The Saints in India.

[White Winmar]

I've mentioned this in the reasons to be cheerful OP, but thought it was worth a thread of its own. I'd love to know what you all think. It's not my idea. I believe it was floated on SEN 1116 last week and I reckon it's a cracker. I have to be upfront and declare my bias. I've always thought the NZ push is ridiculous, doomed to inevitable failure and one of the very few things this administration has gotten wrong. I have also travelled and worked in India and I love the place. I've also witnessed its potential, first hand.

The biggest factor in playing two games a year in India is obviously the money. We could make millions, and supplement what will hopefully be an improved gate takings total from our new stadium deal. Then there is the big one. Shane Warne. It's difficult for us to understand how revered and worshipped he is in India. Like Tendulkar and M.S. Dhoni, he is a living God. If only he was on good terms with Steve Waugh, the whole thing would be a complete no-brainer. Waugh is also worshipped, especially in Kolkatta, where his charity work is legend. But back to Warnie.

As a mad sainter, he has the passion and knowledge to sell the idea. The Indian market, consisting of a burgeoning middle class, is estimated to be between 120-200 million. Compare that to the potential of the NZ market, which would be lucky to be a few hundred thousand. Kiwis aren't interested either. Every kid in NZ wants to be an All Black. Or play 20/20. If Warnie told Indian kids to give Aussie Rules a try, they would. We also have a huge Indian expat community and diaspora, a market that is almost completely untapped. As soon as a couple of kids of Indian descent make it in the AFL, watch the interest take off.

Stadia are being built all over the country. The obvious venues would be in Kolkatta, Mumbai and Delhi, but I think Bangaluru (Bangalore) now a modern technology hub would be a good candidate, as would Pune. India already has at least a dozen stadiums that can hold international cricket crowds. Dimensions may cause an issue, but their playing surfaces are closer in size to the old SCG. Smallish, but adequate. In any event, the Indians are nothing if not doers. Want something changed? It will happen quickly if the money is there. It's not unreasonable to think we could make a couple of million a game there. Imagine what that could do to the bottom line, not to mention merchandising, membership and sponsorship opportunities. You know it makes sense.

[Stian]

Yep, all we would need is just a relatively small portion of the possible market and it would be huge (because of the immense size of the market itself, even a 1% uptake is so much more than we could get anywhere else). Can you imagine the increase in membership numbers ????

It would be good to use our international scholarships to groom Indian players rather than NZ. Have we had any significant improvement in any of our NZ rookies? No? - so we have nothing to lose by dumping them and substituting some Indians.

Go for it, I say.

[st.byron]

Oh lordy, that requires a paradigm shift. I.N.D.I.A. and A.F.L. Bloody hell.

Have spent lots of time in India. Wow. AFL and India.

Indian players?????? Ummmmm.....that requires an even greater paradigm shift.

Trying to get head around what I know of AFL and what I know of India. Two different planets. Engilsh Premier League is big there.....so I guess it could work.

[No Holds Bard]

Then there is the big one. Shane Warne. It's difficult for us to understand how revered and worshipped he is in India.

Not stepping o'er the bounds of modesty, the king's name is a tower of strength. O! he doth teach the torches to burn bright. Then the world's our oyster! But we should dally not, delays have dangerous ends.

[Toy Saint]

Fantastic idea, yeah lets go to India. A fantastic excuse for me to visit India.

Plus added benefits, we can probably get a lot of local Indians barracking for St Kilda.

The membership department can offer special introductory memberships to all taxi drivers....and 7-11 workers, and car wash workers...and petrol station guys....

Go Saints....good karma....

[Zed]

Should definitely explore some out of the box ideas like India. I like the idea of using Warnie as an ambassador. Could he convince 50,000 Indians to part with $50 ? If so, then why not create a digital channel and give them access to a Saints channel hosted by Warnie - they get live Saints games and replays, an Ask Shane segment every week , some free merch, and so on. Play a preseason game maybe, do a preseason camp, but I don't think we really need to play a regular season game there. Would,take a bit of effort to get it off the ground , but a model like that could also be rolled out to England, South Africa and Sri Lanka. If you can get 100,000 people paying $50 a year that's a very handy little income stream. You'd have to think Warnie would be willing to help out.

[kosifantutti]

I've noticed our leadership group is too big.

Is it a case of too many chiefs, not enough Indians?

[BigMart]

Perhaps just get the backyard in order?

[White Winmar]

Oh lordy, that requires a paradigm shift. I.N.D.I.A. and A.F.L. Bloody hell.

Have spent lots of time in India. Wow. AFL and India.

Indian players?????? Ummmmm.....that requires an even greater paradigm shift.

Trying to get head around what I know of AFL and what I know of India. Two different planets. Engilsh Premier League is big there.....so I guess it could work.

I know it's radical, SB, but soccer is making a huge comeback in India on the back of EPL. India had a half decent soccer team back in the fifties, but the sport almost died there completely. It is coming back through the use of celebrity superstar players. They are treated as gods.

