Editorial

Fellow footy fans,

(Update 1/29/20: 11 fans have donated $300 so far. Thanks! We still need about $275 to get us thru this month into next and at least $2,000 by mid-February to get thru the AFL season. Update 2/13/20: We have taken cost saving measures but we still desperately need your donations and support. Please help.)

As many of you have noticed there has not been much activity recently on the site in the lead up to the 2020 AFL and AFLW seasons. There are several reasons for that. One reason is my need for a break after 25 years. More urgently though, is the severe financial crisis AFANA continues to confront and the personal time, energy, and funds it has required. 

Any not-for-profit entity, particularly small ones, always lives on the edge. It is a delicate balance between available resources and needs. AFANA is no different. We have persevered during good years and bad. The past 18 months though has been particularly trying. Lingering unpaid bills from our last web site redesign / upgrade and a sudden and dramatic decline in both of our major sources of revenue has often required me to pay hundreds of dollars out of my own pocket to keep the organization and website afloat.

Due to changes in policy at WatchAFL, we saw a year over year decline in revenue last year from subscription sales referrals of nearly 50%. Added to that were long delays in payments from WatchAFL. The changes in these policies often resulted in cash flow dropping to near zero in 2019. When you click on one of our WatchAFL links, we benefit (sometimes). If it has been more than 30 days since you last clicked on the link on our site or if you renew through WatchAFL, we get nothing. They don't provide us a "renewal link". Since the fan base is not growing at 50 to 100% per year, we cannot compensate easily.

If your name is not "Google" or "Facebook" then website advertising is minimal so must also depend on donations from fans like you. With the changes in the federal law on charitable donations, most small not-for-profits have seen a decline in donations over the past year. Usually December and early January is one of our best times. This year, we received less than $100. We're not getting the $10 and $20 donations of the recent past and the big donors, who used to give $100 to $2000 per year, have all but disappeared.

In October, we conducted a fundraising campaign aimed at past donors and website registrants and that bought us a couple of months but we can't keep going to the same well over and over, we need new supporters. We don't receive any funds from the AFL or Fox Sports US.

If the situation does not change, I will be forced to suspend operations and the website within days or weeks as I cannot continue to pay for the shortfall on my fixed income.

If you want to help, please click on the yellow "Donate" button along the blue bar near the top of almost every page. We also have a GoFundMe. If you prefer another method, please get it touch by using our Contact page and I will try to accommodate you.

Thanks for all of the support the past quarter century.

-Rob
Co-founder and webmaster

The following is a book review by long time fan and AFANA supporter Mark Dillman.

In 2018, a Collingwood Magpie super-fan from Melbourne very generously sent me a copy of the book "Kill For Collingwood", which he described as the good, bad, and ugly history of the football club from its earliest origin through the time of the book's publication in 1985. I was very surprised at this kind gesture. My offer to pay, at least for the airmail postage, was politely declined. So, I made a donation to his favorite local charity* and informed him.

Over the weekend, we updated our TV schedules page and companion Google calendar to include the preliminary scheduled times up to the Grand Final for Fox networks and WatchAFL. For Fox, all finals in weeks one to three are live on Fox Sports 2 (FS2) only and repeats on Fox Soccer Plus (FSP). The Grand Final is on FSP only. WatchAFL has all matches, live and on-demand. Canadian schedules haven't been released yet but we're expecting something soon.

All live times are, of course, subject to change since the AFL adjusts match times during finals on a weekly basis. We've gone with what Fox provided us and for WatchAFL, with what the AFL did last season. The two vary a little for week one but we should have something firm by the end of August. The weeks 2 and 3 plus the Grand Final all line up and agree with recent years. We'll continuously update the schedules as we get closer to the end of the season and more info comes in.

We also are offering discounts for all WatchAFL subscriptions through the end of the season. It's 10% off for fans using code AFANA10. Be sure to go to https://mbsy.co/lhBGw and enter the code before you select which subscription option you want. Then click apply and choose the length of your subscription. If you have a bar, pub, or other venue hosting a party or showing AFL matches, contact us for a special code and save massively.

Need meat pies? Save 15% at DUB Pies using code afana18 (lower case) at https://www.dubpies.com/ Using our links and discount codes helps fund what we do at AFANA. We receive no financial support from the AFL or networks and depend entirely on you, the reader, to keep us going.

In order to better comply with recent changes in law, including the EU General Data Protection Regulation (known as the "GDPR"), which comes into effect on 25 May 2018, we have revised our Terms and Conditions and Privacy policies effective today (22 May 2018).

Be sure to check the advertisements at the bottom of every page... We have special 10% discounts available if you need to buy authentic down under footy pies for your next get together and a special discount on your 2018 subscription to WatchAFL. For both use code afana18 in order to save 10% when you checkout! Give your friends a real Aussie experience as you introduce them to Aussie rules.