A few weeks ago, an old friend of mine came to town with her boyfriend for another friend’s wedding, and they crashed at my place. In between events, the subject of football inevitably arose — she plays rec league soccer and has season tickets to East Carolina football games — and during my usual origins-and-evolution blather, I asked the boy if he’d ever seen any Aussie Rules. Luckily, I still had the epic Round 14 battle between St. Kilda and Geelong on my DVR, so I pressed play and let him watch for a little while.
After about 10 minutes, he told us, “I like this game! It makes sense!”
This kind of reaction is what got me all excited that Aussie Rules returned to ESPN earlier this month, right after Setanta Sports went pear-shaped in the UK and started selling off properties to make ends meet in Ireland and the states. Put this game in front of people, and once they figure it out, they’ll enjoy it.
Alas, the WWL has been too busy shining its light on the Premier League to give the AFL much publicity. AFL matches have been relegated to ESPN360, and at this stage, only the Grand Final on September 26 will air on ESPN2.
This pretty much sucks for me, because ESPN360 is only available to Internet service providers willing to pay for it. In this area, that means Verizon DSL, and anyone who’s been following me on Twitter lately knows I’ve grown tired of Verizon’s shit. They’ve been degrading their DSL service to get more people to sign up for FiOS — but of course, Verizon doesn’t offer FiOS here in central North Carolina.
So I switched back to Time Warner Cable, which doesn’t offer ESPN360, but also doesn’t go down twice a day, often for hours at a time. And it’s faster. It’s a tradeoff.
If you’ve got ESPN360, bully for you. That’s a decent site for watching both live games and match replays, and it will probably show most of the Finals Series. If you’re in my shoes, however, and don’t have ESPN360, but still want to check out the entire Finals Series, you’ve got one option: AussieSport.tv. This international site serves up full match replays, highlight reels and other vids associated with the AFL, NRL and something called V8 Supercars, which I assume is Australian for NASCAR. A one-month pass to the AFL in September is only $9.95, and a 4-day trial is only $1.95.
I think I might give this a try. I’ve missed out on most of the AFL season this year, save for that St. Kilda-Geelong match and an equally epic Geelong v. Hawthorn clash in Round 17 that was decided on the last kick, but something about this year’s Final Series looks compelling — especially the potential Geelong v. Collingwood clash in the opening round. I wonder if Anthony Rocca still has the distance on those kicks.
10 responses so far ↓
1 Jeff // Aug 25, 2009 at 12:42 pm
My suggestion is to take your laptop to the university nearest you and log into their wireless network. Most universities offer ESPN360 – I know I can watch it while I’m on NCSU’s campus.
2 Sean // Aug 26, 2009 at 2:08 am
Anthony Rocca is history. You really haven’t been watching your footy. NFL couldn’t come soon enough for him, because he’s suffered the same fate as his brother – consistently dropped to the twos.
3 Dave // Aug 26, 2009 at 8:08 am
Indeed, Sean. I’ve lost track of just about everything in the AFL lately. I’m still trying to figure out what the hell happened to Hawthorn. They certainly looked like contenders against Geelong, even if they lost on Bartel’s final kick of the ball.
4 Donna // Aug 27, 2009 at 5:48 am
I will be in New York for the ENTIRE AFL finals series (arriving home in Melbourne Grand Final Day) I am a fanatical Saints supporter. Are you saying that there is absolutely NO WAY I can watch any of the finals games LIVE? Please say it isn’t so !!! Oh, BTW, there is absolutely no way Rocca will get a guernsey in the finals, Collingwood’s list is just too impressive!
5 Dave // Aug 27, 2009 at 8:10 am
Donna: Not at all. ESPN360 does show the games live as well, but you’ll need a computer and an internet connection from an ISP that carries it — or look for a college campus, as Jeff recommended. Chances are good, however, that only the Grand Final will air on ESPN2.
6 Rob // Aug 27, 2009 at 1:21 pm
A great blog as usual, Dave. Unfortunately, until ESPN360 and Time Warner decide to play together it will be tough for users of Time Warner, myself included. The finals will have limited exposure in the US this year and that can’t be helped. Fans of the AFL are encouraged to read the articles on afana.com for information on the TV coverage, the new coverage on ESPN, the demise of Setanta’s coverage, etc. We will also have TV schedules as we can get them. Hopefully, next season will be better but without more fan support, it’s going to be a tough sell.
7 Donna // Aug 27, 2009 at 8:40 pm
Thanks Dave, I didn’t understand the difference between ESPN360 and ESPN2, but I get it now! I guess I just assumed the finals would be screened live at a pub or bar somewhere in New York – seems there’s not as much interest as I anticipated. Not looking forward to watching the games over the web tho….it’s just not the same….at least I’ll be home for the Big One on Sept 26! Thanks again.
8 a different Dave // Aug 28, 2009 at 5:22 am
I’m in the same boat, Dave; waited and begged Comcast to get Setanta; Comcast eventually carried Setanta in some areas – just not mine.
I paid for Setanta Broadband (their internet service in the USA) and all the AFL and southern hemisphere rugby union matches were not available since Setanta didn’t have internet rights in North America! A big disappointment. Oh well at least I got Premier League while it lasted.
Alas Comcast doesn’t offer ESPN360 where I live, either.
I’m not a big fan of the AFL, but I like learning new things. AFL isn’t going to “make sense” to everyone equally. But better exposure would certainly allow it to find more fans.
I’m guessing the GAA is still on Setanta? Not much chance of ESPN or others paying for that?
9 dean // Aug 28, 2009 at 8:04 am
a different Dave – Setanta still carries GAA. It is available on broadband via ppv. I managed to get ppv included on a one year subscription. They are still carrying Premiere League. I think they will also continue with Mangers, Heineken Cup, ERC, and Guinness Premiership as well. So to me, it is still worth the $150.00. I also have subscriptions to Aussie Sport TV – http://www.aussiesport.tv, and Rugbyzone – http://www.rugbyzone.com. Setanta no longer carries NRL, and Super League. I now get my NRL fix at Bigpond – http://bigpondtv.com/nrlliveuk. They started streaming to Ireland, the UK, and the USA after the Setanta debacle. Super League is now streamed via ESPN360 (not as much as I would like, but you take what you can get)
I have Comcast, and they only recently started carrying ESPN360, so now I can get my Footy fill. At first they had a policy where they’d run a spot after every goal, which was very annoying and disruptive to the game. It would be like running a spot after every score in a soccer, rugby or gridiron game. I hammered them with polite complaints pointing out how disrespectful to the game and fans it was when the did that (I’m sure I wasn’t the only one). Plus, I like to watch games full screen. Flash has a tendency to minimize when there is an interruption on the screen. That became annoying, especially if it was a high scoring game. Anyway, they’ve discontinued the practice and only run spots between quarters, and during the half. Now the game can be enjoyed uninterrupted.
10 Dave // Aug 28, 2009 at 8:46 am
Last I checked, Setanta.com was still advertising that it had the GAA. Given that Setanta Ireland is still afloat, I suspect that won’t change anytime soon.