The Roar
The Roar

Advertisement

Irony not lost as AFL begs western Sydney football fans for a leg-up

29th October, 2014
Advertisement
Would we ever see promotion and relegation in Australia?
Expert
29th October, 2014
269
3381 Reads

Eddie McGuire once described the western suburbs of Sydney as the “land of the falafel”, so it was ironic to find the AFL’s latest leader, Gillon McLachlan, in Auburn earlier this week,  begging us falafel-eaters to bite into his GWS Giants.

Only two days after one of the great nights in Australian football saw the Western Sydney Wanderers take a 1-0 lead into Sunday morning’s return leg of the Asian Champions League final in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, the AFL head was out spruiking for business at an Auburn primary school.

To hear and see from the kids at this school just how little an impact the Giants and AFL had made in western Sydney would no doubt have reminded him of the mountain of work that lies ahead to make this venture work.

At one point McLachlan described one of the classrooms as a “tough crowd”. It was a metaphor for what was going on more broadly across the sporting landscape out west.

Here the Wanderers are big business. Everywhere you go you can’t escape the sea of red and black strips, a large proportion of them on the backs of kids.

Over the past couple of weeks, for example, I’ve seen that first hand, whether at trials for the eight, nine and 10 year olds hoping for a place in the Skills Acquisition Program (SAP), or those kids fronting up for their club trophy presentation day.

The red and black hoops were everywhere, not just on game-days like the thrilling Sydney Derby or the ACL final of the past fortnight.

The irony wouldn’t have been lost on anyone to see McLachlan wandering out to the west, with  his arms out, begging fans of the Wanderers to rescue a team that looks anything but a giant.

Advertisement

And to hear, only 24 hours later, back in the cocoon that is the “world” of AFL in Melbourne, that both the MCG and Etihad Stadium are tied with AFL games on the week of the A-League grand final.

Is it any wonder the fans out west haven’t embraced a code that has essentially felt it could ride roughshod over Australia’s sporting scene.

Here was a sport that felt it could simply splash the cash out west and win over the hearts and minds. Hitherto it’s been a cruel reality check.

These are tactics that would have worked in the past. But football in Australia has a new found confidence, and David Gallop has been quick to douse any suggestion of giving the Giants a leg-up.

“What would that entail? At the end of the day, we are in a competitive environment,” Gallop told Fairfax today.

“We want people to choose our game to play and watch.

“Our popularity is booming and we are going to concentrate on our sport – and the business of our sport.”

Advertisement

This Sunday morning thousands out west are likely to get up at 3am and flock to Centenary Square in Parramatta to see the second leg of the ACL final live on a giant screen.

This isn’t for a Socceroos game in a Word Cup or crunch World Cup qualifier, but for a team that has become the unifying symbol of the west.

Win or lose, the fact the Wanderers can move people in the tiny hours of a Sunday morning, for a competition Australia hasn’t always embraced, is a sign of just how big a mark the club has made.

After it, a few of the clubs fans might even venture over to a falafel stand for a bite.

close