IC11 Behind the Scenes - Volunteers, Media and more

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IC11 Behind the Scenes - Volunteers, Media and more

Authored by: Harley Vague
on Monday, October 10 2011 @ 11:35 am ACDT

Thankyou for the emotional reply Mr Fruckle as I was trying to stimulate some debate -hopefully logically .To logically answer your points .

I think it is agreed that Melbourne should host the final .In fact Melbourne has had the final for all the four events .In those four events the crowd the crowd has not increased .If you strip away all the players,officials ,helpers ,schoolkids and friiends that leaves only a handful of nuetrals -literally .Royal Park does the job but is it demeaning for players to have facilities worse than juniors ? Blacktown has superb facilities and tried hard but it and Sydney was problematic for teams .You ask if the urban Cowboy is necessary - well ,until we have crowds - yes .

IC11 Behind the Scenes - Volunteers, Media and more

Authored by: Brett Northey
on Monday, October 10 2011 @ 11:50 am ACDT

If the argument "Melbourne, it's the home of football" is as good as it gets then move it straight away I say. By that argument I guess the soccer World Cup should always be held in England, even the Rugby Union World Cup in Rugby, England. If you never try anywhere else you could be missing some great opportunities.

I too was disappointed with the lack of attendance at Blacktown, although across the whole day I'm told it was about 2000 people across the 2 grounds on day 1.

As Cos said, Royal Park's facilities are far less, and it never gets more than about 200 spectators, the rest are other players and officials, frankly in my opinion Melbourne is a limiting factor in the International Cup every time it is held there. It takes it for granted, it gets very little coverage, and we had more people turn up at the country venues in the past. That was the 4th time Melbourne has held it. The AFL does a great job with side events like the Sydney Harbour launch and the Crown dinner in Melbourne, but clearly the Melbourne public are not going to turn up to watch games (unless perhaps there's a massive advertising blitz which won't happen). You would have a far better chance staging the event in Perth or Adelaide in terms of crowds - footy heartland people too but a smaller market, easier to promote into and less fully AFL focussed media. Keeping it in Melbourne keeps it low key.

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Brett Northey - Co-founder and Chief Editor of WFN

IC11 Behind the Scenes - Volunteers, Media and more

Authored by: Troy Thompson
on Monday, October 10 2011 @ 10:01 pm ACDT

As Brett said, it cost us all significant money to cover the IC and some money was paid to us to cover some travel expenses in return for content for the Bigpond AFL site (which we did knowing that it would also take traffic away from our own site). But we were all significantly out of pocket.

As far as content for our own site it was very much volunteering and like most people at the IC paying to be there, taking leave from our jobs. We did not seek this compensation out but did agree that it meant we would be able to cover more of the IC if we accepted such a deal otherwise much more would not have been covered, and in the past we have either provided or offered content at no charge to the AFL site to promote the game.

Beleive me, I am adverse to personal self promotion and cringed to see myself mentioned in this article (mainly because I think all those folks mentioned in the article combined to make the show happen, wheras without me it would still go on just as well). But it is Steve's article and if he want's to include me then that is up to him.

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Brett Northey - Co-founder and Chief Editor of WFN

IC11 Behind the Scenes - Volunteers, Media and more

Authored by: Brett Northey
on Monday, October 10 2011 @ 10:26 pm ACDT

Agreed. We tend to shy away from naming ourselves in such articles, and I hesitated to publish it when I saw it, but Steve tends to be an occasional writer for us and is a well published academic, so in some respects he takes a holistic view, one step removed in perspective, so I allowed it through.

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Brett Northey - Co-founder and Chief Editor of WFN

IC11 Behind the Scenes - Volunteers, Media and more

Authored by: Michael Christiansen
on Tuesday, October 11 2011 @ 12:59 pm ACDT

Apologies the length -

For IC competitors, the 'footy tourist' in them desperately want's to get to Melbourne, see the 'G, and aspire to playing the GF on the G. However, obviously, the present structure of the tournament limits that to the Div 1 Mens final. Will a Docklands Div 2 GF or SCG Womens GF be on the cards??

