Following the Footy From Far Away

Article
03/24/2008

Long time readers of this blog would know that I am am a passionate Australian Football (AFL) fan, and one-eyed St Kilda Supporter!!

This past weekend saw the start of the 2008 season, so I feel it's appropriate to share my learnings of how to follow the game from the other side of the world.

First off, television coverage.

I have DirecTV and on channel 615 ( for an extra $15 a month), there is Setanta Sports

Formerly known as the Victorian Football League, and commonly known as the AFL, it is the Australian national competition in the sport of Australian Rules Football. The AFL is the most popular professional sporting league in Australia. These matches are followed by a series of final matches that culminate in the two best teams playing for the premiership in the AFL Grand Final , the best attended domestic club championship event in the world .

Setanta Sports will be broadcasting at least two LIVE events each week, along with at least one highlight show.

So, I got to watch my game this weekend. w00t

Next, is online coverage. I split this into two buckets : Web & Mobile Web.

Web

All the usual suspects - a mixture of traditional media and fans

Mobile Web

It's a rather sad tale to tell

I open up https://wap.afl.com.au and get

wapafl

Now, I find it an amusing error result. At the top I see "Free to Browse" and in the middle I'm told to call Telstra. When I do contact Telstra, I am told that this is only available to customers of their network. I try to explain that I am no longer based in Australia.

Anyways, at the bottom of the page is a link to BigPond Sport.

wapafl2