The Sport of the Future
It's Australian Football. Of course. Here's the link on the push to make footy global (and don't miss the link to the guy who points out why soccer sucks so badly compared to footy -- I couldn't have put it better myself).
The key here is to get junior numbers in each of these nations high enough that they can each produce a player who can make the AFL in Australia. That will in turn create more interest in the sport back in the home nation, boost junior numbers again, thus getting more players into the AFL, etc. Papua New Guinea is doing brilliantly, New Zealand has some kind of chance, and South Africa could be the big one, in the future. Beyond that, it's all speculation, but if just PNG and South Africa end up with say twenty players in the AFL (two a year for ten years), that's enough for a high-level national team. And international footy would be horrendously good fun, and would win many converts.
The big advantage footy has is that it's great fun to play, and is the most spectacular spectator sport in the world. That has to count for something, once it starts getting discovered. I mean, I don't mind soccer, I'll be watching some of the World Cup like any sports fan, the skills are impressive at the highest level, and an event that huge generates a buzz all of its own. But it doesn't change the fact that for a footy fan, watching soccer is like a Formula One fan watching a soapbox derby. It's just so SLOW!
But I'm just intrigued by this kind of thing -- how do you take something small (globally speaking) and make it big? How do these things evolve? Surely, in this globalised world of rapid change where all products compete against all, a relatively unknown sport that just happens to be more entertaining than anything else, will eventually grow accordingly?
The key here is to get junior numbers in each of these nations high enough that they can each produce a player who can make the AFL in Australia. That will in turn create more interest in the sport back in the home nation, boost junior numbers again, thus getting more players into the AFL, etc. Papua New Guinea is doing brilliantly, New Zealand has some kind of chance, and South Africa could be the big one, in the future. Beyond that, it's all speculation, but if just PNG and South Africa end up with say twenty players in the AFL (two a year for ten years), that's enough for a high-level national team. And international footy would be horrendously good fun, and would win many converts.
The big advantage footy has is that it's great fun to play, and is the most spectacular spectator sport in the world. That has to count for something, once it starts getting discovered. I mean, I don't mind soccer, I'll be watching some of the World Cup like any sports fan, the skills are impressive at the highest level, and an event that huge generates a buzz all of its own. But it doesn't change the fact that for a footy fan, watching soccer is like a Formula One fan watching a soapbox derby. It's just so SLOW!
But I'm just intrigued by this kind of thing -- how do you take something small (globally speaking) and make it big? How do these things evolve? Surely, in this globalised world of rapid change where all products compete against all, a relatively unknown sport that just happens to be more entertaining than anything else, will eventually grow accordingly?
4 Comments:
"Footy" huh? Well, it beats soccer. But what you really need to add in is, say, some shoulder pads and helmets, a slimmer, spiral-friendly ball, forward pass, two wide receivers and a tight end, fullback, tailback, quarterback, 5 blocking linemen ... almost there ...
None of whom could last a quarter of a footy match without dying of heart failure. :-) (the average mid-fielder runs about 18 kilomters (12 miles) per game).
Gridiron's okay, but any sport where players spend more time lying in a pile than standing up is going to have serious expansion issues outside America. And poor South Africans can't afford shoes, let alone shoulder pads. In outback Australia, aboriginal kids play barefoot, all they need is a ball and a patch of ground...
"Gridiron's okay, but any sport where players spend more time lying in a pile than standing up is going to have serious expansion issues outside America."
I dunno, man. They played that NFL game in Mexico City last year, and from what I read, it seems to have done pretty well.
Granted, one game does not a cross border expansion make. But still, it did purty well, I believe. Eh... who knows? We won't, not until a few years have passed.
Hey, everyone's culture deserves a chance to compete on the great global marketplace, right? I just wish the AFL had a fraction of the budget the NFL has to push these things forward...
Post a Comment
<< Home