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.
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March 31st 2009 @ 1:26pm
Redb said | March 31st 2009 @ 1:26pm | Report comment
Gold Coast licence provisionally granted today by the AFL, some i’s to dot and t’s to cross.
it will be interesting to see how the WS licence bidders attempt to build the same momentum as GC17. Two very different demographics, whole new ball game at WS and why I think at grass roots there is still a lot of work to do in western Sydney.
Redb
March 31st 2009 @ 2:59pm
oikee said | March 31st 2009 @ 2:59pm | Report comment
Either way, could be a disaster or might be a masterstroke by AFL, rusted fans might be a worry. I have seen that the bears want to come back into the NRL, the difference being is the bears have already got rusty fans. Central coast. wherever that is PIp.
March 31st 2009 @ 3:21pm
Michael C said | March 31st 2009 @ 3:21pm | Report comment
oikee -
the hope will be that people who have existing mostly Vic (old VFL) clubs will get on board the home grown side on the GC or in WS. May retain some level of ‘loyalty’ to the old VFL club, but, over a generation, the children will probably gravitate towards the new local entity.
Presumably, that’s what the HAL folk are hoping happens with the children of the Euro snobs. However, the appeal of a Man Utd and EPL will always draw away. How much that happens in the AFL would differ because the local side IS a part of that one competition rather than a world away in both geography and standard.
March 31st 2009 @ 6:25pm
Col the Bear said | March 31st 2009 @ 6:25pm | Report comment
Interesting to see what type of impact on the titans with the new GC team in the AFL..OK NRL CC Bears for the CC17…don’t get left behind..
March 31st 2009 @ 6:29pm
Col the Bear said | March 31st 2009 @ 6:29pm | Report comment
Hmm don’t think AFL is that big on the CC, even though Swans have been spending a lot of time there of late..still any pressure to hurry up the NRL to make a decision on the CC I’m all for it..and the Bears are ready to go.and have been for 10 seasons..Tassie would be a better option for the 18th team in the AFL.
March 31st 2009 @ 8:11pm
Chris said | March 31st 2009 @ 8:11pm | Report comment
A quick and dirty form of market research, to gauge the popularity of a sport in an area, is to look at how many people are watching a game of footy at the local pubs. On the Central Coast and Western Sydney they’re watching Rugby League games and a few big Rugby Union matches. AFL just doesn’t rate. Sure a pub isn’t a true representation of a population but its adult males who are the ones that predominatly go to games, they are the ones who bring the family. Kids play the sports their dads played and support. On top of that NSW sport supporters are fickle. We all support a team but it’s only a few diehards that show that support. Ask any person in NSW if they want the Swans to do well and the majority will say they do, but getting them to turn up to games, watch it on TV or buy merchandise is another matter. I recall the Swans coming to my primary school in Sydney’s Western Suburbs 20 years ago to teach us about “Aussie Rules”. They came back year after year, gave us free tickets and t-shirts but not one of us took up the game or paid to go to a game and none of my friends have become Swans members. The majority of AFL supporters in Sydney are found on the Lower North Shore and the Eastern suburbs, which is where the Swans draw their members from. It’ll be very hard to get a team up and running in Western Sydney or the Central Coast. Rugby Union has toyed with the idea of a Western Sydney team. Union isn’t that dissimilar to League and should have a strong fan/player base, but at club level Penrith struggles to fill the lower grades. That’s why the AFL is not focusing on a potentially lucrative market (NSW) where 30% of the country’s population reside; instead they are putting a second team into QLD before they try a second NSW team. I expect the AFL will put a team in Western Sydney at some stage and I hope it does well. I’ll probably support them, but it’ll be unlikely that I’ll go to a game.
April 1st 2009 @ 4:50am
Michael C said | April 1st 2009 @ 4:50am | Report comment
Chris -
adult males watching games at pubs – - I sometimes speculate that they are the ones being kicked out of home to indulge themselves,
for now though at any rate, the ‘older’ generation retain their anti AFL attitude. It’s the next generation who have been getting exposed via auskick and school programs who will have a softening of attitudes and higher interest,……and they don’t often frequent pubs along with all the deros, outcasts and non-foxtel desperados.
however, certainly there’s been footy activity up the central coast and to Newcastle (especially Newcastle) back to the 1800s. There’s a history and legacy there. And RL ain’t there (CG) other than the Knights.
It is likely for now that the Swans have been trying to shore up the CG as their promotional region, after all, that’s the region that Jarrad McVeigh came from as did Craig Bird (roughly).
April 1st 2009 @ 7:10am
Redb said | April 1st 2009 @ 7:10am | Report comment
I certainly don’t see the Central Coast of NSW as more viable than Western Sydney. I don’t see WS as viable on current timeframes.
There are huge differences between the Gold Coast and Western Sydney, the GC was always a good bet (nothing is guaranteed though) for support. It does not mean the Titans will suffer I think there are distinct fans of each code and some cross-overs and there are the bandwagon hoppers as well who will swing with the breeze.
Gold Coast will remain grass roots for awhile, the crowds will actually come from visiting Melbourne clubs and Bris Lions to get the 12-15,000 and then eventually 20-25,000 from wider GC support.
Western Sydney has bugger all grass roots, small number of AFL expats compared to the GC and thus has a lot more work to do.
Redb
April 1st 2009 @ 8:58am
Kurt said | April 1st 2009 @ 8:58am | Report comment
Redb – totally agree with you on this one. Just don’t get this Western Sydney thing. Sure the AFL should invest in grassroots development in the area, continue to play some games at Homebush etc. but as for sinking zillions into a team I just think we’re getting ahead of ourselves. This is a region that barely bothers to show up for league games, not sure how an AFL team is going to get regular crowds of 20,000 plus.
April 1st 2009 @ 9:09am
Michael C said | April 1st 2009 @ 9:09am | Report comment
re the current time frames, the amount of concessionary activity for GC17 via the drafts effectively excludes a WS18 one year out of phase with GC17.
No where in all the discussions are people talking about “OH, in 2010 or 2011 GC17 get all these concessions which WS18 will have the exact copy of the next year”
I think it seems generally accepted that the WS18 will be a little more ‘out of phase’ with GC17 than just the one year.