Saints to play home game in NZ on ANZAC day

[Thinline]

Anzac Day has significantly more current relevance as a day of quiet reflection than bloody Good Friday.

I cannot stand the way two clubs and a corporation (and now bloody VB) zero in on the event to sell s***. Sickens me.

I think it would be a shame if my club saw Anzac Day as a leverage opportunity.

I don't expect everyone to agree. It's just my view.

[stevie]

Anzac Day has significantly more current relevance as a day of quiet reflection that bloody Good Friday.

I cannot stand the way two clubs and a corporation (and now bloody VB) zero in on the event to sell s***. Sickens me.

I think it would be a shame if my my club saw Anzac Day as a leverage opportunity.

I don't expect everyone to agree. It's just my view.

Yeah, that VB ad is annoying, especially in this day and age of alcohol fuelled violence. I know not every one gets s*** faced when they drink, but its still a dark sdie of our 'culture'.

And watching the fotty the other day, that ad was on EVERY and ad break, so I turned it over quickly after that when it came on. show it once then leave it.

[mcadam05]

Anzac Day has significantly more current relevance as a day of quiet reflection than bloody Good Friday.

I cannot stand the way two clubs and a corporation (and now bloody VB) zero in on the event to sell s***. Sickens me.

I think it would be a shame if my club saw Anzac Day as a leverage opportunity.

I don't expect everyone to agree. It's just my view.

you better stay away from coles then , i was just down at coles Camberwell and on sell is Collingwood vs Essendon ANZAC Day Clash potato chips

[saintly]

I'll go... International holiday and saints... Oh yea baby

i'd seriously think about going as well.

[TJMcCarthy]

I'd rather we put our hands up to play a couple of country regional Victorian games -for premiership points. New Zealand is a bridge too far atm (for one club)...

[saintbrat]

http://www.couriermail.com.au/sport/afl ... 6334791584

THE AFL has endorsed St Kilda's Anzac Day clash in New Zealand next year in a contest that would be the first international game for premiership points.


AFL chief operating officer Gillon McLachlan yesterday revealed the league had already inspected Wellington's Westpac Stadium and ticked it off as a potential venue.

Now it is up to St Kilda to secure funding and an agreement with the New Zealand Government before the end of the season.

If the Saints can shore up a deal, the AFL will rubber-stamp the game as a premiership contest.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

[saintbrat]

http://www.theage.com.au/afl/afl-news/l ... 1xjem.html

The historic international fixture now looks certain to go ahead. The AFL and the Saints have held talks over the past 24 hours with a visiting delegation from Wellington and will play host to the group today, led by prominent Wellington politician and former international cricketer John Morrison.

The delegation will attend the Collingwood-Essendon clash today as guests of the competition and St Kilda, which is looking to secure financial backing to open its New Zealand campaign at Wellington's Westpac Stadium.

Read more: http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/afl/afl ... z1t0wKXEx6


wonder what time the last flights from NZ are- can I make work the next day
Anzac Day 2013
Thursday, April 25, 2013


2014 will be no problem- it's a Friday

[saintspremiers]

Shame they didn't choose Auckland over Wellington. Bigger city, nice city. Wellington may be ok but dowsnt sound too exciting. Anyway, it's all about money. If we get enough
Money it prob doesn't matter.

[jonesy]

Shame they didn't choose Auckland over Wellington. Bigger city, nice city. Wellington may be ok but dowsnt sound too exciting. Anyway, it's all about money. If we get enough
Money it prob doesn't matter.

Westpac stadium in Wellington is awesome and a great location

[saint66au]

On the surface Im really in favour of the Saints forging this idea. The first ever AFL game outside Australian soil..and I think the synergy with the MCG game would be terrific..given the NZ in ANZAC

Theres just a couple of sticking points though...

1. This is not an AFL initiative that St Kilda are being part of. Its purely driven by St Kilda. Its not a cash cow like the games in NT or Cairns or Tassie...the AFL arent going to throw a pile of money at us to play there. They will rubber stamp it as a fixture but the rest is up to us. The Saints have to find the funding from the NZ Govt to host the game..I dont think were going to get the lazy $500,000 / game like the sides who go to Darwin etc..

2. I'm as good as certain that the AFL wont want to fiddle with the MCG game to accomodate it..ie the match time cant clash in any way with the Coll v Ess game. Because of this Id very much doubt the game will be on FTA...so any potential signage or other sponsor revenue will be diluted as the game will most likely be on Foxtel. Do we want to play at 11am or 8.30pm NZ time just to be the bridesmaid to Coll v Ess?? with them taking from 1.00-5.30pm (yes they will want their 90 mins of preamble still count on it) it doesnt make the local times very attractive.

[oh when the]

I reckon the four points should be the only thing driving the Club - if we give up our home ground advantage and diminish our chances of winning then we are playing AFL for the wrong reason.

[saintspremiers]

Good points.

Re point 2 the only way to get a good time slot is to play on 24 April at 8.10pm local ie 6.10pm Melbourne.

Day before a public holiday is ok for a night fixture better than Anzac night.

Channel 7 would baulk at the expense of an O/S coverage IMO pushing it to Fox.

Any later start than 8.10 is too late IMO.

[plugger66]

Good points.

