The AFL just may take over the country yet. Surely that's the plan behind AFL X?
Every state. Every city. Every town. Every school. Every oval and now, it would seem, every soccer pitch.
More Sport Videos
FootyFix: fantastic first week of AFL finals
Rohan Connolly previews all the footy action ahead of the first week of finals in the AFL.
The news that the AFL has been secretly trialling AFL X, a new, modified brand of football with just seven players on the ground per side, and played on a soccer pitch, should come as no surprise.
Many footy fans have scoffed at the idea. Others are simply bemused, wondering where on earth the idea came from. Soccer officials say there aren't enough pitches to go around. Others are calling for those who control the game to leave the bloody thing alone.
But these naysayers are short-sighted.
This idea is nothing new and the AFL, be they delusional or not, is simply following what others have done before them.
Once upon a time the only form of cricket played could last five full days and still end in a draw. The newest form of the game lasts for a little over three hours and always generates a result.
Rugby has the Rugby 7s and soccer has futsal. Even tennis has joined in the fun by introducing a rapidfire version of itself called Fast4.
![Cricket adapted: suddenly AFL X doesn't look so crazy.](/web/20160913034416im_/http://www.theage.com.au/content/dam/images/g/n/x/f/3/3/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.grc6a1.png/1473570432061.jpg)
We increasingly like our sport to be quick, exciting and fun: entertain me - and make it snappy.
Yet the AFL is not just catering to our shorter attention spans and busy lifestyles. No, AFL X is an idea designed to ensure that the biggest brand in town takes over the entire sporting calendar.
![Some footy fans are firmly opposed to the seven-a-side AFL X experiment.](/web/20160913034416im_/http://www.theage.com.au/content/dam/images/g/r/b/b/h/a/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.grc6a1.png/1473570432061.jpg)
They already have a stranglehold on the hearts and minds of sport lovers in the nation's southern and western states. The Sydney teams are flying and the women's game last weekend was a ratings winner.
Strategically the AFL has just about every state and demographic covered. They are the King of the Sporting Castle.
But is the reality is, the AFL cannot afford to kick back and crack open a celebratory bottle of Grange when the season finally ends. Instead they must continue to grow the game.
The AFL, it seems, still harbours an ambition to take on the world.
Someone, somewhere within the AFL is imagining a world where the red Sherrin is kicked around every day and every night in every month of the year.
They are imagining a game called AFL X that's played over the summer at the same time of the year and on the same pitches as the A-League.
They're imagining recently retired, or even current day AFL players competing against each other for teams spread right across the country. The game has the backing of Australia's number one commercial broadcaster, Channel 7. There's a men's and women's competition. You can play or watch some kind of AFL footy all year round.
But here's the clincher.
They are imagining the world embracing this new game of Australian football, too, because after all, it can be played in any town across the globe that has a soccer pitch.
To many across the country it sounds like a fantasy. To others, who have already had a gutful of the game by September, it sounds like hell.
To me it sounds a little like Twenty20 cricket. And just look at that game now.
Sam Duncan is a lecturer in sports media and commentator.
20 comments
Comment are now closed