The Australian Football League "is facing legal action from a Melbourne entrepreneur who claims he took the AFL X concept to the league last year and filmed a trial of the modified game he titled 'All-Star Football League,'" according to Caroline Wilson of the THE AGE. The man, who has worked on the project for almost three years, "also presented the modified version of the AFL game to a number of network executives, including Channel Seven boss Lewis Martin, subsequently taking the concept to the league's game and market development boss, Simon Lethlean." He presented the 30-page document to Lethlean alongside then Foxtel Exec Dir Ben Buckley "before holding further talks with other league officials who later ceased responding to his emails." Refusing to comment and asking not be named on legal advice, the man "is understood to be seeking advice from a senior counsel having retained the 2014 filmed trial and all the documents he presented to the AFL." Lethlean, who confirmed his team had been awarded a A$10,000 ($7,640) prize put forward by McLachlan "as an incentive for the best concept resulting from a number of internal AFL think-tanks, played down the similarities between the two projects." A third party who worked on the project said that the All-Star Football League concept "had a long list of similarities to the so-called AFL X, including the soccer pitch, the fielding of retired AFL stars, tackling -- not allowed in AFL 9s -- and the reduced number of players on the field" (THE AGE, 9/8).
SOCCER OFFICIALS REACT: In Melbourne, Michael Lynch wrote the AFL "might have a fantasy about using soccer pitches to pioneer a new short form of the oval ball game," but unless millions of dollars are spent on "developing new soccer infrastructure the chances of footy's governing body getting its new concept up and running are limited, according to soccer officials." Soccer officials on Thursday "reacted with surprise to reports about the AFL concept, suggesting there simply were not enough pitches and grounds in the country to sustain existing demand from burgeoning soccer clubs, never mind footy teams hoping to muscle in on the terrain." FFA Community & Development Department Head Emma Highwood said, "The battle for facilities is already pretty intense around the country at grass-roots level between existing codes. Our clubs all have leases on grounds, but oversubscription and shortages are the biggest issue we face. There are not enough pitches and training and playing grounds to cope with the demand that soccer has already" (THE AGE, 9/8).
