Should Western Sydney have an AFL club?
Roar Pro
By wilswils, 31 Mar 2009 Matthew Wilson is a Roar Pro
Western Sydney Football Club Ltd is the name settled on by the AFL for the second club to be based in New South Wales.
AFL chief executive Andrew Demetriou said the team will be formally introduced to the competition some time after the 2010 season.
But is Sydney’s West the right spot to run the AFL’s 18th licence?
Sydney Swans’ figures (memberships, TV ratings, attendances, etc.) are heading down instead of up it’s a worry to think about introducing a team in a high Rugby and football culture.
In my opinion if Andrew Demetriou wants another NSW AFL team I think the best place to put it is in the Central Coast.
The Central Coast is dying for other codes other than just football and an AFL team is just what they need. As for Western Sydney I think another A league team is perfect for the culture there.
Enjoy sports? Enjoy a bargain? All Sports Online has your favourite sporting brands at up to 70% off. Online only, premium quality sporting goods and merchandise at discounted prices. Get a deal now.
Do you have what it takes to become a sports writer? Write for the roar
AFL articles
- More rugby league players to defect to the AFL? (160)
- Mobile madness: Optus decision bad news for codes (153)
- AFL divisions are the way of the future (106)
- Foxtel’s AFL coverage is nirvana for footy fans (89)
- AFL’s most hated club turns 120 years old (78)
- Israel Folau now ready for AFL (76)
- Optus ruling actually a good thing for AFL fans (52)
- Andrew Krakouer given four weeks leave from Collingwood
- Giants inspired to prove doubters wrong (32)
- Malthouse not fazed by assistant issue
- Richo says look out for the Tigers in AFL
- AFL clubs’ leadership groups getting out of hand (15)
- Who’s to blame for the Majak Daw beat-up? (32)
- AFL Tigers need to step up, says Cotchin
- AFL clubs’ leadership groups getting out of hand (15)
- AFL divisions are the way of the future (107)
- Crows changing, but will this AFL preview change your life? (2)
- Is Heath Shaw the right leader for Collingwood? (11)
- Could a female coach succeed in the AFL? (36)
- Demons’ two captain Jacks the right leadership choice (5)
- Mobile madness: Optus decision bad news for codes (153)
- Explore:
- AFL, Western Sydney AFL, Western Sydney Football Club
Chop said | March 31st 2009 @ 8:59am | Report comment
I’m not convinced NSW wants or needs another AFL team, personally I think the AFL would be much better off doing the sums and seeing if Tassie could support a team, it is the game of choice and has no competition from League, Union or the A-League. They seem to get a good crowd each time Hawthorn play down there.
oikee said | March 31st 2009 @ 10:10am | Report comment
When you get the crowds AFL get then i dont think any expansion anywhere is a bad idea. So what if the crowds are only 15 thousand to start off, the 80 thousand plus crowds in melbourne make up for the small crowds. I seen a crowd of 6 and half thousand for a super league game the other day and they were thrilled at that.
Just expand and get on with it, with a population of 4 million in melbourne you would be worried if you did not get good crowds. Brisbane has a little over 1 million and gets 40 thousand crowds to both AFL and Rugby league. There’s room enough for all codes.
oikee said | March 31st 2009 @ 10:17am | Report comment
The only problem i would find if i was looking for a problem would be player depth. If you have 4 or 6 teams not competing well, then you might do more harm than good.
Pippinu said | March 31st 2009 @ 10:34am | Report comment
The Central Coast – where’s that??
Brett McKay said | March 31st 2009 @ 12:36pm | Report comment
Pip, it’s the corridor of coastline between the northern suburbs of Sydney and the bottom of Newcastle, by mostly, it’s not where AFL needs to look at. An AFL team in Canberra would make more sense than the Central Coast, and neither make as much sense as Tasmania.
If AFL don’t expand to Tassie, the A-League will…
Pippinu said | March 31st 2009 @ 12:50pm | Report comment
Brett
I was relaying a possible (imagined) recording of an AFL Commission meeting discussing the subject.
Michael C said | March 31st 2009 @ 1:00pm | Report comment
oikee -
the irony of your comment is the 80K crowds at the MCG don’t really make up for it at all. IN reality, a decent stadium deal for a 15-20K crowd avg at boutique 25K grounds will probably pay it’s way just nicely.
Just look at Geelong – they make more money with 23K at their home ground than they do with 60K at the MCG.
Brett McKay -
Tassie is the Afghanistan of Australian pro sports teams. It’s too spread out, between North (N-W) and South. If the vast majority of population were surrounding Hobart, then fine. It’d be like Adelaide to South Australia. It’s not.
The HAL has to be careful about being too much the domain of small regional sides. That’s what killed off the NSL apart from anything else. The scalability isn’t there.
For the AFL to look at a 2nd team in greater Sydney makes a lot of long term sense, and there’ve had enough encouragement in certain key areas to see that they either push through with it now, or, waste a fair bit of hard work, investment and actual progress.
The Swans – well, presently they’re at about 24.5K members and 7K 4 match passes out at Homebush. They’re hoping for 35K for this weeks game vs Hawthorn. It’ll be interesting to see. Remember, the overall SCG average for the Swans last year was stable (and that was with reduced capacity due to construction). And their 4 H&A matches at Homebush was their 3rd highest season avg crowd at Homebush with 1 extra game compared to any previous season. Not a bad result at all. All the doom and gloom around the Swans is a little misguided. There’s some – but, that is probably more Sydney in general than Swans specifically. They still have some kpi’s in good territory.
Grumpy Kurt said | March 31st 2009 @ 1:11pm | Report comment
Glad that someone has finally brought up the issue of AFL expansion into Western Sydney, I really feel that there haven’t been enough opportunities on The Roar to discuss this particular topic over and over and over again.
Redb said | March 31st 2009 @ 1:14pm | Report comment
MC,
I wonder what the forecast is for Saturday night in Sydney? I think the Swans losing will keep the crowd low.
Redb
Michael C said | March 31st 2009 @ 1:22pm | Report comment
Saturday Chance showers.
City: Min: 19 Max: 25
West: Min: 17 Max: 27