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"Australia's most talented athletes are wasted in a code that the world ignores."

T

treamcast34

Well-known member
"Australia's most talented athletes are wasted in a code that the world ignores."

AFL is a dead-end sport that hinders us on global stage

I watched the AFL grand final this year and was amazed at the spectacle, and what these athletes put themselves through. Probably the toughest sport I've seen for sustained demand on the body. So I started researching the rules etc, and was shocked to find that it has more registered players in OZ than cricket; almost 300,000 more(!!!), and growing alarmingly fast. It was also interesting to note that young kids tend to play both, cricket in the summer and "footie" in the winter and then reach a point where they have to choose; cricket or footie. So there's a direct standoff effect between the two sports it appears. From what I can gather, the AFL to OZ seems to be like cricket is to India in a lot of states; they're mad for it. But the AFL seems to have a couple of major advantages over the ACB - cash to plow into recruiting resources, and the ability to offer a clear career pathway with several hundred more positions available at the top.

It's not just cricket either - some of their rugby stars are now being lured by the dollars and glitz of the AFL competition. Even as it stands the contrast in the sizes of the talent pools between rugby and footie are quite unbelievable - 700,000+ Aussie rules registered players nationwide (and growing rapidly), compared with rugby league and union talent bases of 430,000 and 86,000 (yes, just 86,000 - compare that to 2.5 million here in England!) respectively.

The AFL competition traditionally has struggled in the eastern states, where rugby has reigned supreme, but new AFL clubs on the Gold Coast and in Western Sydney are starting up, and they've already lured big name rugby players into switching codes.

So I'm wondering - are we starting to see the effects of this AFL competition on their cricket scene? They can't find a spinner, their AFL states have barely any representation in their national side. Is this a concern for you guys down under?
 
archie mac

archie mac

Well-known member
treamcast34 said:
AFL is a dead-end sport that hinders us on global stage

I watched the AFL grand final this year and was amazed at the spectacle, and what these athletes put themselves through. Probably the toughest sport I've seen for sustained demand on the body. So I started researching the rules etc, and was shocked to find that it has more registered players in OZ than cricket; almost 300,000 more(!!!), and growing alarmingly fast. It was also interesting to note that young kids tend to play both, cricket in the summer and "footie" in the winter and then reach a point where they have to choose; cricket or footie. So there's a direct standoff effect between the two sports it appears. From what I can gather, the AFL to OZ seems to be like cricket is to India in a lot of states; they're mad for it. But the AFL seems to have a couple of major advantages over the ACB - cash to plow into recruiting resources, and the ability to offer a clear career pathway with several hundred more positions available at the top.

It's not just cricket either - some of their rugby stars are now being lured by the dollars and glitz of the AFL competition. Even as it stands the contrast in the sizes of the talent pools between rugby and footie are quite unbelievable - 700,000+ Aussie rules registered players nationwide (and growing rapidly), compared with rugby league and union talent bases of 430,000 and 86,000 (yes, just 86,000 - compare that to 2.5 million here in England!) respectively.

The AFL competition traditionally has struggled in the eastern states, where rugby has reigned supreme, but new AFL clubs on the Gold Coast and in Western Sydney are starting up, and they've already lured big name rugby players into switching codes.

So I'm wondering - are we starting to see the effects of this AFL competition on their cricket scene? They can't find a spinner, their AFL states have barely any representation in their national side. Is this a concern for you guys down under?
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Good post mate:)

The problem as you say is that AFL has a much clearer career path then Cricket, and unfortunately players are being forced to choose earlier and earlier as both sports want their players to start their season earlier and also don’t want them to play the other for fear of injury.

Jonathan Brown – one of the best in the AFL – was a very good cricketer, with many saying he would be a great All Rounder, but in the end at age 17 he chose footy (as we call it here in OZ). As only 11 can play for Aust at any one time and each of the 16 AFL clubs has 22 in each team you can’t blame young men choosing AFL, especially when reaching the Test team for Aust takes most players until their late 20s early 30s, where as in AFL you are playing at the top level by 18 or 19.

