Australian Rules Football shown on TV in your country?

They have trouble broadcasting Cricket let alone some Nonsensical sport like that.

I agree with the nonsensical description. A ridiculous game played by men in disco shorts.

What do you mean nonsensical? What game in the world is better than Aussie Rules Footy?

in fairness, i have to agree with you charkitz. When it comes to fast paced kick ball with lots of ass kickings thrown in, AFL is hard to beat. Also, Gaelic games (hurling and football) are also very enjoyable to watch. Football (soccer ball!) is not even in the same category

You bunch of muppets, Aussie Rules is the most ridiculous sports invented, which is why you're the only lot that play it.

If Football is not in the same category than why is it the most participated in and watched sport ever known in the history of man kind?

Gaelic games are interesting, but still a novelty

Please don't refer to FOOTBALL as Soccer Ball you moron.

By: mesmerised
Date Joined: 10 Nov 10 Add contact | Send message When: 10 Jan 11 08:51
"If Football is not in the same category than why is it the most participated in and watched sport ever known in the history of man kind?"


Probably cos they have been brainwashed since they were babies. Either that or they were dropped on their head when they were a baby.

Soccer is played mostly by pansies and if players didn't dive and fake injuries and roll around on the ground every 2 minutes it would have more respect.

yep, 22 players in every game, in every city, in every country, on every continent, they all dive don't they.[smiley:crazy]

Personally I don't like sports where men's hands are all over each other, but whatever floats your boat.

Yes not all players dive, but for some stupid reason diving is an accepted culture in soccer. If a player is proven to have dived he should be given a 10 match ban. If he re-offends he should be banned for a year.

I try to enjoy the sport but instances like what happened at the World Cup where the Ivory Coast player got Kaka sent off happen all too reguarly. Thats not sport, that's pathetic.

It's not accepted, you get booked, media hang you out to dry, do you know anything? yep that stupid player for Ivory Coast was castigated afterwords.

Aussie Rules will never Rule, face it.

I particularly like the way the line umpires signal a goal.
Very dramatic.
And ( some) Australians seem to take it all so seriously.
Bit of a worry actually.

to answer the original question, i think that in the uk we get the grand final live, and there is usually a weekly highlights wrap for one hour or so, in the regular season and playoffs

and it looks like setanta offered live afl games for a while, but then they went bankrupt

Are the Grand Final and weekly highlights wrap on free to air TV?

ESPN and Setanta have it though a few games are delayed coverage. TG4 in Ireland do a weekly highlights package.

Gaelic games is a better sport than aussie rules. Aussie rules is more about brutality than skill

gary glitter is welcome in more countries than aussie rules

That's what makes Aussie Rules so great though. I wouldn't say its brutality, rather its a true test of courage. It takes more courage to play this sport than any other sport in the world. Sport isnt just about skill.

Disco pants

Charkitz
Then why is it so absolutely boring to watch.?
I tell you one thing , it's one of the dirtiest sports I've ever had the misfortune to watch.
A lot of blindside elbow and fists into the unprotected faces of players. Totally gutless in that respect.

Coachbuster
Apparently that's what Jerry Seinfeld said when first taken to a game.
He said the shorts reminded him a men going out to a 60s dico party.

dico ? Probably a typo .

But maybe not on reflection.

Aussie Rules is indeed an absolute top game.

Very little coverage here, though they show highlights on Eurosport, and the Grand Final, and some of the play offs are shown live on ESPN.

Best bet imo is to get a Slingbox, attach it to a friend's TV, and watch the Aussie coverage online...

Strewth, a few people on the wrong track on this thread.

First, I can inform everybody on good authority, that as Australia extends its economic dominance over the world into a strong sporting and cultural influence, then Australian Rules Football will sweep the world by storm.  Having watched, played, and coached the game for 25 years on he one hand, and having tried once to watch more than 5 minutes of a soccer ball match as punishment for placing a bad bet, I can confirm Australian Rules is indeed the greatest sport on the planet.

Second, 3 Australian Rules matches were broaadcast live each weekend into the UK last season Charkitz, as well as the whole finals series from memory.  They were on ESPN, channel 417 if my memory serves.  Apparently the viewing figures were astronomical, I think one match including the Tigers recorded 83 million viewers in the UK, so popular is the game with people there. 

