Covertackle
Premiership Player
- Thread starter
- Banned
- #26
I wonder if you have ever heard of the Japan AFL (www.jafl.org). JAFL is the longest running league and only league in Asia that is run by locals. We have been playing on rugby and soccer fields for as long as football has been played here. AFL Asia is an exciting new prospect but was only started this year. There are currently 6 teams based in Tokyo and one each in Osaka and Nagoya. 5 of these teams are all Japanese, one team is a mixture of foreign and Japanese born players and two teams are expat teams. In Japan we play 9v9 on rugby fields because of all the factors listed in your post.
The JAFL season starts in May and runs through until November with a break during the hottest Summer months. I have been a player for the Osaka Dingoes (www.osakadingoes.com) and admin since 2010. A few years ago it was 11v11, but the numbers of have been reduced to nine per side due to too much congestion. 9 players makes for a more free flowing game and one where fitness is still vitally important. Unlimited numbers of players are allowed on the bench. I have posted a video of one of our recent night matches in Tokyo for you to see what this format of football might look like.
Recently the AFL have spent a fortune building a full size ground in China, but the future of promoting football in Asia is in making use of the facilities already available. I don't see why a different version of football couldn't become more popular in Australia. If cricket can do it, why can't football?
Excellent mate!
I only recently became aware of the Asian League when doing a google on AFL Indonesia. I had a heap of footy gear to give away and my Mrs was going overseas to Indonesia, Jakarta. So i googled and found the Indo website and arranged to get the footy stuff to the kids over there.
The Indonesian Expats that run the footy over there run Auskick for the juniors and have a local comp with Native Indonesians making up some of the sides. They have a couple of teams in the ASIA cup and will form a national squad of Native Indonesians to Participate in an International comp.
I didnt realize how widespread footy is in ASIA. Thats one of the reasons i thought the format ive outlined in the OP needed suggesting. If the AFL legitimized the concept you are already playing with a comp here much like 20/20 does for cricket (but during the summer) we could have all sorts of International matches and see AFL explode all through the Asian Pacific. I t would be suitable for any country with a soccer field or gridiron field, rugby field etc.