My first attempts at finding footy in America were quite dismal, most of the people I had spoken to didn't know what I was talking about. The closest I came was being mistaken for a Hawaiian NFL player; however, I did run into some Tiger fans on a flight from Vancouver to Minneapolis. After my first meagre attempts at research I decided to look further into AFL in America to see how popular the game is in the States.
It's probably no surprise for people to find out that there is a USAFL which consists of 33 teams throughout the country and spreading like wildfire.The USAFL National Championships holds an annual AFL tournament which consists of 4 men's divisions, a women's division, junior clinics, multiple development programs, seminars and over 1,000 athletes competing in over 60 games in one weekend. This year’s tournament will be held in Austin Texas, home of the Austin Crows.
The first league game was in 1997 between Cincinnati and Louisville, which was the inception of the league. The game in America was popularized in the 80's through ESPN, after which it wasn't shown for some time until a group called AFANA had lobbied to have the games broadcast again.
The game is well advertised in America with most games televised on ESPN3. Whilst there is good coverage in America there is nothing like the live game, thankfully I had my laptop to live stream Melbourne radio through the AFL website. This meant I was able to follow the live games as best I could.
There are new teams starting up in America all the time and they do pay homage to our teams in Australia. Virtually all of our team names have been used and there are some originals as well. As a point of interest, the tigers are situated in North Carolina.
The Yanks do take their footy seriously with the USA Revolution competing in the International Cup with their best a 3rd place in 2005. However, I must digress and mentionthe slogan printed on the t-shirts "I root for the USA". It seems there are still a few things they have yet to learn.
The pleasing thing from a supporter’s point of view is the game is being well promoted overseas. You may have heard of Captain Kirks Odyssey world tour, where Brett Kirk has been touring across the States doing footy clinics and meeting with USAFL clubs, sharing his knowledge of the game and promoting AFL in America.
Other AFL ambassadors to the USAFL include Paul Roos, Dipper, Leigh Mathews and Michael Voss. The AFL also contributes approximately $80,000 to the league for its development, as an investment in making Aussie Rules a worldwide game.
Unfortunately I was unable to see a game in America to gauge the quality. I am looking forward to a time Australia can play in an International Cup and kick some butt.
