If there was ever any doubt the flawed Sydney Rovers bid for admission to the 2010/2011 A-League season is doomed for failure, then Sunday’s poor crowd of 6,654 at Parramatta Stadium for the Sydney FC-Perth Glory match made sure there was no extra appetite for reviving the bid.
Sunday’s game represented a great opportunity for the western Sydney market to remind the Football Federation Australia (FFA) of its potential and perhaps even give the FFA extra motivation to try and make the bid work for next season.
But the meagre crowd of a tick over 6,500 fans won’t have the FFA rushing into anything.
And that’s probably for the best, given the failure of Sydney Rovers chairman Ian Rowden to actually build anything since the A-League licence was given to the franchise in September last year.
But questions have to be asked why the attendance for a one-off game in an area we are told is football-mad was so poor?
I’ve heard claims the western Sydney public don’t identify with Sydney FC. In my opinion, there’s probably some substance to that.
And if that is true then that gives some hope to a real rivalry forming in Sydney if the FFA can get their new outfit organised in the correct manner.
But, it seems, doing that is the tricky part.
Sydney Rovers might have built some real momentum with a presence at Sunday’s fixture. Selling memberships, merchandise, introducing players, whatever.
Instead, Rowden and Rovers chief executive designate Scott Duxbury are busy working with the FFA trying to find investors to fund their franchise, to find out if they can even get off the ground for next season.
I’m told through reports from those who attended Sunday’s game, the only Rovers presence at Parramatta Stadium was a handful of Rovers fans who brought two banners to the game which read “Give us our team” and “The west is waiting, the east is fading. Cashed-up FFA come to the Rovers party.”
I must stress, though, it was only a handful of Rovers supporters and unfortunately for them, it is hard to see them getting their wishes. In fact the paltry number of them is almost damning for the Rovers case.
It was almost a fortnight ago A-League boss Lyall Gorman met with Rowden and Duxbury and from that November 12 meeting Gorman admitted the franchise still had a long way to go.
Interestingly, at this stage in the creation of the A-League’s other expansion clubs, Gold Coast United, North Queensland Fury and Melbourne Heart, all three had announced coaches, headquarters and a number of squad signings.
And all these clubs were generating excitement by this time of the year about their entrance into the A-League.
It was common knowledge United were chasing Socceroo Jason Culina to be their marquee man, while owner Clive Palmer was flamboyantly assembling a top-quality squad including players such as Shane Smeltz.
Fury had signed their marquee man Jade North, before soon switching their attention to Scott Chipperfield and Robbie Fowler, while Heart’s approach to differentiate themselves from Victory had them luring European coaches to AAMI Park along with some cultured talent on the pitch.
At this stage, the only announcements Rovers have made have been superficial; their name, logo and colours.
And those announcements were made a long time, meaning the club has lost momentum. Since then, there’s been no hype about the club and opportunities such as Sundays are being missed as the uncertainty about their future remains.
So there’s no doubt Sydney Rovers are behind the eight-ball. We know that.
Nevertheless, Gorman said a fortnight ago: “It has been shown that you can get a club up and running in four or five months.”
But I can’t agree with that statement looking at Rovers’ relative development in comparison to the other expansion clubs and how those clubs have fared since joining the A-League.
They might find their investors in the next few weeks but grabbing attention, winning fans and generating hype and publicity in the A-League is a tough gig, let alone building a squad when you haven’t even announced a coach.
There’s no doubt western Sydney is an important market for the A-League, but if the FFA wants to get it right there, then the decision has got to be made to delay Rovers’ entry once and for all.
sydboz
Guest
I was at the game I saw numerous rovers supporters with banners to protest, they were quickly whisked away by security, it's a disgrace. Give rovers a go, nobody likes Sydney FC. As a football supporter, it would be a great day for the sport.
sydboz
Guest
Why would the west support a useless team they have no interest in? The boycott of the game by the west should tell everything that the FFA needs to know about football. Western Sydney should have gotten a team first of all, it's a disgraceful black mark on the FFA, that no team has been given to the biggest football participation/fan base in Australia. The west sydney rovers can be the saviour of the A-league and the FFA, but it needs to happen and it needs to happen NOW!!!
