Opinion: Report card on IC2005

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Opinion: Report card on IC2005

Authored by: Sean Finlayson
on Monday, August 22 2005 @ 11:49 pm ACST

Great wrap up Brett, but I'm afraid I don't agree with you entirely about the reasons for the poor crowds in Melbourne.

There were 2 factors for me that prevented me from going to games.

Firstly, the draw was difficult to find and not always accurate. The IAFC's draw on their website was incomplete for the entire duration of the tournament, with no times or grounds. The Word doc download on the AFL site was up a few days before the tournament, but was a 404 error for about 4 days until I wrote an email to them and then they put it up again. It's almost impossible to find a contact address on the AFL website and when I did find it and email them, they took days to respond to it and didn't even email back to apologise. It just obviously wasn't number one on the AFL's priority list. And even the draw on this site was not entirely accurate all of the time. The problem was that there was not a good definitive program anywhere. A friend of mine from Canada was down in Melbourne and he said even his former teammates weren't sure when their next game would be. I understand that this may have been difficult because of teams pulling out, in defence of the world footy public it makes it hard when you are actually going out of your way to see a game, you tend get a bit miffed by these sorts of things and don't feel like going if you aren't sure that the game will actually be on.

This may have been different for Wangaratta, at least their promotions would have been very clear about the times and locations for the games.

Secondly, the fact that most of the games are on during the week, when most of us are at work doesn't make it easy either. I can only think this was done to avoid going head to head with AFL games, in which case this is assuming that Melbourne people won't follow it before you actually try it. Most of the few games on a weekend were toward the end of the tournament at Optus Oval. In any case, it was not possible for me to get to the games (with the exception of the grand final), so I imagine that the same would go for many others. My feelings on having to pay to see Collingwood and Carlton just to watch the International Cup Grand Final from B-grade seats and then go home ? well that's another story ... suffice to say, I am neither a Collingwood or Carlton supporter, and this might turn a lot of people of going also.

Games during the working week is fine for Wangaratta school kids, international visitors and unemployed Melburnians, but not for adult footy fans with 9-5 jobs.

Finally, I don't really buy the fact that some teams couldn't find the money. It should be the duty of the AFL to pay for this sort of thing, and if they can't, then the international leagues should be able to find money from somewhere. I noticed that the Irish for example even had PayPal donations on their website. Where there is a will there is a way. Perhaps the international leagues were not clear as to what sort of financial commitment would come from the AFL.

I think that the AFL assumes that people are only interested in the local competition and this will eventually be it's downfall. I know many people who live in New South Wales and Queensland that can AFL because Australia is the only country in Australia that plays it, and it will never be taken as seriously as union or league in these states until others do. Union is growing in appeal to many people (even in the aussie rules stronghold of Victoria) simply for the very reason that like soccer, it is a world game.

These are the facts, and I hope someone (if not the AFL) takes responsibility and fixes them before 2008 for the sake of International footy. $0.02

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