Skip to main content
Forums
Does anyone have any idea of how to access match audio on the net? I'm talking about the audio stream as the game is played. There appears to be nothing on the AFL site about either audio or match video. There is some mention of becoming an AFL member, but I can't see if this is anything like what it was to be a member in years past. I have not been a memebr for a couple of years, just wishing to listen to the match audio. Now that I have broadband (Verizon DSL) I'll be interested in partaking of the match video, which in the past was delayed.
There appears to be no way to become an AFL member online - it's all pdf files that have to be printed out and mailed in.
Due to a glitch, I thought I was signed up to receive the media update emails, btu wasn't until just a couple of days ago. If there is something in one of recent emails, could someone let me know what's going on?
Much appreciated.
Jack in the US
Posted by admincms on March 15, 2007

The AFL has continued to assure us that the audio is available on the net starting about 10 to 30 minutes prior to the match.  It is live.  My one personal test this year, I was able to find the link and connect.  However, many others say they cannot find the links.   My suspicion is that certain browser/software combinations have difficulty including AOL users.   I just went to the site and had no problem finding the "Audio and Video" section albeit there is no match being played at the moment so there is nothing to "test".    I have been unable to play any video clips but freely admit I haven't tried more than once.

I was also able to resubscribe to the service for this season a few weeks ago without a problem at the same price as the past 2 years.   This season we are advised that the memberships will be similar to recent seasons except that the video will only be 12 hours delayed.   Audio will continue to be live and free.    Again, others have reported they haven't been able to successfully sign up. 

My general impression is that Telstra is still tweaking things for the upcoming season.  But as I have told others, if you have a problem at match time, you need to complain to Telstra right then and there and if necessary, ring them (they will take collect calls from the US). 

If you are having a problem getting our TV and Media newsletter, this is totally unrelated to anything at the AFL web site.  You need to e-mail us at aussiefb[at)afana[ dot }com and provide your current e-mail address and any past addresses.  We will then make sure that your current one is subscribed and old ones are removed.   You will need to confirm any new ones we add by following the instructions in the e-mail you receive after your initial request is submitted.
Posted by Bob on March 16, 2007

Jack,

 

The audio should be free.  I haven’t tried it this year, but it worked fine last year after they worked out the website glitches.

 

The match video requires a paid subscription, but you don’t have to be an AFL member.  Go to the AFL home page (www.afl.com.au) and click on FAQs at the bottom of the page to get information about system requirements and subscription information.  Unfortunately the subscription function on the website isn’t working yet, but I have discovered a way to watch the NAB cup matches without a subscription.  More about this later.

 

There are several places on the home page labeled ‘Video & Audio’.  You will have to experiment with them because the AFL has redesigned the website since last year, and they may not all be working correctly yet.  Briefly though, if you want to watch a free clip it should open a new window with an embedded Windows Media Player frame, and the clip will begin playing in the Media Player.  The matches are also shown in this same window, but the route you take to get there may vary depending on which ‘Video & Audio’ section you select on the home page.

 

When you select a match to watch, the window with the embedded Windows Media Player frame will open with a yellow ‘Authentication Required’ box on the right side.  It contains three choices… “LOGON TO BIGPOND”, “JOIN BIGPOND”, and “CLOSE”.   Normally you would select “JOIN BIGPOND” to start your subscription.  But as I mentioned earlier, the subscription function isn’t working yet.  But if you select “CLOSE” you can then scroll through the list on the right hand side of the page and play anything there, even the matches.  Click on the right facing arrow (play arrow) to start the match or clip.

 

This may seem like cheating, but I notified BigPond Technical Support of this hole in their system last month.  They sent me the following Email in reply…

 

“We appreciate the time you have taken to provide this feedback and the support you have given to our official AFL website. However we are aware of this issue. Due to some technical reasons, the Login section is under maintenance and there is a possibility that it may not work properly. At this stage customer may try to bypass the authentication screen to access videos.  As AFL fans, we do understand that this matter has caused much frustration. We apologise most sincerely for this.”

