This is Why AFL is Great.

[jordox]

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If it had been around for as long as soccer has then it would definately be the most popular world-wide sport in the world.

The words world-wide defeat your theory there. AFL is only seriously played in Australia. The USA don't want to here about it, the English don't, South Africans dont, Asia doesn't care, no one cares. That's like saying:

'If NFL was around for as long as soccer it would be the most popular world wide sport'.

No it wouldn't, because 90% of the worlds population don't give a rats about it. And NFL is bigger than AFL is; how come you don't harp on about that? Because your biased?

Anyone who disagrees has absolutely no clue about what they're talking about.

Heh, go figure.

 

[Gilly Fan]

The words world-wide defeat your theory there. AFL is only seriously played in Australia. The USA don't want to here about it, the English don't, South Africans dont, Asia doesn't care, no one cares. That's like saying:

'If NFL was around for as long as soccer it would be the most popular world wide sport'.

No it wouldn't, because 90% of the worlds population don't give a rats about it. And NFL is bigger than AFL is; how come you don't harp on about that? Because your biased?



Heh, go figure.

The funny thing is that AFL is the oldest code in the world. Even older than Association Football.

 

[Cricketdude]

The funny thing is that AFL is the oldest code in the world. Even older than Association Football.

Fixtures wise yes, but even Chinese played Ass football around years 1500 but your right fixtures wise. Are you sure AFL was created before Cricket?

 

[mattfb]

Its AFL's 150th year this year I believe.

 

[Cricketdude]

Its AFL's 150th year this year I believe.

From what I thought AFL grew from Cricket. They used Aussie Rules as a training drill and the crowds kept coming in just for the trainings so it pretty much grew from there. Thats what I thought.

 

[mattfb]

From what I thought AFL grew from Cricket. They used Aussie Rules as a training drill and the crowds kept coming in just for the trainings so it pretty much grew from there. Thats what I thought.

Well thats what the ad says

 

[.::Stevo::.]

Yes thats true. Aussie Rules was created exactly 150 years ago by Tom Wills and it was considered a summer training sport for cricket. I think back then they had like 40 players per side! ha

 

[Sureshot]

The funny thing is that AFL is the oldest code in the world. Even older than Association Football.

By code do you mean an "established professional set of rules"? Because "Association Football" has been played over here for many centuries, about 8 and a half centuries as to what I can gather. That's about 6 centuries longer than the existence of a colonised Australia.

 

[aussie_ben91]

The words world-wide defeat your theory there. AFL is only seriously played in Australia. The USA don't want to here about it, the English don't, South Africans dont, Asia doesn't care, no one cares. That's like saying:

'If NFL was around for as long as soccer it would be the most popular world wide sport'.

No it wouldn't, because 90% of the worlds population don't give a rats about it. And NFL is bigger than AFL is; how come you don't harp on about that? Because your biased?

lol

Had it been introduced to several countries at the same time as other original sports had, then I believe it would be the biggest game in the world. The game has bits and pieces of a bunch of other football games, which makes the game so complete.

Go figure? The funny thing about your little analysis is that there have been reports of recent development of AFL being played in South Africa and future matches being played in India.

You make me laugh.

 

[Will_NA]

The FACT is: Football is the most widely played sport in the world. Now you all can hypothesise that had AFL been around, longer introduced to more countries etc, it would be the world's biggest sport. It's not. Football is so get over it.

 

[shefellover93]

I watch loads of AFL We get the highlights on an Gaelic station 'TG4' over here and I have 'Big Pond Footie' on my pc, I think it's a really truly excellent game, one of the top 5 in the world for entertainment and excitement, there are two things though that I dislike against it

A) There is too much macho off the ball bs that goes on, players grappling on the floor and shouldering each other when the aim of the game is putting the oval ball between the posts, and that can spoil the game

B) With the 'mark' system (Yes, I know, it's crucial to the game of footie and can't change), the game can get very stop start, and often a team can have 10+ marks in an attack, stopping every time and that kills the flow of the game

Other than that I think it's a brilliant game and rate it in my top 5 favorite

 

[Cricketdude]

I watch loads of AFL We get the highlights on an Gaelic station 'TG4' over here and I have 'Big Pond Footie' on my pc, I think it's a really truly excellent game, one of the top 5 in the world for entertainment and excitement, there are two things though that I dislike against it

A) There is too much macho off the ball bs that goes on, players grappling on the floor and shouldering each other when the aim of the game is putting the oval ball between the posts, and that can spoil the game

B) With the 'mark' system (Yes, I know, it's crucial to the game of footie and can't change), the game can get very stop start, and often a team can have 10+ marks in an attack, stopping every time and that kills the flow of the game

Other than that I think it's a brilliant game and rate it in my top 5 favorite

With the mark system it only stops if you kick it longer the 15 metres and if you do kick it 15 metres or shorter play goes on just like a normal handball. Also when a high intensity team like Geelong plays it might be a lot harder to find a free man.

