Aussie Rules backer turns to the other side?

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Aussie Rules backer turns to the other side?

Authored by: tinka13
on Wednesday, March 16 2011 @ 02:49 am ACDT

Brett, this is serious. But the AFL will probably ignore it. Since 1999, MANY GOOD AND EXPERIENCED people have been informing the AFL to be committed to international AFL, this is when they decided to take over the running of aussie rules all over the world because they wanted to control it and CALL IT THE INTERNATIONAL CUP etc. If the AFL continues to be half hearted about making aussie rules footy a world game, we will see more and more of this kind of thing happening. You cant blame sponsors, they are now a part of the global world and its about time the AFL now allowed International AFL to be independent (but give support). The AFL are ruled by mainly victorian clubs who have their own interest at heart first and it can not continue like this now and forever, or are we happy with a TOKEN RESPONSE FROM THE AFL?????? Think about what would happen if foreign owned TV Stations in Australia decided to stop AFL on TV one day in favour of Soccer, Rugby, League, Basketball or any other genuine international code, it is a disaster waiting to happen!

Aussie Rules backer turns to the other side?

Authored by: Brett Northey
on Thursday, March 17 2011 @ 02:40 pm ACDT

Yes a serious issue.

And as I've stated often before, I think long term there will have to be an independent body to govern the sport globally, but I can't see how that would be practical at this point in time.

Specifically, you state "its about time the AFL now allowed International AFL to be independent (but give support)".

But how would you propose that? My understanding is that at country level and below the leagues are mostly left to run themselves, in fact that can be a criticism. For the most part I don't see a lot of AFL interference. So how would changing to an independent body help? And that body for now would then almost certainly be reliant on the AFL for most of its funding. I'm not reporting this as confirmed fact, but I believe the AFL is now spending well over a AUD$1 million on international footy. So is your proposal for the AFL to give that money to an independent body elected by the countries and say "go for it, spend it how you like". Plus all the assets the AFL will use to make IC11 a success and the international sides in the Under 16s etc.

Much of international footy is grassroots driven by the people on the ground. But an increasingly large amount is leveraged from the AFL and their contacts and support structure. I just can't see how they could be expected to hand over their funding and how all that interaction and access to AFL support could be managed by a body outside of the AFL.

The time will come but in my personal opinion not until several international leagues are much larger than they are now, possibly 20 or 30 years away.

---
Brett Northey - Co-founder and Chief Editor of WFN

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