 

To my interpretation, this looks like permission to go ahead and watch the matches free until they get the logon and subscription functions working properly.  I intend to sign up for a subscription as soon as the get the function working properly, so I guess I will eventually end up paying for what I am watching for free now.  I’m not about to make moral judgments for anyone who wants to watch what they can now while it’s free without subscribing later.

 

I have watched all the NAB matches.  Most of them have played at either 173K bits/second or 387K bits/second.  The 173K bits/second matches are somewhat  blurry, the movement is not free flowing, and the ball is hard to track.  The 387K bits/second matches play much better, but not quite as good as TV.  Still it’s good enough that I’m going to subscribe for the year.

Posted by jackn2mpu on March 16, 2007

The AFL has continued to assure us that the audio is available on the net starting about 10 to 30 minutes prior to the match.  It is live.  My one personal test this year, I was able to find the link and connect.  However, many others say they cannot find the links.   My suspicion is that certain browser/software combinations have difficulty including AOL users.   I just went to the site and had no problem finding the "Audio and Video" section albeit there is no match being played at the moment so there is nothing to "test".    I have been unable to play any video clips but freely admit I haven't tried more than once.

I was also able to resubscribe to the service for this season a few weeks ago without a problem at the same price as the past 2 years.   This season we are advised that the memberships will be similar to recent seasons except that the video will only be 12 hours delayed.   Audio will continue to be live and free.    Again, others have reported they haven't been able to successfully sign up. 

My general impression is that Telstra is still tweaking things for the upcoming season.  But as I have told others, if you have a problem at match time, you need to complain to Telstra right then and there and if necessary, ring them (they will take collect calls from the US). 

If you are having a problem getting our TV and Media newsletter, this is totally unrelated to anything at the AFL web site.  You need to e-mail us at aussiefb [at) afana [ dot } com and provide your current e-mail address and any past addresses.  We will then make sure that your current one is subscribed and old ones are removed.   You will need to confirm any new ones we add by following the instructions in the e-mail you receive after your initial request is submitted.

Thanks for the reply. When you renewed your subscription, did you do it on the site before the re-design? If on the new design, how did you do it (step-by-step instructions, if you please)? In another post it's been mentioned that the subscription feature doesn't work yet. I'd had a sub years ago but let it lapse. With dsl, I thought it'd be a good time to re-up.
The reason I hadn't received any of the TV and Media newsletters was that I tried to subscribe to both that newsletter and the Footy News at the same time and only got 1 email to respond to to confirm the subscription. Apparently that was for just the Footy News one. Could you tell me if there's been a TV and Media newsletter in the past couple of days? If there has, and I didn't get it, I may have to contact Verizon to rectify the situation. What would be the exact address I would have to have them whitelist? I get the Footy News no problem through Verizon.
Thanks
Jack
Posted by admincms on March 23, 2007

I renewed mine after the redesign but after I did so the AFL took down the links due to problems.   As of my last check, the subscribe links aren't back yet. 

There hasn't been a TV and Media newsletter in the past few weeks.  One is due in the next day or two, it is in editing right now.   The addresses to whitelist are on the whitelist page.   In general though if you have a subscription problem, you must contact us by e-mail.   For privacy reasons, I can't fix it here as it would require you to post information that you shouldn't.   Contact us at our main aussiefb[at)afana[ dot }com address.
Posted by Beaver on April 22, 2007