 

[jordox]

Go figure? The funny thing about your little analysis is that there have been reports of recent development of AFL being played in South Africa and future matches being played in India.

You make me laugh.

Let me tell you, AFL is tiny in South Africa. Tiny. Not 1 in 100 kids like it, or play it. And I have actually lived there. If you want to get a serious game you'd have to do an almost nation wide hunt.

Recent developments of AFL being played in South Africa? WOW! Oh my goodness. It was being played every now and again when I was at school there, I could have told you that. Just like how NFL is played once in every 100 lunchtimes in Australia. Still means nothing though, no major league=not important.

Had it been introduced to several countries at the same time as other original sports had, then I believe it would be the biggest game in the world. The game has bits and pieces of a bunch of other football games, which makes the game so complete.

So you think having little bits and pieces from other football codes makes things popular? Where is the backing from this? In fact it's fair to suggest the contrary when the maing thing makes products globally popular is originality.

However, I honestly don't know why I'm responding. NFL has a larger global interest than AFL but you aren't even mentioning that. Your whole argument is founded by your bias. I will keep saying that to any other Australians who think the game should be on top of the world.

 

[aussie_ben91]

Let me tell you, AFL is tiny in South Africa. Tiny. Not 1 in 100 kids like it, or play it. And I have actually lived there. If you want to get a serious game you'd have to do an almost nation wide hunt.

Recent developments of AFL being played in South Africa? WOW! Oh my goodness. It was being played every now and again when I was at school there, I could have told you that. Just like how NFL is played once in every 100 lunchtimes in Australia. Still means nothing though, no major league=not important.

So you think having little bits and pieces from other football codes makes things popular? Where is the backing from this? In fact it's fair to suggest the contrary when the maing thing makes products globally popular is originality.

However, I honestly don't know why I'm responding. NFL has a larger global interest than AFL but you aren't even mentioning that. Your whole argument is founded by your bias. I will keep saying that to any other Australians who think the game should be on top of the world.

Yeah, back to my original arguement... :

AFL would be the most popular sport in the world, had it orginated at the same time as any other sport in the world that is currently more popular then it.

AFL has a combination of every other type of football game and it is more fast and entertaining then any other form of football.

I like cricket more then I like AFL but AFL is a way better sport. End of story.

 

[jordox]

AFL would be the most popular sport in the world, had it orginated at the same time as any other sport in the world that is currently more popular then it.

See, this is based off absoultely nothing. What evidence do you have to support this other than your opinion? You can't make claims like this with nothing to back it up with. And you say "had it originated at the same time as any more popular sports than it" which is pretty funny because nearly every other sport is more popular than it but disregarding that; AFL has been around for 150 years Ben. You're acting as if it's the new kid on the block.

AFL has a combination of every other type of football game and it is more fast

Just because the game is faster paced does not mean it is more entertaining. The fact that AFL is fast paced means nothing.

...and entertaining then any other form of football.

TO YOU Don't you realise what I'm saying? Everyone I grew up with in Zimbabwe and South Africa thinks AFL is boring to watch. Hell, most people in country NSW (the rugby league towns) think it is boring to watch. Some people think golf is amazingly entertaining, I don't. This completely disproves your theory that if it had more publicity it'd be massive. You can't just assume that if everyone on earth knew about AFL it'd be the bees knees.

Most of the time people like the sport their friends, parents, community, ect likes. If you were raised anywhere other than Australia you would not think AFL is the best game because you wouldn't even give the time to even think about it all that much. When you try to take AFL to other countries, 99% of them will go "oh okay, that's pretty cool." and go back to playing soccer.

To say otherwise Ben, can not be considered even semi-realistic because it is solely your opinion. My point is clearly proven by all the African immigrants who come to Australia. We see AFL on the tele all day, do we play it? No. We play Cricket and Union and the guys fom Sudan and Sierra Leone play Soccer. This is of course a generalisation, but you get my point.

At the end of the day people stick to what they're used to. If AFL struggles to pull immigrants into the game imagine how hard it will struggle to pull people in their own country, in their own community. Which is, after all, where our 'sport taste' comes from. The actual quality of the sport doesn't really matter.

Most people around the world today think that soccer is the most inspiring, beautiful, exicting and downright classy game on Earth. This is proven by the sheer amount of professional leagues it has around the world. It is king. Just because you think AFL is a better game than it does not make AFL the best game on Earth. If you can't realise this I'm not going to bother replying again. You can sit back in your chair and keep throwing "ifs" at me but at the end of the day they are all ifs. Will summed it up very well. If arguments have no credibility behind them because they are all hypothetical and they all don't matter.