‘They love the sport’: Bendigo umpire shines light on the AFL India Championships

An Australian rules football umpire says Indians who manage to come across the sport are falling in love with it.

It comes as there’s a renewed push for an AFL demonstration game to be played in the subcontinent, ten years after it was first mooted.

Member of the Bendigo Umpires Association, Mark Snell, travelled to India twice to umpire the AFL India Championships in 2018 and 2020.

He told Tom Elliott Australian rules football represents “something completely different than what they’ve previously been involved in.”

“Even the feel of the ball, trying to bounce the ball, everything different about it appeals to them so much.”

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