Don’t AFL realise that Western Sydney is not a place?

 
Steven Gibbs Roar Rookie

By Steven Gibbs, 15 Oct 2009 Steven Gibbs is a Roar Rookie

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Administrators of the AFL need to rethink the relationship between place identity and demographic markets when expanding their competition in coming years.

Unfortunately, on the evidence of the proposed Western Sydney franchise, administrators are conflating the two, creating an entity based largely on a market demographic which no actual identity to which fans can attach their allegiances.

From an economic perspective, a new team in Australia’s most populous city seems like a smart decision. Furthermore, locating the team in western Sydney makes intuitive sense, as this is where a large percentage of Sydney’s population lives.

Unfortunately, Western Sydney is not a place. It does not exist. It is a figment of the imagination of a marketing executive working somewhere in the AFL commerce section, using statistical data to calculate emerging populations in key demographic areas.

It is a manifestation of the economic imperative that dominates decisions-makers and administrators running our leading football codes. Unless these administrators understand the difference between a demographic market and place-based identity, the new Western Sydney football club will not flourish.

Take the fundamental flaw in the naming of this new team: Western Sydney.

Imagine you are an AFL fan living in Blacktown, devoted to the game you love. In Blacktown, you already have a local team to follow, the Sydney Swans, because Blacktown is, believe it or not, part of Sydney.

Calling the new team Western Sydney implies that somehow the Sydney Swans’ identity does not include the western suburbs of Sydney. Are western Sydney’s Swans fans expected to support the new team when it launches in the new competition?

If the Western Sydney team does enter the competition, will the Sydney Swans be rebranded the Eastern Sydney Swans?

Locating head office and training facilities in Blacktown and playing games out of Homebush might make sense to a marketeer who sees western Sydney as a homogenous lump but to others familiar with Sydney’s geography, these places are worlds apart.

From Blacktown’s perspective, Homebush is positively beachfront.

It’s either fraudulent or misguided to suggest that a team based at Homebush would represent AFL fans who live in places like Blacktown.

I can see how it might seem possible on paper but in reality there’s no related identity.

I can also see the marketing logic in using the name Western Sydney. To an administrator trained in economics and business management, they convince themselves that an identity can be created around a demographic market.
Unfortunately, people in western Sydney, in my experience anyway, don’t think of themselves in their day-to-day place-making activities at belonging to an entity called Western Sydney.

The place they call home tends to go by more localised names, such as the suburb name or the nearest centre (such as Blacktown, Parramatta or Penrith; western Sydney is full of mini-cities).

The AFL needs to latch onto an actual identity that relates to the people of western Sydney rather than attempting to impose one from above.

To this end, I dare the AFL to name their team after an actual place in western Sydney such as Blacktown or Parramatta. At least Parramatta is close to Homebush, which is located on the Parramatta River.

Experience from existing teams in both the NRL and AFL shows that although places are important in maintaining an identity, fan-bases are not always wholly located within the location of the team’s base.

Every AFL team has fans located throughout the country. An AFL team called Blacktown or Parramatta would provide a base for the team’s operations and a place-based identity that would appeal to people in the western Sydney demographic, even if they don’t strictly live in those places.

If I can use language the administrators will understand, simply calling a team Western Sydney creates a placeless entity that will result in your key demographic failing to make a connection to the new team. Despite your intuitive feeling to the contrary, this will limit future financial returns for the AFL’s 18th team.

Your Western Sydney franchise will not survive unless you recognise the importance of place in fans’ engagement with your sport. I’m sorry to tell you this, but Western Sydney is not a place.

You just made it up.

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