a half-time performance from Snoop Dogg. Photograph: James Ross/AAP
Saturday’s AFL grand final at the MCG will attract a crowd more than 30,000 fans larger than that of the next Super Bowl. It will be preceded by a public holiday for the prematch parade – one of the few days off around the world dedicated to sport. And it will be headlined by Snoop Dogg, one of earth’s pre-eminent musical performers.
By these measures, the grand final can stand alongside any event in world sport. But while there may be more than 50 watch parties for this weekend’s match scheduled across the globe, including five in China and six in Germany, the sport’s international growth remains a work in progress.
Michael “Magic” Murphy, the president of the New York Magpies, Manhattan’s Australian rules club, says more than 500 people will attend this year’s watch party where first bounce will be cheered just after midnight.
About 40% of the club’s players are locals, and Murphy – who was introduced to the sport by his American college girlfriend and now wife Andrea Casillas, also an ex-president of the club – has become an advocate for the sport.
“Oftentimes people just think it’s rugby, they have a better understanding of rugby in the US, and its reach is a little bit wider, so explaining to them it’s not rugby and that it’s a whole different code, and that it moves more like soccer and it’s higher scoring and more exciting are typically things that pique their interest,” he says.
American sports broadcaster Pat McAfee has become the AFL’s most prominent fan in the US after discovering the code during the pandemic. He visited the Gabba last month and caught up with the Brisbane Lions.
Given the growing dominance of Australian punters in college football, McAfee’s liking for the game can be understood, but Murphy has found other Americans can be more difficult to convince. “I’m not going to sugarcoat it, it’s always hard to compete with other sports here that are more well known in the US,” Murphy says.
To help his case, Murphy will often reach for his phone. “Everyone is always astonished by someone jumping on someone else’s back and catching a mark, so that’s always a good one to pull out, the top ten [highlights], marks of the year, goals of the year are also pretty good,” he says. “We’ve also got [Collingwood’s American player] Mason Cox who’s out there now doing his stuff, he’s been a little bit of a boon.”
Aishling Moloney, Geelong’s AFLW full forward from Tipperary, says AFL grand final week in Australia is bigger than an All-Ireland final back home, the traditional climax of the Irish sporting calendar. “Coming from home, an All-Ireland final is a big week for us, so to experience a grand final week, it’s just absolutely amazing,” she says. “You just don’t want this to end, it’s absolutely incredible, and I’m delighted to eventually get to see it and feel it and visualise it.”
While the NRL appears committed to its annual visit to Las Vegas and increasing support for the international game especially in the Pacific, the AFL’s pursuit of elite competition overseas appears to have been put on the backburner. Its experiment taking premiership matches to China ended in 2019, though head office continues to support grassroots participation overseas through bodies such as AFL Europe and AFL Asia.
At last month’s AFL Asian Championships in Thailand, the Hong Kong Dragons won three of the five competitions. Hongkonger Brenda Chan, a sustainability consultant, has been with the club for six years having previously played rugby and Gaelic football. “I enjoy the physical side of [Australian rules football] compared to Gaelic,” she says. “It’s a very good balance, and I also enjoy the fitness side.”
Roughly half the Dragons are Australian expats, but Chan says there is an increasing number of locals, especially within the women’s ranks. “In the last two or three years we’ve got a lot more Asians, quite some Hong Kong people, some from mainland China. That’s one of the things I really enjoyed a lot with the Hong Kong Dragons because it’s a very diverse group of people and it’s also very inclusive.”
Chan will attend her first AFL grand final party this weekend with the club, where more than 100 people are expected to enjoy the match alongside a buffet and drinks. She says before she played Australian rules football, she didn’t have many Australian friends. “Getting to know the Australians in the club, talking with them, playing with them, you get a sense of what Australia’s culture and the people are like, which I really enjoy.”
So the Australians are OK? “They are more than OK.”
