Across the Tasman you have the NZAFA (http://www.eteamz.com/nz-american-football/index.cfm). I know they have games, because I’ve seen them when I have visited.

If you want to know about the international aspect of Gridiron, go to the International Federation of American Football (http://www.ifaf.info/). It includes a World Championship last won by the USA against Japan.

Nobody should ever try to imply that Gridiron is played by anything close to United States standards in any country outside of North America. However, that doesn’t mean that it isn’t played and enjoyed in places far and wide at an amatuer level.

‘Sean’ I think you’ll find that there are quite a few players who were born overseas and actually lived in their homeland. Need I mention the Irish born footy players such as Marty Clarke, Colm Begley, Jim Stynes (converted from Gaelic Footy to AFL at age 18) and of course, not to mention Tadhg Kennelly who is a premiership player with the Sydney Swans and has been playing since 1999-. I suggest you get your facts straight before you go ahead and spurt your crap.

And lastly, ‘Jake’, I suggest you do some fact checking. I’m not sure about the other countries you mentioned. But I sure as hell can tell you now that there are no 70+ NFL teams here in Australia, and there definitely isn’t this crap your saying about a World Cup. You’d have to tie us up to think we’d allow that shitty game get into this country when we have a perfectly good one now.

But not by much…..Aussie Rules isn’t loved by the whole of Australia. It is mostly popular in Victoria where the league originated and has slowly spread across the other Australian states.

I think it has to first conquer to the other major cities in Australia before it goes abroad.

Football (Soccer) is and will always be the true global and real Football !

Any way enough crap , Play online http://www.sportsdarts.com.au or grab a game of footy darts , toss the coin , set the timer , and game is on .

Cheer’s

Just ask Jeff Garcia, if he thinks the CFL should be around.

Anyway, good on the Aussies. Great game and far superior action-wise to the NFL.

I think that’s spot on. NFL has become too much about marketing, and not enough about sport. NFL hasn’t really had to develop its own players, like other sports do, either: they pluck them, free of charge, from college football. NFL doesn’t “grok” grassroots development.

On the other hand, no one is really mad at the Aussies right now, nor are they likely to be in future. Can’t say the same for the USA and its cultural imperialism.

On the other hand (and I’m probably running out of hands at this point), many countries don’t have stadia or playing fields big enough for Aussie rules. And those that do, tend to be countries already dominated by rugby and/or soccer.

I wouldn’t rule out rugby league as a potential beneficiary of globalization, either. RL already has its strongholds in parts of Australia and England, and has a firm presence in many other countries. Just as amateur aussie rules (or marngrook football – hey, if gridiron works for the American game, why not marngrook for the Aussie game) is now played in the USA, so is rugby league also now played in the USA.

It’s all very amateur though, neither code has much of a chance of growing into something more professional in the near term.

I don’t feel there is the same level of interest in American expats around the world to get together and organise an American Football competition.

The AFL has quite a few players that were born overseas (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_overseas-born_AFL_players), but that in itself doesn’t demonstrate the fantastic “grassroots” efforts that are being made, mostly by volunteers, around the world.

The AFL hasn’t got a true international recruit yet but I don’t think it won’t be too far away, although I believe it will more likely come from closer to Australia, from countries like Papua New Guinea, New Zealand or pacific islands like Samoa. These countries have shown solid growth in junior participation without anywhere near the level of commitment and funding that the South African government and the AFL have put into the game there.

I think you’ll find that there is American football played at amateur level in countries like Australia too, but very few people play it or watch it because they don’t understand it. I definately think that participation does help people to understand the idiosyncracies of football games, just look at soccer for a case in point. To get the best results, it is important that the participation be as broad as possible, not just grown men, but children and inclusive of both sexes.

Another big advantage that the AFL has over the NFL is that it doesn’t require the amount of playing equipment. Some in developing countries even actually play it without boots or mouthguards (although neither recommended). Though it isn’t all plain sailing for Aussie Rules. A major disadvantage is obviously finding big enough fields and enough players to play full sized games (though this can be overcome by playing with modified rules). Though I still very much admire what the NFL recently achieved in London in terms of sheer spectacle.