your dreamining. rugby in the states is bigger then you can ever imagine league will be. league is non-existant. rugby in the US is played in colleges and high schools at an increasing rate. when did u last see the US play a league international. i mean actually see it?

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I know Union is bigger in the USA, we all know that, but RL is a growing sport whether you like it or not.

I watched the USA play against Tonga from England in 2007(Telstra Bigpond), they lost the match and failed to make the Rugby League world cup finals out here in Australia in 2008, before that, I watched the same nation play Australia in Philly, I have it on tape still, thanks foxsports.

Sorry to be the bearer of real news.

With the Storm in Melbourne they get free press and good coverage in the NewsLTD paper, which i might add is the biggest selling daily paper in Australia., but on the other hand TV is a low point for them.

It goes in cycles ….. popularity that is… i expect the Swannies to build towards another finals charge but it takes time, unfortunately for the Swans they just cannot go out and buy a team, but i think with GWS they will have another local team to take a bit of the pressure off.

It could turn out fantastic or all fall apart for the Swans and GWS but i imagine it will be somewhere in the middle.

I remember when living in Canberra that Campelltown was part of the ACTAFL for a number of years as they were to strong for the local Sydney comp, either the local comp has caught up or Cambelltown has come back to the field.

Will be a very hard slog after the initial fanfare for GWS.

Just in comparison to southern QLD, they have less than half the population of Sydney but at least twice the amount of senior and under 18′s teams.

As far as the highlands go junior wise, Moss vale and Bowral have thrown their lot in with the gong…. guess its quick through Macquarie Pass.

All in the newspapers,on TV. Throw in 2 grand final appearances,many semi appearances,FTA TV at decent hours(OK blame the NRL for not getting 9 off its backside in Melbourne),not a bad sort of game promotion.Even had John Singleton’s radio station boadcast AFL for a year,as his mob had missed out on radio rights.
The code rl has never had the infrastructure that Aussie rules has had in Sydney,by comparison to Melbourne rl.The Swans may well have left the devlopment and infrastructure to later date,but the Storm was far later(96) and off a significantly much smaller base.
The point of the Storm sustaining a strong rl side in Melboure,is just as important also for the Swans.This year they are down in sponsorship etc,and Tv ratings and should this continue ,Sydney as we are constantly told likes a winner,will not be as accommodating ,as one would think.

Test league – yawwwn

The first test is only two weeks ago and historically they would be playing warm up matches against the states and such and that would be the leading story. Perhaps some NSW lad gets a century or a couple fo wickets and the papers would be in overdrive trying to get him selected.

MyGeneration is pretty much spot on though so I guess a better measure will be next time South Africa, England or India come.

Good comments.

I doubt however the Swans were placed in Eastern Sydney for marketability, it would have been unknown to the boffins of then VFL what the cultural landscape of Sydney was back in the day. The location of the SCG would be the major reason by far IMO.

However, the private ownership ‘play thing’ direction served the Swans no good at all. As we have seen with Clive Palmer and GCU just recently they sail their own ship for their own purposes and can be too isolated from the communtity they are trying to build.

I think its a throw away line by some (not you, but many say it or imply it) who say the Swans have been in Sydney for 27 years and Aussie Rules still hasn’t taken off. The sporting structures (existing Aussie Rules teams) were insiginificant and as we all know from soccer in Sydney, participation does not equal popularity for the sports competiton.

The Swans really struggled for their first 12-13 years, Barassi in 1993/94 sorted them out, they made a GF by 1996 and with Lockett gained a niche in the landscape.

To compare to Melb Storm is wrong. Storm have made 5 GF’s, winning 3 in only 11 years and I would say it was only in 2009 that they lifted to perhaps the same level niche as the Swans in 1996.

For some to suggest they’ve already caught up to the Swans with 20,000 members and average crowds of 28,000 is wrong. The Swans in 2005/2006 put some very impressive crowd numbers together. A final with 72,000, 3 crowds of 60,000 in 2007 in Sydney, before the bandwagon slowed in 2008. In Sdyney those crowd numbers are mighty impressive.

