WHILE Australian-based fans have to endure a four-month break from football, ex-pats based in Dubai get to experience the game all year round.

Interest in the game in Dubai has soared since Auskick started in the United Arab Emirates in 2006/07 and teamed up with AFL Middle East two years later.

With Port Adelaide visiting late last year for the club's high temperature training camp, the interest in the game grew even further with the players running an Auskick clinic.

Residents are able to follow the AFL premiership fixture during their summer and then start their own season after the Grand Final.

Christopher Bourke, who helps coordinate the program in Dubai, says numbers have steadily grown since 2006 and have enabled the foundation of three age groups – under-8s, under-11s and under-14s.

"Just like Paul Kelly says, 'From little things big things grow'," Bourke said.

In 2012/13, there was an average of 10-15 children in the under-8s age group and this year, and there has been a rapid increase to between 40 and 50 with numbers still on the rise.

In under-11s and under-14s/16s, there are around 20 participants this year.

What started as a way for families to get together and have a kick has grown to see the program secure the use of the grounds at the Nad Al Sheba Sports Complex, an international standard facility that allows for indoor use when the weather is inclement.

This is a vast cry from when parents had to line up at the gates of Dubai's main park early on a Friday morning to secure a piece of grass for the participants to kick on.

"Auskick Dubai has moved around over the years in search of lush green footy grounds," Bourke said.

"One of the grounds we were using was about 40 minutes drive out into the desert and on a few occasions we have had games interrupted with the kids running off to look at a passing camel train."

Australia Day is commemorated with Auskick being held at a date farm, with the participants handpassing to each other around the date palms.

Auskick Dubai runs every Friday between October and March at the Nad Al Sheba Sports Complex from 8.30am.