Rename 'Australian Rules Football' please.

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Hodges2Francou said:
ac milan has an english flag in their crest and were originally a cricket club. it has also retained the anglocised (sp?) spelling of 'milan'. fc barcelona also has the english flag in its crest.
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This is simply wrong. AC Milan was first established by an Englishman, correct, but its crest actually incorporates the Coat of Arms and/or Flag of the City of Milan.

AC Milan Crest:
100px-AC_Milan.svg.png

vs.
Milan City Coat of Arms
milano_city_coa_n9295.gif



The same goes with Barcelona. The cross of St. George is actually an integral part of the Coat of Arms and Flag of the city of Barcelona.

FC Barcelona Crest:
FC_Barcelona_Crest.png


vs.

Barcelona City Flag:
barcelona_city_fl_n9003.gif



Note also Inter Milan's clash/away 2007/2008 strip:
Inter+Milan+2007-08+Away.png

You could conclude that it is in fact a tribute to the English origins of football because Internazionale was created as a breakaway club from AC Milan in 1908. But alas it is simply a tribute to the city in which it is based.
 
Hodges2Francou said:
l

it also has nothing to do with ignoring englands role in codifying and exporting it.. ac milan has an english flag in their crest and were originally a cricket club.
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Think you might be thinking of Genoa. The actual name of the Genoa club is the "Genoa Football and Cricket Club". They also have the St Georges Cross on their emblem, as does the city of Genoa.
 

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How about MarnGrook?

It's uniquely Australian, and adds another selling/talking point. I actually think it would be a great name to promote football overseas.

We could also call it something to do with an oval, I haven't been creative enough to think of something yet. But our field is oval, our ball is oval, so something relating to could be good whether someone can think of a good name or not would be the question but an okay starting point.
 
Northern_Swan said:
Think you might be thinking of Genoa. The actual name of the Genoa club is the "Genoa Football and Cricket Club". They also have the St Georges Cross on their emblem, as does the city of Genoa.
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Both Genoa and Milan have their names spelled in English (Mussolini forced them to change to the Italian "Genova" and "Milano" respectively, but both changed back at the end of WWII), both started out as soccer and cricket clubs, both had Englishmen amongst their founders.

The cross of St George is actually present in a lot of crests all over Southern Europe, usually courtesy of the Catalans, who used to control many lands that today are part of France or Italy (St George is the patron saint of Catalonia - and of Portugal, I might add - and "his" cross is a part of the Catalonian coat of arms - and FC Barcelona's badge).

Maybe "MarnGrook Football" would be an idea. Although it would mean following Mussolini's example by renaming a modern sport which used an international name after an ancient one with a native name. It was he who decided that the English word "football" was no longer acceptable and "decreed" that soccer be called "calcio", or "kick", the name of the old ball game played in Tuscany since medieval times, a game wich is more similar to a mass brawl with a ball thrown in than it is to soccer. That name change stuck.
 
For the time being - I reckon the 'Australian' part of it all is a key. It provides value BACK to Australia - i.e. anywhere they speak of the game, it's got a reference to Australia. Perhaps the Americans will see an explosion of the game in the next 25 years -and then it might get taken out of the hands of the AFL anyway??

The USfooty brand is kinda nice.

For now though, the game is played by the "Laws of Australian Football". The annoying thing is all this disambiguation required when soccer folk in Australia talk about 'Australian Football' - and they KNOW that they are being rude and upstarts, but continue because they are stubborn. (perhaps). At any rate, knowing that the NFL is 'American Football', I would be absolutely foolish to speak of the MLS as 'American Football'.

Should we then change because a bunch of soccer zealots based in Sydney are trying to rule over all of Australia?

(true, the AFL and their corporate branding is giving fuel to those who label the game simply 'AFL'. I hate people saying "OH, you play AFL". Hardly!!!!)

Perhaps in 25 years time - a more 'generic' name might be appropriate. For now though - let's not dumb it down. It IS Australian Football. And the Fed Govt (via Simon Crean) have recognised it as an 'export product'. Let's maximise that avenue for a while - as it's only just begun.

(btw - I hate 'generic'. Man Utd trade the world over, so, why did North Melbourne decide to become 'Kangaroos'.......{answer - the Sydney market})
 
Well, this would be still the official name, Australian Football. What's being sought is just an official nickname. American Football, official. But Pigskin or Gridiron are nicknames.

MarnGrook will always be the best option. Tho things like basing a nickname on something unique about the game (oval ball/field, or marking, etc) might work too if something very catchy is thought up.
 
Munro_Mick said:
For the time being - I reckon the 'Australian' part of it all is a key. It provides value BACK to Australia - i.e. anywhere they speak of the game, it's got a reference to Australia. Perhaps the Americans will see an explosion of the game in the next 25 years -and then it might get taken out of the hands of the AFL anyway??

