With the conclusion of the 3rd International Cup this past Friday in Melbourne, it is probably time to take a look at the future direction of the sport in North America. As I wasn't there in person and depend on the match reports of our friends at worldfootynews.com to evaluate the results, I will not critique the performance of the USA and Canada squads in detail, as that would be unfair. Rather, I want to discuss what it tells us about the future of the sport here. I am sure it is a great disappointment to both teams that they finished 6th (Canada) and 7th (USA); particularly as the US team had high hopes of winning the Cup.
It's seems increasingly clear that what we are doing here is not moving us toward the day when we are more than "a television market" to the AFL. While AFANA is justifiably proud of the role we have played in the success of the sport on television here and the development of this as a viable TV market for the AFL, we do it with the hope of raising the profile of the sport among sports fans across the USA and Canada. We've come an amazing distance since 1995. From the days when getting attention from either TV networks or the AFL was a frustrating and almost hopeless exercise to where we are today has been a terrific journey. The sport has live coverage every week of the season and a solid and growing TV fan base. With the spread of MHz to 17 cities (and more to come soon), we are moving toward the day when we have "local" coverage in every major US city which will give the sport exposure to the "unconverted". These new fans, brought in growing numbers to us each week, are the future of the sport in another 13 years (AFANA is seeing that already in the site visitors). (For every fan out there who doesn't have footy in their home each week, you are not forgotten. We've come a long way and we know have a long way to go so that every fan who wants Setanta or MHz has it.)
For the development of the game at the grass roots and the awareness of the sport among the general population, we have bigger hurdles to climb. It's my opinion that without a stronger junior or youth program in every major city with a viable club, the USA and Canada will have a harder and harder time competing with South Africa and other places where the AFL has put resources on the ground. Since the inception of the USAFL, the USAFL have received substantial money from the AFL and I would expect the AFL to be asking (rightly) where the results are for that money given the finish of the Revolution in the International Cup. (Note: AFANA does not receive AFL funds or money from the networks, we depend on you the reader for financial support.) It's up to the USAFL to provide those answers but I hope that among the future actions will be a growing emphasis on junior and school programs, even if it is at the expense of the senior level clubs. My conversations with AFL and other footy people down under tells me that there remains a perception that most of the USAFL clubs are simply groups of "blokes" who want to have a kick and some beer. That's certainly unfair, particularly to those who have worked hard to build the junior programs to this point. The resource allocation though will have to change. Sending a team of 22 to 32 year old players to the Cup who have just a few years playing experience will no longer work against South Africa, PNG, Nauru, and other up and coming countries. We need to develop the players earlier and have more serious athletes in the side. It's also apparent that sending a side which only plays together once or twice a year won't suffice either. If sports such as weightlifting and volleyball can compete at an Olympic level, it should be possible for footy, too.
For AFANA's part, we have a role to play and we know it. We will continue our long term efforts to build the audience for the sport. More fans will ultimately mean more players. It will mean better TV coverage and better overall exposure for the sport. They are all connected in a big circle. But how do we do that? Clearly, it has to happen on two levels. At the grassroots level it remains one to one evangelism for the sport. Every fan (that means you!) that brings one or two more to the sport has a great effect in the long run. At the national level it means that AFANA must continue to work with major media in the USA and Canada to get exposure for the sport. Not just TV coverage, but interest in the AFL, the players, and the rich character the sport has to offer. It's not glamorous or exciting work and much of the time is just plain hard work. It has to be done though. You can count on us to be there to do it with your help and financial support. We hold out our hand in cooperation to the AFL, USAFL, AFL Canada, and others to get the job done.
Comments
Re: The Future of Australian Football in North America
Re: The Future of Australian Football in North America
Hi Anon,
Thanks for the response. Yes, I agree that some of my post is obvious, but it needed to be said. If, for no other reason, than to provoke this discussion. While the job cannot be done by local clubs on their own, they have to have more resources than one man working the entire country. It's a question of priorities both by the USAFL but even more so by the AFL.
The one place the promotion of the sport hasn't been reverse engineered is here at AFANA. Whatever success we have had is due to local Americans and Canadians banding together on a national level. Fans demanding footy from their cable and satellite providers locally and AFANA pushing the networks nationally has been a successful formula. However, even in our case there are limits. We cannot do certain things at a national level, they have to happen at a local level. Perhaps colleges are a good recruiting ground and that needs to be explored. I doubt though it will help the competitiveness of the Revos in the short term, but (as you suggest) it might well help recruit juniors in the long run.
In summary, the sport here is under-resourced. If the AFL continues to see this as only a TV market that isn't enough. While AFANA can take great pride in achieving the recognition of the AFL for this market, the vision must be wider. We've always believed that creating a fan base was essential to the long term development of the sport in North America. We still believe that. However, we have also hoped that some of the revenue generated by the TV contracts would make it back to footy here and help it grow at the grass roots.
-Rob
AFANA Chairman and Site Admin