The final home and away round of the 2015 season kicks off at Docklands Stadium with Richmond hosting North Melbourne. Once again viewers around the world can access matches live or delayed on a number of TV networks or stream the telecast via subscription to Watchafl.com.au. 

The broadcast schedule for this round can be seen below.

The broadcast schedule is published here in good faith from schedules provided by the AFL.  All schedules may be subject to change. ...

For the past 10 years, World Footy News has collated an extensive list of Grand Final Parties around the world to help viewers find them. And with the 2015 AFL Grand Final being just 50 days away we are calling for clubs around the world to send details of your party to us, so that fans of the game in your country/city can watch the big game with you.

You can either post details as a comment below (you must register before you are able to post a comment or login via Facebook) or email troy@worldfootynews.com - all these details will be collated as per previous years.

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To celebrate the first ever AFL match where an American born and raised player (Jason Holmes) competed against a Canadian born and raised player (Mike Pyke) last weekend the AFL have released "What is AFL?". The video is a 5 minute snapshot explaining the basics of Australian Football to viewers overseas who may not be familiar with the game.

This version (below) is aimed at helping to educate our North American friends in particular. The AFL are also creating versions for other regions and in different languages.  More details on these as they are published.

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While this video was produced with Australia in mind, we thought it worth sharing with the world. #heroesforzeroes

Violence against women is a disgrace at any level but when you consider some women face this day in day out in their own homes it’s heartbreaking. Approximately 1 woman will be killed per week in Australia due to Domestic Violence. Education is the key. We know one little video can’t change the world and we are also respectful that there are many other big issues in Australia. This one is close to my heart and the one we would like to make a difference in. Let’s be honest, most men know this is a cowardly act and don’t do it. This doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try to reach the young men who don’t hear this message whilst growing up. The plan is to share and like this video as much as possible.

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After having the luxury of most games on Free to Air TV in NZ last year, 2015 has seen the return of the bad old days for TV coverage of the Australian code after the collapse of Sommet Sport network. Each week just one game has been available on the Sky Sports network this year.

But just in time for the finals comes the announcement that footy will return to Free to Air for the 2015 AFL Finals series. TVNZ will show the matches on Freeview NZ Channel 13 with eight of the nine finals matches being shown live. Even better is the news that this is part of a three year rights deal that will run from 2016 to 2018.

From 2016 TVNZ will show three matches live per week plus another two either live or delayed throughout the home and away season. TVNZ will also show a weekly highlights show and have rights to other AFL events such as the AFL Draft and Brownlow Medal. This new deal is in addition to the Sky Sports deal where one match per week will continue to be shown live.

AFL Announcement below.

The AFL is pleased to announce TVNZ has been granted AFL international broadcasting rights.

The three-year rights term will run from 2016 to 2018, and will also include the 2015 Toyota AFL Finals Series. All of the Toyota AFL Finals Series matches, including the Grand Final, will be broadcast on TVNZ with eight matches broadcast live.

From 2016 TVNZ will broadcast a minimum of three live matches per week of the home and away season and a further two matches either live or delayed per week of the home and away season.

TVNZ will also air the AFL’s Weekly Highlights Program and has the right to air key AFL events including the Season Launch, Australian Football Hall of Fame, Rising Star, All Australian, Grand Final Parade, Brownlow Medal and the AFL Draft.

AFL General Manager – Game Development Simon Lethlean said TVNZ’s expanded AFL coverage was a great result for fans of the game.

“We are delighted AFL fans in New Zealand have the opportunity to watch matches live thanks to TVNZ’s coverage,” he said.

“As AFL club, KiwiKick and AFL9s participation continues to grow in New Zealand so does the interest in watching AFL matches.

“We look forward to working in partnership with TVNZ in the coming years.”

