England.
Modest investment in the South Pacific. Some help with organic football in Europe, North America and Asia.
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It seems some people are more interested in shooting from the hip than having a meaningful discussion about the development of Australian Football.
People continue to ignore the large-scale developments in the RSA, PNG and NZ.
There are significant youth and adult competitions in the RSA that would not exist without Footywild's existance.
The PNG is undergoing significant growth within their community framework plus new schools programs.
NZ has a multi-level approach with Kiwi-kick, exhibition games, development officers and a national competition.
Let's be clear here. That is done with money.

It's organic growth for most of the rest of the world. But even modest investment can leverage great results.
The introduction of AFL Europe, AFL Pacific and AFL Asia has added organisational skills that have indirectly boosted local numbers.
It seems more competition drives more interest.

There is a lot to mention in the development of Australian Football so much so that most people are totally unaware
of new developments like India that could be potentially explosive.

Much is made of the various Auskick style programs around the world invariably centreing on numbers and legitimacy.
It's unfortunate that we don't have the breakdown on participation figures because Auskick numbers are extremely important.
If we had breakdown figures that it would be a lot easier to access conversion rates into other competitions.
Again it's false to assume that "conversion" is a set percentage.
IMO the next phase in organic growth will centre around junior development based on some highly successful models.
Some programs are only held back by the lack of game instructors. The latest approach is to teach the teachers.
IMO this could be the most effective use of modest investment.

Maybe when people get their heads around these developments we can move onto the one development instrument
that I've never seen discussed w.r.t. Australian Football discussion.
 
RedV3x said:
Slightly offtrack, but do you agree with the business sentiment that it's easier to become a big pod in a little city than a little pod in a big city?

It is possible to get some media coverage in a town rather than a city. I see many examples of this.
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I would tend to agree with this. But in my experience, there are two different sets of growth:

Larger cities and cities that have large bases of foreign workers. New York, Los Angeles, Denver, Houston, etc. -- these are all cities with industries that attract a large number of Australians (relatively speaking) who must now grow their club in exceedingly crowded environments. New York, for example -- a metro area with 18 million people. It's the largest population pool in the country, and the amount of sporting options available boggles the mind. That said, there are more Aussies and more people associated to get the word out.

Then you have the smaller cities (Under two million) -- Sacramento, Columbus, Tulsa, Des Moines, etc. The Midwest has fewer sporting options to compete with. Gridiron, soccer, baseball, and basketball are big in these areas, but after that, you don't have other sports clamoring for attention that you do in, say, New York, where you have cricket and rugby and more individual sports. It's worth noting that the four examples I've given are 95-100% American. Sacramento was founded by Australians, the others by Americans. In all four cases, the founders were involved with other USAFL clubs prior to starting up clubs in their new cities.

So the "big fish/little pond" analogy is good for these smaller cities, especially ones that have a younger population looking for a new sport to try or follow. But here in the states, you can't really tell unless you dive into the market. That goes for any sport.
 
jatz14 said:
For me, growth is shown when you have self sustaining clubs and comps, preferably with attached junior's.

Self sustaining is when the bulk of the club, and the bulk of the organising behind the club are local, not expat. If the prospect of a handful of key Aussies leaving leaves the club at the verge of collapse, it doesn't represent growth, it was just a bunch of footy deprived Aussies abroad.

Junior's is independent junior clubs with kids who are there to play football. It isn't a few week promo comp, or Auskick like program because a school sees it as a cheap way of getting some new sport into kids.

...

For adults, the US is getting there, but it has to have real junior's to advance much further, and there is no real action there. Canada similar, junior's might be a little better.
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I want to address this because there are a ton of good points here.

Absolutely 100% agree that juniors is imperative to the growth of the game and talent, anywhere. I also agree that it's sorely needed here in the US. We have one program, in Washington DC, and thus far it's yielded one player into B/W Eagles. Dan Lehane came up through the New York Magpies as a teenager, and was playing for the World XVIII and eventually interned at AFLQ. But outside of that, there's very, very little.

Denis Ryan, who was president of the USAFL from 2013 through this past March, spent about two years on the road going across the country introducing the game to schools under the "USFooty Kids" banner. I don't know what the tangible paybacks have come from that program, to be honest.

