Wagga residents, Canberra Raiders furious about GWS grant
Roar Guru By jamesb, 25 May 2012 jamesb is a Roar Guru
- Tagged:
- ACT Brumbies, AFL, Canberra Raiders, GWS Giants, Skoda Stadium
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Rhys Cooyou of the GWS Giants (Slattery Images)
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Last week, Wagga Wagga residents and the Canberra Raiders were fuming when they learnt that the Wagga City Council will grant the Greater Western Sydney Giants $300,000 over three years.
In return, GWS will play pre-season games in the region, along with community camps and other projects.
Robertson Oval will be used as one of the locations for GWS Giants’ academy centre.
Many in the Wagga community argue that this could have all been done for free and that the AFL should be putting something back into the community.
Readers of Wagga’s Daily Advertiser weren’t happy.
“Joke! The AFL is the richest sport in Australia. Last TV rights deal was for $1.2 billion, plus huge amount of sponsorship money,” Michael wrote.
“Terrible use of our rate-payer money. With so many other great causes desperately crying out for funds I am deeply offended by this council decision and the AFL’s arrogance. The AFL should be giving back to the Riverina, not expecting rate-payer handouts to do so. Arrogant of the AFL and will turn me off attending any games,” greedwins cried.
“How about the AFL spend some of their vast riches on the local community rather than taking money or do they not care enough for that?” Emma suggested.
“Why do I as a rate payer have to pay for a rich sports expansion and promotion?” Jodie complained.
“The AFL has no conscience,” Damo lamented.
“The AFL are so up themselves that it is not funny. No respect for anyone or any other sport,” balletwithaball added.
A few in the minority, however, appreciated the council’s help to GWS.
“Honestly, would anyone pay for NRL? The empty stadiums in its Sydney ‘heartland’ show how popular it is,” Tom G noted.
“300k is nothing over three years, the insecurity is all yours, RL fans are just whingers it seems,” Lars added.
In a poll conducted by the Daily Advertiser, only 29% of people were in favour of the council giving the grant to GWS, while 71% disagreed with it.
The Canberra Raiders have also greeted the news with disdain.
Raiders boss Don Furner is keen to find out why this agreement has taken place.
”We’ve not put our hand out, and to be brutally honest it highlights how mercenary the AFL is, they’re very aggressive.”
For three decades, the Raiders have been playing pre-season games and nurturing the young talent coming through from the Riverina with no financial reward.
The region has produced current players like Glen Buttris and Josh McCrone and past greats like Laurie Daley, Luke Davico and Brett Mullins.
If anything, the Raiders can claim they bring something back to the community.
”If we take a kid from the Riverina and bring him into our system, we have to pay a $5000 development fee and that money goes straight back into country rugby league,” Furner said.
”The reasons why clubs like us and the Bulldogs take games out to the country is that it gives that regions a chance to make some money,” he continued.
The Raiders played the Bulldogs in a pre-season trial in February, which helped raised over $40,000.
The money has been used to improve facilities at Wagga’s multi-sport complex Equex Centre.
It’s not the first time Furner has taken a swipe at the AFL and GWS. Earlier in the year, Furner labelled GWS a joke after GWS signed a $26 million deal to play four games a season in Canberra over the next ten years.
Meanwhile, Canberra’s two full-time teams – the Canberra Raiders and the A.C.T Brumbies – are playing out of an ageing Canberra stadium, which is in need of upgraded facilities.
Meanwhile, NRL CEO David Gallop was perplexed by this situation.
“It is certainly an unusual step for a council to invest in a Sydney AFL club that already boasts publicly about its financial backing.”
Of course it’s not the first time GWS has caused a political storm over funding.
In November 2009, then-NSW premier Nathan Rees said it would be “a waste of money” to invest in an AFL stadium at the Sydney Showgrounds in Homebush.
A month later he was deposed as leader of the NSW ALP and was replaced by Kristina Keneally.
In June 2010, the NSW governement – headed by the new premier – agreed to help fund the Sydney Showgrounds. This would later become Skoda Stadium.
The AFL has by far the best sports-run administration in Australia. But according to majority of the readers from The Daily Advertiser, the AFL and GWS come across as greedy and arrogant.
The AFL is in its early stages of a five-year $1.25 billion television deal.
It also has sponsorship, along with record club memberships.
The AFL is swimming in cash. Does it need more from a rural council?
The NRL, on the other hand, might take the moral high ground by not asking or getting any grants from Wagga City Council.
But again, it demonstrates how the AFL is very strong in negotiations with politicians of all levels, whether it be federal, state or council (local) level.
