THREE police cars escorted the bus through the streets of the shanty town and onto the ground of the aptly named C Section oval. Hundreds of laughing, dancing kids, bussed in from neighbouring schools, greeted them with whoops of delight, chanting African songs and punching the air.

The team of under-16 Australian indigenous footballers, selected through the AFL's KickStart program which rewards not just talent but such principles as school attendance, stepped dumbstruck from their bus, mobbed like rock stars. The local kids knew not who they were, and didn't care. A three police-car escort? These guys must be important. An open-sided bus screeched music and a local teacher, Africa's Mr G, played DJ.

The ground was a lumpy patch of green among the shanties of outer Durban. Petrol had been used to burn a line in the grass for the centre square and boundary. Goats grazing on the field were herded away and kept at bay by a shepherd so the game could begin. Smoke from a small fire wafted over the ground during the first quarter. Despite the police presence, the Australian team's bus was broken into and items stolen.

The South African team is an open-age collection of those who can play and those who want to play, indeed whoever wants to play. That morning during a football clinic at Umthombo shelter for Durban street kids, one boy grasped the basic skills so quickly he was asked to play that day. He agreed. After all, his other "entertainment" option was sniffing glue.

Boots and gear were found, a meal organised. This boy who had awakened sleeping rough, who had never seen a football before and had no idea of rules or objectives was playing a game. For his country.

Football's new frontier is genuine frontierland. AFL types with an evangelising spirit see limitless potential in Africa. It might be delusionally optimistic, it might be profound foresight. They have identified the poorest communities where any level of interest, let alone investment, is rare.

"The townships are accessible because you can go into the schools, which are incredibly resource-starved, and they respond," AFL commissioner Colin Carter said. "And there has been a staggering change here. In Soweto in just two years, I could barely recognise the place which was a shanty town and now has become almost black middle-class."

South African sport has been riven by colour. Rugby union, even after winning the World Cup, is a white man's game, soccer black. Cricket has a mix but confronts a familiar battle to attract either colour. A theoretical gap, at least, seems open for a game for all to take itself to the people.

The AFL's approach has been for a local version of AusKick, called Footy Wild, to be played in impoverished communities. Local volunteers are paid a nominal 10 rand — less than $1.50 — a session to teach basic skills in communities where the breadline is 13 rand a week. Unlike other sports, they seek to return weekly and maintain their commitment.

Seven thousand people are registered to play AFL in South Africa, but it is a woolly figure. Hundreds of kids turn up for clinics and enjoy them when they are on, but do they play the game when the game leaves? These are kids without the money for food or clothing. Are they the people who will buy a football to play with when the clinics end? Are they children who can afford jumpers and boots? Without an organised team structure to observe and to participate in, can kids be expected to take their interest further? Certainly, some AFL players recently in South Africa were sceptical.

"It's a good question and one I debate myself," Carter said. "But the reality is that 80% of the country here is very poor, and the reality is some of the great athletes of the world come out of very poor environments because they are driven, whether they are Kenyan runners or American athletes out of the ghetto or Australian indigenous footballers. The next step is establishing an organised competition … getting a player or two out of here is a priority, there is no doubt about that."

Collingwood, which has succeeded in converting Martin Clarke from Gaelic football, and is seeking to do the same with rookie Kevin Dyas, is focusing effort on talent identification here. Coach Mick Malthouse, recently in South Africa on a team camp, believes it is achievable.

"There have got to be South Africans who will be able to play our game," Malthouse said. "I believe that it (will) not be not long before we see someone, or several, asked to come to Australia and given opportunities to train and build up from there."

It is likely a serious convert to the game, one capable of playing at AFL level, would need to shift to Australia at 13 or 14 and spend several years here to be draftable. Australian mining companies with significant interests in South Africa have expressed an interest to AFL officials of funding such scholarship arrangements.

Finding a player is one thing, establishing a new market and firm foothold in the country is quite another. However, it could be that for a competition to take hold here, finding and making a player could be the most important step for — despite the 7000 kids registered to play Australian football — few people know anything of the game.

Carter, who wrote the AFL's last detailed report on game development and has been a long-term advocate of the South African market, will step down from the AFL Commission next month convinced that while south-east Queensland and western Sydney are more compelling investments, the possibilities for South Africa are irresistible.

Fremantle, which has been allocated along with three other clubs a region of South Africa to develop, signed a $200,000 sponsorship with mining company Nkwe. Since playing at Centurion, the club has organised another $300,000 in sponsorships. So there appears to be money there for clubs and the AFL at a private level to part fund this move into Africa.

"The dollar goes a long way here, they have cricket ovals which are the right size and not used in winter, the kids have got nothing to do, they have an aptitude for the game and the Government and public are receptive to the game," Carter said.

Hence, AFL development, to an extent, is tied to broader economic development — bring the communities up and the game comes with it. To that extent, all investors in the country nervously await next year's presidential elections and whether Jacob Zuma, the recently elected African National Congress president who is awaiting serious criminal charges, will be successful.

The AFL increased its investment in South Africa last year to $400,000 and is likely to increase that amount again to take its offering here beyond Footy Wild and establish actual competitions. It will look to steadily stage more pre-season games here, possibly even a round-robin competition structured around the annual Imdaba mining conference.

Australian teams could query sinking more money into a speculative venture when proven, long-standing teams struggle to survive.

"We do it because we think it is a market that presents us with a unique opportunity for a relatively small investment to buy ourselves an option that could become very important to us in 10 to 20 years," AFL commissioner Sam Mostyn said.

"Any business, any industry continually seeks to find new markets. We must continue to do that without straying from our core business. We are doing that. This is about footy, people playing it and watching it.

"We know there are structural issues with the other codes in South Africa. We know we have got a product that is appealing and the skills of players in this country we think can build players for us to develop our code in an international sense."

Carter is even more convinced: "It is in no way an AFL Commission position, but I do believe it is achievable that a team is based here in 15 to 20 years' time and that there be 100,000 participants playing the game."