World Footy News

The Australian Football Association of North America (AFANA) is conducting a poll aimed at footy fans from the US and Canada. They've also begun taking AFL Grand Final Party announcements for all parts of the world. This is a great resource for roaming Aussies and other Aussie Rules fans to make sure they enjoy the big day wherever they may be.

The following two pieces are from Rob de Santos, Chairman of AFANA.

2006 Fan Survey

AFANA's survey of footy fans with emphasis on how fans watch and get their footy has begun. This survey is a critical source of information to the AFL and TV partners about fans in the USA and Canada. It also helps AFANA know where to direct our efforts to help footy fans get more footy. Last time around in 2003, we got great participation from fans and players across the continent and hope we can do so again. It's an important opportunity for fans to have their say in the future direction of footy on TV and the internet. It's an online survey and takes about 20 minutes to complete. The survey is expected to run until about the first weekend of AFL finals. To participate in the survey go to this link:

Fan survey

AFL Grand Final Parties 2006

We are only a few short months from Grand Final 2006. AFANA is now accepting announcements of Grand Final parties. If you are hosting a Grand Final party and want AFANA to post it on our site, send the details to: aussiefb@afana.com

Party organizers, footy clubs, social clubs, Australian American Chambers of Commerce, Aussie pubs, etc. are all requested to send us their party details. If we know about your event, we can direct local fans to you as well as out of town visitors. Our listings cover North America and indeed, the globe. If there is a party somewhere then we want to have it listed. If you haven't started planning your party, now is the time to do so.

Guidelines for announcements:

Please include contact information (name plus e-mail or telephone, web site if applicable), location and directions to the party, any admission charges or age restrictions, and the starting time for your party (NOT the starting time for the GF or TV coverage!). Text format announcements strongly preferred over html, PDF, or Word documents. Any announcement submitted in html will have the html used on our web site only. Non text formats will not be used as is and the text only may be extracted. Announcements will be printed in our TV newsletters and posted to our web site. AFANA reserves the right to edit all announcements for style and brevity.

An important note regarding TV coverage of this year's Grand Final:

The live coverage of the Grand Final in the USA will only be on Setanta Sports. This channel is only on the DirecTV (ch. 615) and Globecast satellite services. It is by subscription only and public establishments and individuals should plan to subscribe in advance. We have more information at our web site here and also check Setanta here or contact DirecTV or Globecast. Canadian coverage is expected to be on Fox Sports World Canada as it has been for several years.