TVNZ’s Director of Content Jeff Latch says TVNZ is excited to be partnering with the AFL and bringing such an iconic Australian sport to Kiwi lounges in a free-to-air capacity. ”We’re rapt to be bringing the power and pace of the AFL to kiwi viewers and look forward to working with the AFL to build the popularity of the code in New Zealand.”

TVNZ AFL broadcast rights are in addition to the current rights held by Sky NZ. Sky NZ currently broadcasts one AFL match per week of the premiership season, including the upcoming finals series.
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We take a look at the International Players in Week 1 of the 2015 VFL Finals Series.

Week 1 of the VFL Finals kicked off with Box Hill Hawks easily accounting for last year’s Premiers Footscray by 40 points at Box Hill City Oval in their Qualifying Final. Kurt Heatherley (NZ) had 8 kicks 4 handballs, 5 marks and one tackle in defence. Up forward Shem Tatupu (NZ) kicked just the one goal and three behinds, but had a hand in a number of others, finishing with 6 kicks and 7 handballs. Lin Jong was named best for Footscray.

Collingwood won their Elimination Final defeating Werribee by 19 points. Another American ruck clash (that is becoming commonplace in the VFL) saw Mason Cox (USA) take the points against Eric Wallace (USA). Cox had 22 hit outs, 13 disposals, 5 marks and three tackles. Wallace finished up his VFL season with 11 hit outs, 2 kicks, one mark and 2 tackles. At this stage his future is uncertain and he may be retained by North Melbourne of offered a lifeline by another club.

Essendon defeated Casey Scorpions by 21 points in their Elimination Final. Conor McKenna (Ire) was playing in the AFL on the same day but should be available for the VFL team in their Semi Final match this week against Footscray.
 

Jason Holmes (USA) is also a chance to carry on his season at Sandringham this week. His Zebras went down to Williamstown by 7 points at Trevor Barker Oval and will take on Collingwood in a Semi Final clash this Sunday at North Port Oval.  

 

Previews of this week's semi final can be read here on the VFL website.
 

 

 

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AFL Europe will be represented at the AFL's National Draft Combine in Melbourne in October by Darragh Joyce (left) and Colin O'Riordan. After testing well at the AFL's Combine in Ireland late last year ran by Tadhg Kennelly these two selected GAA athletes will travel to Australia in hopes of being drafted as International Rookies by one of the AFL clubs.

Given that media speculation is that the Draft talent pool is relatively week and clubs are becoming more open all the time to code crossers, there has probably never a better time to be an Irish kid auditioning for a spot on an AFL list.

O’Riordan's home county is Tipperary and he helped them to an All-Ireland U21 final this year as well as being part of the minor (Under 18) All-Ireland Championship team twice in previous years. 

Joyce is a star junior hurler, and was a standout in last December's European combine in Dublin.  He comes from County Kilkenny where Gaelic Football is not played, but he has played Gaelic football for County Wexford where he went to school.  Hawthorn is believed to be interested in Joyce and visited with his family in Ireland. 

And Joyce may not be the only Irishman on their wishlist. 

Conor Glass who has just finished his season with Derry minors, is headed to Hawthorn according to numerous reports in the Irish press.  Thye say that he has signed a pre-contract deal with Hawthorn to join them as an International Rookie.  He has been out to Australia to spend time at the club the past two summers and is now at draft age.  Glass looks a likely type to transition well to the Aussie game with great aerial skills and athletic ability.

Hawthorn's first venture into the Irish talent pool ended poorly with the highly fancied Ciaran Kilkenny failing to make it through his first preseason with the club.  Bringing in two Irish lads at a time might be a better strategy and has been somewhat proven at Melbourne, Brisbane, Collingwood and Carlton to give a higher chance of the transition being successful.

Irish Players to have played in AFL 2015 Season: Brisbane - Pearce Hanley, Carlton - Zach Tuohy, Ciaran Sheehan, Ciaran Byrne, Essendon - Conor McKenna

Irish Players at AFL Clubs yet to make AFL Debut 2015: Brisbane - Cian Hanley, West Coast Eagles - Paddy Brophy, Fremantly - Sean Hurley

Irish Players listed at AFL Club but departed 2015:  Port Adelaide - Daniel Flynn  ...

