- Video
-
Club Roar
Captured a great grassroots sporting moment? We want to see it!Content Collections
The Roar Community
- Join
- Login
There’s been a lot of conjecture about whether or not the Western Sydney AFL team will be successful and even more about the ignition of a “war” between the NRL and the AFL now Kevin Sheedy has been appointed.
It all makes good press and it keeps both codes on the back pages during the off season.
But there’s every reason to think the Western Sydney team will be successful in the long term and no reason at all to suggest that this success will have any impact on the NRL or the NRL teams based in Western Sydney.
Crowd surveys of the big games involving the Swans at ANZ Stadium consistently reveal 15,000 to 20,000 of those attending do not go to watch the Swans play at the SCG because it is too hard for them to get there.
Then consider the number of people who live in Western Sydney who grew up in Victoria, South Australia and Western Australia, all of whom would love to watch live AFL matches if they were easier to get to.
It’s not really big stretch to imagine a team in Western Sydney growing to a steady membership base of 25,000–30,000 and being able to attract crowds of 35,000 for regular matches and 50,000 for big games.
Obviously not right away, but it’s definitely achievable in the long haul.
And having such a team in the local community could well triple the number of local junior clubs and junior registrations.
But here’s the thing: there are so many people living in Western Sydney (more than Adelaide and Perth combined), that the numbers I am talking about aren’t all that significant.
There’s no reason to think those sort of numbers would have any impact on the membership rates and attendances of any of the NRL clubs based in Western Sydney. The impact would probably be less than the impact the Swans have had on the Roosters (which is zero).
Nor should it have any effect on registrations in junior rugby league competitions.
Even if the Western Sydney Club has some success in attracting talented local junior sports people from other sports to special academy programs, these athletes would come from a number other sports (soccer, union, basketball, as well as league) and the gross number each year wouldn’t be significant to any one sport.
Certainly not large enough to have an impact on the amount and quality of talent those sports would continue to produce.
And if the Western Sydney Team develops the sort of rivalry with the Swans that Port Power has with the Crows and Fremantle has with the West Coast, then matches between the two will become additional big events for the city of Sydney.
But that won’t mean we’ll be any less inclined to support the Blues against the Maroons.
All the naysayers who spruke the line that the Western Sydney AFL team is doomed remind me of the brother in-law of Kevin Costner in “Field of Dreams”.
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.