Why do you ask about this?

Exactly DE.
It's only a matter of time before the first match is held on Mars.
Nowhere in the universe is safe from being invaded by spotty Australian youths in short shorts.
I have seen the future in sport, and it is not pretty.
The double whammy of course being the Aussie culture bonus.

Deadly Earnest
that as Australia extends its economic dominance over the world into a strong sporting and cultural influence, then Australian Rules Football will sweep the world by storm.  Having watched, played, and coached the game for 25 years on he one hand, and having tried once to watch more than 5 minutes of a soccer ball match as punishment for placing a bad bet, I can confirm Australian Rules is indeed the greatest sport on the planet.


After 2 months on this forum that is without a doubt the biggest load of rubbish I've read.

The fact you call the worlds most popular sport "soccer ball" makes any argument you might of had, rendered null and void.

The champions league final in 'Football' has the biggest audience share in the world for a single sport - recently overtaking the Superbowl, do your research.

By: This user is offline. Deadly Earnest
Date Joined: 16 Mar 04 Add contact | Send message When: 13 Jan 11 01:39 Strewth, a few people on the wrong track on this thread.

First, I can inform everybody on good authority, that as Australia extends its economic dominance over the world into a strong sporting and cultural influence, then Australian Rules Football will sweep the world by storm.  Having watched, played, and coached the game for 25 years on he one hand, and having tried once to watch more than 5 minutes of a soccer ball match as punishment for placing a bad bet, I can confirm Australian Rules is indeed the greatest sport on the planet.

Second, 3 Australian Rules matches were broaadcast live each weekend into the UK last season Charkitz, as well as the whole finals series from memory.  They were on ESPN, channel 417 if my memory serves.  Apparently the viewing figures were astronomical, I think one match including the Tigers recorded 83 million viewers in the UK, so popular is the game with people there. 

Why do you ask about this?

Why do I ask about this? Cos as you say DE, Aussie Rules is the greatest sport on the planet and I'm going to be doing some travelling around parts of Europe and America this football season and don't want to miss the action. So just interested to know what countries show it live. If its live in the UK and throughout Europe I might even be able to do some in-play betting, even if there is **** liquidity. Also going to New Zealand for a month so am interested to know if they get the football live.

By: mesmerised
Date Joined: 10 Nov 10 Add contact | Send message When: 13 Jan 11 07:13 Deadly Earnest
that as Australia extends its economic dominance over the world into a strong sporting and cultural influence, then Australian Rules Football will sweep the world by storm.  Having watched, played, and coached the game for 25 years on he one hand, and having tried once to watch more than 5 minutes of a soccer ball match as punishment for placing a bad bet, I can confirm Australian Rules is indeed the greatest sport on the planet.


After 2 months on this forum that is without a doubt the biggest load of rubbish I've read.

The fact you call the worlds most popular sport "soccer ball" makes any argument you might of had, rendered null and void.

The champions league final in 'Football' has the biggest audience share in the world for a single sport - recently overtaking the Superbowl, do your research.

Bloodey betfair page taking for ever to load ****ing up my last post...

mesmerised

The champions league final in 'Football' has the biggest audience share in the world for a single sport - recently overtaking the Superbowl, do your research.

That doesn't mean its the best sport in the world. It means its the most popular sport in the world. Big difference. And as I said earlier the only reason why soccer is more popular is cos countries like England brainwash their kids into actually believing that a boring sport like soccer that is reguarly played at the top level by cry babies, prima donas and unloyal overpaid ****wits is actually a decent sport.

big difference? huh ?

It's the best sport because it has the highest number of participants worldwide, it's also the most watched sport on earth, therefore making it the bet and the biggest. There's no argument here.

Don't call it "soccer" you stupid moron.

best*

Wake up to yourself mesmer.  The diet eaten by the greatest number of people in the world is far from the best diet.

Open your eyes, show a bit of humility, give the soccer ball the flick, and start watching a man's sport.  You never know, some of it may start to rub off on you sooner or later.

Ok, Charkitz, best of luck with that, bain of my life trying to get footy pics over the years in the UK, and you will need to subscribe to ESPN to get the 3 matches weekly there.