The USfooty brand is kinda nice.

For now though, the game is played by the "Laws of Australian Football". The annoying thing is all this disambiguation required when soccer folk in Australia talk about 'Australian Football' - and they KNOW that they are being rude and upstarts, but continue because they are stubborn. (perhaps). At any rate, knowing that the NFL is 'American Football', I would be absolutely foolish to speak of the MLS as 'American Football'.

Should we then change because a bunch of soccer zealots based in Sydney are trying to rule over all of Australia?

(true, the AFL and their corporate branding is giving fuel to those who label the game simply 'AFL'. I hate people saying "OH, you play AFL". Hardly!!!!)

Perhaps in 25 years time - a more 'generic' name might be appropriate. For now though - let's not dumb it down. It IS Australian Football. And the Fed Govt (via Simon Crean) have recognised it as an 'export product'. Let's maximise that avenue for a while - as it's only just begun.

(btw - I hate 'generic'. Man Utd trade the world over, so, why did North Melbourne decide to become 'Kangaroos'.......{answer - the Sydney market})
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It's not about changing it in this country, it will always be Australian Football, but do you think Soccer would have such an appeal worldwide if it started off as English Football?

The name excludes people from other countries, most of the English have heard of Australian Football, but they don't pay attention or bother watching it, why would they? It's Australian Football after all, it's for Australians not them.. See the problem?
 
InCase said:
It's not about changing it in this country, it will always be Australian Football, but do you think Soccer would have such an appeal worldwide if it started off as English Football?

The name excludes people from other countries, most of the English have heard of Australian Football, but they don't pay attention or bother watching it, why would they? It's Australian Football after all, it's for Australians not them.. See the problem?
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The spread of soccer can be put down to the English colonizing most of the known world. If AFL wants to make inroads, they'll need Andy D to take his despotic ways a step further, become a Mussolini or Queen, and start conquering foreign lands.

Rugby Union imo has the best chance of rivaling soccer. Why i think RL and RU will ultimately merge and be this one code that can rival soccer worldwide. Gridiron, Gaelic, and AR, will always be very nationalistic codes that dont grow to the same global strongholds that Soccer/RU will/can.
 
GG said:
The spread of soccer can be put down to the English colonizing most of the known world.
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If that was true, Rugby Union & Cricket would be just as widespread as soccer - however they are largely confined to Commonwealth countries. Its more to do with soccer's ease of play, minimal equipment and simple rules (with the exception of the offside rule) than anything else.

Aussie Rules's convoluted rules will always hurt it when trying to get anyone who hasn't been indoctrinated from birth to take an interest.
 
Bouvet_Island said:
If that was true, Rugby Union & Cricket would be just as widespread as soccer - however they are largely confined to Commonwealth countries. Its more to do with soccer's ease of play, minimal equipment and simple rules (with the exception of the offside rule) than anything else.

Aussie Rules's convoluted rules will always hurt it when trying to get anyone who hasn't been indoctrinated from birth to take an interest.
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Well, Cricket is far more widespread than one would think.
USA has one of the oldest cricket museums in the world.
But you have Cricket quite established in a variety of nations (not focusing just on the elite level), scattered thru every continent.

But youre not wrong either, because a game like Basketball or Baseball are as widely popular if not more popular thru as many nations, due to what you say---ease of play, simple rules, and field.

But Soccer had an advantage under the British Empire enabling its mass profileration/popularity that Cricket didnt have.....namely, a more entertaining compactly-timed game played on a compact 100 meter field, that other nations could easily adopt. Plus, Cricket always had that autocratic snobbish upper-class background while Soccer was a people's game.
 

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Bouvet_Island said:
If that was true, Rugby Union & Cricket would be just as widespread as soccer - however they are largely confined to Commonwealth countries. Its more to do with soccer's ease of play, minimal equipment and simple rules (with the exception of the offside rule) than anything else.
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Soccer is mainly simple because it confines contact to the feet,unless you're the goalie or the ball has gone out-of-bounds .There is no tackling except for sliding ,diving and hacking .And of course there's no contact unless it's in the act of getting the ball .

Of all the contact sports Australian Football has the fewest laws .
It has the thinnest law book by far .Most of the laws that do exist in Australian Football are evident in other contact sports .
e.g. you cannot tackle someone without the ball ;you cannot tackle someone too high ;if the ball is in the air you can only go for the ball;you can run with the ball, dodge and fend;you must dispose of the ball properly;if you catch the ball you are rewarded ;you can kick for goal anytime (within range);penalties reward the player with possesion and the original aim is kick the ball throught the big sticks .
What AR doesn't have is the offside rules .Different rules for sidelines and backlines.Players with markedly different roles


..
 
