Has travel/living OS changed your AFL experience/outlook?

[redrooster]

Yeh this is an interesting thread.

I've played a few different sports growing up, but AFL has been the only thing I've ever really gotten into watching. Even as a kid when we went to Rugby League matches we'd lose interest sometime in the second half and usually leave early. I've always had friends which follow other sports, and I'm happy to go watch it as a social or occasional thing, but AFL is the only thing that can really grab and hold my interest (and make me want to schedule life around it).

Spent about 4-5 years living overseas recently and it didn't really change much to be honest. Went to baseball socially (but eventually I couldn't even bring myself to do that, worst game ever in my opinion). Also played quite a few new and different sports. But at the end of the day I'm still an Aussie Rules fan.

Perhaps this is because growing up in Canberra I didn't have many live games to see, so there wasn't much of a void in that respects when living overseas. It was pretty much life as usual. I can imagine it being a bigger transition for those coming from more traditional heartlands...

 

[Jammer]

Great Thread ..... Had about 5 years in the states and just like the OP just loved the sporting experience you get over there.
Love the NFL and got into baseball too.
However in saying all that....Those Grand Final nights at some wild bar with a few Aussie and American mates were a blast

 

[J_Moore]

Australia is a tiny country population wise on the world stage. Tiny.

What? No it's not. It's a medium sized country.

Kind of off topic, but the whole "Australia is so small and insignificant" bleating is almost as wrong as the "Australia is the greatest country in the ****ing world and no one comes close!" line of argument.

Australia is about the 50th largest country by population in the world (out of 200 odd), sitting in about the third tier of countries by population. And about the 15th largest economy. It's not an insignificant entity.

If countries were football clubs, Australia would be St Kilda, not North melbourne.

 

[Philth]

I lived in Glasgow for 2 years. Went to quite a few soccer games over there, most of my mates were Rangers fans. I just couldn't get into soccer as a game the way I do with AFL, it's the only sport I really love.

But the thing I really missed about the AFL was the equality for each team, ie salary cap. In the SPL there are 2 giant teams, Celtic and Rangers, who play against minnows, and win everything almost every year. It is literally like having Collingwood & Essendon with all the resources they have playing against the VFL or WAFL. By the end of my time in Scotland I hated the SPL, and loved AFL more than ever when I got home.

 

[Mr Meeseeks]

What? No it's not. It's a medium sized country.

Kind of off topic, but the whole "Australia is so small and insignificant" bleating is almost as wrong as the "Australia is the greatest country in the ****ing world and no one comes close!" line of argument.

Australia is about the 50th largest country by population in the world (out of 200 odd), sitting in about the third tier of countries by population. And about the 15th largest economy. It's not an insignificant entity.

If countries were football clubs, Australia would be St Kilda, not North melbourne.

You're right.

World stage was the wrong wording to use and not what I meant..

I should of said tiny country in comparison to USA and the UK, the two countries being compared with Australia for the majority of this thread.

Basically I think comparisons with American sports or Football in the UK are pointless. Looking at the markets these sports enjoy, relatively, the AFL is small and insignificant.

 

[raskolnikov]

I lived in Russia for four years, the US for two years and Taiwan for two. Living overseas gave me a greater appreciation of other sports and leagues, especially the NFL when I was in the USA and the EPL when I was in Moscow as I worked with a lot of British people and we would go most Saturday nights to watch the EPL at a Sports Bar. However it also gave me a greater appreciation of AFL. I really do think it is the best sport in the world and it was the only thing I really missed about Australia when I was living overseas and probably the biggest factor keeping me from going back overseas.

 

[fairdinkum]

I really do think it is the best sport in the world and it was the only thing I really missed about Australia when I was living overseas and probably the biggest factor keeping me from going back overseas.

 

[raskolnikov]

I would miss going to the footy if I lived overseas.

 

[fairdinkum]

Yeah, but is it really the 'biggest factor' keeping you from moving back overseas?

Not family, friends, steady employment, a mortgage, etc?

 

[Borscht Mat]

I have been overseas now for 12 years, still living in Slovenia, but previously in India (twice), Russia and Malaysia.

After a while the game changes because I think maybe only Chad Cornes was on our list in 1999 when I left, and I don't get to see many games on TV. As a result, many of our players I only know about through newspapers and bigfooty and have not actually seen play regularly. I think it makes me less intense about my team and more appreciative of the game in general.

I did get back for the 2004 GF though.... that was a blast, and I get to see one game every couple of years live.