will
Guest
do you expect 6500 melbourne heart fans to attend melbourne victory games. Fcuk no
Melrod
Guest
First thing That crowd was bigger than reported Second thing why would people want to see to crap teams play, would you think that in the NRL the Roosters would get a big crowd at Parramatta if they where playing the Cowboys I don't think so do you Third thing is that the reported crowd was still nearly three times the size of a gold coast crowd Fourth thing is I'm from western sydney and I hate Sydney FC I wouldn't give them the time of day let alone buy a ticket to see them play, the only time I will pay to see sydney fc play will be when they are playing a western sydney team the team that I currently support is any team play against Sydney FC the start of the season was a dream run for me
The_Wookie
Roar Guru
Has the AFL actually indicated where it believes Western Sydneys demographic is based? I dont recall reading it anywhere.
NY
Guest
Oh dear I am AJ Thurgood You have no idea about West Sydney like most AFL supporters. The west has no real boundaries. It can be whatever you want it to be really, but it will never be AFL territory. AFL is a middle class blight on West Sydney. It produces the best athetes in most other sports. Just google the list. Not bad for a barren wasteland!
jimbo
Roar Guru
The FFA knocked back an offer from the Singapore consortium and have guaranteed Fury for only one year. They want the local community to invest in the club and back it up with good attendances - they don't want another billionaire like Palmer who puts up with mediocrity and poor crowds and has no plans for growing the A-League or football. This is the biggest sign yet that it could be the last year of the Fury in the A-League. With a mid-week FFA Cup they might also want to reduce fixtures, not increase them.
jimbo
Roar Guru
I love the way the Melbourne Followers of the Behind know more about Sydney and what Sydney wants than people living in Sydney. :) This is the typical attitude of "we will take over the world with the game that made Australia" Aussie Rules followers.
mick h
Guest
fusball, i agree with what your saying about soccer. i was making the point about western sydney being neglected in regards to facilities and how minor sports like afl get millions spent on them. playing numbers in rl grow each year especailly senior comps eg ; on the gold coast next year they are adding an u'21 s competition so they will have u'19s u'21s reserve grade and a grade plus a second division comp for excess players.
Fussball ist unser leben
Roar Guru
mick h It's good to hear that RL is doing well in Western Sydney. With football it's not just Western Sydney where demand exceeds supply; football clubs have to turn kids away in every suburb of Australia. I know for a fact that, even in suburban Victoria, there are Aussie Rules teams that have had to merge or have had to drop out of competitions due to lack of players. Forget about AusKick numbers - from my observation, 40-50% of the kids, who attend such clinics, will never play competitive Aussie Rules as they get older. The impact of this dropping participation rate in Aussie Rules will be noticed in 15-20 years at the top level of Aussie Rules ... just as the impact of lower participation rates of kids in Australia, who play tennis, is now being noticed at the elite level. We are already seeing the benefits of the massive participation rates of kids playing football, with our junior & senior National football teams - both men & women - achieving success on the world stage.
mick h
Guest
derby county fc ; parra v penrith 22580 at cua stadium ground record gates closed before kickoff people turned away. penrith v wests tigers 19800 cua stadium. parra v wests tigers 20,000 sellout wednesday before game. the canterbury v parra two games at anz this year both drew over 31,000 fans. wests tigers v sydney roosters at campbelltown 19800. semi - final wests tigers v st george over 72,000 fans. parra move two home games a year to homebush v canterbury and souths. parra stadium needs upgrading to cater for the western sydney derbies over the coming seasons otherwise more fans will be locked out.
mick h
Guest
rl clubs turn away children in western sydney just like soccer and it is because of the lack of facilities and funding. what is really dissapointing is that afl in western sydney has 68 junior teams from the hawkesbury,penrith, liverpool ,campbelltown,blue mountains and camden areas and they get 27 million spent in blacktown and the sydney showground upgrade when children playing other more popular sports have poor facilities the 27 million could have been spent more appropriately.
