International future - Foxtel Cup and 250,000 players

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International future - Foxtel Cup and 250,000 players

Authored by: dantez
on Wednesday, August 17 2011 @ 07:55 pm ACST

With all due respect, the AFL taking credit (Phase 1 of their strategic plan) for the 60,000 international players is blatantly false. Much of the 60,000 strong international player contingent has been started, developed and supported by the dedication of many expat and local volunteers who wanted to bring the game to their local country, without any funding, support or participation from the AFL. These volunteers self-funded events from their own pocket, and donated resources (time, equipment, uniforms etc.). It is insulting to those volunteers that the AFL, with plenty of funding to invest (keep in mind, these clubs need comparatively little funding to be successful), has so far delivered very little if anything to support the growth of the sport in these regions. I hope the AFL's Phase 2 includes a uniform model to support these developing nations, which includes access to international sponsors and appropriate funding and resources.

International future - Foxtel Cup and 250,000 players

Authored by: Brett Northey
on Wednesday, August 17 2011 @ 08:10 pm ACST

I think you need to be fairly careful in drawing conclusions from what is written here. These words are an interpretation from our writer, so while I'm sure she has the gist right, I wouldn't treat it like a direct quote of AFL people. I've been to these forums and they do NOT claim credit for the majority of growth of footy internationally. They acknowledge the work of the volunteers. It would down right stupid to stand up at a forum like this and pat themselves on the back, so I can't believe that that is what was meant by what was written above.

Although the reality is that the largest numbers making up that 60,000 come from programs that HAVE received direct and indirect AFL funding. That's still always built on a network of volunteers, as football is in Australia too.

But there's no doubt we all want the AFL to get much more involved and do more, and it is interesting to hear that obviously some people like yourself have a very negative view of their involvement thus far. I think it varies greatly from country to country. Can you tell us who you were involved with?

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

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