I come from NSW and have supported the Sydney Swans since they formed in Sydney. Since moving to Queensland I still want to support the Swans, but the problem has been seeing the matches. Unless I get pay TV I have to be content to only watch the occasional match. I am not interested in other teams and do not sit and watch AFL all weekend.

However this year I have only been able to watch one match out of 19 and it is all because the regional TV stations are only allowed to broadcast 4 matches per week and they are to give preference to the local teams. Example, all the games that Brisbane and the Gold Coast play are broadcast every weekend and that leaves very little chance of other games being broadcast. In SA it is the Adelaide Crows and Port Adelaide that are all broadcast and in Sydney it is the Swans and Giants that get the preference.

I think that the AFL is deliberately trying to force fans to follow their local team by showing all their games and ignoring all the others. It is just pot luck if you support another team and it happens to be shown or it plays the local team.

I think it is grossly unfair that out of town supporters of AFL teams have to use pay TV while the locals get all matches broadcast on 'free to air'.

AFL does not reply to specific emails.

Nothing to do with social engineering, Henry; it's all about where the money is for TV moguls. I do understand your frustration, but I prefer to entertain myself, not watch other people doing stuff.

It seems reasonable, & rational to me for a TV station to broadcast the games that most in the broadcast area want to watch. I think the local population would have a perfect right to complain if their screens were full of teams from a thousand or more kilometres away, in which they had little interest.

Personally I would like to see all football codes receive considerably less time on news broadcasts, my interest in a bunch of Victorian teams running around a park could not be less if the game was played by ants.

I'm afraid Henry it's a case of, when in Rome, watch what the Romans watch.

I don't know about AFL Henry, but I have a son who is extraordinarily interested in another football code. He chose his mobile phone network company because they broadcast on the phone, all, or more of the games of that code, than the local TV stations. There may be one doing this for AFL.

We get rugby in SA when state of origin comps or whatever they are called are on DESPITE that fact that rugby is not played in SA.

HenryL,
Can't you lifestream NSW TV over the internet? I have with the ABC, and I assumed it could be done with the commercial stations too, though I've never had any reason to check.
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ttbn,
Those State of Origin games are Rugby League.
That's a completely different sport from Rugby.

Both Rugby and Rugby League are played in SA, though only at an amateur level.

steeetching it a bit too far the threads title NRL is my game and we too suffer
Not because of hilarious view it is social engineering but because ratings power the TV

Perhaps I did not express myself too well.

The regional TV stations put on the same games as the capital cities.

For example we, in Hervey Bay, get all the Brisbane and Gold coast games every weekend, as does Cains and yet we have nothing in common with Brisbane and Gold Coast.

By broadcasting mainly games based in each state capital on all state TV stations and very little other games they are virtually forcing people to support the teams in their state capital. Other teams get very little publicity.

It may be fair enough to Broadcast all the games played by the local state teams in the area serviced by the capital city TV stations but people outside that area should get more variety in what is shown.

I do see this as an attempt at social engineering in using publicity to get people to support only their state AFL teams.

Some of you not getting football on TV ? There's your perfect chance to look around for some culture !

HenryL, look into Telstra TV. They have a little box that feeds into
the TV set. It picks up the wifi signal from your internet modem.
You will have to check with Telstra if you are not a bigpond customer.
My wife is a netball fanatic and it is the only way she can see all Swifts games.
From memory it was $100, no monthly charge.

HenryL,

Yep, go with Telstra. You don't even have to go with Telstra TV. I've just got Telstra as my service provider for my mobile phone and that gives me access to live streamed AFL. I don't use it often and when I have the quality depends very much on where you are and the quality pf the mobile service, but at a pinch its OK.

OTOH you haven't missed much this year. With injuries and retirements its been a bad year for the Swans. Still we diehards watch every game and rejoice at the closeness of the loss. Its been a long time since that happened.

Still, its rather interesting to watch a team in rebuild mode and at least, 5 years down the track, we'll be able to remember when so-and-so, now a superstar was just a kid learning how to play in the top leagues.

Kirby yes get your point
But please know some, a few, are so far away from reality they are forever lost
Stick around w need you

Tragedies can get less air-time than Sport & that is the real Tragedy !