The first week of the 2015 Finals series kicks off in Perth with the West Coast Eagles hosting Hawthorn. Once again viewers around the world can access matches live or delayed on a number of TV networks or stream the telecast via subscription to Watchafl.com.au. 

The broadcast schedule for this Finals Week 1 can be seen below.  Please note scheduling for the newly announced TVNZ coverage are included.

The broadcast schedule is published here in good faith from schedules provided by the AFL.  All schedules may be subject to change. ...

An editorial from Rob de Santos the Chairman of AFANA on the future of Australian football in North America.  This editorial original appeared at www.afana.com on August 30, 2015.

A week ago the first American, born and raised in the United States, make it to the top level of football down under. I hope that these closing weeks of the AFL season will see Jason Holmes (and perhaps Mason Cox, also) do enough to stay there in coming seasons. It's been a long wait. Twenty years for fans. We've also seen the conclusion of a huge new domestic TV contract for the AFL. It's also a milestone year for AFANA. Two decades of promoting the growth of Aussie rules in North America. From scrambling to save one hour of one week delayed highlights on US / Canadian television back in 1996 to having 12 hours per week of live coverage in the USA & 3 hours in per week in Canada plus highlights and repeats now. We have seen six networks come and go in that time. It's been a long journey.

I've been reflecting on that journey and giving serious thought to what it means now and where the sport in North America needs to go in the next two decades. I never expected in 1995-1996 that in 2015, I would be here and I have no plans to be doing this in two more decades. Retirement beckons in the not too distant future but I have some thoughts about the coming years.

On one level, we've made huge progress. We hoped and thought that we could get an American into the AFL in 5 to 7 years back then. We were way too optimistic and grossly underestimated the resistance in the AFL toward recruiting Americans (that only changed in the past five years). In the end, it didn't come via footy played here but through the AFL recruiting ex-college basketball players. It's still a great achievement but it also indicates that growth of the game here has a very long way to go. For an American to reach the AFL via footy played here at home, it clearly means that there must be more growth in clubs in North America and those clubs have to have youth, teen, and college programs. It was the pathway for soccer and lacrosse and it will be the ultimate pathway for the US to develop significant numbers of homegrown AFL players.

How that happens is not AFANA's domain but we do have a view because we're all in this together. Growth of grass roots football, youth leagues, development of a fan base, and consistent accessible media coverage are all necessary. It also means a cultural change away from seeing the local footy club as only a place for guys to have a kick and drink beer. It's important for local club members to have fun and bond. However, until growth of the game is a high priority then progress will be slow, and youth programs will be sparse. Young mothers, even if they overcome the stereotypical view of Aussie rules football as too violent, aren't going to sign up their kids for the sport so long as what they see around the local team is simply a drinking club. Local clubs need more resources and better management. Perhaps time and maturity will change this.

More importantly to AFANA is the marketing of the sport. We've accomplished everything we have in the past two decades without any direct or indirect AFL financial support. We don't ask the AFL for money for ourselves and we don't expect any, regardless of how deserving our volunteer staff might be. Dear reader, your generous donations support what we do. Rather we want support from the AFL to market and promote the sport and to grow the fan base. The NFL, mistakenly thinking that local clubs meant interest, launched NFL Europe a few years ago. Despite their millions, the league flopped. Why? One reason was that it didn't have a large enough fan base. Without an audience, it was doomed. Here in the US, we see that manifested in the weak ratings for live AFL games on Fox Sports 2. Granted, the network is itself still an infant without 90% distribution and the games aren't exactly in prime time in the East and Midwest. Fox does not promote the coverage much outside of FSP, but even so, the ratings are not giving Fox much reason to get excited. In part, that is because the latent interest in the sport has not been developed. Fans have not been sought out or educated beyond what AFANA can do. Many don't even know where to watch despite our hard work.

