The Greatest Season That Was Presents - Bound For Glory, the story of VFL Park, the Batmobile and the 1991 Grand Final.

2020 will see the AFL Grand Final played away from the MCG for only the second time since World War II. To mark the last time that happened, The Greatest Season That Was Presents…. Bound For Glory

Ross Oakley was Ross the Boss in 1991, running the AFL. We chat to him about the 30 year saga of the league’s own ground that ended with a VFL Park Grand Final, the first truly national Grand Final played, and a little matter of Angry Anderson and a batmobile. (Who would be silly enough to buy that?)

You can hear Ross's first appearance on TGSTW 93 in Episode 17.

The Greatest Season That Was Presents is part of The Bad Producer Podcast Network. 

Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/TGSTW

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Through this series we’ve looked at how Australian Rules has found its way into the lives of Americans in the most unlikely circumstances. But for the final episode we’re going to look at things in reverse. A time when US sport found something they liked about Australian Rules and turned it into an asset.

Darren Bennett was a high quality full forward in the VFL/AFL whose trademark  was his booming right foot kick for goal. But when injuries curtailed his career at Melbourne Football Club, he was expected to fade off into the distance.  Nobody expected him to have a second life in professional sport.

That this second life would eclipse his aussie rules career and make him a legend in America’s favourite sport makes it one of the most unlikely sporting success stories on either side of the Pacific. His legacy paved the way for many Australians in the US.

AFL and NFL star Darren Bennett joins us all the way from Tulsa, Oklahoma  on TGSTW Presents US Revolution

The Greatest Season That Was Presents is part of the Bad Producer Podcast Network and is produced by Jay Mueller. 

Edited by Dave Collins. 

Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/TGSTW

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

US Revolution features Mason Cox, Shannon Gill and American broadcaster Ed Wyatt in an exploration of Australian Rules Football's US connections. The 8-part series features additional interviews with Paul Roos, Mason Cox, Jason Holmes, ESPN's Bob Ley and former VFL / AFL star John Ironmonger.  

Since the resumption of the AFL season the interest in Australian football from the US has continued , with now Fox Sports and ESPN both carrying matches in the USA. But  the idea of how to make the AFL an ongoing success beyond the spike of interest during COVID-19 is a challenging one.

In a previous episode of US Revolution we spoke to Bob Ley – an ESPN original who was there in the heady days of the early 80s when Australian rules had a prime spot in the schedule because of the lack of rights to the major US sports.

BY the 90s ESPN had fallen out of love with the sport as it bounced around irregular scheduling on the network. For expats and US converts it hit rock bottom when the broadcast of a Grand Final was delayed by a baseball game.

One of our own, Ed Wyatt, and his Australian sports television producing wife Michelle were two of those who thought the game deserved better in the 90s. Michelle was producing for Fox Sports in the US and decided it was time Australian football was given a proper push.

On TGSTW Presents US REV - we talk to Michelle, and Ed, about how they got Fox Sports to televise the AFL in the US during the 90s and the highs and lows of trying to push our game into the American TV market.

The Greatest Season That Was is produced by Jay Mueller and is part of the Bad Producer Podcast Network. 

Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/TGSTW

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Mason Cox and Jason Holmes are unbelievable recent stories in AFL history, elite athletes from one part of the world being hand-picked without any knowledge of the game and transformed into senior AFL players over a period of time within a full-time professional set-up.

But Danielle Marshall is a story perhaps even more unlikely, an American athlete who stumbled across the sport on TV, became a fan and then longed for a chance to play it.  

Then when she finally found a way to play the Australian game in the USA year later, her progression was so quick that within 19 months she had become the first player to be directly recruited from the USAFL to AFLW, perhaps the the first time a player in an Australian football league based overseas has progressed to the highest level in Australia.

Now a Western Bulldogs player who has just had a taste of her first AFLW season with a fairytale beginning, Dani Marshall joins us on TGSTW US Revolution to talk about her footy journey. 

US Revolution features Mason Cox, Shannon Gill and American broadcaster Ed Wyatt in an exploration of Australian Rules Football's US connections. The 8-part series features additional interviews with Paul Roos, Mason Cox, Jason Holmes, ESPN's Bob Ley and former VFL / AFL star John Ironmonger.  

The Greatest Season That Was is produced by Jay Mueller and is part of the Bad Producer Podcast Network. 

Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/TGSTW

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

US Revolution features Mason Cox, Shannon Gill and American broadcaster Ed Wyatt in an exploration of Australian Rules Football's US connections. The 8-part series features additional interviews with Paul Roos, Mason Cox, Jason Holmes and Dani Marshall. 

The Greatest Season That Was is produced by Jay Mueller and is part of the Bad Producer Podcast Network. 

Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/TGSTW

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

US Revolution features Mason Cox, Shannon Gill and American broadcaster Ed Wyatt in an exploration of Australian Rules Football's US connections. The 8-part series features additional interviews with Paul Roos, Mason Cox, Jason Holmes and John Ironmonger. 

The Greatest Season That Was is produced by Jay Mueller and is part of the Bad Producer Podcast Network. 

Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/TGSTW

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

At the end of our 1999 World Cup series last year, we promised a season finale that would go revisit one game, with a series of voices from those who were there that day. And here it is. After a lot of work behind the scenes, we’re proud to bring to you this special episode about an afternoon that truly had it all – the oral history of the unforgettable semi-final between Australia and South Africa.

In addition to the radio and television commentary, you will hear from interviews we have conducted with:

·      Adam Gilchrist, Australian master blaster wicketkeeper

·      Tim Lane, commentating the finish for Test Match Special

·      Tom Moody, Australia’s veteran all-rounder

·      Steve Elworthy, South Africa’s opening bowler

·      Simon Mann, who called the finish for BBC TV

·      Lance Klusener, the mighty South African all-rounder

·      Damien Fleming, the man who sent down the unforgettable 50th over.

A special thank you to Dave Collins for piecing that all together in editing – a mighty task, beautifully done.

The Greatest Season That Was is produced by Jay Mueller and is part of the Bad Producer Podcast Network. 

Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/TGSTW

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

When ESPN started on US television it had a studio, a name, and not much else. It also had Bob Ley. Bob and his ESPN colleagues spent hours talking about obscure sports from around the world. Australian Rules Football was one of the most obscure and developed a cult following among early ESPN subscribers. 

Bob Ley joins The Greatest Season That Was Presents...US Revolution. 

US Revolution features Mason Cox, Shannon Gill and American broadcaster Ed Wyatt in an exploration of Australian Rules Football's US connections. The 8-part series features additional interviews with Paul Roos, Mason Cox, Jason Holmes and John Ironmonger. 

The Greatest Season That Was is produced by Jay Mueller and is part of the Bad Producer Podcast Network. 

Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/TGSTW

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Paul Roos is a legend of modern Australian Rules. 

On the field he was all class, 356 games for Fitzroy and Sydney, in the 80s he ushered in a new style of attacking play from defence and became on one of the league’s best players through his 17 season career that spanned from 1982-1997.

He was named in the All-Australian team no less than 7 times, and was inducted into the AFL Hall of Fame as a player in 2005. 

But that wasn’t the end of footy for Roosy. He moved into assistant coaching at Sydney before taking on the head coach role in 2002, turning the Swans into a perennial power and breaking a 72 year drought by coaching the formerly South Melbourne and now Sydney club to a premiership in 2005. 

Finishing in 2010 he was then lured out of retirement to mastermind the rebuilding of the Melbourne Football Club taking them from the bottom of the AFL ladder, before handing over a finals ready team to his groomed successor 3 seasons later.

But what is lesser known of Roos is his effect on football in the United States. A twist of fate on an end of season trip led to the USA becoming a second home and subsequently made him perhaps the highest profile advocate for the Australia-US footy connection.

US Revolution features Mason Cox, Shannon Gill and American broadcaster Ed Wyatt in an exploration of Australian Rules Football's US connections. The 8-part series will feature additional interviews with Jason Holmes and former ESPN broadcaster Bob Ley. 

The Greatest Season That Was is produced by Jay Mueller and is part of the Bad Producer Podcast Network. 

Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/TGSTW

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A new series from the team at The Greatest Season That Was Presents..

The Greatest Season That Was Presents... US Revolution. Episode one features Collingwood FC's Mason Cox.

US Revolution features Mason, Shannon Gill and American broadcaster Ed Wyatt in an exploration of Australian Rules Football's US connections. The 8-part series will feature interviews with Paul Roos, Jason Holmes and former ESPN broadcaster Bob Ley. 

The Greatest Season That Was is produced by Jay Mueller and is part of the Bad Producer Podcast Network. 

Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/TGSTW

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.