Having Shane Savage in the side for New Zealand would have helped them a lot against Australia u17's.
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Very good question.On PNG now being affiliated with Asia, I'm wondering how that is better than playing against teams like NZ, Nauru, Fiji and Nth Qld.
I think that AF can, realistically, have an ambition to become the no.2 sport in NZ- perhaps a 30 year timetable.
It could be a long waitAFLNZ prepared to wait for AFL matches in NZ.
http://aflnz.co.nz/blog/2018/10/25/nz-still-wants-afl-games-despite-saints-china-foray/
I have said in the past that one of the things holding back AFL is the name.Hate to say it, but as someone who grew up in NZ, there was and possibly still is a stigma attached to Aussie Rules because it is perceived as just Australian and not international. Yes ANZACs and all that, but don't underestimate the size of the chip on "Aussie's little brother's" shoulder.
Also happy to compete and win against Aussie clubs in Union, League, soccer and cricket, but not happy to be easybeats in a sport where no matter how good the local team is, it'll be flattened by first-tier suburban sides let alone VFL or AFL. I see it as akin to baseball and American football in NZ - it has its aficionados, and some individuals may rise to greater things overseas, but nobody really rates it other than those directly involved.
Happy to be proven wrong.
I have said in the past that one of the things holding back AFL is the name.
We as sport are never really going to leave Australia with the name AFL.
Australia is a very small market.
IMO the name Australian football is holding the game backThe name "AFL" is not holding back AFL.
The AFL has seemingly educated you to refer to Australian Football as "AFL".
Australian Football has "left" Australia with Australian Football, Aussie Rules, AFL and even footy.
Australian Football is now played regularly in over 55 countries now so it is truly globally spread.
Australian Football proportionally is the most well-attended and most financially supported football in the world
and is still expanding within Australia, but yes, it is a really bug ask to support all the demands for Australian Football around the world.
As for N.Z., yes they Kiwis do seem to have a chip on their shoulder, but I would consider the Sydney market
a much much tougher market in that regard.
It is a complete fallacy to suggest that AFL is trying to win the hearts of dye-in-wool rugby followers. That's stupid.
What any developing sport attempts to do is find those people that particular sport that appeals to and build from there.
As I posted above, the AFL is trying o get to kids before they have locked in a preference. It's a long-term process.
Personally I have not seen any resistance to AFL in N.Z. possibly due to the fact that they do call it AFL in NZ.
Probably there is little resistance because AFL is sold as fitness, fun, cross-training a new experience etc etc. not as AFL.
As for the rest of the world I have not seen or heard of any resistance to the name of Australian Football.
In fact, in most cases it is a really huge plus. I would council for no name change and marketing as "AFL"
is practical and highly successful. (Even though it grates on me as an Australian Football supporter).
The name Australian in AFL is only an issue for insecure Australians imop, I doubt most people around the world would give it a second thought.IMO the name Australian football is holding the game back
I seriously doubt that AF is played 18 a side on ovals in 55 countries.
I seriously doubt if its played seriously or in a league format in 55 COUNTRIES in any form.
If we was going to make a impact in New Zealand we would have made it before now.Its not going to happen.
Australia has a population of 25 million, which is a very small market.
The NFL is played in a country of some 320 million people and they are still taking games overseas which sell out within days. We play 1 game a year overseas in China where you can more or less count the crowd.
Have a nice day. Sorry to be a realist.
NZ has always had a league presence. Considered lower class, a niche sport played by thugs who couldn't get a gig in union. Union was by far the dominant sport until the late 80s / early 90s when it was noticed back home that Kiwis were having an impact on the league scene in Australia.
It got a massive boost when Graham Lowe started coaching Manly and populated it with marquee Kiwis. It also coincided with the introduction of satellite TV into NZ - instead of three FTA channels we could now get two sports channels on Sky. Bingo, we were getting full coverage of live games from Sydney during the day and the English league overnight. Everyone was on the Manly bandwagon, Mt Smart Stadium was redeveloped, we had a home worthy of a local team and the Warriors club was created.
So mid-late 90s the provinces were still nearly 100% union but in the main cities an awful lot of people followed both codes, for instance I was Wellington / Norths (RIP) / Wigan.
"NRL did, and NRL is Australian, and RU supporters traditionally hate RL. "
Absolutely. But league in NZ had the perfect storm: Locals making a name for themselves overseas; a successful side being coached by a Kiwi; and new technology enabling not just two union games per weekend on fuzzy FTA TV, but multiple games live on crystal clear channels; and the time difference allowing you to watch a local provincial game or Ranfurly Shield challenge then switch over to see the match of the round in Sydney.
AFL isn't going to have all those ducks lined up in a row. League was just in the right place at the right time.
Rugby League started in Huddersfield England in 1895.Have to join in here on the topic of Rugby League in New Zealand.
Rugby League commenced in Sydney in 1908 and became popular in its first season.
They started looking at NZ almost straight away and officials travelled there to check thing out.
However the NZRU put plans in place to fend off this approach but could not stop RL Clubs being formed with defections from RU including the All Blacks in those beginning years.
Over time the RL code did grow but has never really challenged RU who have very effectively protected their code.
Very interestingly when our game over there finally folded (1903-1913) several players switched to RL so they still could play a sport.
To sum up sport wise the Kiwis love being the big fish in the Worldwide Rugby Union pond.
Yes you are right about the NZ All Golds in 1907 with their Tour.Rugby League started in Huddersfield England in 1895.
It was the New Zealand all Golds who introduced Rugby League to Australia on there way to England
NZ has always had a league presence.
Sorry to be .......
If we was going to make a impact in New Zealand .
Australia has a population of 25 million, which is a very small market.
You dude are living in cloud cuckoo land.I live overseas mate and in the past have worked in different countries.Ignorant.
In my travelled experience there is no evidence of the name Australian Football holding the game back - in fact the contrary is true.
As a person connectedted to Australian Football overseas I can tell you that Australian Football played seriously, regularly and in a league format in over 55 COUNTRIES. It is played irregularly in about a dozen more countries, Women's leagues are rapidly catching up to men's leagues. There are some junior football, Auskick and a lot of school competition in a handful of places. There are also mixed leagues and many variants like Ausball mainly in the U.S.A.
Obviously schooling didn't make much of an impact.
Yet the AFL outperforms the NFL proportionally on attendances and finance.
It seem s rather hypocritical to decry the lack of development of Australian Football around the world
and then point out that Australia is a "very small market".
The reality is that Australia Football has developed amazingly around the world in the last 30 years through a mixtures of "organic growth"
and AFL investment.There have been some very big gains but is it sufficient to axhieve critical mass ? No.
The main problem is the lack of exposure.Lack of exposure is a catch-22.You cannot have exposure without being mainstream.
WTF I thought this was an Australian Football forum ?????????????????????????
Touchy touchy aren't we.I was talking to Jatz, not you, and the discussion was how NRL had made such inroads into NZ that AFL hadn't. I used my first hand knowledge to show why, and also highlight that AFL does not enjoy the happy set of circumstances that led to the explosive growth of league from fringe thug sport to the country's second major football code.