With Chris taking on the role as honorary Australian football ambassador, it didn't take long for the village of Ilion in New York State to become a stronghold of footy culture.

'My constant advertisement of the sport conjured the interest of enough people to turn to ESPN to find out what the nutty Jersey boy was talking about.

'The next thing you'd hear in the school hallways was 'Collingwood sucks - Essendon rules', or Carlton, or Geelong, or even St Kilda!

'When I look back at our Senior Yearbook of 1987 I'm amazed that more than half the people who wrote in it made some reference to me and Aussie Rules.'

And when ESPN's coverage of the Australian game was later reduced to just a one hour weekly telecast, Chris made up for the shortfall by recording his own 'commentary box' football tapes.

'I recruited a friend to play Lou Richards while I filled Peter Landy's role on the 'Australian Rules Football Comment' tapes with our fake Australian accents.'

He even tried converting his local soccer team to Aussie Rules, organising scratch matches at the 5th Avenue Field (re-named Victoria Park) after soccer training.

'Most of the time we were just clowning around but it did cement my status as the number one Australian Rules football guy in central New York!' Chris says.

'I sometimes wonder what would have happened if organised footy was available to us back then.'

Chris says that living in the United States and following Australian football has been one of the most challenging and frustrating experiences of his life.

He took his 'Magpie act' to college at the State University of New York during what he describes as 'the Magpies greatest years' culminating in the 1990 premiership.

He even wrote a research paper in his freshman year introducing Australian Rules to American newcomers to the sport.

But when he joined the army after college, staying in touch with the game he loved became almost impossible.

Between moving around from state to state and a stint in Korea, Chris lost track of Aussie Rules for several years until re-discovering it on Fox Sports in 1997.

'I hadn't seen any televised games during that period and then a show called 'Fosters Aussie Rules' came on with Gerard Healy and Darren Bennett as hosts.

'Then I found the AFL website online and was finally able to follow the sport again.'

It got better - not long after, Chris found out about the newly-formed Australian Football Association of North America (AFANA), a virtual organisation set up by North American footy fans to promote the sport.

AFANA was a revelation to Chris, helping him fulfill several of what he describes as 'lifelong dreams'. After 14 years of kicking gridiron and rugby balls, he was able to buy and soon after, sink his boot into a new Sherrin football for the first time.

'Believe me, you couldn't get the smile off my face!' Chris says.

'I'm still trying to perfect a tight spiral on my torpedos with the Sherrin.'

It was also through AFANA that Chris learned about the new Californian league and the Orange County Bombers. Despite his misgivings about supporting a club wearing the despised Essendon colours, Chris was looking forward to following home-grown football.

On his family website (which includes pages devoted to Aussie Rules in the USA and his beloved Magpies), Chris wrote how his dream of playing a game of footy was so close, yet still far away.

'Just when I thought it couldn't get any better, I found out that not only had Australian leagues been formed but that the Orange County Bombers were based a few miles from my door.

'I just wish I was 10 years younger and 45 pounds lighter so I could give footy a shot. Still, I have no problem driving down to the local park and launching a few 60 yard torpedos followed by watching Fosters Aussie Rules and logging onto the AFL website.

'But we're all entitled to our fantasies every now and then, aren't we?'

In the end, it only took a little encouragement for Chris to join in training at Orange County. And in a couple of weeks, barring training mishaps, fantasy will become a reality when Orange County play the LA Crows in the first game of the Californian season.

'This is without doubt one of the most exciting opportunities ever thrown my way,' Chris says.

'I'm out kicking the Sherrins a few nights a week to work on my accuracy in front of goal and to burn off a few calories!'

With the growth of the Californian competition, Chris is excited about the future of footy in America and hopes he can play a part in its development.

'The foundation is in place now with leagues popping up everywhere, a great highlights show on television and wider access than ever before through the internet.

'There's no doubt the sport has a future here and with continued support from Australia, there's no telling what we dedicated footy fans here in the US are capable of achieving.'

Although the United States have pulled out of the International Football Championship in Darwin in May, a group of players and officials from the Californian league may tour Australia later this year.

If they do, Chris may get a chance to complete his footy journey - by watching his beloved Magpies in action and standing on the 50-metre line at the MCG and booting a Sherrin through the big sticks.

Visit Chris Kartanowicz's American footy site at http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Acres/1228/footy/footy1.html, the Australian Football Association of North America (AFANA) website at http://www.afana.com and the California Australian Football League (CAFL) website at http://pw1.netcom.com/~jwfred/cafl/default.htm