Re point 2 the only way to get a good time slot is to play on 24 April at 8.10pm local ie 6.10pm Melbourne.

Day before a public holiday is ok for a night fixture better than Anzac night.

Channel 7 would baulk at the expense of an O/S coverage IMO pushing it to Fox.

Any later start than 8.10 is too late IMO.

That isnt going to happen. The point of an Anzac day game is to play it on Anzac day. If it goes ahead it will be Anzac day. Hope people are up for the short break between games.

[saintly]

Good points.

Re point 2 the only way to get a good time slot is to play on 24 April at 8.10pm local ie 6.10pm Melbourne.

Day before a public holiday is ok for a night fixture better than Anzac night.

Channel 7 would baulk at the expense of an O/S coverage IMO pushing it to Fox.

Any later start than 8.10 is too late IMO.

That isnt going to happen. The point of an Anzac day game is to play it on Anzac day. If it goes ahead it will be Anzac day. Hope people are up for the short break between games.

anzac day will be on thrusday next year. if we play on a saturday it will be a 5 day break. the saints have had a 5 day break before.

I will go.

[james rose]

I'll be on my honeymoon around then. But NZ just went to the top of the list.

[R. Harvey 3 votes!]

On the surface Im really in favour of the Saints forging this idea. The first ever AFL game outside Australian soil..and I think the synergy with the MCG game would be terrific..given the NZ in ANZAC

Theres just a couple of sticking points though...

1. This is not an AFL initiative that St Kilda are being part of. Its purely driven by St Kilda. Its not a cash cow like the games in NT or Cairns or Tassie...the AFL arent going to throw a pile of money at us to play there. They will rubber stamp it as a fixture but the rest is up to us. The Saints have to find the funding from the NZ Govt to host the game..I dont think were going to get the lazy $500,000 / game like the sides who go to Darwin etc..

2. I'm as good as certain that the AFL wont want to fiddle with the MCG game to accomodate it..ie the match time cant clash in any way with the Coll v Ess game. Because of this Id very much doubt the game will be on FTA...so any potential signage or other sponsor revenue will be diluted as the game will most likely be on Foxtel. Do we want to play at 11am or 8.30pm NZ time just to be the bridesmaid to Coll v Ess?? with them taking from 1.00-5.30pm (yes they will want their 90 mins of preamble still count on it) it doesnt make the local times very attractive.

WRONG!

It would start at say 1.10 NZ time which is 11.10 here. Our game will be over at 1.45pm our time.

That is plenty of time to get the match at the MCG underway at 2.10 or 2.30.

[SainterK]

I'll be on my honeymoon around then. But NZ just went to the top of the list.

Congrats!

[monkeyfish]

Hello from Wellington NZ,

We are up for it. Wellington colours are black and gold - check out the St Kilda jersey from 1919-1922. Bring that back for the ANZAC game and we will back St Kilda.

We have a good stadium and a good city. Bring it.

[desertsaint]

I'll be on my honeymoon around then. But NZ just went to the top of the list.

If you had promised your fiancée Paris then you're in trouble.
If you'd promised Colac then she'll love you! (she might even let you watch the footy...from bed in your hotel room!)

[fingers]

Haven't read the whole thread so sorry if this was already mentioned - but it is likely that there will be a Defence forces curtain raiser as well. Army v Navy or something of the like. Maybe even Australian Defence forces v New Zealand under 21's. 2015 will also see the defence forces play a curtain raiser on Anzac day. AFL considering pushing the start time to twilight to allow the game to happen and respect the post midday start.

[mordi]

Seems like this continues to build momentum......
http://www.smh.com.au/afl/afl-news/watt ... 1za34.html

Love this quote from Scott Watters on the issue of travel;
Watters said he was not fazed with the extra travel that would be involved in an already tightly-packed home-and-away schedule.
''I played most of my footy at West Coast where I travelled every second week, and we delivered some fantastic results on the back of that,'' he said of his part in the successful Eagles teams of the early 1990s.
''I'm not intimidated or scared of travelling. International teams in international competitions don't see travelling as a negative.''

BTW - we have a natural team to link up with in NZ http://www.mtroskillsaintsfc.co.nz/default.cfm

[saintbrat]

http://www.worldfootynews.com/article.p ... 5225230762

The period 1998 to 2000 showed that if successful AFL matches are played in New Zealand and the game is covered well on free-to-air television and pay television, football can achieve a good public profile and interest in football in New Zealand will increase.

If the AFL were to decide to turn greater attention to New Zealand it could be confident that if the game receives good coverage on free-to-air and pay television, and regular (not necessarily every year) successful AFL matches are played, that interest in the sport amongst the population at large would increase steadily, and if that were maintained for 20 years or so a significant following of the AFL, and the game, would be established in New Zealand.

Development programs are happening, however, as was done in New South Wales and Queensland, public awareness and following of the AFL, the “tip of the iceberg”, can be built more quickly than the multi generational job of constructing the iceberg below the waterline.

St Kilda played in the first AFL exhibition match in New Zealand in 1991; it would be great to see the Saints back playing in New Zealand in the first AFL Premiership match outside Australia.

[saintbrat]

http://www.theage.com.au/afl/afl-news/s ... 24s3h.html

update-