AFL V Australian Football: Re-brand the National Competition as the 'Australian Football League'

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No one's ever going to walk around calling it the 'Australian Football League' all the time. Even if you try to market it with its full name people will just shorten it to AFL. It already happens in England with the EPL.

That is a phallacy. The league is called the Barclays FA Premier League. No-one calls it the "English Premier League" or EPL outside Australia.
 
Lol give it a rest, no pom calls it the "Barclays FA Premier League". The FA is the football assocation. Simple as that. The Premier League has a different representation to the FA. As far as I know from experience, Brits just called it the Premier League/Premiership/League. The prefix "English" has no relevance. Its not like they need to tell themselves what country their own league is in. Unlike the AFL/NRL, it has nationwide support, so things like this are trivial and aren't an issue. Much like in the US.
 
Lol give it a rest, no pom calls it the "Barclays FA Premier League". The FA is the football assocation. Simple as that. The Premier League has a different representation to the FA. As far as I know from experience, Brits just called it the Premier League/Premiership/League. The prefix "English" has no relevance. Its not like they need to tell themselves what country their own league is in. Unlike the AFL/NRL, it has nationwide support, so things like this are trivial and aren't an issue. Much like in the US.

I know no-one calls it the Barclays FA Premier League, but it's not called the EPL, which is a made up abbreviation from Australia. It's just known as the Premiership in the UK or the Premier League in Europe.

At least the AFL is what the league calls itself. Using "EPL" as a comparison to "AFL" is wrong.
 

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Yes - but that's the point here. Never mind about the branding to the world - this thread (and my post) are about the 'AFL' branding in NSW/Qld. That it is OUR Australian game is ONE fact the AFL should be using to help promote Australian Football (and not just use the brand-name 'AFL') to those areas where our Australian game is not as popular as the UK imports.

dude you gotta get over it...when i was at school sydney and gold coast regions...we would say lets play afl..australian football isnt something people in nsw/qld say..not sure if vic kids say it?

Also UK imports would be correct for sports less than 20 years old..but come on league, union and soccer all been here for 100 years..they are now in built into culture of people who follow the sports
 
Yeah i'm sorry i know its easy just to say AFL, and i dont like to take things literally. but it shits me too.

this reminds me of a time i went skiing in NSW when i was a little fella. and some kid said to me "do you play AFL at your school"

and i was like "ummm no, i'd like to play AFL one day but at the moment im just playing 1st 18"
 
That is a phallacy. The league is called the Barclays FA Premier League. No-one calls it the "English Premier League" or EPL outside Australia.

Nope. It's just called "Barclays Premier League". Without the sponsorship, just "Premier League". The FA is a completely separate body.

Gold Coast Football Club has the right idea, and now Gold Coast United can't use that name.

They're called "Gold Coast United Football Club". What's the difference?
 
Nope. It's just called "Barclays Premier League". Without the sponsorship, just "Premier League". The FA is a completely separate body.



They're called "Gold Coast United Football Club". What's the difference?

They brand themselves as "Gold Coast United" in all of their communications, logo, etc. Don't guess - do some research.
 
BTW, to be referred to as a real code of football you should have to actaully have some reasonable degree of interation between the foot and the ball.

In Australian rules football and soccer football, the predominant way of scoring and disposing of the ball is with the foot. Of course in soccer you can head the ball in, and Australian football you can use your hands to score a behind, the main way is by using the foot.

Rugby union and rugby league are not codes of football - they are rugby codes. They call them "footy" here in Sydney but that is only because they have never had real football code to follow until recently. That is changing.

There are only 2 major codes of football in Australia. The world game of football and the Australian game of football.

P.S. Grid Iron does not qualify either ;)
 
Wow... some people really have too much time to worry about insignificant crap hah!

I just refer to it as "footy". You don't say "footy" when referring to soccer, nor rugby now do ya?

AFL is not "Australian Football" to be used in a sense that refers to the code, especially in news breaks. To say "x person plays Australian Football." is er, um, to refer they could play for the local primary school. At least when the term AFL is used, you know it means at the top level.

Also, on the contrary, when thinking of Shaq... do you say he plays "National Basketball Association", American Basketball... or does he play in the NBA?
 
Wow... some people really have too much time to worry about insignificant crap hah!

I just refer to it as "footy". You don't say "footy" when referring to soccer, nor rugby now do ya?

AFL is not "Australian Football" to be used in a sense that refers to the code, especially in news breaks. To say "x person plays Australian Football." is er, um, to refer they could play for the local primary school. At least when the term AFL is used, you know it means at the top level.

Also, on the contrary, when thinking of Shaq... do you say he plays "National Basketball Association", American Basketball... or does he play in the NBA?
We aren't talking about people playing it at the top level. at levels below the AFL the sport is refered to as AFL.
 
Wow... some people really have too much time to worry about insignificant crap hah!

I just refer to it as "footy". You don't say "footy" when referring to soccer, nor rugby now do ya?

AFL is not "Australian Football" to be used in a sense that refers to the code, especially in news breaks. To say "x person plays Australian Football." is er, um, to refer they could play for the local primary school. At least when the term AFL is used, you know it means at the top level.

