In war, the truth is the first casualty. The debate about a new AFL side in West Sydney has raised some interesting discussion, debate and media coverage. Interesting is being ‘polite’.
Outright lies by a NRL co-owning News Ltd appears more the truth.
It’s easy to illustrate.
I will do so, because, sadly, these un-truths continue to be trotted out.
On Monday, 21 March, 2005, then premier Bob Carr announced a $20 million dollar grant for major new sporting facilities.
It was announced that the State Govt would provide $15 million of this towards the Blacktown Olympic Park, along with the AFL indicating it would commit $2.5 million.
The other $5 million is to be directed to development of soccer fields between Rooty Hill Road South and the Western Sydney Orbital, to be home to the Blacktown and District Soccer Football Association.
A key comment: the $20 million for sports facilities is in addition to the $45 million already earmarked for the development of the Western Sydney Parklands over the next ten years.
How then has this been reported by News Ltd? Fast forward three years, and we get on July 17, 2008 this headline by Political Reporter Joe Hildebrand:“Blacktown Council uses almost all sports funds for AFL oval.”
It is just poor reporting. The first few lines make this obvious:
“Blacktown Council has siphoned almost all of a $20 million taxpayer fund for sports facilities across the area into its new AFL stadium, sparking a war with the State Government. Mayor Leo Kelly confirmed that $15 million of the fund would go towards the Rooty Hill oval, which has a 10,000 person capacity and will pave the way for a second Sydney AFL team. The remaining $5 million is to go towards new soccer facilities.”
Between May 2005 and July 2008, at what point did the Daily Telegraph not comprehend that the $20 million grant was specifically allocated for the projects? Why the shock and horror three years on for a project that was publicly announced and detailed?
The money was never siphoned. Three years they’ve had to get it right. And they couldn’t.
It should be noted that Blacktown Council committed $6.75 million to the project, and the AFL and Cricket NSW both contributed $2.875 million.
Remember, the AFL was initially reported to be looking at $2.5 million.
Recommend this story.
- Explore:
- AFL, News Ltd, Western Sydney AFL
May 9th 2009 @ 5:52pm
tifosi said | May 9th 2009 @ 5:52pm | Report comment
Dave, did you know SBS are showing the ashes this year?
And what other sports could they show?
Besides in china, vietnam, malaysia, korea and south africa football is a very popular sport.
Even the Indians are starting to follow football in much larger numbers.
Only the phillipines which follows basketball nz with rugby and sri lanka with cricket are the countries with little football popularity.
May 9th 2009 @ 7:46pm
Mick said | May 9th 2009 @ 7:46pm | Report comment
1 of the Indian blokes was saying they get over 105,000 at some football matches in India.
Do not know if it is bs or not
May 9th 2009 @ 9:07pm
Midfielder said | May 9th 2009 @ 9:07pm | Report comment
Mick
It is true … never reported in Aus … but the again it can’t have happened could it otherwise the media would have reported it
May 9th 2009 @ 9:24pm
Anand Antony said | May 9th 2009 @ 9:24pm | Report comment
A bit of reality check on football (soccer) in India. The sport has decent spectator support only in few states – West Bengal, Kerala, Goa and few north eastern states. Apart from Bengal where it is indeed a major sport and Kerala all other states are tiny. In Bengal (same as in Bangladesh) soccer was the most dominant sport 30 years ago. Now Cricket is much bigger even there. It is possible that the Indimonths ago an bloke was telling the truth albeit with an exaggeration – it could have happened in Calcutta (Kolkkotta) in West Bengal. But the reality is that overall in India soccer is a very minor sport. Also it has gone backwards in its strongholds or to put it better cricket has become strong in those pockets as well. The reality now is that total revenue in Cricket is much bigger than all other sports combined (including Tennis, Hockey which is still the official “national game”, Soccer). The total dominance of Cricket is seen to be belived. It is the biggest sopectator sport by a mile and it is the largest participation sport by a mile. Some quarters even suggest that there should be government intervention to protect other sports.
May 9th 2009 @ 10:45pm
John Ryan said | May 9th 2009 @ 10:45pm | Report comment
/Dear zach buy a SMH turn to the sports pages and look hey presto there are articles about AFL,or if your in Melbourne go online type SMH and click sports hey presto there,s generally about 3 to 4 articles plus a link to Real Footy.
So I,m not sure where you come up with that one,or read Wilson in the Telegraph she enjoys kissing the AFL backside as welli
May 9th 2009 @ 11:01pm
Anand Antony said | May 9th 2009 @ 11:01pm | Report comment
BigAl, I can’t agree more with you. SBS is the real villain in biased reporting by the points mentioned in your comment. Why? They can afford to do so because of the government funding. Have you ever found an article similar to the crap “Can you smell the fear?” by Simon Hill. If SBS is really about the tastes of various ethnic communities in Australia then they should report more RL matches in their news bulletin rathen than theEnglish Soccer.
May 9th 2009 @ 11:02pm
JF said | May 9th 2009 @ 11:02pm | Report comment
AA – football not the most popular sport in India? Surely not, the biased Indian media must have it in for the sport. A lack of fair media coverage must be the reason for the sport’s minor status.
May 9th 2009 @ 11:09pm
Midfielder said | May 9th 2009 @ 11:09pm | Report comment
JF
It actually a very interesting study of culture .. it is not media bias at all… Cricket is years ahead of anything else as we all know. But cricket is played backed and watched by the upper / middle class they fund it and as AA has said above cricket is becoming more powerful in India… Football is played in the main by the poor and the very poor so even in India it does not get much media it is argued because of those who play it… A friend of mine who comes from India and a mad cricket fan was telling me this one afternoon at a BBQ
May 9th 2009 @ 11:25pm
Anand Antony said | May 9th 2009 @ 11:25pm | Report comment
JF, my comments are not based on media coverage. I am of Indian origin, has travelled and observed what people do there and talked to Indians of various cultural backgrounds(culturally India is not a single entity rather a mixture of different cultures underpinned mainly by different distinct languages). For records, I do not follow cricket and honestly don’t know how people can follow this game while admitting that there is some skill involved. Another thing to remember is Cricket matches may not produce big crowd numbers India. However the matches are watched all over the place on Television – by young and old. It is the game that is discussed in work places, schools or you nmae it. Another interesting fact is that “code war” do not exist there between football and rugby there. Rugby union is now getting some presence in some urban centres even though most Indians in Australia are unaware of this and it is interesting to note that there is no antagonism between the two sports. In fact there is a Football/Rugby academy in Pune and if you go to their website they encourage players to try both games. Check this site http://www.kfandra.com/abouttheacademy.htm
May 9th 2009 @ 11:42pm
JF said | May 9th 2009 @ 11:42pm | Report comment
AA, Midfielder,
I realise that cricket is by far the most popular sport in India and an integral part of society, I was just having a dig at the football folk on this site that believe the only reason football cannot be the no.1 sport in a country must be due to unfair media treatment. Yes, I was unaware of any rugby existinging in India, thanks for the link.