I think the online coverage of the AFL is absolute shite. For the cricket world cup now on I subscribed for EUR15 for the whole event, great quality live coverage. The AFL still cannot be watched on a mac, I need to pay to see even the crappiest pre season interview with a rookie listed player, and last time I checked the games were on delay. Just crap.

 

[FootyJunkie]

much easier to follow footy overseas these days than it was, say in the 90s...

saying that footy is keeping you from going overseas is just plain silly... go overseas, big world out there

 

[Mr Meeseeks]

much easier to follow footy overseas these days than it was, say in the 90s...

saying that footy is keeping you from going overseas is just plain silly... go overseas, big world out there

Moving overseas is different kettle of fish than travelling over seas....

I dont think it is all that silly to yearn for home comforts at all

I live in the UK, the fact I havent seen a live Hawks game since 2006 is a huge factor in my desire to move home again.

 

[Roddy]

I have watched soccer at Anfield. I've been to Wimbledon. Cricket at Lords. Basketball at Madison Square Gardens. Baseball at Dodgers Stadium. Ice Hockey in Calgary. It all just hammered home all the more how great our sport is, the all round athleticism, which is absent in all those sports. To me nothing, I mean nothing, comes even remotely close to a big game at the 'G with 50,000+ Aussie Rules fans. Couldn't give a rat's fat arse how many people do or don't play/watch it worldwide. It's the best by the length of the Highway One...

 

[AstroboyUK]

been in the UK and India for 11 years now... and love my Aussie Rule more than ever!

As an expat, theres many things you 'let go of' as you settle into the place you live.. you stop pinning for Vegimite, you adopt a new newspaper of choice, you follow the local politics. etc etc... but for me Football is one thing Ive never 'let go'.. and is very close to my heart.

Ive gone to many many EPL games a(chelsea, & fulham mostly) and ALWAYS underwhelmed by the atmosphere and, infact the skills of the players. The kicking is not as precise as you would imagine, and teh chanting etc is ok as a noveltly, but nothing like the roar as your player breaks into the foward line and pumps it forward to a pack.. Its ok, dont get me wrong, but it not really all its cracked up to be - especaily when compared to Australian Football.

Also, when I first arrived, we were lucky to get a score in the fine print of the results column in the Times,, then the internet news started to give timely match reviews, then we actually started to get highlight packages on pay tv... and then miracle of miracles.. LIVE matches on TV!
Nowdays we get 3-6 live games a week.. so Im possibly better off than alot of you in Australia!

Im still passionate: Ive maintained a full 18 game membership all 11 years without a chance of seeing any games and when I saw the Swans V Richmond game last year, where the Tigers got up.. during he last quarter I was shouting and running around the house , telling my kids to get up and my wife to come watch it! ha ha!

 

[bresker]

Coming from Ireland, I can't watch GAA any more. It's like footy for girls & primary school kids.

I grew up playing & watching soccer, but hate the English premier league now. I'm old enough to remember life before the premier league, back when it was a genuine competition & not dominated by disgusting cash and ****ing Man U. The soccer I watched back home in Ireland was semi-professional - crowds of a couple of hundred. No atmosphere.

Rugby Union is the other sport I follow. I liked going back to watch my old school team play, that's decent rugby. Professional rugby union is a ridiculous, technical game played by bores & refereed by Nazis.

I love AFL, love footy. Will be seeing my first game in 5 years this weekend. It is like being a kid and waiting for Christmas. I adore this game.

 

[Mr Meeseeks]

I love AFL, love footy. Will be seeing my first game in 5 years this weekend. It is like being a kid and waiting for Christmas. I adore this game.

Fantastic.

I can sympathise with this 100%. If I had in my hand a flight home that included a Hawks game (or anyone else for that matter), I dont think I could contain myself, like yourself the only comparison that could do the excitement justice would be xmas as a kid. Its been over 4 years for me.

Which game are you going to?

 

[bresker]

Well, Bombers v Dogs - of course providing it isn't a sellout! Buying tickets tomorrow.

What's more, it will be the first game I'm taking my daughter to. She claims to be a St Kilda fan due to her grandad's influence. We'll see about that.

 

[coldpieswarmbeer]

i'dd say the opposite of the OP. made me more passionate. forced to be more involved in online footy discussions like this. if i was still in aus i probably wouldnt be a member of bigfooty.

bottom line. its made me more adament that its the greatest sport in the world. i love its uniqueness too

 

[raskolnikov]

Yeah, but is it really the 'biggest factor' keeping you from moving back overseas?

