As I sat down to write this column at my desk in Canada, in the background two consecutive commercials went to air starring Paul Hogan. First was one selling Subaru Outback cars, with a bunch of footy players making some bone-jarring tackles to illustrate how rugged that vehicle is, followed by one for Hoges' new movie, Crocodile Dundee in Los Angeles , which opens here shortly. The point is that thanks to the likes of Paul Hogan, Russell Crowe, et al, Americans are probably more aware of Australia than at any previous time. Mick Dundee may be a fish totally out of water in LA, but Australian football is in Los Angeles, and it's thriving.
Australian football is, in fact, taking off across the United States.
As mentioned last month, Dustin Jones, of the Lehigh Valley Crocodiles in Pennsylvania, impressed Essendon when he trained there in pre-season. Jones may be one of the first Americans to try his luck in the AFL, but many Australians have travelled the other way. In 1999 Paul Roos crossed the US conducting coaching clinics, and then coached the US team against Canada. The benefit of Roos' visit was, according to American officials, immense. Then, in 2000, Roos coached the US junior team that played in the Jim Stynes Cup in Canberra.