- Video
-
Club Roar
Captured a great grassroots sporting moment? We want to see it!Content Collections
The Roar Community
- Join
- Login
History and trivia buffs will always remember Callan Ward as the first goal scorer for the GWS Giants in the AFL. What few will remember is that the Sydney Swans first goal kicker on Saturday night is actually a far better story and poster boy for the AFL.
Keiren Jack’s kick sent the Sherrin sailing through for the game and the Swans first major, all the big wigs at AFL House should have been rubbing their hands together.
In the first Sydney derby, a culmination of years of hard work, controversy and power spending by the AFL, and a celebration of football north of the game’s spiritual heartland, the son of a rugby league legend opened the ledger. Brilliant.
While Saturday night’s game was (rightly) a celebration of the Giants’ entry into the big league, it was also a night for football in NSW, and a chance to sow the seeds of success in new fertile grounds.
Many see it as the first true shot in what will be a long, bloody code war. But as Andrew Demetriou was quick to highlight, football codes can co-exist in competitive markets.
“The arrival of the Giants, to join the Swans, is not an invasion putting Australian Football ahead of those codes,” Demetriou wrote recently for The Roar. “Of course we believe we are the greatest sport on the planet, but so too do those who love the rugby codes, and those who love the round ball game.
“And we know that there will be those who switch their colours from the Giants to the Rabbitohs and from the Rabbitohs to the Waratahs, and from the Waratahs to Sydney FC: all power to them.”
I personally believe the AFL’s motivation is far less egalitarian and far more evangelist than Andrew is letting on, however the success of the new team (and for many in the west, the new code) will be determined by the ability of the New South Wales population to adopt the Giants into their already well encompassing football hearts.
So when the son of a rugby league legend kicks the first goal in what is essentially an exhibition match for the game in a new land, it serves as an example to those who believe the two sports can’t mingle.
Currently code converts are the faces of the AFL’s push into league heartland, but the true faces of the game should be the Jacks of the world; those kids who grew with the dominant code all around them but made the choice to play the game they loved.
Kids in NSW should understand the choice they now have in front of them, and not merely see Aussie Rules as a sport to play if your too skinny for the rugby codes or just not into soccer. It is a sport they can love despite what the kids at school say.
Michael Voss was a Brisbane Lions champion and hero not only for his playing ability but because he went against the sporting norm in Queensland and played ‘GayFL’ because he loved the game. Jack should serve as the same example. And the AFL will love him for it.
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.