I am AJ Thurgood
Guest
Oly you've failed to grasp the distinction between Homebush and the west. Homebush is west of the Sydney CBD but it is not located within the part of Sydney that the people of Sydney's west see as their area. Anything east of Parramatta is not part of western Sydney no matter how often the AFL insists on saying Homebush is. What matters is how the people of Sydney's west see it, not the AFL, and not everyone else.
Griffo
Roar Guru
Yes, they do a good job... ...owning a club at it's inception is not so good. Given the noise they made about not wanting to own another club when the Jets were on the brink of being scrapped, and the FFA's reluctance to seem to publicly want to fund the Fury, 'owning' the Rovers first up isn't a good look.
Derby County FC
Guest
Oly Using the Tigers and Bulldogs as examples of teams from the greater west (they are inner west through and through) is hardly conclusive either. Souths average terrible crowds out there and to be honest all these teams would average better crowds if they just had the nuts to play in Belmore, Leichhardt and Redfern respectively.
oly
Guest
The NSW cricket team have played at Homebush in front of decent crowds. Western Sydney NRL teams the Bulldogs, Eels and Tigers have good crowd averages compared to other teams. Also Souths, who play at Homebush, also averaged good crowds despite missing the finals. Also last year's semi-final between Eels and Bulldogs drew 70,000 odd people. Using a rugby league match between PNG and Australia on a rainy Sunday afternoon is hardly conclusive.
I am AJ Thurgood
Guest
The AFL & GWS should be taking a giant warning from this example. But I doubt it. The reality is Sydney's west is a sporting wasteland of blandness. The recent Kangaroos match drew pathetic numbers. Didn't the Wallabies play there a few years back to equally dire numbers? They barely support their NRL clubs in sufficient numbers most home game and memberships. If they won't do that for their beloved NRL, is it any wonder the Sydney FC experiment failed. The ARU won't even attempt it. Nor will the NSW cricket team. GWS won't even play there, expecting the people who won't even go to Parramatta or Penrith to watch NRL to travel to Homebush to watch AFL. Reality check people. I am AJ Thurgood
Fussball ist unser leben
Roar Guru
True Tah I'm sure you are correct. If we are only talking about spectators at games then football is nowhere near the levels of either NRL or AFL. But, I've always thought the true test of "popularity for a sport" is the level of participation. As far as I'm concerned, it takes a far greater commitment - both financial (equipment, registration fees) and time (learning the laws, learning the tactics, learning and developing the techniques, playing, training, even social events) - to participate in a sport than to simply turn up to a game or watch it on TV. Football has won more "hearts and minds" of Aussies than any other sport; the only task remaining for the FFA is to get the grass roots supporters to purchase the A-League product. In Western Sydney, AFL has to first try to get people interested in AFL - now, that's a tough job and I doubt there will ever be long-term/generational "buy-in". You can't make people love something in the long-term simply by spinning a story, or throwing money around (as many rich old men will attest!) ... all you will get is "transient affection" that fades when the money runs out. Simply, if kids really liked AFL they would already be playing it - in the streets, in the parks, at schools - and flocking to join their local AFL club to play every week-end. This doesn't happen. But, football clubs around Australia have to turn kids away b/c demand far exceeds supply - now that's the foundation to build LONG-TERM success. And, all this interest in football occurs without the FFA throwing money around ... people simply love the Game and are drawn to it. They don't need to be convinced, cajoled, bribed, lured or enticed - they come to us! There are very few products in the world that do not need to be marketed; football (I'm talking about "the Game of football" not any particular competition or club) is one of those products.
oly
Guest
Lost momentum? Did they ever have any? Apart from a badge, name and colours the Rovers don't exist. The poor crowd at Parramatta Stadium is not an indication that west Sydney doesn't want a team. It shows that Sydney FC mean little to west Sydney. If the Rovers were entering next season and had organised some sort of fan day at Parramatta Stadium there would have been more of a presence.
True Tah
Guest
Fussball western sydney should have had a team from the start of the HAL, and should have come in ahead of the Gold Coast or North Queensland. And to clarify your point, futbol is the most popular participant sport in western sydney...RL is the most popular spectator sport in western sydney...and by a country mile...I was at a sold out parra stadium when the tigers played the eels, along with 20K other. Maybe rovers could do some joint marketing with the eels/bulldogs/panthers?