LA next stop for game

[ScottH]

LA next stop for game

A MATCH scheduled to be played in Los Angeles early next year may become the second international game of the official 2006 pre-season competition.

The Kangaroos are pushing to play the match, tentatively booked for January 22, against the Sydney Swans at University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA).

[cruiser]

What's the point of these games? I really dont know why the AFL bothers. I just hope that none of our players get injured for the sake of a pointless marketing exercise. Or worse still, some NFL talent scout sees Ablett's long kick and makes him an $$$offer he cant refuse.

[Schneiderman]

Originally posted by cruiser
What's the point of these games? I really dont know why the AFL bothers. I just hope that none of our players get injured for the sake of a pointless marketing exercise. Or worse still, some NFL talent scout sees Ablett's long kick and makes him an $$$offer he cant refuse.

Thats an extremely selfish attitude. There are actually a lot of people playing the sport in the US, and the interest there is growing. So why not promote it?

You may well unearth some players over there, and possibly generate significant sponsors dollars over here from US companies who know they'll be seen on TV over there too.

http://www.usfooty.com/usfooty/

[cruiser]

Originally posted by Schneiderman
Thats an extremely selfish attitude.

So be it. I still think its bollocks to be playing games like these over in the US. Despite the US Footy website, I am not convinced that there would be a great deal of interest in the proposed game other than from a few ex-pats. So far as I am concerned, the risk to our players is not worth it. I guess you dont care as much as I do about our starting line up in round 1 2006.

[barry]

Originally posted by cruiser
So be it. I still think its bollocks to be playing games like these over in the US. Despite the US Footy website, I am not convinced that there would be a great deal of interest in the proposed game other than from a few ex-pats. So far as I am concerned, the risk to our players is not worth it. I guess you dont care as much as I do about our starting line up in round 1 2006.

This is the attitude that killed AFL state of origin.

[Wil]

Originally posted by barry
This is the attitude that killed AFL state of origin.

Yeah, why do anything like this! They should't allow teams in other states other than Victoria either! I dont understand how they can let the game be destroyed like this. If I cant catch a tram to an away game then its just not Footy.

[Tuesday]

I am not keen on it. There's something really sinister about playing 'our' game for the seppos, though I will acknowledge there are merits in the spectacle.

I quite it enjoy Rules only having a small following outside Australia, and it would kill me to eventually see a international between us and the US. It's just all wrong! It's our game, damnit! You don't see the Irish competing with anyone else in Gaelic Football, do you? The same should apply to Aussie Rules. That said, I do like International Rules, though only as a bizarre yearly event.

Having lived in the US, I feel I am qualified to speak. The yanks will ruin it! They ruin everything they get their hands on! I don't want my sport to be another casualty! They'll pump a rediculous mount of money into it, put some blonde hair on it and claim it as their own. I know, I know, I am a cynic, but really -- If they have to play a game OS, why not play the game in Denmark? They have a bigger following over there than in the US. I just hope it's not the greed factor by the AFL. I only have a soft spot for them because they're not the US.

Some will argue that we are the ones being the cultual imperialists with regards to the US. But that won't be the case for long.

[Thunder Shaker]

The only problem I have with the game is that a live telecast will be at some hour when I would rather be sleeping.

Otherwise I'm all for it.

If we get a crowd of 10,000 or more to the game then it will be successful. The point to remember about sport in the US is that it is predominantly a TV spectacle. The game itself may not have large attendances, but if it is broadcast in the US then a few percent of the US population will see the game. That's a few million people and that's quite respectable given that a TV audience in Australia will be about the same size.

For the USFOOTY crowd, this would be a huge event. I would expect some of them to travel from as far away as Chicago to attend the game.

If it goes ahead, I expect it to be successful as long as both coaches play an attacking game plan.

On the matchup itself, it has a touch of promotional genius about it. Kangaroos vs Sydney, what other matchup would be more recognisably Australian to the casual American observer?

[Diego]

Yeah cool a chance for the ex pats living in the us to have a day out on the drink and talk about how much they miss Australia and footy.

[Jeffers1984]

Can we just use our Sydney Swans reserves instead of any senior players because i would really hit the roof if we get any injuries in this meaningless game!

[Mike_B]

Originally posted by Thunder Shaker
The only problem I have with the game is that a live telecast will be at some hour when I would rather be sleeping.

With the game being played at a time when we are on daylight saving, a 2pm LA time start would be 9am on the East Coast here, or if they went for a night game (say 7pm local time), that would be 2pm on the East Coast. So TV timing shouldn't be too much of an issue for people sitting in front of the box.

[Charlie]

Originally posted by Jeffers1984
Can we just use our Sydney Swans reserves instead of any senior players because i would really hit the roof if we get any injuries in this meaningless game!

Obviously, this is dependent upon list changes before next year, but I could imagine a travelling squad looking something like this:
McVeigh
Mathews
O'Keefe
C. Bolton
Willoughby
Jolly
Kennelly
Ablett
J. Bolton
Dempster
Crouch
Roberts-Thomson
Kirk
Buchanan
Moore
Schmidt
Goodes
Vogels
Grundy
Malceski
Erickson
Bevan
Shaw
M. Davis
+ a few new kids

They'd probably think hard about wrapping Goodes and Jude in cotton wool as well. On the other hand, the Swans would be under pressure from the AFL to send at least a semi-strength side over, or the point of the game would be somewhat lost.

Basically anyone with a history of soft-tissue injuries wouldn't go, so that would rule out Davis, Schneider, O'Loughlin, Saddington and Schauble. Williams, Doyle, Barry and Ball will be nursed. Hall would stay at home unless he is appointed captain.

[BonBon]

I don't know whether that's a good thing or a bad thing.

[ScottH]

Originally posted by BonBon
I don't know whether that's a good thing or a bad thing.

Decisive post

[mocaholic]

Originally posted by ScottH
Decisive post

Do you think? I'm not quite sure....

On the subject at hand, isn't a Wizard Cup (er, NAB Cup) sanctioned game? We know how seriously Roosy takes them!

He would be able to showcase his skills to all his US rellos, too.