For Americans of a certain age, this is how the game found so many of us.
I never knew that the 50 metre arc was in part created for international broadcasts. Not sure how I feel about that. Interestingly enough, they mention Sheedy as being one of the first coaches to use it strategically.
The first Grand Final shown live was 1983 (oops). I can’t remember which one it was, but I know I watched an Essendon-Hawthorn grand final at some point at either age 7 or 8 without knowing anything, other than I distinctly remember “not liking the brown and yellow team”.
Little did I know 30 years later just how much that “other” team would factor into my adult life. It was just coincidence that when I started dating my wife that it was all an excuse to get on my in-laws’ good side that they happened to be Essendon people.
A great read. Hopefully once dazn takes over foxtel we can get the game being broadcast in America again. There is no chance with the Murdoch’s and their strong bias towards the English game of rugby league (even worse since Lachlan took over), so the change away from them will hopefully be helpful.
Having lived in the U.S. myself (funnily enough Bristol CT) and having introduced friends and in laws to the game, they loved it, coz it’s so unique and fast.
Obviously Australia being an international minnow it will never fully get the attention it deserves to make a real impact. But it’s worthwhile creating a niche fan base in the U.S. and other countries, by making the games more accessible oversees.
It’s amazing to see that AFL was a contributing factor in ESPN a major american sports channel eith worldwide influence not many people know this but there was something in this sport that really made Espn take off. I’m not sure how much AFL is shown these days in America but I don’t think they get too much action.
Here in England we have TNT sports showing AFL since they brought the channel from BT in 2023. They show plenty of AFL in the summer as the football season is off and even better as they are showing more matches throughout the weekends.
I have said it before and will continue to say this (AFL) aussie rules is the most underated sport in the world and it deserves way more attention worldwide. It would be great to see younger generations get inspired by it and want to be Australian footballers themselves and it would be nice to see schools, colleges grassroots and summer holiday sports camps and clubs in Europe and America take note of whats going on in Australia and introduce AFL into their PE curriculums as it will help boost the sports popularity even more especcially among the under 18s.
I think there are a lot of countries that show AFL coverage to an extent but a lot of it would be of the Grand final and maybe a couple of prelims but hopefully one day we will see the AFL do what the NFL is doing and bring in new supporters from around the world in different ways and methods
I’ve always thought the AFL should pay overseas networks to show games on their stations. Particularly with live betting now they could build a niche audience overseas.
Whenever I read any article or see any news feature on the earliest days of ESPN, they always talk about Aussie football. It’s one of those things that people seem to remember and still talk about even if a lot of them never watched it before or since.
And do people actually watch it? I’ve never seen Sky sports promote the game even once. If the yanks played it though, they would be all over it like a seagull over a hot chip
I don’t know who watches it but there are quite a few AFL fans over in England more than you think. Still not a lot but there are a few both natives like myself and Australians who have moved over.
Sky sports don’t broadcast AFL and never have done it always has been BT sports 2013-2023 followed on by American run TNT from 2023 onwards
There used to be a “aussie rules show” on BT sport which was a weekly magazine show shown every Friday 1 hour before the Friday night games. And since TNT aquired BT the show has not passed over and now no longer exists.
It’s a shame really that the show didn’t continue in any shape of form as it showcased the game in England and promoted grassroots clubs across the British isles. And it’s a shame that anything promoting AFL in the northern hemisphere seems to get shut down after little to no attention and can often get limited funding.
But it is very hard to get the game to spread worldwide as Australia doesn’t have as big worldwide influence as England and more so America and people in Europe and America will find it jard to grasp the game as it is very complex and other sports such as Football both American and european, Rugby and Basketball are more established and have more bigger and pasdionate supporter bases in these countries.