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JUSTWORK said:
Doesn't matter if its november and you do an ACL, or break a leg.
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The clubs are not gonna field strong sides so what experience would he get in a dud game like this anyway? Is it even suited to his size? then add in injury risk
 

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Lockhart Road said:
Gremio, you are an incredible sudden addition to the PAFC faithful on BigFooty. But please mate calm down.

The ‘X’ is designed to keep the on-field contingent flexible internationally.

In Australia the AFL has decided to start with seven, as it lines up with the proven short format for Rugby.

In Hong Kong and China, when we get it going, it will be eight. 8 is a lucky number in China, 7 is bad.

In Brazil it will be eleven, same as soccer. Not ‘football’ ... soccer.

In Italy it will be zero. They can’t even play soccer there.
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P.S.: Italians will call it "Calcio Ovale" and say that they invented it.
 
RussellEbertHandball said:
Cricket ovals around the world tend to be smaller than in Australia so those ovals fence to fence tend to be in the 120m~140m x 100m~130m which is too small for game of 18 a side.
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Footy is nice also because it has no field-dimension rule. Game would be different, but I can't believe it would be impossible to play it.

I am not saying one cannot have AFLX. In Brazil, 7-a-side soccer is very popular, but not for competitions. AFLX can work, but I would try to introduce Footy-XXII in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, South Africa, West Indies...
 
JimmyBeerCans said:
The clubs are not gonna field strong sides so what experience would he get in a dud game like this anyway? Is it even suited to his size? then add in injury risk
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I haven't named a strong side.

Ive named 2 (possibly 3) delisted free agents, 3 guys that have never played AFL 1 guy with 5 games, 2 guys with 3 games and 1 guy with 1 game.
 
GremioPower said:
Footy is nice also because it has no field-dimension rule. Game would be different, but I can't believe it would be impossible to play it.

I am not saying one cannot have AFLX. In Brazil, 7-a-side soccer is very popular, but not for competitions. AFLX can work, but I would try to introduce Footy-XXII in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, South Africa, West Indies...
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Its about investing the money to make it take off. The game is played in India and South Africa but at a very amateur level.

When the British and other Europeans took their love for soccer to South America it was all amateur and an individual here and there taking his love for the game and setting up a club that would one day become a giant of the game and not a club set up by the FA of England, Spain, Portugal etc. But 100~130 years ago there was no real other competition or professional alternatives so the game could grow rapidly after the first 10 or 20 years of development..

I know one of the guys who started the footy league in Toronto. I came home in March 1989 after 12 months in North America we played a few games of Gaelic football together and he helped start a league with 2 teams in July 1989. They initially had to play on soccer pitches and only had enough players for 12 a side games but they eventually found parks big enough to play full size games and use them during a full season. The Ontario League has 10 teams. Most teams are in Toronto but the 2 further most teams apart are about 200kms. Some teams have a B grade and some have women's teams and it is the oldest continuous league in the northern hemisphere, yet it hasn't really expanded much in terms of becoming a decent sized sport - not professional but decent sized in terms of having say to 15,000 to 20,000 boys and men playing a competitive game each week as they are competing against many other long standing traditional sports. That Toronto and Southern Ontario area has a population of about 10m~11m people, about the same population as SA + WA + Victoria.

That's why China has potential. The sports market both at amateur and professional levels is relatively new thing and given their population size, you just need to get a small slice to produce a big number of players. Get 300,0000 10 year old boys to 30 year old men out of about 400m males in that age group playing competition games every Saturday, and you get another Australian sized player market. Whist the participation numbers say 1.2m people play the game in Oz, most of that is Auskick 6 week program for kids. So that's why we have to find the right version of the game, given the lack of ovals in China and until you get some decent momentum, you won't be able to get park areas that allow you to play games week in week out for 4 or 5 months on a full sized oval. So get AFLX right helps that long term plan.

But we as a club are driving it in China but nobody apart from individuals on the ground are driving it in South Africa or India or West Indies or Bangladesh or England. The AFL did spend monies on trying to get it up and running in South Africa between 2000 and 2010, but that's because the government wanted to find a new sport for the new South Africa and the government of South Africa backed the AFL with $$$. But the AFL gave up because there was no money in it for them and the pay off was very long term, so they concentrated on growing the game in Rugby Union and League heartland of New South Wales and Queensland which have around 52% of the Australian population. Once the AFL, in 2008, said we are going to go to the Gold Coast and then 12 months later said a second team in Sydney, they abandoned any real idea of expanding internationally other than spending some funds in our neighbours NZ and PNG, and gave Hawthorn and Brisbane respectively, some incentive to spend some development $$$ that they could select any players from there as zone players without having to draft them. Both clubs after initial enthusiasm have dropped their backing for developing the game in these 2 countries. Hawthorn have rookied 3 or 4 New Zealanders but none have made it to the AFL.

In China we are going in reverse order. We went after the $$$$ first, then the government support in a one party state and got their blessing, now we are going after the development side of things with hopefully finding some players after a 10 year process. And AFLX will play an important role in that process.
 
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I don't get the misery and grumbling.

Give it a shot, people will do anything to bitch about change or doing something differently. Honestly it sounds as pathetic as the sad-sacks tossing off about our China endeavours.

The tears over players being injured is hilarious, how's it any different in that regard to playing a practice or trial game?
 
CharlieKelly said:
I don’t think AFLX will be as terrible as everyone thinks, it’ll be similar to Rugby 7s, Futsal or Arena Football (indoor NFL), I’d go along and Hindmarsh is not a bad stadium
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Futsal ("Ballroom Soccer," as we use to call it here) is a different code.

AFL could create an actual league (the AFXL) of Footy-X, with players not in any AFL list. Games could be held in the offseason.
 

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I get the whole swedge of promoting it overseas and most countries not having Australian Rules size grounds etc. but do you face the danger of it becoming the accepted form of the game internationally if it takes off down the track?
 
JimmyBeerCans said:
I get the whole swedge of promoting it overseas and most countries not having Australian Rules size grounds etc. but do you face the danger of it becoming the accepted form of the game internationally if it takes off down the track?
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And that would be a bad thing because...?
What’s the ‘danger’ you refer to?
 
Tredz said:
And that would be a bad thing because...?
What’s the ‘danger’ you refer to?
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On the flip it could potentially become a “gateway drug” and attract more overseas interest in the full-sized game.

I think the player risk is the main concern, no one wants to sacrifice a Chad Wingard on X’s altar.
 

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