Golden Gordon

Australia here. Will be interesting how Oceania pans out, as well as large chunks of Asia and most of Africa, given how much colonising went on courtesy of Europe, especially Britain and their Empire. Happy to give any perspective on Australian/New Zealand colonial history if required, both sociologically and for football. In our reality football of all codes in Australia is a messy maze.

Yeah, gotta agree Sydney United haven't covered themselves in glory the past few years. My local team is Sutherland Sharks and I did support Wollongong in the old NSL. Football does have a long history here, it's always been quite strong in Wollongong and Newcastle with some clubs from the 1880s still about. Both cities with strong coal mining roots.

Great minds think alike. I've done similar databases for myself since around FM13 based on the same premise, that in Melbourne it was Association Football that was taken up as the football played rather than Wills and his associates coming up with their own rules, Australian Rules football. Though to be fair, it really should be known as, and was for a length of time, as Victorian Rules. Being from Sydney, Aussie rules was known in my childhood as that odd game they play down south. It is also interesting to note that Wills attended Rugby school in England and thought that the tackling in Rugby wouldn't suit the harder grounds in Melbourne, in part why he sought to come up with something different. To give some context for those who aren't Australian, we are unique, I think, in that we have 4 professional football codes, Assoc football, Australia rules football, Rugby League and Rugby Union. Despite its name Australian rules is not really a national code of football as in NSW and Qld it is Rugby League that is the dominant code. Aussie rules is dominant in Vic, Tas, SA, WA and NT. Assoc football is probably more evenly spread across all States and Territories but it isn't the dominant code in any of them. As with Rugby League, Rugby Union is primarily NSW and Qld based, but at club level is rather minor. Rugby League came about in 1908 for the same reasons as it did in England in 1895 and quickly supplanted Rugby Union as the dominant code in NSW and Qld . For the reasons above I maintain that it is cricket that it our national sport. However it was Assoc football that was the first code to have a national competition with the National Soccer League starting in 1977. The current AFL and NRL competitions for Aussie rules and Rugby League, grew from the Melbourne based VFL and Sydney based NSWRL competitions respectively, expansion taking place from the 1980s as TV revenue started to flood the codes. If you look at the current comps and wonder why there is a preponderance of Melbourne/Sydney clubs in each, this is why. If not for the influx of European migration after WWII and those people wanting to play football and forming their own clubs, I'm not sure the code would be where it is at today. It won't happen in my lifetime but I do hope that one day it does become the pre eminent code in Australia. The success of the Womens World Cup held here and in NZ last winter shows that people do want to watch the game. The matches were well attended and TV ratings were astronomical, especially for the Matildas. it's just a matter of translating that to club football. Back on topic, an excellent database which I can't wait to get stuck into. Great work, mate.

Thanks so much for this fantastic addition to the community.

With so many avenues this could end up taking, I'm sure there will be plenty of the unexpected, or at least your timeline taking a different turn from others would think. If Europe gets rearranged through differing events occurring during the 1800s then that could flow on to alter the empire building that happened during the 19th century. All very interesting. I am a sucker for alternate histories. By the way, it's also been an education as I was very sketchy about the colonisation of South and Central America and this project has given me some background and reason to explore that further.

This is getting increasingly more interesting. I'm looking forward to how Europe pans out and what happens re the two world wars. Are there different trigger points at different times to our time line? Then there are the different alliances and pacts and the geopolitical ramifications of that. Add in how different the Americas are, and a much reduced USA, this will also have its effect. What follows WW1 will effect events leading to WW2, and it will presumably have an impact on Africa, Asia, Australia and the Pacific. Can't wait to see where and when the divergences occur and where they lead. Endless possibilities.

I'm in Australia and have also messed around with alternate history scenarios. I'd be happy to help out if I can.

Looking forward to what the map looks like, though I have a general idea from your well constructed histories. I really do like these alternate histories scenarios where a few key events in history take a different turn. I too have dabbled with the idea of a different looking North and Central America but it never got past the basic planning stage, let alone database editing, of which my skills are modest. Wonderful that you have found a way for indigenous nations to be formed, I couldn't figure out a possible way to make it plausibly happen, though it would have revolved around Britain winning the Revolutionary war, given France never threw their lot in with the Colonials, and therefore the westward expansion past the Appalachians by the US never occurs. Part of my problem is procrastination and forever fiddling and changing things rather than settling on an outcome and running with that. Afterall there are so many possibilities. As with your Iron Curtain work, another epic idea taking shape. I dips me lid to yer.