The NRL struggles to get funds to help upgrade grounds like Brookvale Oval, while the AFL manages to get money from a Wagga rural council of all places.
The NRL has to become proactive, not reactive, and should stop blaming others for their shortfall.
As for GWS Giants, the team at the centre of this controversy, who do they stand for?
Who do they represent?
Are they from West Sydney, Canberra, or Wagga?
The Giants have a base at Blacktown.
They play their home matches at Homebush (Skoda and ANZ Stadiums) and Manuka Oval in Canberra.
They get good financial deals from playing matches in Canberra and now they have this deal with the Wagga City Council.
If GWS play home matches in Canberra, why don’t they incorporate the Canberra name in GWS?
I believe they should do that, other wise it does look like GWS is using the money from Canberra for their own interests.
However, the best option for the Giants is to play all of their home matches at Skoda Stadium, full time.
Otherwise former premier Rees would have a point in saying that Skoda stadium was “a waste of money”.
Finally, and more importantly, if the GWS Giants want to gain respect from Wagga residents and West Sydney fans alike, the simple honourable thing they should do is decline the $300,000 grant from Wagga City Council.
They should do all the pre-season matches and community camps for free.
If they do that, they might win praise from the readers of The Daily Advertiser.
The real lesson to come out of this is the major sporting codes, such as AFL, NRL, ARU, FFA, and Cricket Australia, should always listen to the community.
Otherwise the politicians won’t be the only ones that pay the price.
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- ACT Brumbies, AFL, Canberra Raiders, GWS Giants, Skoda Stadium
May 25th 2012 @ 2:51am
Cameron said | May 25th 2012 @ 2:51am | Report comment
I agree that this is not the best PR move the AFL has ever made. Wagga and the riverina has been a fruitful ground for Australian rules and one would think it would repay the debt by not charging local rate payers for the privlege of a nab cup game and a few development camps. However, what I find always surprising is the AFL’s ability to be on a governmet’s side in terms of raising funds. No wonder David Gallop is “perplexed” when the Raiders can’t get any dosh from that council.
On the surface, AD just seems to have more business nouse than Gallop.
May 25th 2012 @ 5:19am
pete said | May 25th 2012 @ 5:19am | Report comment
The AFL has a lot more “leverage” (e.g cash) with which to negotiate.
May 28th 2012 @ 8:08pm
Lazy Ted Failyou said | May 28th 2012 @ 8:08pm | Report comment
Wagga was ALWAYS an AFL town, RL get your own patch like Bathurst and Orange.
Draw a line to the coast from Wagga, that is the Barrasi line.
May 25th 2012 @ 4:02am
Johnno said | May 25th 2012 @ 4:02am | Report comment
It is a good move i think. Why as it has shown that Canberra and Wagga Wagga residents supports AFL and support GWS. So rate payer money well spent and the residents overwhelimngly majority applaud this taxpayer spending for GWS.
May 25th 2012 @ 5:18am
Cameron said | May 25th 2012 @ 5:18am | Report comment
Johnno, I think you are taking the p**s, but if you believe the article the overwhelming majority of residents do not applaud this taxpayer spending for GWS.
May 25th 2012 @ 11:15am
micka said | May 25th 2012 @ 11:15am | Report comment
Overwhelming majority of residents who decided to respond to a readers poll in a newspaper. How often have you gone to the effort of writing into a paper about something you are happy about?
People always put more effort into outrage than kudos.
There is no way a rural city council would throw 100k a year at something recreational without promise of some kind of tourism promotion, kickback on attendances etc. There will be something in it for them.
May 25th 2012 @ 5:18am
pete said | May 25th 2012 @ 5:18am | Report comment
This is a gee up right?
May 25th 2012 @ 9:33am
Ian Whitchurch said | May 25th 2012 @ 9:33am | Report comment
Pete,
Remember, Johnno has his own set of made-up Johnno Facts ™. The “overwhelming support” is another one.
May 25th 2012 @ 8:49am
Been said | May 25th 2012 @ 8:49am | Report comment
The $45m spent on Skoda was pathetic…. Homebush was nextdoor…. $45m so they didn’t have to show an empty stadium live on Victorian television….
GWS will turn around in a couple of years and tell everyone they turn a profit, but its all on the back of handouts… $300k from Wagga, The millions from Canberra to play 4 games a year down there….
No NRL club has ever been given so much money from the NSW/ACT government or their councils…..
May 25th 2012 @ 8:58am
jamesb said | May 25th 2012 @ 8:58am | Report comment
Hey Been
actually, if you look at Pete’s comment up near the top he does make a good point.
