The Australian Football Association of North America (AFANA) is a non-profit organization that formed out of the campaign to save

television Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertising, ...

coverage of

Australian rules football Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an oval field, often a modified cricket ground. Points are scored by k ...

in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

and

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by to ...

in 1996. AFANA has an emphasis on the fan, and aims to help the game to develop and to improve its exposure in

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and th ...

, including better TV coverage.

Early history

AFANA was co-founded by three members of the 1995-1996 campaign: Richard Lipp of Kansas City, Wade Hinkle of Dallas, and Rob de Santos (then of Vienna, WV) when it was learned that the sport had no TV coverage for the 1996 season. The campaign was ultimately successful and coverage began on the new

ESPN2 ESPN2 is an American multinational pay television network owned by ESPN Inc., a joint venture between The Walt Disney Company (which owns a controlling 80% stake) and Hearst Communications (which owns the remaining 20%). ESPN2 was initially fo ...

("the deuce") network in June. The network declined to cover the Grand Final in 1996. The AFL tried to find another network but in the end turned to AFANA and the Australian American Chamber of Commerce of Southern California. The two organizations successfully put the game on the air on satellite in the USA and Canada in just 8 days. This firmly established AFANA. The following year, coverage continued on ESPN. Again, problems with the Grand Final occurred when ESPN delayed the broadcast 95 minutes (due to live baseball) on just 36 hours notice after repeated assurances that the game would be live. Despite an intense lobbying effort, ESPN did not budge. The relationship between the

Australian Football League The Australian Football League (AFL) is the only fully professional sports, professional competition of Australian rules football. Through the AFL Commission, the AFL also serves as the sport's governing body and is responsible for controlling ...

, AFANA, and ESPN continued to be strained and after the 1997 season, the network again dropped the sport. With AFANA's help, the sport moved to the new Fox Sports World channel the following year.

Coverage

The organization has played a part in every effort to keep TV coverage since its founding including network changes in 1998, 2007, 2009, and 2012. In 2004, Fox announced the channel was changing names to Fox Soccer Channel and would eventually drop all non-soccer coverage. AFANA successfully lobbied for the coverage to continue into the 2006 season. The following year resulted in a major success of the

lobby group In politics, lobbying, persuasion or interest representation is the act of lawfully attempting to influence the actions, policies, or decisions of government officials, most often legislators or members of regulatory agencies. Lobbying, which ...

with the televising of live AFL matches beginning in 2007 by

Setanta Sports Setanta Sports is a sports television company based in Dublin, Ireland broadcasting throughout select Eurasian. The company was formed in 1990 to facilitate the broadcasting of Irish sporting events to international audiences. The company previ ...

(USA). Current TV coverage is again on Fox networks including

Fox Sports 2 Fox Sports 2 (FS2) is an American sports-oriented pay television channel owned by the Fox Sports Media Group, a unit of Fox Corporation. The channel is based at the Fox Sports division's headquarters on the Fox Studio Lot in the Century Cit ...

and

Fox Soccer Plus Fox Soccer Plus (formerly Setanta Sports) is an American sports channel dedicated to soccer and rugby league. Launched in 2005 by the Irish sports broadcaster Setanta Sports to offer live and tape-delayed mainstream sports events in the United ...

, a premium network. Coverage was briefly lost when

Setanta Sports USA Fox Soccer Plus (formerly Setanta Sports) is an American sports channel dedicated to soccer and rugby league. Launched in 2005 by the Irish sports broadcaster Setanta Sports to offer live and tape-delayed mainstream sports events in the United ...

went into bankruptcy in August, 2009.

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...

picked up coverage on its internet channel, then ESPN360 (later

ESPN3 ESPN3 (formerly ESPN360 and ESPN3.com) is an online streaming service owned by ESPN Inc., a joint venture between The Walt Disney Company (which operates the network, through its 80% controlling ownership interest) and Hearst Communications ( ...

) plus about 4 matches a year and the Grand Final on

. ESPN did not renew the contract after 2011. Weekly coverage returned in 2012 to

the successor channel to Fox Sports World. For the 2018 season, officials at the

have told AFANA coverage will continue on

and on through the 2020 season. A post on the AFANA website says Fox Soccer Plus will broadcast a minimum of 2 live games per week. The network has also committed to show all finals matches, leading up to and including the Grand Final. AFANA consolidates the schedules of every network in North America which carries the sport into one listing on its web site, a major convenience for fans.

Grand Final Parties

One of AFANA's major services is the posting of announcements of the many

AFL Grand Final The AFL Grand Final is an Australian rules football match to determine the premiers for the Australian Football League (AFL) season. From its inception until 1989, it was known as the VFL Grand Final, as the league at that time was the Victori ...

parties held in North America (and sometimes

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

and

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an are ...

). These yearly parties are typically held the day of the Grand Final and usually feature Australian food and beverages as the staple refreshments for the event.

External links

Australian Football Association of North America Official Site
*

References

{{Aussie Rules in Canada Australian rules football in North America

North North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west. ''North'' is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating direction or geography. Etymology The word ''north ...

Sports organizations established in 1996 1996 establishments in North America

Early history

Coverage

Grand Final Parties

External links

See also

References