That goes to your point, that it's about sustained interest in the game, not just a clinic and the hope that a bunch of kids will like it and want to stick with it. But there's also something to be said for the "fleeting glance" approach. Sometimes it just takes a spark of inspiration or interest. Hell, that's how I got into the game, simply flicking around the TV channels, going "hello, what's this?" That's why we're trying to push doing Facebook ads for the tournaments and for stories and for IC17 coverage. There are many people in the US who don't know what our game is yet and the best thing we can do is keep shouting.

In order to sustain junior programs, we need resources. This is where the AFL stepping in with a plan and money to be able to do this would really, really help. Just saying.

Now, in regard to turnover and our expats vs locals, as I've stated previously, I would estimate that about 70-75% of the overall USAFL member base is American, and for the women it's about 90-95%. Of the 39 clubs, more than half have American presidents (including nine women, again all American born and raised), and there are a great deal more of American board members and coaches. The hierarchy of the league and umpires association are mostly American. In recent cases were we have seen clubs go dark, it has been general turnover, not just Australians leaving the club. So the notion (I'm generalizing) that we are a group of expats just doing this because of homesickness holds no water.

If you don't think Americans are interested or know what this game is and want to become energized by it, all you have to do is look at the chatter following ESPN's mass layoffs a couple of months ago, and people saying "I miss when they used to show Australian Rules Football." Hell, every day or so people still say it. I've been using the league twitter account to let people know that the game is still here, on TV, and in their backyards.

Bottom line, considering what we're up against, we're doing a darn good job, in my opinion. There are still a lot of things that need to be improved, and some of them are out of our control. But it's unfair to say that we're stagnant, and it's also unfair to say that marketing the IC to an American audience won't help that growth.
 

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BigBrainUSA said:
In order to sustain junior programs, we need resources. This is where the AFL stepping in with a plan and money to be able to do this would really, really help. Just saying.
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The problems with overseas expansion are in part a product of Australian Football's increasing popularity in that Australian Football is played regularly
in over 50 countres a.t.m. Who do choose to help ? The AFL has chosen to invest where it sees it can gain the greatest leverage.

The U.S.A. has done a great job of diversifying it's appeal and was a forerunner of creating the metro model to reduce travel and increase competition.
But there are still a number of people in the USAFL still too AFL-centric and reject help.

Canada has some amazing programs running. They don't need money for programs. Canada needs money to keep up with demand and they
even have a strategy to deal with that. If there is any money for the organic growth of football that's where I'd be putting the money.

Whilst it's very easy to criticize the AFL on the macro stage e.g. coverage clubs and leagues really have to do it on the micro level.
 
The_Wookie said:
Of which more than half are in NZ "kiwi kick" programs. Lets not get carried away here.
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Deja vu. How many are going repeat the same thing ?

TWLS said:
The 2016 AFL Annual Report is online, and it now consists of 81 pages.
Participation -130,000 across all markets (Would include Auskick programs in several countries not nominated)
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The_Wookie said:
As many as want to. I guess.
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IMO there are three considerations about participation figures in the absence of breakdown figures.

1. Taken as a relative measure they are increasing.
2. The Auskick programs are of the modified football type and not the netball type.
3. Takeup rates vary in number, time and type. Some have moved straight into school competition.
 

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The_Wookie said:
obviously werent paying attention when reading the article. had more to do with physical presence than just his height. In fact it went into some depth to explain it.
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Yes, got nothing to do with being 6' 10".
It's a fluff piece FFS. Love to to get excited but in the scheme of things it's just a fluff piece.
You do know what a fluff piece is don't you ?
 
RedV3x said:
Yes, got nothing to do with being 6' 10".
It's a fluff piece FFS. Love to to get excited but in the scheme of things it's just a fluff piece.
You do know what a fluff piece is don't you ?
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Im well aware of what a fluff piece is. You do know the article goes well beyond his height right? frankly, I dont think you've read it.
 
The_Wookie said:
Im well aware of what a fluff piece is. You do know the article goes well beyond his height right? frankly, I dont think you've read it.
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And I'm well aware of what edge cross-training can do.
In this case, IMO, it's a great little story and that's about all.
I don't think anyone is suggesting that basket-ballers play a little AFL.
In the football codes cross-training is very beneficial.
 
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