“The AFL has a lot more “leverage” (e.g cash) with which to negotiate.”
so its not about negotiation skills, rather how deep your pockets are, and the NRL don’t have deep enough pockets
May 25th 2012 @ 9:04am
The Cattery said | May 25th 2012 @ 9:04am | Report comment
The deep pockets means the AFL puts in plenty into sporting infrastructure, more than any other sport, in fact, more than all other sports combined – isn’t that the opposite to seeking hand outs?
May 25th 2012 @ 10:39am
ManInBlack said | May 25th 2012 @ 10:39am | Report comment
exactly TC.
The vast majority of AFL spending on infrastructure is on Public-Private partnership projects – where the ultimate owner is the Public.
The AFL has put money into a multitude of venues – and Skilled Stadium in Geelong is an obvious example – AFL, Geelong FC plus 3 levels of Govt have put millions into that venue.
Who owns it? The City of Greater Geelong.
It would be totally different were the AFL running around building up a large property portfolio half funded by tax/rate payers – - but that’s not the case.
And on this particular story – it’d be interesting to get the full story rather than the RL whinge. After all – the RL whinge about Blacktown that time missed the mark and completely ignored the role of Cricket-NSW in the development. They often do that – when it comes to money spent on ovals.
Interesting it will be – to see if the NRL gets a massive ‘payday’ in broadcast rights – to see how much they’ll spend on stadia/infrastructure??
May 25th 2012 @ 11:23am
The Cattery said | May 25th 2012 @ 11:23am | Report comment
MIB
During the super league ward, a billion dollars was sunk into League in the space of two or three years – where did that money go? How much of it ended up in infrastructure?
Yet, as usual, we have non-AFL fans whinging about the AFL partnering with Government to help build sporting infrastructure.
May 25th 2012 @ 9:10am
jamesb said | May 25th 2012 @ 9:10am | Report comment
“The deep pockets means the AFL puts in plenty into sporting infrastructure, more than any other sport”
Ok, if that’s the case, why should than the AFL get a $300,000 grant from a rural council, where perhaps that money could be used elsewhere.
May 25th 2012 @ 9:13am
The Cattery said | May 25th 2012 @ 9:13am | Report comment
jamesb
To say the AFL is getting a $300,000 grant is factually incorrect. GWS has negotiated this directly with Wagga, unsurprisingly, because part of its strategy is to establish an Academy in Southern NSW, a region it is marketing itself to, and I’d say the grant would be tied up with such a concept.
The FFA is getting a $4 million grant form the Federal Government to establish the new A-League team in Sydney – that’s factually correct.
May 25th 2012 @ 9:10am
The Cattery said | May 25th 2012 @ 9:10am | Report comment
Before Furner complains about the ACT Government sponsoring GWS (that’s what it is, it’s a sponsorship deal), shouldn’t Furner disclose the quantum of annual grants it receives from the ACT Government? It’s at least $1 million per annum of direct cash funding – not as a sponsorship deal, but as an annual grant.
Shouldn’t Furner disclose the hundreds of millions of dollars spent on rectangularising Bruce stadium – recalling it that used to be an athletics stadium? (in fact, it once hosted the Athletics World Cup, I know, I was in attendance for three days), and that the Raiders basically use it paying a peppercorn rent.
May 25th 2012 @ 9:21am
The Cattery said | May 25th 2012 @ 9:21am | Report comment
IN fact the newspaper mentions the GWS Academy:
“In return for council’s investment over the next three years, a number of benefits have been secured, including pre-season competition matches – currently known as NAB Cup – at Robertson Oval, one GWS team community camp and a yearly NEAFL match.
There will also be a number positive projects for football-keen youth, including squad selection guarantees for the Paul Kelly Cup and the guarantee Robertson Oval will be used as one of the locations for the GWS Giants Academy Centre.
The academy provides talented players between the age of 12 and 18 the opportunity for elite training and mentoring. ”
It doesn’t really sound like a lot of money to me, to be perfectly honest.
May 25th 2012 @ 10:54am
stabpass said | May 25th 2012 @ 10:54am | Report comment
Actually went to the Athletics world cup as well, as a young fella, i remember 100m specialist Paul Narracott, man he was quick.
The Raiders state they have never put their hand out to the Wagga council, but them whine when someone else does !!.
Bruce Stadium was turned into a rectangle by QLD blow in, Raiders footballer and then ACT politician Paul Osborne.
Quite simply the feedback in Wagga, is mostly from whinging RL fans, who see their sport slipping down the totem pole, and need someone to blame, The AFL just get on with it.