I think having the likes of cricket heroes who are AFL nuts, like Ponting and Warne would create curiosity and genuine interest. The sponsorship dollars and the chance for Indian companies to penetrate markets here would also help. Imagine if it caught on in terms of TV? Imagine what the rights would be worth in a market of that size? Think the Punjab, SB. All those tall, athletic Sikhs. The offer of a life in Australia beyond their wildest dreams. The Indian diaspora goes on unabated. We are already hearing games called in Hindi. 1% SB, that's all we'd need. I know it's a stretch, but as you know, if there's anything unusual that can happen in the world, it will happen in India, a land of miracles, contrasts and the outright bizarre.

[White Winmar]

Oh lordy, that requires a paradigm shift. I.N.D.I.A. and A.F.L. Bloody hell.

Have spent lots of time in India. Wow. AFL and India.

Indian players?????? Ummmmm.....that requires an even greater paradigm shift.

Trying to get head around what I know of AFL and what I know of India. Two different planets. Engilsh Premier League is big there.....so I guess it could work.

I know it's radical, SB, but soccer is making a huge comeback in India on the back of EPL. India had a half decent soccer team back in the fifties, but the sport almost died there completely. It is coming back through the use of celebrity superstar players. They are treated as gods.

I think having the likes of cricket heroes who are AFL nuts, like Ponting and Warne would create curiosity and genuine interest. The sponsorship dollars and the chance for Indian companies to penetrate markets here would also help. Imagine if it caught on in terms of TV? Imagine what the rights would be worth in a market of that size? Think the Punjab, SB. All those tall, athletic Sikhs. The offer of a life in Australia beyond their wildest dreams. The Indian diaspora goes on unabated. We are already hearing games called in Hindi. 1% SB, that's all we'd need. I know it's a stretch, but as you know, if there's anything unusual that can happen in the world, it will happen in India, a land of miracles, contrasts and the outright bizarre.

[st.byron]

Oh lordy, that requires a paradigm shift. I.N.D.I.A. and A.F.L. Bloody hell.

Have spent lots of time in India. Wow. AFL and India.

Indian players?????? Ummmmm.....that requires an even greater paradigm shift.

Trying to get head around what I know of AFL and what I know of India. Two different planets. Engilsh Premier League is big there.....so I guess it could work.

I know it's radical, SB, but soccer is making a huge comeback in India on the back of EPL. India had a half decent soccer team back in the fifties, but the sport almost died there completely. It is coming back through the use of celebrity superstar players. They are treated as gods.

I think having the likes of cricket heroes who are AFL nuts, like Ponting and Warne would create curiosity and genuine interest. The sponsorship dollars and the chance for Indian companies to penetrate markets here would also help. Imagine if it caught on in terms of TV? Imagine what the rights would be worth in a market of that size? Think the Punjab, SB. All those tall, athletic Sikhs. The offer of a life in Australia beyond their wildest dreams. The Indian diaspora goes on unabated. We are already hearing games called in Hindi. 1% SB, that's all we'd need. I know it's a stretch, but as you know, if there's anything unusual that can happen in the world, it will happen in India, a land of miracles, contrasts and the outright bizarre.

Indeed it is the land of the outright bizarre. Also home to appalling massive scale poverty. Saw an article today saying that the 8 wealthiest individuals in the world have the same amount of wealth as the poorest 3.6 billion - 50% of humans. That is truly wrong.
India has become a lot more homogenised and westernised over the last twenty years, especially with the influence of the internet. Certainly a left field idea to try and tap into it. Wow I can't even begin to get my head around Indian AFL players. So many of them are built like sticks.
It is though the second most populous country after China. Amazing stat - well amazing to me - that 19% of the world's population is Indian. 21% Chinese.
40% of humans live in India or China.

Even 0.1 of 1% would be 130,000 people.

[loris]

Certainly a left field idea to try and tap into it. Wow I can't even begin to get my head around Indian AFL players. So many of them are built like sticks.


.

So we could recruit a few players built like Ian Cooper?

Now a stick like Coops could really add to our half foward line, very hard to match up on. Hope they can all kick and take spectular marks like Coops did.

Infact Cooper was more built like a fragile preying mantis than a twig. But that didn't stop him being best on ground in our only premiership flag in 1966. Pity they didn't award Norm Smith Medals in that era, I'm sure Coops would have won it on that special day in Saints history.

[White Winmar]

An article in today's HS about Sheedy being part of an Aussie rules tournament in India. The Kerala Bombers were pictured. Enthusiasm was high and Sheedy said to be impressed with the pace and skill levels of the players. A mosquito fleet of speedy Indians. Just what we need, isn't it?

[The Fireman]

Papadums and tea at the footy.

[the dome]

White Winmar well done thinking beyond the square & thanks for the creativity. First it was AR thinking outside the square with his visit to the famous town of Rishikish (India) now some interesting ideas from the fan base as well. Regards NZ I think due to the disasterous Dome situation where the Saints were snookered into a rigged contract that made us poorer & the big airline wealthier the NZ move may still be vital to keeping our club's financial head above water. With an easier to navigate planet AFL in India could indeed work. Another example of a sport being successfully staged in a 'new environment' was the Rugby Union match held recently between Ireland & New Zealand at Soldiers' Field (Chicago). 62,000 turned out to see this exotic football code @ Soldiers' Field. There are people across the planet interested enough to witness such events.
On another point I hope the club is continuing to work well on the fine detail of our next deal @ the Dome !

