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Gold Coast Football Club has booked its place in the AFL for 2011, provisionally at least. It’s boom time for the Coast: A-League, AFL, NRL, NBL (or whatever it’ll be called) franchises and one of Australia’s most popular motorsport festivals. Everyone’s on board, but is it a road to nowhere?
A decade ago, none of these franchises existed and the Gold Coast had no representation in a national code.
Why now the mad rush to Coolangatta airport for the leading codes’ powers that be?
Sure the Gold Coast is booming, but can it sustain all these franchises, all still in their infancy, all in a region with a questionable sporting heritage, supporter base and franchise record?
The recent Queensland election was crucial to the next step in this sporting proliferation with Anna Bligh’s victory ensuring over $60 million into the redevelopment of an AFL stadium and crucial support for the GCFC.
Interesting footnote, too, that Gold Coast United (A-League) billionaire owner, Clive Palmer, was reported to be one of the biggest financial supporters of the rival Liberal National Party, while Gold Coast Titans (NRL) officials have already publicly derided the long term sustainability of the AFL franchise.
At the GCFC announcement, AFL boss Andrew Demetriou went out of his way to avoid comparisons with the struggles of the Sydney Swans and Brisbane Bears in establishing themselves and growing their supporter base in a non-AFL state.
But the difference is going to be the financial assistance from government and code, helped by having their own stadium, according to Demetriou.
This doesn’t answer, however, how it is going to generate a significant crowd in a city that is now so overpopulated by various codes and yet under-populated at present to support these franchises.
Despite all the talk of a booming region with its economic might and being a haven for migrants from the southern ‘cold’ states, the population of the Gold Coast is still approximately one eighth of Sydney’s, over three million shy of Melbourne’s, and about half of Adelaide’s.
It is Australia’s fastest growing area, but it still has a way to go.
According to the Gold Coast City Council, the population projected for 2021 will still only be 683,568.
What’s odd here too is that the biggest contributor to the region’s economy is tourism, believed to account for one in every four jobs: whether it’s the hotels, timeshare apartments, resorts, theme parks and so on. So primarily it’s a city that sees people coming and going regularly.
The competition, therefore, from non-sporting entities such as theme parks, beaches and nightclubs is a lot more intense than, say, in Adelaide.
It isn’t in a position population wise or economically to sustain these franchises at present, hence the over-reliance on government support and the philanthropic actions of billionaires.
Seeing its growth potential, the major codes have all rushed into the Gold Coast, following each other so as not to miss out on the possible dividends.
But this is all speculative.
What if the region’s growth stagnates? What if the tourism industry dries up? And, more importantly, what if football and the AFL can’t establish enough of a supporter base to detract fans from the rugby codes?
Remember, this is Queensland!
As these franchises fight over such a small area, expect to see a real battle between the codes for supremacy.
In the space of only a few years, the Gold Coast has become one of the most densely populated sporting capitals within Australia.
Whether it can sustain that remains to be seen.