- Aug 15, 2000
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... The year is 2020 and the Australian National Australian Football squad is ready to depart for Copenhagen to take part in the seventh Australian Football World Cup (having been previously been named the AFL International Cup). From a record field of 43 nations, 16 nations from each corner of the globe have qualified for the month-long Aussie Rules extravaganza held each three years, this time in Denmark/Sweden.
Aussie Rules is now truly an international sport, the world finally realising what Australians (well those in the southern States at least) have known for ages, it's the greatest game of all. Having said this, the code is still called Australian Football (an agreed upon alternate name is still alluding) or Aussie Rules despite now being played, in one form or another, in over 100 nations across the world, covering every continent, even Antarctica!
The Australia team are favourites going into the competition but are by no teams certainties. Earlier this month in a 3 match pre-World Cup series against the US, the Americans beat Australia in the second match of the series at the MCG. This is the first time the Australian team has lost an international match at home, and gives the other nations the added confidence that the Aussies can be beaten and that the World Cup is not their birth right! This will be the fifth Aussie Rules World Cup in which an Australian side has particpated in, and the fourth in which the senior Australian side has attended. In 2008, Australia was represented by an under 23 (a senior squad at the time was teemed still too strong for the opposition) though were pushed throughout the US-held tournament and were somewhat lucky to win by 4 points in front of 85,465 parochial American fans in Chicago in the final. After then, it was deemed that it was time to introduce the senior Aussie squad into the next tournament.
Australian Football, and its World Cup, have come a very long way in just 18 years since the inaugural Aussie Rules World Cup in 2002 when just 11 nations participated in a low-key event played mainly on suburban grounds across Melbourne and Geelong. The Aussie Rules World Cup now vies with the Rugby World Cup as the third largest sporting event in the world. Aussie Rules' relatively recent popularity in Japan, the US and Europe has brought in huge returns in terms of revenue via television rights, merchandise and sponsorship.
The Australian Football League is still the premier Australian Football league across the world with players from 24 nations represented in the now 20 AFL clubs. The United States Australian Football players' population now equals than of Australia's, and their national league comprises of 24 clubs including 4 based in Canada. The US has contains strong second-tier metropolitan based leagues, collegiate leagues and junior leagues. Despite the vast population the US and its wealth, the AFL looks likely to remain the premier Aussie Rules league throughout the world for the forseeable future, despite a number of Australian national team representatives plying their trade in the financially lucrative USAFL, along with other Australians in leagues across the globe. The AFL is still considered as the pinnacle apart from representing your nation, playing for Essendon, Collingwood or St.Kilda is now held in the same esteem as playing for Real Madrid, Juventus or Manchester United, it means you've made the big time.
On a national front, Aussie Rules is slightly stronger than it was at the beginning of the millennium, the added incentive of internationalism and being able to represent your nation, has helped lure many youth despite Australia now regularly reaching the soccer World Cup. The other codes of football are still strong across the nation, in particular Rugby Union and Soccer, which are both slightly less popular than Aussie Rules. Due to the increased revenue in which the AFL now receives due to having a broader population base to garner merchandise, sponsorship and TV rights from, thankfully all of the 16 clubs representing the AFL in 2002 are still in existence (and thriving). New four clubs have since been added to the AFL, which now runs over a shorter 19 round season to accommodate for international matches and the yearly Southern Cross Cup (which consists of PNG, South Africa, Australia, NZ, Argentina, Nauru, Samoa and Fiji). The new clubs are based in: Tasmania, western Sydney, Canberra and the Gold Coast. Darwin, Auckland and Cairns are currently tendering to the AFL in order to obtain an AFL license.
Could this become a reality?
Aussie Rules is now truly an international sport, the world finally realising what Australians (well those in the southern States at least) have known for ages, it's the greatest game of all. Having said this, the code is still called Australian Football (an agreed upon alternate name is still alluding) or Aussie Rules despite now being played, in one form or another, in over 100 nations across the world, covering every continent, even Antarctica!
The Australia team are favourites going into the competition but are by no teams certainties. Earlier this month in a 3 match pre-World Cup series against the US, the Americans beat Australia in the second match of the series at the MCG. This is the first time the Australian team has lost an international match at home, and gives the other nations the added confidence that the Aussies can be beaten and that the World Cup is not their birth right! This will be the fifth Aussie Rules World Cup in which an Australian side has particpated in, and the fourth in which the senior Australian side has attended. In 2008, Australia was represented by an under 23 (a senior squad at the time was teemed still too strong for the opposition) though were pushed throughout the US-held tournament and were somewhat lucky to win by 4 points in front of 85,465 parochial American fans in Chicago in the final. After then, it was deemed that it was time to introduce the senior Aussie squad into the next tournament.
Australian Football, and its World Cup, have come a very long way in just 18 years since the inaugural Aussie Rules World Cup in 2002 when just 11 nations participated in a low-key event played mainly on suburban grounds across Melbourne and Geelong. The Aussie Rules World Cup now vies with the Rugby World Cup as the third largest sporting event in the world. Aussie Rules' relatively recent popularity in Japan, the US and Europe has brought in huge returns in terms of revenue via television rights, merchandise and sponsorship.
The Australian Football League is still the premier Australian Football league across the world with players from 24 nations represented in the now 20 AFL clubs. The United States Australian Football players' population now equals than of Australia's, and their national league comprises of 24 clubs including 4 based in Canada. The US has contains strong second-tier metropolitan based leagues, collegiate leagues and junior leagues. Despite the vast population the US and its wealth, the AFL looks likely to remain the premier Aussie Rules league throughout the world for the forseeable future, despite a number of Australian national team representatives plying their trade in the financially lucrative USAFL, along with other Australians in leagues across the globe. The AFL is still considered as the pinnacle apart from representing your nation, playing for Essendon, Collingwood or St.Kilda is now held in the same esteem as playing for Real Madrid, Juventus or Manchester United, it means you've made the big time.
On a national front, Aussie Rules is slightly stronger than it was at the beginning of the millennium, the added incentive of internationalism and being able to represent your nation, has helped lure many youth despite Australia now regularly reaching the soccer World Cup. The other codes of football are still strong across the nation, in particular Rugby Union and Soccer, which are both slightly less popular than Aussie Rules. Due to the increased revenue in which the AFL now receives due to having a broader population base to garner merchandise, sponsorship and TV rights from, thankfully all of the 16 clubs representing the AFL in 2002 are still in existence (and thriving). New four clubs have since been added to the AFL, which now runs over a shorter 19 round season to accommodate for international matches and the yearly Southern Cross Cup (which consists of PNG, South Africa, Australia, NZ, Argentina, Nauru, Samoa and Fiji). The new clubs are based in: Tasmania, western Sydney, Canberra and the Gold Coast. Darwin, Auckland and Cairns are currently tendering to the AFL in order to obtain an AFL license.
Could this become a reality?