[Selhurst Saint]

Did anyone hear Sheedy talking about this last week on SEN. What a complete cnut.

Darren Berry suggested to him that the AFL could use the Indians love of cricket to introduce the game and market it. Suggested that Shane Warne would be perfect. He totally rebuffed the idea saying that Warne was a channel 9 personality and could not and would not be used.

Berry tried again a bit later and suggested that perhaps a St.Kilda Essendon game would be a good fit once again using the massive profile of Warne in India. He suggested that Essendon v Richmond would be far better fit.

[magnifisaint]

it would be a complete waste of time.

[ausfatcat]

Very skeptical this would ever amount to anything...

but worth a pre season test imo

[White Winmar]

Sheedy is a senile old fool. The most overrated man in football. Chauncey Gardner from "Being There". Replace him with Warne, and watch the idea take off.

[Selhurst Saint]

Sheedy is a senile old fool. The most overrated man in football. Chauncey Gardner from "Being There". Replace him with Warne, and watch the idea take off.

Sheedy was just so disrespectful and dismissive of St.Kilda.

He obviously thinks a club of convicted drug cheats with the most politically incorrect club nickname in the world is more marketable.

[White Winmar]

it would be a complete waste of time.

That's the spirit!

[WellardSaint]

I checked my calendar, and confirmed that today is not in fact April 1st, so all I can say is, you have got to be joking.
This idea is so "out there", that it needs to stay "out there".

You must think- hey, cricketers like Marcus Stoinis, the Marsh brothers, etc all go to India to play IPL, so why can't footballers travel to the subcontinent?
I'll tell you why.
Cricketers go over for an extended stay, and play a series of games, get great money, and come back and play BBL and state games, etc.
The football season is different. A team can't just go to India, play a game, and come back.
NZ travel is similar to flying to Perth- about 4 hours. No biggie.

Delhi is over 12 hours (flying time only- add a lot more time for travel to the airport, check-in, etc)
Kolkata is 14-16 hours via Singapore, Bangkok, Hong Kong, or New Delhi. Or if the only available flight is Air India, try 19 hours via Yangon and Guangzhou.
You've effectively ruled a big red line through two days (there and back) !
Timeframes are far too tight, guys need to get straight into recovery to treat tired bodies.
International travel will screw with all the preparation, it's simply ludicrous to even think about it.

Can you imagine playing our guys in India the week before playing the Swans. It's hard enough to be competitive against them, and you want to make it even harder?
It's like a V8 Supercar having a huge crash in practice, and their team is up all night panel-beating, welding, getting the engine right...
This is a rubbish idea.

[WellardSaint]

Another thing.
Remember that game in good ol' Perth in 2008, where Milney copped a fractured cheekbone,
and club doctors ruled out flying, so a trainer drove him back to Melbourne?
How would this work in India? A very long stay until the poor guy was cleared to fly.

[st.byron]

I checked my calendar, and confirmed that today is not in fact April 1st, so all I can say is, you have got to be joking.
This idea is so "out there", that it needs to stay "out there".

You must think- cricketers like Marcus Stoinis, the Marsh brothers, etc all go to India to play IPL, so why can't footballers travel to the subcontinent?
I'll tell you why.
Cricketers go over for an extended stay, and play a series of games, get great money, and come back and play BBL and state games, etc.
The football season is different. A team can't just go to India, play a game, and come back.
Delhi is over 12 hours (flying time only- add a lot more time for travel to the airport, check-in, etc)
Kolkata is 14-16 hours via Singapore, Bangkok, Hong Kong, or New Delhi. Or if the only available flight is Air India, try 19 hours via Yangon and Guangzhou.
You've effectively ruled a big red line through TWO days (there and back) !
Timeframes are far too tight, guys need to get straight into recovery to treat tired bodies.
International travel will screw with all the preparation, it's simply ludicrous.
Can you imagine playing our guys in India the week before playing the Swans. It's hard enough to be competitive against them, and you want to make it even harder?
It's like a V8 Supercar having a huge crash in practice, and their team is up all night panel-beating, welding, getting the engine right...
This is a rubbish idea.

Have to say I agree with WS on this. Don't want to play spoil sport, but the logistics of it are daunting. And........it's India. Timetables, schedules, transport can be very "flexible". Can only imagine the culture shock for young fellas flying in and out to play a game of AFL footy. Landing in India is like landing on another planet.

[White Winmar]

It works in other sports. I'm well aware of the logistical challenges, as I've worked and travelled extensively in India. Why not play the two games back to back, making a trip of it, as they do in Rugby? There are always negatives with these things, but they can be overcome. A twelve hour flight would be a small price to pay for the potential pay off. Think big, boys. Being a spoiler is easy and never achieves anything. We'd still be living in caves if the naysayers had their way.