Now this may also work in linux.. no clue.... 1. click on Game Day Live on the main page 2. Once the screen comes up look for the "Live Game Radio" link click on that 3. Once the window comes up.. Click on "Bookmarks" in the menu bar 4. Then click on "Add a Bookmark..." once the window with the titlte "Type a name for the bookmark, and choose where to keep it." window comes up highlight the URL (usually starting with http://) 5. Copy the link using CMD+C 6. Hit "Cancel" 7. Close the window for the "Live Game Radio" 8. Open VLC 9. Go to "File" 10. Go to "Open Network.." 11. Paste the URL into the field after HTTP/FTP/MMS/RTSP 12. Hightlight this part of the URL: "http://xml.afl.com.au/live_audio.htm?mediaurl=" and hit delete. 13. This shoudl leave a URL at the top that looks like this: "rtsp://wm9.streaming.telstra.com/ucs-wh_afl0live3" 14. Change the rtsp:// to mms:// 15. Click OK 16. Give VLC a second or two to buffer the audio and... Bingo you should have Live Game Radio...
Posted by admincms on April 26, 2007

There's been a growing current of complaints from within Australia about the new AFL site in the past week or so including a very critical article on crikey.com.au.  Apparently the problems continue to center around the poor navigation, links to audio and video that don't work, and use of anything other than Windows as your operating system and Internet Explorer with Windows Media Player as your browser.   Regarding the latter, readers should note that Microsoft has released a Windows Media plug-in for Firefox and related browsers:   To get the plugin go here:

Download plugin (Link removed no longer working)
AFANA would appreciate reader feedback on your experiences if you try this plugin with Firefox and the AFL web site.

Posted by admincms on May 17, 2007

Typically, the AFL requires the stations to block web streaming during football matches.  There is always the possibility that if the AFL site is malfunctioning, it would be available on the station site so that can be tried but don't count on it.  They are still legally required to block it even if the AFL site is down. 
Posted by jackn2mpu on March 23, 2008

:bounce: Can't get streaming AFL radio in 2008 yet. All was fine the past few years. The entire AFL.com.au is an unuseable nothing on my mac g4 500mhz this year so far using Safari, Firefox or Netscape browsers. I'm in California, if that matters. Any help appreciated. Cheers.

What a bummer. I haven't tried audio, but did try the video of the match replays Sunday morning, East Coast USA and no joy. And I know my Telstra membership is good until the end of March. Tried Safari, Netscape, Firefox - nada. I run a Mac Powerbook G4 with the 1.8 GHz processor, so it's not that my machine has a problem spec-wise. And I never could get vlc to work last year and gave up on it.

Jack

Posted by admincms on March 25, 2008

Thanks for the updates, folks.  Sure seems as if once again, the AFL has left many fans out in the cold including Macintosh users.  Why they let Telstra get away with this I don't know.  They did send out a message that I got that suggested this year would be better, but obviously it isn't much better. 

Posted by admincms on March 26, 2008

The AFL provided AFANA with this info on the site compatibility for 2008 today:  "AFL.com.au supports IE6, IE7, Firefox 2 and above, Safari 3.x for Mac (must be the latest version), Firefox for Mac (must be the latest version).  BigPond TV recommends IE 6 or above (but will work with other browsers as it is flash video). Streaming in Game Day Live requires Windows Media player.  Any operating system that runs these browsers/players is OK."

Posted by jackn2mpu on March 28, 2008

That may well be true for audio, but it's still a no-go for video. I've tried Safari 3.x (latest version), Firefox and Netscape. Unless this gets straightened out this weekend, I won't be renewing my international membership on AFL/Big Pond.

Jack

Recent content

Partners

Worldfootynews.com

ENJOY Three Months Free! 

VPN for Sports!

  • Need to access sports broadcasts that are blocked in your area? You need a VPN!
  • With ExpressVPN, you get a flexible VPN service that can be adjusted on the fly.
  • More than 105 countries suppoorted.
  • The best part? Click on this offer and get 3 months FREE!

We Recommend:

ENJOY 40% OFF SITEWIDE!

  • The future of vitamins is here! Say goodbye to generic multivitamins cluttering your table top. 
  • With Vitable, you get personalized daily vitamin packs tailored to your unique diet, lifestyle and health needs.
  • All you need to do is complete a simple online quiz and unlock your expert recommendation. 
  • Join the 400,000+ people embracing the Vitable way with 40% OFF your first order
  • Use the promo code AFANA40 at checkout.