We've said it before so I will say it again. If AFANA had even a few tens of thousands of dollars over the next few years, we could raise the visibility of the sport significantly. When big events (like Holmes' debut) happen, we could plan for publicity and not simply react. We need marketing and media staff to do this. We need budgets for occasional travel and marketing materials beyond what we have now. We also need a change by AFL International and Commercial staff not to view the US solely as a recruiting pool or a market to sell WatchAFL subscriptions. There are nearly 355 million people in the USA and Canada combined. The sports market, above and beyond TV rights, tips past half a trillion dollars per year now. Surely, that warrants more than an annual combine. A one-half of one percent market share here would generate three million a year for the AFL. That's significant. About a decade ago, an Australian firm working with Gallup reported that there were seven million footy fans here. Assuming that's even half right, if we could generate one dollar of annual income from each of them, it would mean great things for the sport here.

For existing fans, we continually hear from you what's wrong with the coverage. Before we discuss that, there are some myths that should be dispelled. Here's a few facts: 1. Fox does not hate you. 2. The AFL works hard to get good coverage here. 3. AFANA knows that Fox Sports 2 and Fox Soccer Plus are not in every American home (though over half can get at least one of them by cable; nearly all if you include satellite) and wider distribution would be better. 4. Yes, networks like NBC and ESPN have had opportunities to get AFL rights and did not because what they had to offer (if anything), did not match what the AFL wanted. 5. Most program directors at US or Canadian networks do not think footy is the greatest sport ever invented.

Having that out of the way, what does need to be done? Understand that there are dozens of sports which would give both hands and much money to get the amount of live coverage we have on Fox each week. Therefore, we have to work hard (as fans) to keep it. The last few years have had exceptional coverage by historical standards. It's not perfect but with the rapid shift to internet distribution of video, we're probably already near the best deal we can expect over the next five to seven years on broadcast cable and satellite distributed TV. Without better ratings or better sponsorship, there is no incentive for Fox or any other network to give us better coverage. Therefore, the coverage needs sponsors and we have to find ways to get more people to watch in 2016 and beyond. Your help in spreading the word is important. Tell your co-workers and friends and where possible, invite them over to watch a match.

We do have a reasonable expectation to see that some qualitative improvements occur. The cutoff of post-match coverage for replays of rugby bloopers must stop. It's unprofessional and Fox should not do it. Fans deserve to see the full 3 hour feed. We'd like more opportunities to give input to Fox on which matches are chosen for each week -- not withstanding their schedule limitations. We're not going to get everything tagged as a "blockbuster". (That must be the most overused term in the AFL media.) Every match that is aired should be in HD and DirecTV shouldn't have any excuse not to air a match in HD. We hope that last problem is solved but events the past few weeks raise doubts. We want to reach more homes and even one repeat a week on Fox Sports 2 would be a plus. One way to help that would be for the AFL to work with us to find sponsors willing to buy advertising on Fox during the AFL telecasts. Fox (or any other network) would place a much higher value on the games if they returned revenue and viewers to Fox.

The TV world seems to be moving rapidly to internet fed television. Therefore, restructuring the online video is essential. Today, if you are a new or prospective AFL fan in the US, the only coverage you can see without forking out money is live on Fox Sports 2. There have to be more options, probably online, for fans to see the AFL at least a bit in order to justify them spending money to see it even more. Without that, all the coverage on WatchAFL does is bleed existing fans and it does not expand the market. Unfortunately, given the extraordinary amounts the AFL is extracting from Telstra for online rights in Australia, plus whatever Rightster is paying for international distribution, all but insure that the game's online future is limited until the AFL realizes what it is costing them in terms of the future. The loss of distribution via MHz a few years ago was a huge setback. At the time, more than 50% of the new fans registering at this site were coming here from the MHz coverage. This validates how important some free coverage is to growth. The Grand Final needs to move to Fox Sports 2 in the future (or the place with the best coverage under any future contract). The most important game of the year should be on the best outlet.

