The AFL’s first overseas premiership season game is just a stepping stone towards their long-term international dreams.
AFL deputy chief executive Gillon McLachlan says the league will take the sport wherever they can.
He said Thursday night’s Anzac Day clash between St Kilda and Sydney in Wellington was the ideal time and place to start, given Australia and New Zealand’s cultural and geographical links.
“We’re about growing our great game and taking our story to as many places as we can,” McLachlan told reporters at Wellington’s Westpac Stadium.
“Our story’s been one of national expansion over the last few years and we certainly don’t think our job’s in any way completed as we push into NSW and Queensland.
“But we’ll take any opportunity we can to take our game and give the opportunity for young children to play and for people to see and participate in our game.
“It’s an important stepping stone.”
McLachlan said a NZ-based team was a long-term dream and there were also potential opportunities to take matches elsewhere around the globe.
But their first mission is to ensure the Wellington game, tracking to attract more than 20,000 spectators, succeeds to the extent that it hooks New Zealanders beyond the initial novelty factor.
The Saints will host two games per season in Wellington from next year onwards, including an annual Anzac Day fixture.
McLachlan said the AFL would continue to put strong clubs up against the Saints in Wellington, as they had by fixturing the reigning premiers this time, to enhance the games’ drawing power.
They also wanted to find new ways to build on the shared history of Anzac Day.
“The first (game) always has that ‘Let’s go and have a look’ factor,” McLachlan said.
“But we have huge confidence that when people go and see our game live that that only whets the appetite.
“We think we can develop people’s passions and interests in our game.
“We also think we can develop the Anzac story and as we look towards the centenary in 2015 I really think that’s a great horizon to have a look at.
“I know the Wellington City Council have already got extraordinary ambitions on what they might do in a couple of years time.”