Sorry to bump an old thread, but I thought the term 'freestyle football (Suggested in another thread)' was a pretty good suggestion, as a tool to market the game overseas, rather than calling it 'Australian/Australian Rules football.'

I think it's a name that anyone can identify with.

What do you think? Do we have a winner?
 
cos789 said:
Soccer is mainly simple because it confines contact to the feet,unless you're the goalie or the ball has gone out-of-bounds .There is no tackling except for sliding ,diving and hacking .And of course there's no contact unless it's in the act of getting the ball .

Of all the contact sports Australian Football has the fewest laws .
It has the thinnest law book by far .
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That's probably quite convenient for the AFL, since they seem to re-write it every year. :D
 
bloodsbigot said:
Sorry to bump an old thread, but I thought the term 'freestyle football (Suggested in another thread)' was a pretty good suggestion, as a tool to market the game overseas, rather than calling it 'Australian/Australian Rules football.'

I think it's a name that anyone can identify with.

What do you think? Do we have a winner?
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yep, freestyle football is a beaut

sort of like how australian crawl is freestyle swimming, freestyle football is australian rules footy
 
GG.exe said:
All codes are called the generic "football". In AR it's just as prevalent as Soccer, but it's not a name that distinguishes it from any other "football".

Gridiron, Soccer, Rugby, League. Names that distinguish.
Gridiron purely due to the field itself.

So you could look at that for AR....using the word oval.

Or you could also look at a distinguishing feature of the game and use that....ie, marks and marking.

So maybe that could be the core word used.

Dunno what exactly, but that's a start.
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"Ausoval" it is, then. ....When it's played on a soccer pitch or an American gridiron field, "nine-a-side ausoval". The North American Ausoval Football League. ...How about that?
 
bloodsbigot said:
I think Australian football should consider getting a new/alternative name to describe itself instead of 'Australian Rules Football.' I have thought this for years and I stand by my view.

I know this can probably go in the AFL section of bigfooty, but I thought since it's related to the expansion of footy internationally, I thought this would be the most appropriate place to post it. -Also due to the fact that the international bigfooty community could possibly be more open-minded than the local yahoos.

For example, Americans call their sport, 'football' and every American automatically knows what they're talking about. However, internationally, it's more well known as 'Gridiron.' 'Soccer' is known as football in Europe and other nations, but they invented the term 'soccer' to prevent confusion (Maybe). People in the Northern parts of Australia refer to rugby league as 'footy' etc etc etc.

I won't lie, I HATE the term 'Australian Rules Football' with a passion. I even prefer simply 'Australian Football' as an alternative because it's less of a tongue twister. But I can't stand the term 'Australian' in there.

By using the term 'Australian' you automatically alienate any potential supporters, players or funders from our game simply because they realise it's 'foreign' to them. 'Football'/soccer has succeeded because it doesn't attach itself to England as much and isn't seen as an 'English' sport. Why isn't it called 'England ball?' It's as much a part of Brazilian tradition/culture as it's part of England's.

Until the term 'Australian Rules Football' is changed or an alternative name is coined, Australian football will never truly expand internationally and will only attract a small following who are interested in Australia and its culture... a bit like sumo wrestling.

Rule number 1 of getting support and spreading nationalism, 'trick locals into thinking that it's part of THEIR culture and NOT foreign to them.'

Anyway, I know it's one thing to complain about the term Australian rules and come up with some ideas, so does anyone have any good alternative names? For example, Marn Grook? Eggball? :p Etc etc. Thoughts?
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I'm a local yahoo and I love the name Australian Rules Football because that is exactly what it is!. Marngrook is an aboriginal game that I think Tom Wills saw when he was a kid, who knows this might be where the little changes came from that makes our game unique, until the AFL ruins it of course.

And are they ever trying!
 
InCase said:
do you think Soccer would have such an appeal worldwide if it started off as English Football?
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Well soccer was reported under the banner "British Association Football" so that's almost identical.

InCase said:
It's Australian Football after all, it's for Australians not them.. See the problem?
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No problem at all, in fact a.t.m. it's an asset.

The name American Football hasn't put people playing American Football in over 80 countries even though Canadian Football is arguably a better game and Canada has a much better standing. The name Gaelic Football hasn't put people playing Gaelic Football in over 60 countries, in fact Gaelic Football would be much stronger if it was promoted properly. The name Rugby Football hasn't put people playing Rugby Football in over 120 countries when everybody knows rugby is in Britain. The name Australian Football hasn't put people playing Australian Football in over 55 countries.
I spent a lot of time with Australian Football clubs in France and naming was never mentioned. In french, it's Football Australian so it's football foremost. The Australian connection is only mentioned w.r.t. to getting the best players - otherwise it's their football.
 
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