I spotted this little article and thought it worth the mention

Against the Odds, Oval ball in Europe

Much is being written about the expansion of the AFL into foreign realms with West Sydney being the closest to home. The League in all its wisdom is spending untold ( millions...and millions..and many more millions for a long long time !! ) to establish a following of our beloved code in a hostile environment. One would have to presume its all in the name of establishing the code and the continual thrust of battling codes.

The league is adamant its the right thing to do... it believes that the more people that play and follow our "footy' the better and in itself that argument will get no discourse from me. Its a great game and all are welcome.

So then, why is it that does bugger all to help these guys over in Europe ? They arent asking for much, certainly not millions. In a time when it faces a looming encampment by the enemy in its own domain youd think the AFL might take whatever opportunities exist to showcase or at least help others promote our great game.

The AFL has all but money to burn.. Youd think a million over 4-5 years to help out the guys over in a truly "hostile" place wouldnt be a big ask !! Its been mooted that the AFL have an office over there to help out and liaise amongst teams and countries etc. Apparently nada to date. They are actually getting help from American Football....go figure

wake Up AFL.. theres opportunities everywhere and they dont all need to be 7 and 8 figure deals !!

Have a look at Aussie Rules Europe. To think they're doing all this off their own bat is quite amazing.

I wonder if Melbourne might like to help out a team or two.. equipment wise..old jumpers etc.. I might ask them.

I still reckon an idea I had years back about "International " memberships could still work.

oh....this page/vid my look familiar to certain people

The Rules of Football

Edited October 27, 200915 yr by belzebub59

I used to play in the Scottish league which had 4 teams (at my departure) with a few more in the pipeworks. We were fairly fortunate that one of the guys who established the league had a brother who played for the swans, so we got a bunch of old jumpers and balls which we used to set the league up.

While there was an abundance of Aussies playing, there were quite a few other nationalities that came in and played, some being quite succesful (one guy who played with us represented Ireland and made the All World team in the Aussie Rules World Cup a few years back).

We also used to run an annual cup to get English teams north of the border to Edinburgh.

It was great, but the biggest battle of establishing any sort of prescence over there is TV. There is very limited coverage of AFL over there, which, if you're trying to break into a new market you have to have. Trying to score a spot on a channel with soccer game after soccer game just isn't going to happen

Having one exhibition game a year in England isn't going to expose the UK any more than they already are.

Interesting article but I know I read it about a year ago, I think they have simply decided to reprint it again for some reason!

You'd think at the very least the AFL could back the quarter of a million Australians overseas in London, plus the tens of thousands in each of Hong Kong, Singapore, Los Angeles and the North-East USA.

A quietly healthy amateur presence of Australian football around the world would also be a good little boost to the tourist attention AFL gets. Frankly, this game of ours should be as high profile as Uluru and hugging Koalas. The only reason it isn't, at the moment, is because so much of Australia's tourism promotion effort is driven by companies and government agencies based in the northern, 'AFL weak' states. (True story)

I should add, for the small investment the long term benefit to the game would be huge. Think of the television rights fo selling games to Europe and elsewhere.

People are always shocked when you inform them of the number of leagues and teams playing AFL around the world.

Unfortunately it doesn't seem to be in the AFL's interest to really promote the game.

Not sure about Munich or Denmark, etc. but I played in London a few years ago.

I was closely involved in the running of the league and the big clubs and there is A LOT of money floating around in there, despite misconceptions.

A lot of young, cash up aussies earning pounds and

At least one of the more entrepreneurial club presidents has made bucketloads by using the club to cross-promote events or by organising a cut of the club functions.

The nature of the clubs over there and lack of regulation would mean any money sent by the AFL would be effortlessly siphoned out. As it is there is no accountability and a lot of things are run by volunteers, but a few profit greatly.

As far as MFC helping out, the biggest London club already has a loose affiliation with Geelong.

I just can't see how it could be beneficial to MFC at all. It wouldn't have done a thing for the cats.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YXahMxu0FGU...player_embedded

this is worth watching. not a bad idea. They could have found them an AFL ball to do the interviews with though.

The nature of the clubs over there and lack of regulation would mean any money sent by the AFL would be effortlessly siphoned out. As it is there is no accountability and a lot of things are run by volunteers, but a few profit greatly.

Sounds like it's best to send equipment, like the Eagles apparently did for a German side.

Melbourne have probably got sets of some 'wonderful' jumpers a team could use.

Melbourne have probably got sets of some 'wonderful' jumpers a team could use.

I've seen a few old melb clash jumpers floating around in more remote parts of England in the smaller leagues.

I thought at the time it was strange to copy that jumper, but maybe the club just donates them or sells them on the cheap for this sort of thing?

Bournemouth from memory has one.