Storm are still on the up but with so much on field success , 5 Grand Final appearances in 11 years, it is an extraordinary amount of success to build a bandwagon but a long way to go before they reach the Swans. The new stadium will put 25,000 within reach, easily in the first few games, may even sell out.

But the Storm have to sustain it, by the time they reach the level of the Swans, on field performances could decline and the Bell curve bandwagon effect will take its natural course. This will be in 2-4 years, to keep making GF’s on an ongoing basis would be very suspicious.

The Swans are on the downside but have gained enough fans to hold their own, whilst not growing new fans or providing something new. The Western Sydney side will be the new kid on the block.

There are many expats in Sydney from AFL states that would not barrack for the Swans (especially the Vics), WS has no baggage and they get Aussie Rules every week now live, many Sydney based AFL fans (non Swans) will take WS as their second team. That is the base, albeit small.

The growth strategy is about migrants an building from grass roots, schools,etc. They dont need to dominate or win the ‘war’, they wont win the war. Even if WS become successful , the Swans and WS are still only 2 teams in Sydney with 9 NRL teams with rusted on fans.

To use myself as an example, I like rugby have for almost 20 years, really excited about the new Melb Super 15 club but they will never ever take the place of Essendon. No Parramatta fan is going to drop them for another team let alone another sport, they may add to their sporting diet, but if they dont thats fine, plenty of other fish in the WS sea now and especially in the future.

Redb

The IPL has changed everything.

Once upon a time, a 16 yo deciding on whether to focus on cricket or footy, may have opted for footy because of the greater probability of making a living from sport – but with the riches on offer in the IPL – that’s not a straightforward choice anymore.

For example, the NSL and NBL were both national comps long before the AFL was – there’s no doubt that their very existence was one of the catalysts for getting the old VFL to think along the lines of a national comp.

The AFL and NRL have been pinching little ideas of each other in terms of sports administration for decades.

Now all four codes pinch staff off each other.

That’s the market place – make the most of it – rise to the challenge – be the absolute best that you can be.

Anything Rugby can do League can do better….even rorting

Rugby league has no rorting, their is nothing to rort. When i’m bad, i’m good, when i’m badder, i’m better.

If they paid, they certainly got their money’s worth.

And please, please tell me you’re not having a go at Australian Idol!!

Look the kangarros are ripe for the picking, and if we lose, god help us, we will have every unionite under the sun coming to get us. Oh no, i think i might just go on holiday, oh the shame. Its coming, we will get beast (beat even), well we have, but it has not sunk in yet we lost the world cup.
Maybe us aussies need to get used to losing. Then we can just sing and be happy, without any remorse. Give me something, i am running out of ideas, here, what happens when you lose, No wise cracks either, who mentioned the Wallabies.

Rugby School football (carrying the ball) evolved from the folk/mob football of earlier centuries, and if you follow the path back it takes you to the Romans and the game of “harpastum”. All these pre Rugby School era games allowed carrying the ball. I never said that all forms of ball-carrying football BEFORE Rugby School were “rugby football” – that would be ridiculous.

The stigma of relocation has never really left the Swans as their South Melbourne ties weaken the proposition that they are a Sydney team. Somehow i think the pink helicopters and east Sydney locale labelled them as nancy boys,etc.

The new Western Sydney is a start up, it wont be full of Sydneysiders (what new team in a non heartland ever is) but at least it is a genuine new NSW Aussie Rules team, the first in fact.

The AFL with the new academies is geniunely wanting to bring in Sydney kids into the team, that is a big part of the push. However it is being critised for this direction from within Sydney (mainly NRL) folk.

Interesting that today in the DT, the head of the Sydney Rovers WS A League team welcomed the AFL as a competitor and agrees there is room, in fact a niche that can be filled for other sports in addition to rugby league in Western Sydney.

Redb

8 potential host cities and 12 decent stadiums would help!!

Bugger the koala, we must save Oikee!