The Rugby players (known as League players, big difference between Union and League) who have swapped over are nothing more than marketing tools for the AFL to help the game along on the Gold Coast and Sydney (although both already have teams in their state).

I still think the lack of cricket reps from Vic, WA, SA and Tassie, is just a cycle thing, as those in the AFL states all love their cricket, and as Aussies are sports mad, there is plenty of talent to go around.
 
SirBloody Idiot

SirBloody Idiot

Well-known member
Reckon an increase in money through the various Twenty20 comps can only be good for cricket in attracting youngsters, though.
 
_Ed_

_Ed_

Well-known member
Weird argument. Most of the world pretty much ignores baseball and American football, so the best American athletes are wasted in those sports as well?
 
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sifter132

sifter132

Well-known member
Well here's the thing for me: AFL is supposedly our national game, but as a proud NSWman I don't give 2 hoots about AFL, and many of my fellow state members feel the same. We see right through the Folau and Hunt recruitments as pure PR. Did you know there are more people in NSW and QLD, than in the other 4 states and 2 territories? Reference: Ranked list of Australian states and territories - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Yet NSW and QLD only have 2 of the 16 AFL teams and will still only have 4 of 18 after the 2 new ones come in. National sport my arse... It was VFL not so long ago.

Now I have that out of my system, yes it's a bit concerning that some potentially talented cricketers choose to play a game I don't care about at all. But it's like that with everything, and to be honest if they don't have cricket as their #1 sport - well they can get stuffed. To me cricketers are a special breed and we don't need kids 'forced' to play cricket. Invest in kids who love the game. That's the good thing about Aussie kids generally - most are natural athletes, and you get to try many different sports as a kid, and if you're good enough someone will come and recruit you to the sport of your choice. There is a great freedom in this country in that way.
 
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thierry henry

thierry henry

Well-known member
Agree with the article tbh. AFL is a completely ridiculous sport and only weirdo Australians could possibly find it anything other than a total lol
 
andyc

andyc

Well-known member
sifter132 said:
Well here's the thing for me: AFL is supposedly our national game, but as a proud NSWman I don't give 2 hoots about AFL, and many of my fellow state members feel the same. We see right through the Folau and Hunt recruitments as pure PR. Did you know there are more people in NSW and QLD, than in the other 4 states and 2 territories? Reference: Ranked list of Australian states and territories - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Yet NSW and QLD only have 2 of the 16 AFL teams and will still only have 4 of 18 after the 2 new ones come in. National sport my arse... It was VFL not so long ago.
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Thought much the same way until I moved to college along with a whole lot of Victorians (plus South Australians and Tasmanians), and spent the last grand final in Melbourne. I knew that they enjoy their footy but I had no idea it was that much. In terms of passion alone they just can't be matched.
 
T

treamcast34

Well-known member
andyc said:
Thought much the same way until I moved to college along with a whole lot of Victorians (plus South Australians and Tasmanians), and spent the last grand final in Melbourne. I knew that they enjoy their footy but I had no idea it was that much. In terms of passion alone they just can't be matched.
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I agree. It's fantastic to watch and they're really passionate about it.
 
T

treamcast34

Well-known member
_Ed_ said:
Weird argument. Most of the world pretty much ignores baseball and American football, so the best American athletes are wasted in those sports as well?
Click to expand...
Well America doesn't play cricket...and they have a 307 million population :laugh:
 
_Ed_

_Ed_

Well-known member
treamcast34 said:
Well America doesn't play cricket...and they have a 307 million population :laugh:
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But the analogy is valid because the argument in the article stretches beyond cricket and AFL - it's basically that the focus should be on sports in which you can compete and succeed on the world stage, and sports which have international relevance.

And anyway, most of those 307 million people are too fat to play sport, so they don't count as part of the talent pool.
 
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