Expansion Giants seek US game for points

May 30, 2006
17,516
10,292
Canberra
AFL Club
North Melbourne
Too far, jetlag etc would be an issue. Not a fan big fan of the China game but China is still a lot closer and only 2 hours behind.
Play two games, and the teams can swap opponents the next round. Travel is the same for all four. (Not serious)

For me, please don't. It won't ever amount to anything, and the Giants really need to focus on their primary market. Canberra is bad enough, but the more they play away from Sydney the less they look dedicated to the region they are supposed to be representing.
That said, where they play home games is up to them. If they go ahead with it, they have that right and if my team plays away there so be it. I just hope they don't.

Wasn't there some fanciful concept to move Fitzroy to Los Angeles in the 1980s? Knocked on the head quickly enough.
 
Oct 9, 2003
44,592
42,222
Singapore / 30,000 feet
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North Melbourne
Other Teams
Eagles (NFL), Suns (NBA)
AFL apparently looking at a US game as a stand alone match to open the season if it can get off the ground.
So clearly this is gathering legs then.

It's going to be very interesting to see who the other team will be. As well as where in the US it will be played.
 

Cmarsh

Norm Smith Medallist
Apr 23, 2012
7,689
10,422
NSW
AFL Club
GWS
So clearly this is gathering legs then.

It's going to be very interesting to see who the other team will be. As well as where in the US it will be played.
A suitable venue will be one of the biggest obstacles. Although I do find it hard to fathom that there may not be one venue in a country as big as the US that would do the job.
 

caspian

Team Captain
Jan 6, 2019
416
673
AFL Club
West Coast
Season opener would be the way to go. Tail end of their winter, they can do it a week earlier than everyone else. Jet lag is a thing but if you’ve got two weeks off you’ll be fine. Somewhere in the pacific NW would be my vote. Open minded crowd, I feel Canadians might be more receptive too. Everyone from Whistler can come down!

Obvious problems:
- ground size, condition
- there’s no point if it’s just a novelty, it needs to be properly sold to the public
- the US is very insular with its sports
- as someone else pointed out it’s irritating seeing an expansion club pushing this; how about you grow your own market first ya knobs
- it would likely be an expensive venture and surely there’s better ways the AFL can throw money around (perhaps chasing a better way to get AFL into TV over there for instance)
- a complex game that is hard to understand on first watch.

To conclude I’d repeat what everyone else has said, “as long as my team isn’t involved then uhhhh go ahead I guess”
 
May 30, 2006
17,516
10,292
Canberra
AFL Club
North Melbourne
What teams have the most following in US? Is it too niche to go by something like that?
Far too niche. I don't like saying it, but the opposition being identifiably Australian makes sense in a way - as much as the idea makes sense at all. That means Sydney, but there's already a Sydney team and the one game that brings a crwod already. Melbourne, the only other place most Americans have heard of. Or North, because "Kangaroos".
 

lassieq

Rookie
Aug 20, 2011
23
54
Washington DC
AFL Club
Essendon
As an expat this sounds great and I would probably travel to a game regardless of who was playing. On the flipside I am not really the target audience given I already consume afl 'product'. I will say that since I moved here there is a surprising amount of awareness due to fox playing the Saturday night game live Saturday morning our time. Also feb would be a good time as it is after nfl, before baseball and in a time when nba/nhl is pretty much going through the motions. There is an international cricket stadium in Florida that could work and if played in Feb it wouldn't be crazy hot yet. Ultimately though the grand final is played at 1an est and I can't see how to get over that hurdle.
 

Cmarsh

Norm Smith Medallist
Apr 23, 2012
7,689
10,422
NSW
AFL Club
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Far too niche. I don't like saying it, but the opposition being identifiably Australian makes sense in a way - as much as the idea makes sense at all. That means Sydney, but there's already a Sydney team and the one game that brings a crwod already. Melbourne, the only other place most Americans have heard of. Or North, because "Kangaroos".
Haha that reminds me of a couple of Aussie tourists I ran into telling a story of them telling some Americans that they were from Melbourne. The reply was "sorry, we only know the major Australian cities". :D
 

Finn Jim

Team Captain
Apr 2, 2019
333
1,115
AFL Club
Collingwood
Cheers Finn! Where abouts ya from? I'm tippin you're somewhere there from the states?

