Showcasing footy in a foreign country

[MoscowHawk]

Looking for some advice from you all regarding a project I'm working on.

I'm currently living in Moscow, and I've started an Aussie Rules league here. We're entering our 3rd year now, and it's going ok.

This year in July, we're organizing a festival in Moscow called "Australian Odyseey". It's to showcase Aussie culture, and a big part of it will be Aussie Rules. Generally, it's going to be a very big occasion.

I need to come up with the following:

- An Aussie Rules "stand" or tent or area where people can come and get to know the game
- Merchandize which can be sold to raise money for the league
- Hourly workshops teaching people the skills
- A decorative theme for the zone - banners, cardboard cutouts, whatever
- Highlights package that can be playing on a big screen in the area
- Anything else relevant

Most of it is fairly easy to work out, but I'm having touble coming up with something decent for the stand and the zone itself. Pretty much anything can be done, but I want to make it special. I want people to feel the game and its excitement. So I'm looking for any ideas on how to arrange the whole thing. Whether it be banners, sounds effects, props etc. I'm really stumped. There's a fair bit of space that I need to fill.

Regarding highlights - pretty sure I can get my hands on some, but the fesitval website goes live on Thursday, and I've just been told that I need to submit some high quality highlights packages, so there's no time to order DVDs or anything. Anyone know of any non-Youtube source where I can download highlights? Or perhaps a file-share. Anything at all as long as the quality is excellent.

Thanks all in advance!

 

[manboob]

You should set up a handball contest thing like the footy show... win a prize if you can get 3 hand-passes through the middle or something?

Maybe set the floor up with all the lines that appear on the ground and some goal posts too?

 

[Cmarsh]

Have you been in contact with AFL Europe? Their development officers should be able to help you out with equipment for skills development and also merchendise as well as a video setup.
Here's their contact webpage - http://www.afleurope.org/contact/

BTW, the ABC did a report on the game in Russia some months ago here. Were you involved in this at all?

 

[Barkly St End]

Yeh, handball contest was the first thing that came to mind.

How much space to you have? Is there a turfed area? Can you set up goals and allow people to have pot shots from, say, 40m?

If insufficent space, what about posts and allowing people some banana shots from near the behind post, etc.

 

[The Goon]

I’ll ignore the online stuff (not my game) and focus on the event.

First you need to break down your event into components. I see several stages you need to cover:

1. Get your s**t together
Amass as much information as you can on what your resources are.

1.1 Budget

Be clear on what you have to work with. Find out what certain things you think you need will cost, it’s pointless asking for ideas if you don’t have a hope of funding them.​

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For instance, I could suggest a bank of 4 LCD’s showing great games in a tent with cool printed surrounds but if you don’t have the resources it’s a waste of both of our time.​

1.2 Site and Staff Planning

Find out what area, facilities and likely staff / volunteers you have available. This will determine whether you can have various skills / practice sessions available, the size and format of the display area. It also directly affects what you can do with your budget. There is a big difference between a single large tent and lots of smaller concession stands.​

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2. Write a short brief
Once you’ve done the above you can be specific about what you are looking for. If you want ideas there are plenty of people hereabouts who will donate their time for it, but if it’s a big event it could take a lot of work. Writing a good brief will minimize the too and fro, make it easier for everyone, and maximize your chances of getting a quality response.

2.1 Event Design

Overall concept for the event. Not how it looks – this is a related but separate item. The event design should plan out what you want to have given the available space, staffing and budget. Most likely you will end up doing this yourself. You could ask for general ideas but I suspect you will come back to a couple of basics: skills / practice areas; showcase of the game (video and stills); retail / shop (also decide what you want in the shop).​

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The Footy Jumpers and Graphic Design board will be you friend here.​

2.2 Graphic Design

Once you have the event planned you can ask for exactly what you want in terms of graphic design. I.e. “we want a backdrop for 4 TV screens looping great games, they are 2.4m x 1.2m, we also need a logo, and header panels for 4 shops ... yada yada yada”.​

3. Rewards
Give some. Moscow Magpies jumper? Even I’d like one.

 

[manboob]

Got an X-box or PS3 that you can set up with the AFL game on?

 

[Rod Stroker]

Check the International Board for ideas, someone else may have done something similar somewhere else.
http://www.bigfooty.com/forum/forums/international-footy.12/

We've had AFL footballers brought up here to Sth East Asia to help promote the game, but obviously that easier here than Moscow as it's only a 7 hour flight. You might find though that there are retired players who might be in your neck of the woods when your festival is on.

 

[MoscowHawk]

Have you been in contact with AFL Europe? Their development officers should be able to help you out with equipment for skills development and also merchendise as well as a video setup.
Here's their contact webpage - http://www.afleurope.org/contact/

BTW, the ABC did a report on the game in Russia some months ago here. Were you involved in this at all?

Thanks mate - yeah AFL Europe is helping, but they might not be able to provide any highlights for the deadline....

Yeah, I was on the ABC report last year.

 

[MoscowHawk]

To clarify, we'll have a small turfed area, probably not enough to even do a decent kick. We will have an exhibition match, but it'll be further off, and wouldn't be practical for the stand's purposes.

All good suggestions so far.

I think some merchandise could be personalized balls (with the Russian AFL logo), maybe some national jumpers.

 

[Power Raid]

PAFC can't get a crowd in Adelaide

How will we get a crowd anywhere else?

 

[The Goon]

To clarify, we'll have a small turfed area, probably not enough to even do a decent kick. We will have an exhibition match, but it'll be further off, and wouldn't be practical for the stand's purposes.

All good suggestions so far.

I think some merchandise could be personalized balls (with the Russian AFL logo), maybe some national jumpers.

Could you set up a net?

 

[MoscowHawk]

Got an X-box or PS3 that you can set up with the AFL game on?

Good one! This will probably be done