For the development of players, some teams came out as early as possible - Tonga for example was encamped with the Campbelltown Blues, training and a couple of guys playing, in the lead up to the IC. This is an important developmental opportunity for teams in such a position. What this means is - holding a tournament in an international city without a thriving footy comp would make it pretty hard.....could Toronto do it?? (the OAFL).

In Melbourne, it was frustrating often to hear Brett Kirk interviewed in the lead up to the IC. He'd try to talk up the international elements - only for the drongo interviewers to have stuff all idea, and invariably escape that topic asap. Little by little, the news though is creeping out. A nice article by Martin Flanagan on the IC Gala Dinner night. The international recognition of volunteers on Brownlow night. International sides in the National U16s champs.

Perhaps though - the best hope would be getting a PNG team into the NEAFL. This seems to be very much on the horizon. Suddenly, they'd be a weekly forced recognition of an international dimension to footy. Would there be any chance of the NEAFL one day running a 'World XVIII' and a South Pacific squad akin to the U16s? Anyway, until the broader AFL media becomes more aware, it's a hard sell to the general public - most of whom, it must be said, are pretty enthused when made aware.

I've seen people talk about the prospect of a public holiday for the AFL GF. I'm not sure that's necessary - but, how about, lobby State Parliament for a Public Holiday when we welcome the world for the kick off of the IC every three years!!! Okay - I'm 3/4 joking. But, this event needs to become a nice big multicultural festival. Day 1 in each location become a sea of national dress/dance/food etc.

Perhaps, we need await solely for the IC debut of Italy and Greece to really get Melbourne excited??

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Brett Northey - Co-founder and Chief Editor of WFN

IC11 Behind the Scenes - Volunteers, Media and more

Authored by: Brett Northey
on Tuesday, October 11 2011 @ 01:48 pm ACDT

I've often wondered if getting Italy and Greece there would capture a much bigger slice of multicultural news in Melbourne. It would seem as though the Italian men would be a good chance for IC14.

In terms of AFL media, I honestly don't think they'll have switch on to it. We point out good articles here and there each time, but in reality that has always been the case. There are a few guys with personal interest such as Flanagan, but the only way to force wider coverage in Melbourne is when the AFL stage manage events, such as at the Brownlow. Only if AFL players are playing will the AFL media get truly involved without having to be pushed.

The other angle is if an amateur Australia team (of some form) is entered. That's why I'm keen on it being explored, as has been discussed many times before.

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Brett Northey - Co-founder and Chief Editor of WFN

IC11 Behind the Scenes - Volunteers, Media and more

Authored by: Harley Vague
on Tuesday, October 11 2011 @ 03:52 pm ACDT

Media coverage is the ultimate catch 22 - you don't get it when you need it most .

The media focussed on the peace team and the Folau connection(briefly) .They didn't enquire as to whether New Zealand would benefit from the Hawks ,PNG from the QAFL or RSA from investment .Nobody could reply that Great Britain has seen good gains or that Ireland was always in the picture . I don't believe getting Italy or Greece to attend would be big enough for critical mass to occur .

Players want to play at the 'G' or would they prefer playing in front of a large crowd ? IMO the easiest way to force recognition would be to have an "International Round" with games played at half time at the AFL .They could be seeding games or worth tiebreaker points .As I have said before having games as curtain fallers would be preferrable to curtain raisers to get maximum crowd exposure .

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Brett Northey - Co-founder and Chief Editor of WFN

IC11 Behind the Scenes - Volunteers, Media and more

Authored by: Cam Homes
on Tuesday, October 11 2011 @ 09:34 pm ACDT

Who the @#*> is this Urban Cowboy Joker anyway? What is his claim to fame??? What value did he bring to the IC? Seems like, to some people, he was a liability?

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Brett Northey - Co-founder and Chief Editor of WFN

IC11 Behind the Scenes - Volunteers, Media and more

Authored by: Harley Vague
on Tuesday, October 11 2011 @ 10:08 pm ACDT

The idea of getting a PNG side into the NEAFL is an obvious step .Just as the NT Thunder was formed to compete in the QAFL and later invited to join the NEAFL it would be great to see the PNG with a team in the QAFL or NEAFL especially since PNG players are already associated with the QAFL .

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Brett Northey - Co-founder and Chief Editor of WFN

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