As a national sport, the AFL is always looking to expand into other countries and showcase its unique style of play to an untapped audience of hungry sports fans. London is usually the hotspot for these games, with a total of 15 pre-season or postseason matches being played in the United Kingdom.
Some games leave you scratching your head as to why they would match up certain teams to play there; I'm looking at you, London, 2005, Fremantle against West Coast.
With the next stop on the AFL's travel itinerary hoping to be India, I decided to have a look at some of the global games across the AFL's history and rank them.
I'll be basing the ranking on how exciting and close the games were, where they were played and the spectacle they brought.
3Toronto, Canada, 1988 – Varsity Stadium
Probably the only game on the list that had an actual prize up for grabs in the Foster's Cup. The cup was to be given to the pre-season minor premiers through a knock-out style tournament held overseas.
The game was played with 15 footballers on each side, with Collingwood drawing first blood and opening up a 33-point lead. Dermott Brereton returned to the game and led a Hawks comeback in the third quarter after going out earlier with a blow to the head.
Goals to Paul Hawke and Craig Starcevich helped get the Pies over the line in the end, with man of the match going to Collingwood's Peter Daicos and Hawthorn's John Platten.