Where are you based in Australia?

deadley mistake

come off it, you know full well what I'm saying and that analogy is NOT relevant.

It's a FOOTBALL, not a soccer ball, you' kick the ball with you feet, do you understand this simple concept?

Aussie Rules is boring, bland and unpopular, worldwide, it's a sport on a minuscule level.

Deadly Earnest, I'm based in North Queensland ATM, but have lived in Victoria my whole life up until now so I'm used to having that weekly footy fix during the winter months. Sounds like its possible to watch live footy if I'm prepared to pay to watch it.

Mesmerised, if I want to put a bet on soccer I go to the 'soccer' section on Betfair. You know, that UK betting exchange that has a forum that you are posting on...

Anyway, by now I'm convinced that you're fishing cos no-one in a sane mental state would suggest footy is more boring than soccer. Unless of course you are retarded or suffering from a mental condition in which case I do apologise...

Time for some sleep here, mite watch a few minutes of the soccer game between Jordan and Saudi Arabia, that should do the trick!

FOOTBALL. Only retarded people call it 'soccer'.

Typical Aussie, thick to the core. Sunshine must go to your head.

cos no-one in a sane mental state would suggest footy is more boring than soccer
1 BILLION PLUS WATCHED THE FOOTBALL WORLD CUP
HOW MANY WATCH AUSSIE DOESN'T RULE?

Must be a lot of mentally unbalanced people in the world, you must be the only sane one mate[smiley:crazy][smiley:crazy][smiley:crazy]

Somehow I don't think the heads of FIFA are concerned about the inroads that Aussie Rules are making on their game.
The worlwide spread of AR is limited to " gaelic football " internationals against Ireland using a compromise round ball.
A few exhibition matches have been played elsewhere which, apart from the local aussie expats, attracted no real interest at all.
By far the large majority of people have never ever even heard of it ( can't say that about "soccer" ) and will never have any reason to play it .
It televises poorly, it involves limited real skill ( unless you call climbing up the backs of others a skill).
I particulatly like the little hand ball passes. So exciting to watch.
It is really quite a bit embarassing how if you ever visit Melbourne on business or pleasure, somebody always insists on taking you to an AR game.
Appeals to a lot of Aussie women though. Must be the shorts.
All in all a joke game. Not to be taken seriously  really.

Snap out of it mesmerised. 

Soccer ball is for pansies mate.  Get some hairs on your chest, stand up straight like a man, look the world in the eye, and get yourself an Aussie Rules team.  There should be 2 huge improvers this year, Richmond, and Richmond seconds.  But we don't accept anyone soft, so harden up a bit and you are in.

FAFH

A Brilliantly articulate assessment of a mind numbingly dull sport.

Well said mate.

pmsl, you still insist on calling it 'soccer ball' but yet have the stupidity to ask me to 'snap out of it' - you have delusional qualities.

Rugby is a mans game and involves some level of tactics/skill, but still football is where it's at.

here in Germany they show one game a week on Eurosport 2.
(obviously anyone can watch it anywhere on the internet these days)

I'm English, and I love football, but Aussie Rules is just as exciting to watch, follow or see live.

I can only think that anyone on here who's slating it has never actually given it a chance, because it's withot any doubt a top game.

As for the coverage, ESPN do show it, but not that many pubs or bars would show it live, and you would have to work quite hard to find somewhere to watch it over here, imho...

Millhouse
I'm slating it and believe me I've given it a chance.
It's a manufactured, artificial type of sport ( it's sort of rugby, sort of basketball, sort of handball), about as exciting as watching hair grow.
The scorelines can be ridiculous, there never seems to be any sort of strategic game plan, attack and defense all look the same type of random kicking and catching and general frantic running about,the goal umpires have ridiculous, over exaggerated signals.
The general level of skill and athleticism is quite poor, as let's face it they really only have the gene pool of Australia( with a few odd Irishmen thrown in) to pick their teams from.
Australia realy has too few people to support so many codes of football. It's rugby in particular is suffering as a result.
It's interesting that in NZ, as sports mad as Australia, the game of AR shows no real sign of getting a foothold. Or Sth Africa for that matter. Or Asia in general. The game has no, and will never have, any true international appeal.
It is a parochial game played for parochial interests. End of.
May it long survive in Australia, but please don't ever expect other serious non- Australian sports fans to follow it with any great interest or take it seriously. It's just a kick in the park on a world scale.