May 25th 2012 @ 9:29am
andyincanberra said | May 25th 2012 @ 9:29am | Report comment
It’s a bit rich for Don Furner to be complaining that the Raiders have not received a fair deal from the ACT government. If my memory serves correct, Canberra stadium was reconfigured using tax-payer funds from a circular to a rectangular shape. This at a time when the Brumbies and Super12 were non-existent, and the Raiders were the sole tenants. I’m not having a go at the Raiders for doing this, because it was definately in their interests to have a rectangular ground. Don Furner needs to realise that the Canberra Raiders have benefitted significantly from the ACT taxpayer before crying poor.
May 25th 2012 @ 9:35am
The Cattery said | May 25th 2012 @ 9:35am | Report comment
That’s right andy, I’ve mentioned that above, and also, I believe the Radiers receive an annual grant from the ACT Government of around $1 million.
May 25th 2012 @ 9:41am
The Cattery said | May 25th 2012 @ 9:41am | Report comment
Here we go, an article in the Canberra times from only 3 weeks ago:
http://www.canberratimes.com.au/act-news/corporate-raiders-20120502-1xzpx.html
Raiders have: “…revenues of almost $12 million, including nearly $2 million in cash and in-kind benefits from the ACT government. ”
That’s $2 million in cash and in-kind benefits (read sweet stadium deal) from the ACT government, not as a one off, but that’s every year, year on year, for decades.
But that’s not the worst of it, the Raiders’ owners are absolutely swimming in money – through earnings from pokies and local dealings in property – so the question should be asked by all ACT taxpayers – why the ongoing assistance? We’re not talking sponsorship deals here, or money for infrastructure or community assets, we’re talking annual grants to fund operations.
At a minimum, shouldn’t the Raiders pay commercial rents on the stadium?
Why not ask the Raiders’ owners to contribute to the cost of a new stadium?
May 25th 2012 @ 10:22am
clipper said | May 25th 2012 @ 10:22am | Report comment
Shows what a hypocrite that Furner is – ‘we’ve not put our hand out’ – well, yes you have – every year you get a $1 million handout and $500k concessions.
Good article, and good on the Raiders for having a successful business, nothing wrong with that, but is it right to have such a huge windfall from 850 pokie machines and then get a grant from the government whilst spending on advertising to thwart any anti pokie reform?
May 25th 2012 @ 9:42am
me, I like football said | May 25th 2012 @ 9:42am | Report comment
Perhaps the Wagga local government is sick of the majority of AFL practice matches in the Riverina going to their much smaller neighbour Narrandera.
May 25th 2012 @ 10:32am
Redb said | May 25th 2012 @ 10:32am | Report comment
Good call, on the money call.
May 25th 2012 @ 10:32am
Redb said | May 25th 2012 @ 10:32am | Report comment
Just a bit of rugby league propaganda here folks.
‘Residents’ – no, a few code warriors upset that the AFL is trying to grow the game of Australian football which is its charter. Any money it receives is for that purpose and that is why the NRL types get awry.
Mind your own business – Canberra Raiders are obviously a little upset & worried.
May 25th 2012 @ 11:43am
TomC said | May 25th 2012 @ 11:43am | Report comment
The Raiders aren’t a particularly well run organisation, and right now they’re struggling both on and off the field. And like all poorly run organisations, they’re always looking for others to blame for their situation.
I have absolutely no idea what the problem is here. The Wagga council obviously decided the extra involvement from GWS in their community was worth a $300,000 investment. Seems like a modest amount. As Redb says, the ‘outrage’ this has generated in the comments section of a local newspaper’s website (and what a great gauge of public opinion that is) is more likely to be a handful of code warriors than residents genuinely concerned about their rates money being wasted.
Equally, the writer of this article is unlikely to genuinely believe that sporting organisations should turn down the small amount of financial support that local communities offer when events are held in their regions. This is just a cynical exercise in AFL bashing.
May 25th 2012 @ 11:56am
stabpass said | May 25th 2012 @ 11:56am | Report comment
Tom, the Raiders through their 7 poker machine clubs turned over 50 million dollars, with a good profit, add to that their 33 million property portfolio, and their generous Government handouts of 2 million per annun, they see to be doing better than OK, and are not struggling financially at all.
Totally pathetic of them to whinge.
May 25th 2012 @ 12:43pm
TomC said | May 25th 2012 @ 12:43pm | Report comment
To clarify, when I said they were struggling off the field, I meant that their attendances have been disappointing. 9000 at the last home game against Parramatta. I believe they lose money on each game with a sub 10,000 attendance.
As you say, that’s no doubt made up by their other business interests.