Making AFL merchandise available via the Fox "store" and other outlets might be a good thing, too. The value of selling Sherrins with sponsor or Fox logos here would be yet another way to raising the profile of the broadcasts. There are many other ideas on what needs to be done. I'm sure you'll share those with us, too.

Just last week, I lost track of the number of articles on Jason Holmes that mistakenly stated the coverage was on ESPN. ESPN has had the coverage for four and a half seasons since 1985. Yep, less than 15% of the time in the past THREE decades. Isn't it about time we get that right in the US media? A real meeting of the minds between the AFL, its broadcast partners, and AFANA needs to happen to find ways to better promote the coverage and educate fans where to find the sport. AFANA has suspected for some time there are more fans who don't know where to find the sport than watch it on a weekly basis by a wide margin.

Now, I will turn to our role going forward. One thing won't change so long as the current management team at AFANA have say in the matter:  we will be the voice of the fan. Fan is the middle of our name and it is there intentionally. We will continue to list TV schedules for as long as it makes sense to do it and that may be years into the future. We will continue to have staff down under who contribute mightily to the original content on this site as long as we can find them and get them into AFL matches as members of the press.

Circumstances have changed since our early days. Back then we could move ESPN to act because they weren’t internet savvy; they didn’t have much experience with interacting directly with an audience; and they weren’t overwhelmed with other sports who desperately wanted the exposure and legitimacy gained by getting on their network. Simple fan lobbying no longer works and the competition for airtime is tougher. These reasons, as much as anything, have meant that we depend less often on asking fans to contact networks directly. Sometimes that makes sense (perhaps with social media) but often it isn't going to be effective so other strategies are important. We work to maintain contacts at the networks with whom we can work on an on-going basis.

Likewise, with the AFL. In the early days, the AFL was a different organization with less of a "corporate" nature to it. Often they did not even respond to us. Now we have direct contacts with the AFL at the working level (and very good ones) but find it difficult at times to get executives to listen if what we say does not fit the current internal script in the C-suite. As we go forward, we will continue to evolve our strategies to achieve the goals we have for growing the game and improving the lot of North American footy fans including how we work with the AFL.

As I wrote in another recent article, we are committed to better serving fans who do not speak English as their first language, particularly Hispanics in the US, French speakers in Canada and Spanish speaking fans in Mexico. The additions of schedules for French and Spanish networks was the first step. For the game to grow, it has to be accessible to all fans in North America. Coverage on a Spanish language US network will be increasingly important. Over the next few years, we will be adding resources in French and Spanish to explain the game and complement our growing number of web pages and resources in English. We welcome speakers in those languages who are willing to volunteer for our team and help us as we move forward. The AFL has said Latin America is off the table due to the difficulty at present. We can help.

We will never stop listening to what you, the fan, tell us. Every day we hear from someone about how much he or she loves Australian football and how important it is in their lives. We get it. That's why we even exist. A few fans, twenty years ago, decided that we would form a group whose goal was to represent what fans wanted. Not sponsors. Not broadcasters. Not the league. Fans. We figured then that no one knew better how to make more fans than other fans. There wasn't any organization like it in sport around the globe then and it was a radical idea. Much to even our own amazement, it worked. Thanks for all of your support over those years, especially those who have coughed up hard earned money to make it happen and our countless volunteers. Speaking on behalf of the other founders, Wade and the late KC Swan, thank you! ...

The Carlton Football Club has signed US basketballer Matt Korcheck as a Category B International Rookie.

Korcheck, who stands at 6”10 (208cm) and weighs 105kg, caught the eye of recruiters at a Florida screening camp in April this year. He was later invited to train with the Blues and spent three weeks at Ikon Park in August.

