AFL launches quick link to IC news

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AFL launches quick link to IC news

Authored by: Sean Finlayson
on Friday, February 29 2008 @ 12:51 pm ACDT

Don't get me started.

Brett, how can you possibly excited about this, and how does it even warrant an article ?

Let me remind you that this is a WORLD event.

For a start what is the deal with using a .com.au domain name FFS ??? For an event participated in by totally non Australians, it seems a pretty stupid thing to do to me. The AFL has obviously not discovered top level domains.

Brett, believe it or not acronyms in domain names are actually even harder to remember - especially if you don't know what it stands for. Was this chosen by a two year old or someone addicted to texting ? Only International Footy supporters refer to the event as IC. To anyone else, it sounds like an brand of ice block. And if you are an expert on the matter, let me ask why didn't you name this website wfn08.com.au ??? Because it is stupid and yep, I'm certain that the AFL put their best people onto this.

The thing has Kevin07 written all over it, which makes it look like it was picked by rank amateurs. The problem is that was a well promoted brand - the IC brand has - zero - promotion. And speaking of zeros ... is that a zero or the letter O - I better type it in twice just to make sure .... Is it really that difficult to spell out the full year ? Is this a once off event for 2008 or something that they want to run again. I mean the Rugby World Cup didn't even worry about putting the year in when they registered www.rugbyworldcup.com and they use it for each and every world cup regardless of the year .... it makes sense not to have to register a new domain each time.

So what is wrong with www.internationalcup.com ? www.aflworldcup.com ? or even www.aflinternationalcup.com. I mean even if it is already registered (which not all of them are), a) why didn't the AFL already register it and b) surely it is worth the scalping fee for a tournament of this kind.

The chosen domain has absolutely no keywords in it whatsoever. It is not going to help one iota with search engines, especially being an Australian domain name. Unless of course you intend on Googling "Integrated Circuits" or "Interstital Cystitis".

In any case, as stupid as the domain choice is, it is not the real issue. The fact is that a proper website should have been built for the International Cup. In fact, I'd have been quite happy to have built it for them - no charge.

Which brings me to question just how serious is the AFL about growing the game abroad ?

Better "sites" have been built by amateur leagues in far flung places where our sport isn't even popular.

A case in point, look at how far ahead Football Federation Australia acquired WestSydneyFC.com as an example of just how far sighted soccer is with regard to its web marketing. They haven't even announced a team, but they have thought it through and reserved the domain name for future use. Light years ahead of the AFL. To contrast, aflinternational.com, a logical choice for online brand if the league is serious about worldwide governance, was recently acquired by a freight logistics company ! Based on this, the AFL should be registering www.afleurope.com and www.aflasia.com, not waiting for it to happen. I mean how much is $20 a year in the scheme of things ? Demetriou would spend more than that in a day just on cafe latte.

Anyway, the AFL can't even manage its own site, which has been consistently criticized by its clubs and fans. If they can't do that then they shouldn't be trusted with running the website for such an important even for our code.

Write a proper article when the AFL decides to actually get their act together. As you can see I could write a better one about what they are not doing.

AFL launches quick link to IC news

Authored by: Brett Northey
on Friday, February 29 2008 @ 06:03 pm ACDT

Well at least you're passionate Sean. But if you actually read the article you'd know I never said I was getting excited about the domain, so please don't pad out your argument with invention. But I do happen to think it's another small step in developing an internet presence for the tournament. Was it worth reporting? I'll let the readers decide that, but personally if I'm away from my bookmarks I'll certainly want to type it in rather than find it another way.

> let me ask why didn't you name this website wfn08.com.au

I'll assume you don't really need that explained. But yes, you'll obviously be disheartened to know we would have registered wfn.com as well if it wasn't already taken - much easier for people to type in quickly. And I was asked by the AFL for my opinion on whether to go for a short or long web address, and I favoured the shorter one. Whether that influenced the final decision I don't know, but you haven't persuaded me it was a bad choice. Your point about .au is neither here nor there, it is after all Australian Football and the tournament is in Australia, but yes, personally I reckon ic08.com would be better. And in case you didn't notice, kevin07 was a pretty successful campaign - they did win government. Not that I think it would have had any bearing on the decision for this address at all - it's just obvious for a tournament held in 2008.

As for the AFL's International Cup news site in general, as I've said, it's a work in progress (but not a bad start in my opinion). I don't think we'll know how good or bad it is until closer to the time. But I don't think it will really matter to some, there's always going to be a hardcore group who will hate anything they do.

Regarding registering domains like afleurope.com, I agree with you, they probably should.

---
Brett Northey - Co-founder and Chief Editor of WFN

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