jle101
Club Legend
- Sep 3, 2015
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Apologies if this thread is in the wrong place, but I am interested to hear what people think of the feasibility of our great game being played on a serious level elsewhere around the world.
Since the days of Ron Barassi's pie-in-the-sky dreams of international expansion this concept has been floating around, but clearly we aren't anywhere close demographically or, most importantly, skill-wise, too seeing a legitimate push for Australian Football in any other country around the world. In the past we have seen things such as the Irish experiment, the strange & bizarre LA Crocodiles bid, the International cup, as well as exhibition matches staged in far-flung places such as the UK, USA, Canada, as well as China.
Obviously the AFL is keen to tap into the large markets present in the US & China, though logistical hurdles will probably ensure this will never gets off the ground.
Likewise, other parts of Asia, such as Japan & India could be considered as they share a relatively similar time-zone with Oz & are big markets, respectively.
The UK, & Ireland especially, have enough cultural ties to merit a discussion about this. Though the obvious problem would again be logistics, & the fact that our winter months do not align with theirs. Perhaps a European-based side would play most of its games down under, & play its only "home" games of the season at the very beginning, or end, of the home & away season.
PNG are a great shout IMO as they probably have the most home-grown talent out of any non-Australian footballing nation. Though will they ever be in a position to have the required infrastructure?
The best bet could very well be NZ, as they are the closet nation to us geographically & culturally, however, it's hard seeing enough interest being generated for Australian Football in such a rugby-mad country (Though that hasn't stopped the AFL expanding into rugby territory before). Also, the anti-Australian bias may hinder any progress, making me think the the name of the code needs to be changed before any serious ideas of international expansion can come into fruition.
Since the AFL are hell-bent on outdoing the NRL/A-league at all costs, it seems to me that it is likely that the AFL in the distant future will one day make a concerted effort to launch an overseas team. The question is where, & how, can this happen?
Thoughts?
Since the days of Ron Barassi's pie-in-the-sky dreams of international expansion this concept has been floating around, but clearly we aren't anywhere close demographically or, most importantly, skill-wise, too seeing a legitimate push for Australian Football in any other country around the world. In the past we have seen things such as the Irish experiment, the strange & bizarre LA Crocodiles bid, the International cup, as well as exhibition matches staged in far-flung places such as the UK, USA, Canada, as well as China.
Obviously the AFL is keen to tap into the large markets present in the US & China, though logistical hurdles will probably ensure this will never gets off the ground.
Likewise, other parts of Asia, such as Japan & India could be considered as they share a relatively similar time-zone with Oz & are big markets, respectively.
The UK, & Ireland especially, have enough cultural ties to merit a discussion about this. Though the obvious problem would again be logistics, & the fact that our winter months do not align with theirs. Perhaps a European-based side would play most of its games down under, & play its only "home" games of the season at the very beginning, or end, of the home & away season.
PNG are a great shout IMO as they probably have the most home-grown talent out of any non-Australian footballing nation. Though will they ever be in a position to have the required infrastructure?
The best bet could very well be NZ, as they are the closet nation to us geographically & culturally, however, it's hard seeing enough interest being generated for Australian Football in such a rugby-mad country (Though that hasn't stopped the AFL expanding into rugby territory before). Also, the anti-Australian bias may hinder any progress, making me think the the name of the code needs to be changed before any serious ideas of international expansion can come into fruition.
Since the AFL are hell-bent on outdoing the NRL/A-league at all costs, it seems to me that it is likely that the AFL in the distant future will one day make a concerted effort to launch an overseas team. The question is where, & how, can this happen?
Thoughts?
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