First internationally staged AFL Premiership Game bound for NZ?

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First internationally staged AFL Premiership Game bound for NZ?

Authored by: Rod Shaw
on Saturday, March 10 2012 @ 10:10 am ACDT

Dear All Interesting the tangents in a story take! I was asked a question about why Wellington and not Auckland which I responded to. I am pretty sure I was not asked a question why Wellington and not Canberra. Rory, you make a lot of assumptions from the simple fact I have reported a straightforward great news story about our great game and offered a little bit of personal history related to it. FWIW I firmly believe that our game should continue to expand at the top level to include teams from Darwin, Tasmania, Cairns, Canberra and NZ. I think NZ is a gimmee because it automatically gives an international aspect at the top level to what remains our iconic game. It is done already with union, league, netball, soccer, basketball and once upon a time was done with cricket. I think it has to be noted however that all of the above sports have an extensive base in NZ which at this stage footy does not. I think that with the development occurring at multiple levels this will be an issue overcome in time. What I actually wanted to add to my above story was some further history to the Wellington Stadium I gave recalled. Please allow for forgetfulness over a 15 year period! Ian Collins and Wayne Jackson came over to wgtn in July 1997 to scope The Basin for an Ansett Cup game in early 98 which happened to be the Dees v the Swans- Melbourne v Sydney which was thought to be a good marketing tool. Although the AFL great ones launched our Wgtn season at the Australian High Commission their major duties were to discuss the game with sponsors and council. I know that they supported the vision of AFL football with the Council who were at the planning stage for The Caketin. This certainly helped lend wait to what Will McKenzie was doing for the NZAFL. In reality Demetriou, Anderson etc are building on the earlier vision and efforts of Wayne, Collo, Ross Smith, Ed Biggs etc. This is just something I feel needs to be acknowledged along the way. Rory, I would be very excited to see the Canberra Bureaucrats, the Cairns Reefers ;-), the Top End Typhoons and the Tasmanian Devils in the big league but that dies not stop me from also thinking footy is, and should be, bigger than just a domestic market!

First internationally staged AFL Premiership Game bound for NZ?

Authored by: Rod Shaw
on Saturday, March 10 2012 @ 10:12 am ACDT

Sorry a couple of errors in that but done on my phone so too hard to check eg wait/ weight Apologies Rod

First internationally staged AFL Premiership Game bound for NZ?

Authored by: Michael Christiansen
on Saturday, March 10 2012 @ 10:28 am ACDT

I should point out my angst with previous AFL admins was more around the burning desire to reduce Vic teams - and North felt the heat on that front. That and the lack of support for individual clubs around grounds - mistakes made on all sides, but, for a club like North to get shafted from a pretty reasonable set up of MCG plus (either Princes Park or interstate) and shunted into Docklands with a shocker deal.......perhaps intended to ensure the quick demise/relocation of a proud Vic club??

Meanwhile - I've been pleasantly surprised with the willingness to explore international pathways out of AFL HQ.

Ed Biggs......there's a name not mentioned for a while. What's he up to these days?

First internationally staged AFL Premiership Game bound for NZ?

Authored by: Brett Northey
on Sunday, March 11 2012 @ 09:24 pm ACDT

Thanks for the history Rod. Agreed it's important to note these things and acknowledge that they don't just happen over night. Sounds like there was some real vision and planning that got lost along the way for a while but ultimately pay off, with more than just a few pre season games.

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

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