Not family, friends, steady employment, a mortgage, etc?

I don't have much of a family these days and the ones I do live in another state so that's not a reason. You make friends wherever you go, unless you're a social recluse. I would have steady employment if I went overseas. In fact in my area, teaching, employment is much more stable overseas. I have two houses which I could rent out if I went overseas. So yes I would say footy is probably the biggest factor keeping me from moving back overseas.

 

[raskolnikov]

much easier to follow footy overseas these days than it was, say in the 90s...

saying that footy is keeping you from going overseas is just plain silly... go overseas, big world out there

As I said in my first post I've lived overseas for years and traveled a lot. I'm just at that stage in my life where I'm enjoying going to the footy every weekend and I would miss that.

 

[Beth]

Living os for a few years made me come to appreciate the uniqueness of AFL even more. I really came to love the fact that it is ours and only ours. I think this came from living in Ireland and getting along to the hurling and seeing how passionate people were about it. It made me proud that we also have our unique local sport.

Funnily enough it also made me start to not like soccer so much. I follow Newcastle because they are my family team but I care less and less about it after having it shoved down my throat in the papers and on TV for so long.

Having said all that I started watching NFL last season and I've grown to really appreciate it and can't wait for next season!

 

[Copernicus]

Fantastic.

I can sympathise with this 100%. If I had in my hand a flight home that included a Hawks game (or anyone else for that matter), I dont think I could contain myself, like yourself the only comparison that could do the excitement justice would be xmas as a kid. Its been over 4 years for me.

Which game are you going to?

It'll be seven years for me, and I'll be down in Melbourne in July/August. Will be going to Skilled for the first time in God knows how long to watch the Cats. Think I will get a membership just so that I don't have any problems getting a ticket. Can't wait

 

[mcgarnacle]

this is where im at as well, just got into the nfl in the last few years, the length of the season is crucial to my enjoyment, every game matters, if you're 0-4, that’s a quarter of the season gone, pressure is mounting.

im an NFL man, now. Really used to love my AFL when I was younger but have gone off it with every passing season. Disillusioned with the concessions and associated premierships gifted to the 'new markets', the extremely restrictive recruiting mechanisms (i.e., all draft, no FA) which basically just cycles each teams fortunes for several seasons and also leads to predictable games and seasons for the most part where the upsets are few and far between in comparison to other sports such as the NFL and NRL. apart from the athleticism and unpredicatibility of the results themselves, I enjoy the short season in the NFL as it makes just about each and every game a must win. scarecrow didnt explain the regular season schedule that well but each team is primarily in competition with other teams with the same schedule (it's own division) in order to qualify for the post-season, and only 12 of 32 teams (37.5% of the competition, not half of it) make the playoffs which are themselves all sudden-death. furthermore, over 80% of a week's regular season matches are scheduled on sunday (monday morning before work here) which although is a function of particular circumstances with the sport of american football in the US (i.e., HS on friday night, college on saturdays, pros on sundays) it makes it easier to follow the competition rather than having it spread evenly throughout the whole weekend. dunno bout a lot of you but i prefer to do other things with my friday and saturday nights than watch blokes kicking a pill between a couple of sticks. i guess it's just my circumstances and entertainment choices evolving.

to clarify, i enjoy the sport of Australian Rules Football and still get out for old boys matches at the old club every year because the game itself is fantastic. however, and despite the continued growth of the attendances & exposure AFL, Im loathing the elite competition that represents it.....particularly the way it is administered and the manner in which it has achieved it's growth. the AFL has moved away from primarily organising and administering a sporting contest. rather, it just fundamentally uses the competition as a pawn to fund other governing body agenda.

 

[CLUBMEDhurst]

Was never a fan of the world game, until living in the UK and becoming a near-fanatical Man City fan. Was only able to catch snippets of AFL, due to not having cable. Also think that the 7-8 years that I was starved of footy has actually increased my love of OUR game. The draft and salary cap make a huge difference in maintaining a level playing field and increasing the fairness of the league, in stark contrast to the powerful, in stark contrast to soccer. Australian Rules is the best game in the world to watch!

 

[cos789]

Living os for a few years made me come to appreciate the uniqueness of AFL even more.

It wasn't quite overseas but I moved to Sydney and enjoyed myself .
Then South Melbourne moved there and a great city suddenly got even better .A void had been filled .Attending the Sydney local games wasn't quite the same .Strange thing is now I'm appreciating non AFL games more -especially overseas .They are quite a buzz with players running around with different styles ,jumpers and languages .