Also, on the contrary, when thinking of Shaq... do you say he plays "National Basketball Association", American Basketball... or does he play in the NBA?
I don't think you get it. :confused:

The whole point of this thread is that AFL does not mean at the top level. It translates to the game Australian Football or "footy". Many people on Bigfooty find this undesirable.

Read it again.
 

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We aren't talking about people playing it at the top level. at levels below the AFL the sport is refered to as AFL.

correct.

http://www.sportingpulse.com/assoc_page.cgi?client=1-1047-0-0-0

unfortunately, it's a directive from the top. the AFL (the body) is different to most sporting organisations in the world in that it is both the custodian of the game and the administrater of the elite league. other sports usually separate these functions. it clearly sees strategically encompassing everything associated with the game under one name as the best way to promoting the game in the unique Australian marketplace.
 
Their official name is "Gold Coast United Football Club". Fact.

Mate, I deal with them in business. They are officially called GOLD COAST UNITED F.C. PTY LTD and trade as Gold Coast United.

They do not use the word/s "Football" or "Football Club" because the AFL club registered it first.

F.A.C.T.

The point you are also missing is that we need to be aggressive to secure commercial rights to the word football.
 
Mate, I deal with them in business. They are officially called GOLD COAST UNITED F.C. PTY LTD and trade as Gold Coast United.

They do not use the word/s "Football" or "Football Club" because the AFL club registered it first.

F.A.C.T.

The point you are also missing is that we need to be aggressive to secure commercial rights to the word football.

What do you think "F.C." stand for, exactly?

They can use the terms "football" and "football club" as much as they want, because "United" differentiates them from GC17. It's the same way that Melbourne Victory is called "Melbourne Victory Football Club", despite there already being a much older "Melbourne Football Club".
 
No different to us referring to the other game as Soccer,
SOCcer being a derivative of Football AsSOCiation

Or calling the bumsniffing game Rugby Union instead of Rugby
 
No different to us referring to the other game as Soccer,
SOCcer being a derivative of Football AsSOCiation

Or calling the bumsniffing game Rugby Union instead of Rugby
Completely different. Soccer comes from Association Football (not Football Association), referring to the sport not the competition.

Again, Rugby Union is a sport.

AFL isn't a sport, it is a competition.
 
This is a terrifc thread and raises some really interesting points. The AFL (the administrators) have made a strategic marketing decison to market the elite level game and the sport as AFL.

This is not directed at those of us in true footy heartlands of Victoria, WA, SA, NT and Tassie, but is a direct push into the NSW and QLD markets. It must be known as the same brand across all media in all markets to increase brand equity.

In the northern markets we have the following conditions:

- The term 'football' is used by the FFA (as it should be)
- The term 'footy' has been coined by the NRL (which pisses me off but is a reality)
- AFL relates to the sport of Australian Football at all levels

Consequently:

The AFL understands that in order to succeed in the NSW and QLD markets it must co-exist with the NRL and attempt to gain new supporters who are likely to possess a strong association and bias towards the NRL (and subsequently the term 'footy'). There is already a perception with the NSW and QLD markets that the AFL (administrating body) is simply trying to muscle in on these areas for pure financial reward. To combat this the AFL needs to avoid any other issues which may fuel this perception and provide the NRL with ammunition to quash the current AFL expansion.

The NRL understand this and as such have marketed their game as NRL or rugby league in Victoria to differntiate from the AFL whilst avoiding any potential conflicts. Can you imagine seeing Matty Johns on TV in Victoria asking us to all go to the 'footy'' to watch the State of Origin? Ofcourse not!; but the same applies for rugby fans up north.

If the AFL were to come in using wording such as 'Australian football' or 'footy' then they run the risk of offending and alienating those potential fans in NSW and QLD who may infact enjoy AFL but possess a strong loyalty to their own brand of 'footy'. We saw this reaction as previously mentioned in this thread with last year's campaign surrounding the Australian game of AFL. It simply didn't resonate in the northen states and whilst it may appeal to us, there is no point spending millions of dollars in a market which is already obessed with the product (as Melbourne is with AFL).

I personally get annoyed seeing the NRL guys talking about going to the footy when the fact of the matter is that the premise of the game is to score a try with your HANDS. But we can't change that unfortunately, and it is a battle that the AFL can't win.

I think the AFL are doing the right thing by merging the associations of the actual code of football and the elite level of the game as one and the same in the northern states.

We'll just have to call it footy down here and if us Victorian guys are talking to a hot bird up north...well we aren't lying when we say we play AFL!
 
What do you think "F.C." stand for, exactly?

They can use the terms "football" and "football club" as much as they want, because "United" differentiates them from GC17.
Ummm, what do you think AFL stands for, exactly??

You're getting confused.

The point of the thread is the use of AFL instead of the full word football. Same goes for the use of FC instead of using/saying the word football. Just like "AFL" , "FC" stands for football but the word in full is not used. Get it now?
 
Rugby union and rugby league are not codes of football - they are rugby codes. They call them "footy" here in Sydney but that is only because they have never had real football code to follow until recently. That is changing.

There are only 2 major codes of football in Australia. The world game of football and the Australian game of football.

P.S. Grid Iron does not qualify either ;)


Says who, you?

The term 'Footy' is used by as a slang term for the local Football code, which is AR in Victoria and Rugby league in Sydney.

That will never change.
 

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AFL V Australian Football: Re-brand the National Competition as the 'Australian Football League'

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