AFL Travel 2010

AFL season 2010 is two weeks in & we have our Offical AFL Grand Final Onseller codes. Thinking about the highlights for me as a sports traveller this year I think they will be the traditional AFL ANZAC Day clash which has competition this year from the Melbourne based NRL Game carrying the same name. The AFL MVP which is run by the AFL Players Association and is getting bigger every year with whole, “player celebrity focus &WAGS phenomena” & of course the AFL Grand Final which I can’t believe has been on sale before the AFL Premiership has even fired up. What is really adding a new dimension this year to the AFL home and away series is that the Dogs & Saints will up there but the interstate clubs with all the player & manager changes could be any where. Anyway we have put a lot of work in to season 2010 at Sportsnet Holidays and the AFL Travel Packages are out there and most importantly the boss is not winning the office footy tipping comp (which in any case would be unAustralian, please note: bosses & poms dont win office footy comps)

Spring into action

September always heralds a period of madness in the sports travel business as it means we literally spring into action and it rarely pauses until after the Australian F1 Grand Prix in late summer.

September means footy finals and we have huge numbers for the AFL Grand Final packages and NRL Grand Final packages. There are a few late nights coming up with last minute bookings as fans realize their team is going to get there and as we assemble hundreds of travel packs with grand final tickets, hotels documents and various other goodies while organizing our Sportsnet functions and speakers.

As that one day in September (or early October) passed for both codes there is no time to take a breather as hard on the heels of footy is the Philip Island Moto GP event and the Bathurst V8 races. Both events have something challenging in common for a sports travel company. They are in the country; there is limited accommodation and huge demand. We had booked out most of our top flight accommodation in and around both events months ago. No matter how hard you want to please the fans, at this time of year you are either staying up in Melbourne and transferring down to the track or looking at dorm accommodation around Bathurst for the Mount Panorama races. That all said it never seems to distract the fans from the enjoying what they really came for the sights, sounds and smell of motor sports.

AFL Grass roots footy

Kids are doing the Kevin Sheedy Footy Camp in Melbourne this week. It is based in Parkville and its kids from tackas to teens and all between. Interesting there is also a residential program at International House for country and interstate kids that seems popular.

So what has a kids Aussie Rules camp got to do with sports travel and sports tours? Well I spend allot of time online at http://www.sportsnetholidays.com trying to sell AFL travel packages to Melbourne and AFL Grand Final Packages, and when I am not doing selling AFL Grand Final ticket packages on the site I am doing it in Google. All in all it is technical and a lot of time. So it was great to see the kids out there having fun in one of the few times that I have seen that grass roots footy comes together with mainstream AFL.

There were a heap of players & coaches there helping the kids and having fun. How often does a kid get to talk to Presty form the Pies or do a ruck drill with Eddie Betts ? It is not often you see Pagan or Laidley looking relaxed but they were (according to my kids). It was bugging me, why is this so different what is the buzz that is so good around the place. I have been to allot of footy with my boys, the feel was not professional footy like AFL home and away or Port Melbourne vs. The Bullants ,and it wasn’t NAB Auskick or Fitzroy Junior Football Club vs. Brunswick or The Community Cup.

I still don’t know what it is but I think it was the real footballers (kids and a few wide eyed Dads) & the young guys running the Kevin Sheedy Footy Camp combined with the professional footballers and coaches together in a non commercial atmosphere. Everyone was having fun, no press, no sponsors, no logos, no booze, no boff heads and hangers on, just youngsters enjoying their footy and grown up youngsters now living the dream as players & coaches.