Talking Footy

The Age wrote:

AFL looks to NZ for expansion
By David Reed
February 25, 2005
http://www.theage.com.au/realfooty/news ... 40390.html


The league hopes New Zealand can become a land of the long, white Australian football goal posts.

The AFL's focus on expansion has shifted to New Zealand, with community camps to be held there next year, as well as a Wizard Cup game, probably between Geelong and Melbourne.

The two clubs have been sounded out about the idea, with the Cats particularly keen as the club is popular among the burgeoning Auskick centres in NZ.

Positive strides have been made in converting predominantly expatriate playing stocks to a 50-50 split with local players.

Last year, the AFL appointed former St Kilda player Rob Malone as general manager of the NZAFL, one of five full-time staff, including three development officers.

Malone found a market, if not quite ripe, certainly revealing buds of fruit. For instance, Friday night football is somewhat of a hit, albeit on Saturday mornings when it appears on NZ television screens.

The main success has been exposing 15,000 Kiwi schoolchildren to the game in the past year. Auskick centres and structured competitions for 13 to 18-year-olds are in place in four regions - Waikato, Auckland, Wellington and Canterbury - aided by $150,000 of AFL funds.

"We need to be realistic and understand that Kiwis have not grown up with the game and it will take time," Malone said. "(But) for AFL to be considered the No. 1 alternative winter sport in NZ outside of rugby and netball in the future is not out of the question."

Malone is putting the finishing touches on his proposal to get the camps and pre-season match and while the top brass at the AFL will have the final say, Malone says it could be the first step towards playing a home-and-away match overseas.

"(A pre-season match) is quite realistic as it is only a three-and-a-half hour trip from Melbourne to Auckland or Wellington - AFL teams are currently travelling from Melbourne to Darwin and so on," he said. "Regarding future official matches, I would think the AFL would like to see more growth in the game, raw numbers. However, I think it certainly could work."

The raw numbers of players Malone refers to are stark - there are only 800 registered senior players - but he said moves to convert school players into weekend participants in a rugby union stronghold was where the battle was being fought.

"It is certainly a different environment than growing up with the code in Australia," Malone said. "The Kiwis love any type of ball sports and as there are certain similarities with rugby, they enjoy it. They certainly enjoy the physical side of the game, particularly the Samoan and Maori players.

"The 360-degree-nature of AFL also appeals to the Kiwis, with no knock-on or forward pass rules as such."

AFL football has strong historical links with NZ dating back to the 1890s, when former VFA and VFL players headed across the Tasman in search of work.

A local league boomed so much that in 1901, there were 115 teams and NZ competed in the 1908 Jubilee Australasian Carnival at the MCG, beating NSW and Queensland. But the interest all but disappeared until it was revived in the 1970s.

The AFL then got involved, scheduling an Ansett Cup match between Melbourne and Sydney at the Basin Reserve in 1998 followed by two more games in Wellington in 2000 and 2001.

Despite last week's glowing annual report, AFL Commission chairman Ron Evans said he wanted the game to grow faster. He cited south-east Queensland and western Sydney as the boom areas but the shift further east won't be easily dismissed.

The NZ investment is due to be reviewed next year.

King-Eliagh wrote:

If you ask me its all good and well to have these special weeks but it isnt necessarily keeping tradition 'in' the game is it? Seems like a typical bandaid solution to me beaussie.

King-Eliagh wrote:

"At the expense of the most 'important' developing markets of nsw and qld" These are your words and thoughts not mine.

SMH wrote:

http://www.smh.com.au/news/Breaking-New ... 38437.html

The AFL will aggressively target the western Sydney market as part of a goal to double the league's operating profit within five years.

AFL Commission chairman Ron Evans believes the league had become too content with steady growth and needed to do more to promote the code north of the Murray.

That will include more games in western Sydney (at Telstra Stadium) and south-east Queensland in coming years, with a long-term view to clubs being based in those areas.

"We should be seeking a far more aggressive growth in what we do," Evans said.

"We should aspire to grow faster, and take advantage of that market leadership position.

"In business, if you are the market leader, your shareholders expect you to grow and we should be expecting to grow."

Evans said the 'northern markets' approach had been abandoned, with the AFL now acknowledging Queensland and New South Wales had to be treated differently.

The success of the Brisbane Lions had vastly increased the AFL's market share in terms of media and participation in the sunshine state, but New South Wales was lagging well behind.

"The NSW market is our biggest challenge," Evans said.

"We have got a job of work to do in the Sydney market in particular.

"We are going to put some dollars into that and some effort into that."

King-Eliagh wrote:

Have you been on the boozer tonight??

King-Eliagh wrote:

My words and thoughts you are not understanding. I think N.T should have had a team looooong ago, the game has been popular in darwin much longer than in sydney. As for the funds, some could be taken from drops in salaries, and some could be taken from the money they have for bloody new zealand.