If you are being serious with that post FINE AS then you are only displaying your own ignorance of the game.  It has as much strategy as any other game and I would say the greatest thing about the game is how natural it is, unlike rugby where you run forward but have to pass backwards or soccer ball where the offside rule leads to the most unnatural phases of play imaginable, as does the fact only two men on the field can put their hands on the ball. 

Australian Rules football started with off season cricketers running around chasing a ball in a paddock 2 miles long if my memory of the game's history serves, and it EVOLVED from there.  Almost all of the rules are designed to protect the safety of the player going for the ball or to keep the game moving.  You can take the ball in any direction, or run in any direction with very little restriction.  The game rewards athletic ability, balance, strength, courage, ball handling, aggression, pace and more and most shapes and sizes can find a position to play. 


You could probably find some criticisms of Australian Rules as a sport, but saying it is manufactured or artificial is so far off the mark it is laughable if you are comparing it with other football codes or the major American sports.

So your apology is accepted for making that ludicrous "assessment" if we can call it that.

The game might be 'natural' as you put it, but so are sports played on school playgrounds where it's also a free-for-all. Looks amateurish.

DE
The game is a complete waste of time, space and money. It has no soul.
But neither do a lot of other activities and/or games I suppose.
Just please don't promote or present it as a sport of actual or even potential universal appeal.
The reality is that it's going nowhere on that front. and for good reason.
Btw I understand that there are still a helluva lot of people in Australia itself who don't rate the game at all. Why is that I wonder ?

The only people in the world who have been exposed to the game on any sort of scale are Australians FINE AS, and it is by far the most popular sport in this country.  Over soccer ball, both rugby codes, cricket, netball, basketball, surfing, tennis, golf, any sport you care to mention.

When Australia start invading other countries to create Australian outposts everywhere our culture and sport will simply sweep the planet by storm.  The poms did it a couple of hundred years ago but our product is just better.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E_-J3zs_82k

Explain this. Ireland play Australia in a mixture between Gaelic and Aussie football. However what they bring to the field is brutality and cowardice. Ganging up like a pack of dogs let loose to not play a game but to fight your opponent 4 up to 5 on 1. You call that a sporting attitude? You call that a mans attitude? Irelands best players cant play against you as they may get seriously injured!! But I suppose you find this funny and Australia have the real men fighting in packs. Coward backward mongs

HTH's

Don't even have to watch it.  We are taught in Australian rules to back our teammates up without question or hesitation from a young age.  If others don't do that, that's their bad luck. 

This rule especially holds where an opponent has sniped a teammate.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kA4U8zEMmLM

more handbags flying around here than in a Primark sale

The internet could be the go but watching live sport on internet would be expensive wouldn't it? What about Canada? Anyone on here from Canada that can tell me whether Aussie Rules is shown on ESPN there?

BTW, can not believe the rubbish I'm hearing on this thread. For you soccer loving muppets to call anyone in any other sport cowardly is hypmocritical in the extreme. The way players continuously go down like three buses have run over them when in actual fact little if any contact has been made is just about the most embarrassing and humiliating thing anyone can do in life let alone sport. How these people can sleep at night or look in the mirror is beyond me. What's even harder to fathom is the fact that people pay big money to watch this bullshit.

I am talking about our gaelic footballers, nothing to do with "soccer".

charkitz

You're right about how FOOTBALLERS go down as soon as they're even looked at these days, like a bunch of overpaid fairies, but overall FOOTBALL is a much more entertaining / skillful sport than Aussie Rules, which leads me on to the thought that, in Aussie rules, the rules are - there are no rules, it looks a messy, a tactically inept game, played by mindless thugs, watched by mindless thugs. You remind me of someone who refuses to like FOOTBALL just because it's the most popular amongst the masses, and you like to be different.

It's a nonsense sport.

The fact you say Aussie Rules lacks skill and tactics merely illustrates that you dont understand the game. I guess this is cos you have watched a simple game like soccer your whole life and find it difficult to comprehend a more complicated sport.

