Dear Australia, Show 'em What You Got
Australia's passion for football has been on an exponential rise, and now they have the opportunity to nurture the next Super Bowl champions.
Lynn Spence was on the beaches of Melbourne when a childhood memory unlocked, all because of a flying ball.
Lynn played beach volleyball in Australia after leaving his home in Denver, Colorado, but in the middle of a match he saw a football, over 8,700 miles from home he saw an opportunity to pursue the sport he grew up loving in a country where he did not know it existed.
Having given up the sport to pursue baseball at college, he did not know if he’d be able to play the sport again. But seeing that football being thrown across the beach of Melbourne gave him hope and joy as he said: “When I saw it, I was like, oh my god, I can go back and be a kid again!”
Australia has a growing market for football, but the opportunities are still limited and without much support from the government, most of the work to advance the sport had to come from people like Lynn who loved the sport enough to help expand its reach.
Lynn is now the President of Gridiron Victoria, a football league a part of the American Football Australia (AFA) association, as well as the founder of the Australia USA College Pathway (AUCP).
Lynn Spence playing Beach Volleyball in Australia. (Photo Credit: Lynn Spence)
Lynn Spence playing Beach Volleyball in Australia. (Photo Credit: Lynn Spence)
The country’s interest in the sport has skyrocketed and has started drawing people of all backgrounds to get involved.
Glenn Parke is the President of the Western Crusaders, one of the most successful teams in Australia, and has been involved and interested in the sport since the 1980 Super Bowl.
Melbourne is a special place, it is the one city in the world where anyone can play every kind of football that exists, and the best part about that is the diversity it brings to the region, especially as some sports seem to have ethnic ownership.
Glenn said: “No sport in the world can carry diversity better than football.
“At one stage, we had 48 different nationalities in our team, The Western Crusaders.”
“The only sport that no ethnic group owns is gridiron. It’s the sport where you can have a 5'4 guy run the ball that's Vietnamese playing with a 6'8 Polynesian.”
The largest impact the growth of Gridiron has had has been with the Polynesian community. Glenn said: “What's happened over time is the Polynesian community is drifting, slowly but surely, towards gridiron.
“ The ultimate dream and the ultimate level is to play in the NFL, Australian Football League and National Rugby League players look up to the NFL as the ultimate level.
“[Valentine Holmes and Jarryd Hayne] were top performing rugby league players that quit in the middle of their best years of their career to try and make it as running backs in the NFL.”
There has not been much success for those in Australia to pursue a career in the NFL, especially with two of the best rugby league players not being able to breakthrough. But, players like Jordan Mailata and Daniel Faalele have inspired hope for those back home that the NFL is an obtainable dream.
There are pathways for those in Australia to pursue. ProKick Australia has been the biggest success in recruiting punters for the NFL, AUCP is another opportunity people can seek to achieve their dreams, as well as going to college and playing football.
Lynn said: “And we’ve really been vocal about getting a pathway in place for these kids. Not just kickers, but for all positions.
“We are also in schools; we're in elementary schools and high schools with the NFL branding and a flag football program.
“ We have a flag football team from an elementary school that played at the Pro Bowl. When it entered the school, they grabbed it with both hands and they've done a great job.
“Now flag football runs under the full contact banner. Since we support them, we're starting to pull them more in line with us, and look to use them as a pathway to full contact football, and then on into college programs, and then possibly the NFL.”
The NFL is expanding their International Series to Australia and it can be the best way to draw in more interest for the sport, as well as belief that Australians can make it to the NFL.
Michael Carayannis, a Daily Telegraph Sports Journalist, said: “The appreciation and understanding of the NFL is at an all-time high.
“The rise of fantasy football has also led to people being captivated by the NFL more than ever before. If a regular season fixture was brought here then there is no doubt it will sell-out.”
Glenn believes that the 2026 NFL game that will be hosted at Melbourne Cricket Ground would sell-out its 100,000 seats.
A photo of the u18 Vicbowl champions, the Croydon Rangers. (Photo Credit: Barendphotos.com/@americanfootballvictoria/Instagram)
A photo of the u18 Vicbowl champions, the Croydon Rangers. (Photo Credit: Barendphotos.com/@americanfootballvictoria/Instagram)
In addition to hosting a regular season game in Australia, the NFL opened their Asia-Pacific academy in the City of Gold Coast in September 2024, the second academy joining the Europe-Africa academy based in the UK.
Lachlan McKellar is the Senior Economic Attraction Officer for the City of Gold Coast, and the impact of the academy will not only help players looking to pursue the sport, but the economic benefit of the region as well.
Lachlan said: “The establishment of the NFL Academy on the Gold Coast will both directly and indirectly support economic growth within the City. The academy itself will attract additional talent and create job opportunities, along with associated supply chain benefits to Gold Coast businesses through capital expenditure.
“However, more broadly, the presence of the NFL as an organization on the Gold Coast, will likely increase international interest in the city as a destination for sports, business, tourism and education, and this in-turn will lead to increased commercial opportunities.”
One thing the NFL needs to do to truly help inspire the growth in Australia is to interact with the Gridiron league when they are in Australia.
Glenn said: “The NFL will engage with the AFL. But, the NFL would miss the boat and not necessarily engage with the local gridiron community.”
In the meantime, Glenn, one of the few people who have had a hand in developing the sport in his home country for the past 30+ years, knows that the next step Australia needs to do is create a national Gridiron competition.
He said: “We need to develop a national competition. We need to get away from city based competitions. Each city has three to four really well run, really well coached, sustainable football teams and if we want to get to the next level, we have to evolve into a national competition.”
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