- Video
-
Club Roar
Captured a great grassroots sporting moment? We want to see it!Content Collections
The Roar Community
- Join
- Login
It’s that time of the year where the state and regional bodies begin to put out their annual reports. The first this year is AFL Sydney.
With Greater Western Sydney coming in 2012, along with the reputed ‘AFL invasion’, there are a few things of interest in the report.
In short, the Annual Report confirms what some of us have believed for some time: that Australian football is alive, well, and growing in the suburbs of Sydney.
In 2007, 19 clubs fielded 62 teams. The Sydney AFL now boasts 22 clubs fielding 78 teams. This is a far cry from the lows of 1998 when 38 teams took the field.
Where in 2007 total playing numbers were 2155, in 2011 they stand at 2914 (a 35 percent increase). The league has gone from seventeen to nineteen under-18 teams in the same time. Senior playing numbers have risen by 530 since 2008 (up 30 percent), and the under-18 teams have also risen by 114 (Up 20 percent).
Eleven clubs have at least four senior teams. The league itself is split into five divisions, and two under-18 divisions, with promotion and relegation systems for the lower divisions.
The annual report states that the AFL itself spent money improving facilities at Drummoyne Oval, Picken Oval, Pioneers Park, Gore Hill Oval, Hensen Park, Mahoney Park, Monarch Oval, and Olds Park.
For those claiming to have never seen an AFL oval, its also worth noting that 35 venues were used for AFL Sydney matches in 2011. The grand finals for all divisions were played at Blacktown.
AFL Sydney continues to benefit from some coverage on Foxtel with an hour-long highlights package shown on Foxtel’s Main Event channel prior to the Friday Night AFL broadcast.
Against this backdrop, the East Coast Eagles participated in the inaugural Foxtel Cup where they were duly slaughtered by Port Adelaide at the SCG, thereby confirming everyone’s suspicion that the league standard may not be as high as in other territories.
In 2012, they will again face off in the Foxtel Cup, although they start with what could be a relatively close match against QAFL club, Mt Gravatt.
East Coast Eagles – now Sydney Hills Eagles – will join Sydney University and the Swans and Giants reserves to form the Sydney AFL contingent in the 2012 NEAFL Season, featuring teams from the AFL ACT, and matches against clubs in the NEAFL (Northern Division).
In 2011, the Sydney area was represented only by the Swans reserves and the GWS Giants.
From its beginning as the New South Wales Football Association in 1903, through to its 1980 renaming as the Sydney Football League, to its present incarnation from 2009, Australian football continues to endure in the Sydney Area.
11 clubs took the field in 1903. Despite many clubs coming and going in the 108 years of its existence, the league is still here today.
With the arrival of Greater Western Sydney, and the continued work of the Sydney Swans, not to mention resources and funding from AFL House, it’s easy to believe that Australian football is driven purely by the big boys out of Melbourne.
The fact is there are thousands of Sydney-dwelling players, umpires, and club volunteers who are just as responsible for the growth of the game as anywhere else.
Yes, helped immensely by an AFL that in 2009 was lambasted by the Swans for not paying enough attention to Sydney, after leaving promotion of the game in the New South Wales capital entirely up to the Swans for years.
Helped along by the AFL spending money on facilities and promotion, but the backbone of the operation remains the people who go out to the grounds week in and week out. They staff the canteens, they operate the scoreboards, they umpire the goals, direct the parking, and God alone knows what else, to keep these clubs running.
That the number of teams and players is growing is undeniable. Will it take over Sydney? No. Will it be around another hundred years? Who knows what the sporting landscape will look like a hundred years from now. We can safely say, though, that the immediate future looks rosy for Australian football in Sydney.
Note: A minor correction to this article was made after updated information was provided by AFL NSW/ACT
Who’s in your ultimate team? Pick the best team and compete with other fans for daily prizes on Draftstars. For the best odds on the game try out Aussie bookmaker PlayUp. Think. Is this a bet you really want to place? Set a deposit limit.