Time right for AFL to go global
By Kevin Sheedy
Former Essendon coach
February 10, 2008
EVER wondered what it would be like to cheer for a Dane or a Scot while he's playing Australian football?
During the tennis we were enamored with a boy from France who looked like Muhammad Ali. He played against a guy from Serbia.
Although no Australians were involved, everyone enjoyed it.
That's what the Australian Football League could be like by 2050.
We should be planning and investing in the future. We should be employing 10 development officers and placing them in countries such as Japan, China, Canada, America and Denmark.
We have to inspire those people to take up our great game in what could be a fantastic bridge-building exercise.
If Australians want to see our game benefit, and one day contain international players, then we need to raise money.
Why not charge an extra dollar a ticket for every AFL game?
Raise $4 million from people coming through the turnstiles and it will give you a budget for development.
It would work because we want people to play our game. If we are serious about it there's no reason we wouldn't be prepared to pay.
In August we will host the International Cup.
Up to 20 countries are expected to send players to the competition, which will be played in Melbourne and Warrnambool.
They are coming from as far afield as New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, the United States, Japan and South Africa.
There will be teams from Canada, China and Sweden and a combined Israel/Palestinian Territories outfit.
I would guess there are a million Australians living abroad, so we have a strong network of people who could become involved.
Recent trips by Collingwood, Carlton and Fremantle to South Africa have underlined the possibilities of international expansion.
In 1973 the Richmond Football Club put a package together for me to leave my job as a tradesperson. They wanted me to become a full-time development officer.
It was a big decision in my life. I'd only been out of the army a year. But you take a risk.
That's what investing in the future is all about.
In Perth there is an institution called Clontarf Aboriginal College, which has a football academy headed by Gerard Neesham.
Imagine if there was a similar operation in California - it would be a fantastic alternative.
If you could get a Clontarf setup and put an oval in it the size of the MCG, you could have the best step in the new direction of offshore Australian football.
You could have cricket, rugby and soccer played there. Call it Terrace Australis ... and make it appealing to the locals. Aim to have the site set up and going by 2050.
Until you're prepared to develop the game, you won't get anything from an international focus.
Remember, at some stage Sri Lanka came into Test cricket.
I would love to see an AFL game played in India, with Shane Warne, Brett Lee and Dean Jones in the commentary box. A game overseas like that is what we need in the next 10 years.
I turned up in football in 1967 more than 40 years have passed. It is staggering how quickly they have gone.
We've got to think of the future and we've got to start now. We can't waste another 20 years.
Do it and the game will win over the rest of the world.
Sunday Herald Sun