The 23-year old, who previously played Division 1 College Basketball for the Arizona Wildcats, hasn’t played much ‘Aussie Rules’ but Carlton’s GM List Management Stephen Silvagni says Korcheck has shown great potential.

“Matt is a beast of an athlete and showed some real promise when he made the journey over in August, so we’re delighted to have the chance to explore that potential further,” Silvagni said.

“He’s a strongly built and quite powerful athlete, so when you couple that with his 208cm frame, the possibilities are endless in his development.”

Since being introduced to the game only a few months ago, Korcheck has already developed a passion for AFL and says it’s an easy game to fall in love with:

“Tackling is my favourite part of the game. I love the physicality of the sport, the conditioning and just how hard the players have to push themselves,” he said.

Korcheck has signed a two-year contract. He’s set to arrive at Ikon Park in November to commence pre-season training when the team returns from leave.

To watch Korcheck throw it down for Arizona: Click Here
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Last year’s VFL Premiers Footscray went down to Essendon at North Port Oval by 11 goals. After an even first quarter the Bombers piled on the goals. Conor McKenna (Ire) kicked one goal for Essendon in his VFL return after his two match stint in the AFL. McKenna finished with 13 disposals, 4 marks and two tackles for the match.

Preliminary Finals:
Box Hill Hawks vs Sandringham
Saturday September 19
North Port Oval, 2.40pm (Melbourne time)
 

Williamstown vs Essendon
Sunday September 20
North Port Oval, 2.40pm (Melbourne time)
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Elephants play footy at Wanneroo AFC, Perth, WA. in effort to promote and develop Aussie Footy Internationally.

Earlier this year in July two Laotian Australian Rules footballers played an invitational match for Wanneroo Amateur Football Club in Perth, Western Australia.

Story following courtesy of AFL Asia.

Years of planning and fundraising has finally paid off for two Aussie Rules clubs thousands of kilometers and oceans apart. Through the efforts of Wanneroo Amateur FC legend and current Laos Elephants President Steve Chapman, two Laos Elephants have been given the trip of a lifetime and in doing so, creating a strong bond between the two clubs.

After playing in Wanneroo’s 2010 Premiership, “Chappy” ventured off into a remote mine site in Laos and has not looked back, being a key driver of the Laos Elephants successful local development program.

Chappy and a few close friends from the Wanneroo footy club came up with a plan way back in 2013 to one day bring a local player from Laos over to Australia to experience the Aussie way of life and also test themselves against seasoned campaigners at amateur football league level.

This plan recently came to fruition with them not only able to take one, but two local Laotians over to Perth and it turned out to be one of the more memorable and meaningful experiences in both Clubs history.

The years of hard work teaching Ekaphon Choumphavanh and Handa Yattivong our great game through coach Craig Quigg, captain Steve Chapman and all expatriates in the Lao Elephants team over the years definitely paid off as the two boys did not look out of place and helped their side get to a commanding lead in the game. Unfortunately, the side they were playing against had more run and eventually ground out the win, but that did not matter. The real winner on this day was AFL football and especially AFL football in Asia.

With hopes of sending a combined Indochina Team to the AFL International Cup in 2017, with representatives from Laos, Vietnam, Thailand, Cambodia and Myanmar, this was proof that it should not be a hope, but should become a reality. These two boys showed that with a bit of hard work and determination, anything is possible.

A special thanks has to go to the Wanneroo AFC for all their hard work in getting the boys registered, and especially President Russell Burnett for putting the two boys up at his house for most of their stay and also 2010 WAFC Premiership captain Jonathan Small for all his hard work behind the scenes to make this possible. It also would not have been possible without sponsorship from IIMS and Caltex and also all the personal donations made by the Lao Elephants playing squad. thank you very much to everyone involved, you know who you are.

There are already plans in place to send two more Lao players next year, and the hope is that the relationship between these two clubs will grow even stronger in the years to come.

More can be found at AFL Asia and Laos Elephants Facebook group,

and Wanneroo Times http://www.communitynews.com.au/news/Win-some-Laos-some/7674742

More pictures at the Lao Elephants facebook group.