Mesmerised
Give up.
I've unfortunately met too many of these Aussie Rule followers, and their tunnel vision was quite frightening.

Might tell you something about the game Fine As. 

Still, your kids will be playing it one day, and your grandkids, then you may take a proper interest in the game.

I just got home pissed from the pub. 

You pommy can follow soccer abll all you like, it is what you deserve. 

there is only so many vodka lime and sodas a man can stomach before he cant take anymore. We tried to find a bikie gang cos we wanted a blue but unforch there were none about.  So we tried to find some wogs but they were light on the ground too.  deadly Earnest is not happy.  been a while since i have had the absolute pleasure of delivering a flying headbutt.  The rake of the face is not my personal favourite, but it is a good bread and butter move whilst you are thinking of somthing a bit more unpredictable. 

Dont dis aussie Rules, I ****ing hate wogball, shielas "sport"! that is.  ****ing pick the mother ****ing ball up, start running with it, and see what happens, you might get a pleasant surpise, and win a bit of respect.

Lively Earnest, the new and improved version of the artiste formerly known as deadly Earnest.

That is definitely the ugliest post I've ever had the misfortune to read on this forum.

And if and when you wake up, hopefully sober, and read what you posted, please, please DE just tell me that it was a hopelessly inept attempt at satire.

Lol, it was a pretty idiotic post FAFH.  I am a peace loving individual really, but for some reason every time I have a drink I start talking about fighting etc, but usually people just laugh because they can see I am no threat to anyone, especially bikie gangs etc.  If there are any bikie gangs or wogs reading this and I have hurt your feelings, I apologise.  [;)]

Don't take any notice mate, it must be 10 years since I had a scrap and that was handbags really.  I definitely don't condone uncalled for or nasty violence. 

Just another reason why I only drink about once a year.  At least we had the good sense not to drive home.  We hitch-hiked and got a lift from a nice young off duty police woman.  That fact alone will tell you how threatening I look.  We thanked her for the lift and lectured her not to pick up unknown hitch-hikers in future. 

What I wrote about soccer ball stands though.  Awful sport that might benefit from having a look at Australian Rules to see if it can emulate some of the many great things about the great game.

Pretty good retraction.
Well spoken like a man.
Not bad for an Aussie too.
Also my comments on AR still stand. An awful sport.

64 replies and ONLY ONE person actually answered the OP`s question (the guy in Germany)
All the rest is mindless, childish bickering - hopeless forum this!

errr, let the record be corrected.  Fishing is actually the most popular sport in the world in terms of participants.  Now carry on.

Childish to you perhaps.
We take our bickering very seriously on here.

amazing you kids are old enough to bet

We can type so why not ?

Yes you are quite right RAPS. Looks like I won't get very far with the original question. I've tried numerous forums on the net, though I thought this one would be most likely to give me some anwsers. I've ran out of ideas, might just have to find out when I get to Canada I guess.

One more question though. Does anyone know if Australia is the only country that you cannot bet in-play over the internet?

Charkitz, contact the AFL, they will either know where they are being televised, or they should be able to refer you to the company that owns the TV rights and will know who they have sold them to.  So by doing this you might be able to figure a list of broadcasters who carry AFL country by country.

Tried that DE, no luck. They were useless. They put me through to the broadcast department which was a waste of time. I spoke to 3 different people from the broadcast department and they all had no clue.

Jeez that is pretty poor Chark. 

Maybe have a read of this, it seems to offer some good possibilities:

http://afana.com/drupal5/tvsched

There is also this link, which gives a summary of what was to be broadcast where in the world in 2010:

http://www.afana.com/drupal5/intltv07

Perhaps they play it so much by themselves is because it's
the only game they don't have to compete with other countries.

Are you saying K that Aussies like to play with themselves.
If so, I'd watch out for DE then.

Cheers DE. Those links were more useful than talking to AFL themselves. Looks like if I go to Canada I will be disappointed with TV coverage. Pity Setanta fell through, according to a Magpies fan in one of those links he didn't even get to see the Magpies win the GF on ESPN, not even on replay.

Not that missing Magpies win any game would worry me [;)]