Greetings from Florida, USA!

[Florida Footy Fan]

Hi everyone! Glad to have found this board.

I'm relatively new to watching footy. I've known about it for a few years, and sort of passively watched it when it came on Fox Sports 1 or 2 in years past, but I never knew the rules, so it was mainly to keep me company overnight. Earlier this summer, I decided to actually look up what the sport was, and it makes perfect sense now. (Crazy how that works.) Additionally, I love it, too! It's like a wild combination of soccer and American football with a bit of other sports thrown in there for good measure.

I've decided to pick GWS as my team. I wanted a new team that didn't have a lot of history (you know, so I can witness it being created in real time, or something else poetic like that) so long as it had an AFLW team, too. So GWS was a perfect fit — plus I like their colors.

Looking forward to hanging out here!

 

[TheBont]

Welcome mate!

 

[Fabab]

Welcome aboard matey.

 

[Evolved1]

Howdy.

My biggest AFL fantasy is to have a US-based team in the league. It's an exciting prospect to think of where your athletes could take our sport.

 

[God Mode]

Welcome mate! Enjoy!

 

[Genghis Tron]

Howdy.

My biggest AFL fantasy is to have a US-based team in the league. It's an exciting prospect to think of where your athletes could take our sport.

Such an untapped market.

Welcome Florida Footy Fan, decent choice for a team I reckon. There's been a number of Americans roll on through as of late it seems. Did you happen to see last years grand final at all? It was a shame to see the giants fall that short in their first GF, as insincere as that sounds from a tigers fan.

 

[Florida Footy Fan]

Welcome Florida Footy Fan, decent choice for a team I reckon. There's been a number of Americans roll on through as of late it seems. Did you happen to see last years grand final at all? It was a shame to see the giants fall that short in their first GF, as insincere as that sounds from a tigers fan.

I did not see last year's Grand Final, though seeing that GWS was in it certainly helped sway me toward them (even despite the scoreline — nothing wrong with being runner up at the end of the season).

I think you're seeing a lot of Americans coming through here because of the general lack of American sports right now. The baseball and college football seasons are a farce, NFL preseason hype is comparatively subdued due to a lack of preseason games (we'll see if that changes when the season starts). Meanwhile the NHL and NBA playoffs just aren't cutting it for me, at least. Lack of fans kills it.

Plus, I think when you compare AFL to pretty much any American sport, the lack of commercial stoppages is a huge selling point. I think everyone understands why there are 40 seconds between plays in American football, but it's the constant commercials after touchdowns that kill any momentum for a lot of fans. I think NRL would do well here, too, especially with how close it is to gridiron, but Fox doesn't show it nearly enough for it to gain any kind of traction.

 

[Genghis Tron]

nothing wrong with being runner up at the end of the season

Absolutely not. They had a ripper year. I think it went some ways to gaining some respect despite what some people might say.

I think you're seeing a lot of Americans coming through here because of the general lack of American sports right now. The baseball and college football seasons are a farce, NFL preseason hype is comparatively subdued due to a lack of preseason games (we'll see if that changes when the season starts). Meanwhile the NHL and NBA playoffs just aren't cutting it for me, at least. Lack of fans kills it.

I'm certainly not going to complain about it. The idea of a worldwide footy comp is exciting and I think America is a key to gaining a wider audience.

I think everyone understands why there are 40 seconds between plays in American football, but it's the constant commercials after touchdowns that kill any momentum for a lot of fans.

It definitely makes it hard to get into. I've tried a couple times, the game is fun to play so it should be alright to watch, but yes, the momentum stops and starts enough for it to hinder the experience.

I think NRL would do well here, too, especially with how close it is to gridiron, but Fox doesn't show it nearly enough for it to gain any kind of traction.

I'm really surprised it's not broadcast more over there. Seems like there should be a market for it.

Hopefully once(if) things return to normal AFL is still gaining traction in America. You lot could be pretty bloody good at it if it really takes off. A lot of great athletes just waiting to be utilised.

 

[Florida Footy Fan]

It definitely makes it hard to get into. I've tried a couple times, the game is fun to play so it should be alright to watch, but yes, the momentum stops and starts enough for it to hinder the experience.

College football is somehow so loaded with commercials, TV networks typically allocate 30 minutes more per game than they do for NFL games. Same game length, same general rules, etc. It's a great game with great strategy involved, but greed will ultimately be its downfall — long before concussions or politics can ever come close.

I'm really surprised it's not broadcast more over there. Seems like there should be a market for it.

Honestly, so am I. I initially watched more NRL than I did AFL because I understood it more, but there were entire weeks that were going by that neither Fox Sports 1 or 2 showed a single game. It's such a missed opportunity, too, because those networks are devoid of anything during the overnight hours.

Hopefully once(if) things return to normal AFL is still gaining traction in America. You lot could be pretty bloody good at it if it really takes off. A lot of great athletes just waiting to be utilised.

We say the same thing when it comes to soccer, yet we can't field a World Cup-worthy men's team lol. Then again, US Soccer is a mess, so it's not really a fair comparison.

I do think there's an untapped market that might otherwise play soccer but can't afford US Soccer's pay-to-play model that could be good at Aussie rules. Just gotta get them exposure to the sport somehow.

 

[Better Loosen Up]

Hi everyone! Glad to have found this board.

I'm relatively new to watching footy. I've known about it for a few years, and sort of passively watched it when it came on Fox Sports 1 or 2 in years past, but I never knew the rules, so it was mainly to keep me company overnight. Earlier this summer, I decided to actually look up what the sport was, and it makes perfect sense now. (Crazy how that works.) Additionally, I love it, too! It's like a wild combination of soccer and American football with a bit of other sports thrown in there for good measure.

I've decided to pick GWS as my team. I wanted a new team that didn't have a lot of history (you know, so I can witness it being created in real time, or something else poetic like that) so long as it had an AFLW team, too. So GWS was a perfect fit — plus I like their colors.

Looking forward to hanging out here!

Welcome mate. What parts of the sport do you enjoy the most? Do you know of any friends etc, who are also getting into the sport?

 

[Our Game]

Welcome to our great game Florida Footy Fan.I hope you get many years enjoyment.

I worked of a short time in the 1980s at Footscray and the AFL was on ESPN back then and we would get quite a few Fans from the US who would write to the club (this was before emails) requesting fixtures and club merchandise.

They loved the colours as they were the same as the US.
I also think in the future maybe an American billionaire will come along and buy one of our teams and play out of the US!