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Tijs Lejeune is a Year 12 student in Canberra. For his English subject he was asked to write a paper which reflected his area of sporting or community interest – in this case his desire to learn more about the multicultural and international aspects of Australian Rules football - recognise a challenge faced by the code in its growth and look at possible solutions.

Tijs’ use of the metaphor of the extinct Dodo on Mauritius is a powerful metaphor for the negative growth of our game if suitable care is not taken. Whilst Tijs expresses some views which are not necessarily endorsed by World Footy News or the broader AFL, it is a very interesting take on a possible future of our great game.

I don’t want to sound all doom and gloom, but I look at how the dodo became extinct and worryingly I see some similarities with the AFL. Factors like: undisturbed for so long on the island of Mauritius, no natural predators for so long, restricted to a small inhabitable area and the inability to escape when danger confronted it.

To say that the AFL will face a similar fate is unlikely but it cannot rest on its haunches and expect things to sort itself out. Rugby League, through its international presence in the UK, Europe and Pacific nations, has external exposure that is always there. Tie in with this the global juggernaut that is soccer, and the continued success of Australia’s ‘A-League’ and the AFL faces some problems that it cannot run from.

The dodo lost its ability to fly because there was no need to use it for such a long time; the AFL has absolutely nowhere to run with its stronghold limited to Australia and under threat.

I would like to recall something I heard a few years back, it resounds heavily in my ears and the echo is creating a distorted image in my head. The words of former AFL Chief Andrew Demetriou when he was questioned on the international future of the AFL, “We are unashamedly an indigenous code. We don’t purport to be anything else.” I can’t speak for every international expansion enthusiast who would love to see the code go international but I had to take a step back and argue, why would the AFL take this approachω There has been unprecedented growth at grassroots level for Soccer, and their noisy neighbours down the road at NRL house continue to be a thorn in their side. The popularity of fixtures such as State of Origin and the odd friendlies between Soccer powerhouses upon our shores may not be a short-term problem, but if grassroots participation is anything to go by and the demand for it increases then there will be a future problem for the AFL.

Ultimately, the best way to ensure the safety of the AFL is to expand globally and attract more fans and supporters to love Australia’s iconic brand. This has been done so far at a very minimal and grassroots level with bodies in the United States, Europe, Asia, South Africa, the South Pacific and New Zealand. The results so far are not fruitful, but the seed can’t grow unless it’s been planted, thus the AFL has set itself to reap the rewards in 50 to 100 years time. So far the AFL’s international agenda consists primarily of an annual Anzac Day fixture in Wellington, annual screen testing on gifted athletes in New Zealand, United States and Ireland, plus its annual grants to a few overseas bodies and support for the International Cup. AFL games in Macau, China and potentially Singapore are front of the 2016 agenda.

If I could sit in Gillon McLachlan’s seat at AFL house and utilise the largest war chest in Australian sport, I would firmly put it into AFL growth offshore. There needs to be an expanded global presence with more international exhibition matches so that the world can witness the sport that we have to offer. I know it’s an expensive exercise, but the AFL should take control of one area, let’s say South Africa, and just pour the resources and set yearly plans, until the day where we can see possibly an u18 team coming to Australia and challenging the best kids in the AFL National Academy.

The AFL has the resources to succeed on the international stage, it just needs to know where to put them and how best to utilise every cent. Who knows, maybe one day in around 100 years time we could see the North Melbourne Football Club drafting a 215cm ruckmen out of its academy team in Senegalω The safety net for the AFL in its current situation is the action being taken now to ensure its future is secure. Such action wasn’t taken to ensure the survival of the dodo bird and unfortunately its tragic end serves a reminder to AFL House of the challenges this sporting code faces.

Anyone wishing to pass on any feedback to Tijs can do so via the comments section of this article and we will ensure Tijs receives your comments.

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