To the bulk of your post; like anything new that involves a reasonable amount of dexterity and composure it's gonna take a while for the skills to take - if one keeps at it. Being in it's infancy (relatively speaking) that also explains the grass roots character it has over there, I imagine it would be mainly ex pat Aussies that umpire the games, goals, boundaries, tend the scoreboard and play Australian Footy.

Secondly, the injury nature is rather high because of the full contact combative nature of the game at it's fundamental level. However I'd argue it would be similar to if not on less than the brutality of gridiron or rugby union / league - I wouldn't know I haven't participated at any level of those other three.

To put into perspective I've raced motocross at mid level with minor sponsorship (against the B graders - birko stuff) and played senior level footy at local suburban level and I know of others that have also taken part in both.

I consider motocross as a safer sport. Now I know that may sound crazy but motocross is a one way, you're (very) well protected, you know exactly where you're going sport albeit high speed. Where as footy is a 360 degree game with fit, heavy blokes doing sometimes 30+k an hour in different directions where collisions are imminent with zero protection apart from your mouth guard.

I’m from California, and I watched the games in a town called Davis outside Sacramento. The teams seemed to be mostly aussies in coaching/captaining roles and then a mix of aussie/american players filling out the teams. Umpires were Australian, but boundary and goal umpires were players from teems who weren’t playing at that moment.

As far as potential for injury, I played on a Handball team in Seattle for a summer. At this age (20’s-30’s) I’ve noticed most recreational athletes in contact sports bring a lot of heart/will to win, and they write checks their bodies can’t cash. They don’t have the skill to prevent themselves from injuring themselves. Example: my playing through two severely sprained ankles during a weekend tournament because I thought Id be letting the team down. And I got off relatively light for that week! (Others with broken nose, concussion, blown out knee, etc)
 

Finn Jim

Team Captain
Apr 2, 2019
333
1,115
AFL Club
Collingwood
Season opener would be the way to go. Tail end of their winter, they can do it a week earlier than everyone else. Jet lag is a thing but if you’ve got two weeks off you’ll be fine. Somewhere in the pacific NW would be my vote. Open minded crowd, I feel Canadians might be more receptive too. Everyone from Whistler can come down!

Obvious problems:
- ground size, condition
- there’s no point if it’s just a novelty, it needs to be properly sold to the public
- the US is very insular with its sports
- as someone else pointed out it’s irritating seeing an expansion club pushing this; how about you grow your own market first ya knobs
- it would likely be an expensive venture and surely there’s better ways the AFL can throw money around (perhaps chasing a better way to get AFL into TV over there for instance)
- a complex game that is hard to understand on first watch.

To conclude I’d repeat what everyone else has said, “as long as my team isn’t involved then uhhhh go ahead I guess”

As an American I want to disagree with the ’hard to understand at first watch’. I think the rules of AFL are some of the most instinctive and fair of any sport out there.

Sure ”prior opportunity” is nebulous and difficult, but reduced to basics: kick ball between the big posts at each end, pass by kick or punch-pass, catch a kick, get free kick from that spot, when I introduce the game to my friends they understand those basics after about a quarter.

There is a lot of stuff that American fans would like. (Physical contact, long kicks, athleticism). I think it’s not popular because it’s foreign and obscure, and it remains foreign and obscure because it’s not popular.
 

BIRDBRAIN

Premiership Player
Aug 12, 2013
3,080
4,609
AFL Club
West Coast
Sick of having games in ridiculous places because one club decide to 'sell' a home game. And the opposition apparently just have to suck it up and turn up wherever. Where next, Somalia?
 

caspian

Team Captain
Jan 6, 2019
416
673
AFL Club
West Coast
As an American I want to disagree with the ’hard to understand at first watch’. I think the rules of AFL are some of the most instinctive and fair of any sport out there.

I dunno man. I liken it to rugby. Very obvious basics (can only throw backwards, get it over the try line, simple, right?). But the few random million other little rules are real annoying. "Why is there a stoppage? Why is this stoppage different to the last? Why does he have the ball now?"- I like rugby now, courtesy of working with queenslanders for a few years but I found those sorta things really irritating when I was just trying to relax and watch a game.
 
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