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AFL GWS Giants - Kevin Sheedy with Minister for Tourism, Sport and Recreation Mr Andrew Barr. Slattery Images.
In a gutsy challenge against the NRL, Greater Western Sydney Giants have unofficially booked a date with inter-city rivals Sydney Swans at ANZ on the same weekend as the first round of the 2012 NRL season. As brave as this move is, it could well go against the new franchisee.
March 24, 2012.
That’s the date for the showdown that was accidentally ear-marked by Giants CEO Dale Holmes at a grand final luncheon yesterday.
Right after the NAB Cup wraps up, no other AFL team is expected to play that weekend except GWS and Sydney. Why? To put the NRL and AFL in direct competition for crowds.
It’s not good for either team for physical and mental recuperation before the new season. Especially if one of them (or both of them) make the NAB grand final, which though unlikely, is not impossible.
The Giants, led by key signings of NRL-product Israel Folau, as well as Callan Ward, Tom Scully and more recently former Brisbane Lion stalwart Luke Power, have certainly been a controversial addition to the AFL.
The fight for fans in Sydney’s west has been well publicized in the media and has clearly ruffled a few feathers on both sides.
To add to the drama of the west being seen as rugby league heartland, the AFL in true AFL style appear determined to establish the newest team by splitting code allegiances of the fans by pitting them directly against NRL teams.
The announcement of this Round One clash at ANZ Stadium shows just how determined they are to make their presence known.
Honing in on the 11,000 member mark GWS have a solid club foundation considering they are yet to take the field in the top competition. They’ve been tirelessly promoting the club in every which-way possible, around the entire area Greater-Western Sydney encompasses.
Better still, they had a pretty darn good season in the NEAFL. So why the compulsion to war with NRL?
These tactics to try and get two codes waring is nothing new, but it does leave an icky feeling in the hearts and minds of both AFL and NRL supporters.
If I was living in western Sydney I’d be pretty annoyed that I’m being fought over like this.
Credit to GWS for wanting to kick off the season with a bang, but surely this is not the best method to draw crowds when the feeling towards Aussie Rules in the west is already so tense.
How do they think they will appeal to dual-code appreciators if they go about it this way?
The strategy from GWS goes by the horribly incorrect assumption that Sydney-siders can only love one code -rugby league- and that to get numbers into the stadium they have to break that up.
How wrong they are.
A quick look at the Sydney Swans membership numbers proves there is support for AFL, and with a thriving population, larger than melbourne might I add, there’s absolutely no reason another AFL team in Sydney can’t be accommodated and grow alongside other codes.
There are numerous Aussie Rules clubs in Sydney, from Aus-kick to semi-professional ranks, from young to old. I went to a sports high school in Sydney where AFL was one of the larger elite sporting programs, so the love of the game is there.
I just don’t understand why, when there is a clear market for GWS to build off, why they insist on garnering support in this confrontational way.
If the fans want to come, they will come.
This approach is not fair on the players, on the support staff and most of all on the fans. It is not a positive way to bring in supporters.
The Giants have issued the challenge to Sydney’s west.
Whether or not they’ll accept that challenge however, is another story.
No-one likes being the piece of meat in a dog fight.
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