It has been interesting to see the media reaction to the new Western Sydney A-League club, as they look for the sensationalist angle about a code war that doesn’t actually exist.
The A-League kicked off in 2005 and at the time I thought it was a huge mistake to leave out western Sydney as one of the foundation clubs. Western Sydney has a huge player base, bigger than anywhere else in Australia, and for any code to turn their back on that in my mind was a mistake.
Look at it this way…
The AFL will spend over $200 million dollars in the next five years to push their Western Sydney team. There are more rugby league players in Melbourne than there are AFL players in all of Sydney. Yet, the AFL is going to try and throw so much money at this tiny base and hope that in 40 years from now, something may come of it.
Football in Western Sydney easily has the highest participation numbers of any sport, including rugby league. Much of this does come from the fact that is it a simple and easy sport for kids to play. Many parents are more comfortable having their kids play a minimal contact sport like football over rugby league.
As kids get older and can make their own decisions on what they want to play, many of them move into playing other sports, with rugby league eventually being the most popular sport in Western Sydney by a long way.
Still, football can say that up until a certain age group, they have a sizable captive audience here. Maybe a Western Sydney A-League team would give kids in Sydney’s west who play football something to aspire to.
They just have to capture those kid’s attention for a couple of extra years and it will make a world of difference to the A-League.
Upon news of the new western Sydney A-League team, the media went into a meltdown, talking about code wars and battles, all of it rubbish.
Looking beyond the fact that the A-League is played over the summer and doesn’t really compete with traditional winter football, the media still pushed this idea that rugby league would be in for a battle and that the AFL would not sit back and let this happen.
The AFL will tell you they are pushing into Blacktown. This is despite the fact they play and train at Homebush. The GWS team may have a lot of money behind it, but I have more followers on Twitter than this team has members in Western Sydney.
$200 million dollars can go a long way, but it can’t gloss over the fact that the GWS side blew its bolt before they had even played a game. They have a miniscule player and supporter base in Western Sydney and this team will lose more money for the AFL over the next five years than the A-League’s entire broadcasting deal is worth.
The AFL and its GWS team is a very expensive facade. They will have no impact and no say on the A-League expansion into western Sydney.
Rugby league was also dragged into the media’s made-up mess, and it is ironic because I think no two sports in Australia should work more closely together than football and rugby league.
They require roughly the same fields and facilities. I also think that at the junior levels, and even going into higher age groups, they attract different types of people with a different sporting psyche.
Rugby league’s place in western Sydney will only ever change if there is some sort of seismic shift in the general culture of the area. A shift so large that it would effect every other sport anyway, and would take generations to take hold.
Football is very comfortable with its place in sestern Sydney and I think it fears rugby league as much as rugby league fears football….thats being, not at all. They offer different things to different people and their success has proven to not cannibalise the supporters other sport.
So, this idea of a code war in Sydney’s west is nonsense. I say that as someone born and raised in Sydney’s west and who currently lives in Penrith. I don’t need some fool in the media to tell me what they think is going on out here.
What I hope is that FFA is smart about the way they set up this A-League team. They could very easily stuff things up. As a potential customer, there are certain things I want them to do to get me on board.
First of all, the name. In the past names like Rovers and Wanderers have been tossed up, much to my horror. The last thing you want to do is saddle the newest A-League club in your most important market with a rotten name from a Pommy club that will just make most potential fans switch off.
This team needs to belong to Western Sydney, not be borrowing a name from some club in another country.
I’d be happy enough with Western Sydney Football Club. What more do you really need? That says every you need it to say. You don’t need a mascot to get the kids onside because the kids are already playing the game.
The colours will also be important. Sometimes when a new team is started in a sporting competition, you know from the get go that they are the ugly ducklings of the competition.
The horror of Northern Queensland fans when they realised they would be wearing green. The great idea to have a cricket team wearing pink. How about an AFL team wearing black and… dirt?
I personally think black and white would be the way to go. It is simple, it looks good and it would remind people of the black of the Penrith Panthers and the black and white of the old Western Suburbs Magpies.
So where do they play games?
There is already talk they would play games at Parramatta Stadium, which I think is a mistake. We have seen teams in every sport try to establish themselves at Parramatta Stadium, and it just doesn’t work. Only the Parramatta Eels have lasted there for any length of time.
This is strange because Parramatta Stadium is a nice stadium and based in a population center. For whatever reason though, it a grave yard of sporting clubs. Hell, even the Eels aren’t setting the world on fire right now!
The Western Sydney A-League team should split games between Campbelltown and Penrith for the most part. They should also look to try and get access to the AFL/cricket Stadium at Blacktown.
Long term, the very best place for a Western Sydney A-League team to be based at would be Blacktown. They would be the only show in town with no other major sporting club based and playing games there.
Blacktown has a huge football base and if the A-League were able to secure funding for a 15,000-seat football stadium in Blacktown, they would be set.
It is a big ask, but one that would be a real legacy for football in Western Sydney.
Now, the A-League and FFA have just six months to get this club up and running. It is going to be a tough ask. They will make mistakes. If they can just get the basics right though, it will be a fantastic success.
As a lifelong rugby league fan who also played football as a youngster, I’ll be supporting them.
me, I like football
Guest
short memory http://www.abc.net.au/news/2009-12-14/afls-concerns-over-cup-bid-run-deep/2597866
MHTID
Guest
His arrogance knows no bounds.
Nathan of Perth
Guest
The AFL moved into Western Sydney because the Aliens who built the Pyramids commanded it.
Nathan of Perth
Guest
Wait, what?
Jack Russell
Roar Guru
Well, he is right. There are only about 100 AFL players in Sydney - being the playing squads of the Swans and GWS combined. I'm sure there are more rugby league player sin Melbourne than that, even if by not much.
me, I like football
Guest
The AFL moved into Western Sydney to market to 2m potential supporter,. this is well known. It would not of made any difference if tiddlywinks was the main code there
Australian Rules
Guest
Yes, when Demetriou welcomed the new W.Syd team and offered his support, he was being "arrogant and offensive". Ditto for GWS Captain, Luke Power, when he outrageously embraced the addition of the new team. Also, when the Suns offered their support to the stricken Titans organisation last week, that was a ugly and petulant display. When Collingwood and Melbourne conduct joint sessions with the Storm and the Victory, it's yet another example of the AFL's brutish imperialism. JV...isn't it tiresome writing the same thing over and over and over again?
Kasey
Guest
What Dimwit said in public and his actions behind the scenes in pulling the strings of the sensationalist Melbourne media tell 2 different stories. He was supposed to be close friends with Ben Buckley. Are you telling me he couldn't pick up the phone and have a quiet word? instead all declarations of thou shalt not have our ground and we 'might lose a whole footy season were splashed over back & front pages..that is the actions of a warmonger. make no mistake, AD is out to destroy anything that will prevent the mission of global domination of the AFL. He lost a lot of 2-coders (football & footy) with his actions, but he and you don't care because the AFL can afford to shed a few here and there. a time will come when it cant afford this. No empire lasts forever. Perhaps in years to come the arrogant manner with which the AFL conducts itself will be viewed as the rod it has made for its own back.
Punter
Guest
AFL moved into West Sydney to combat Football not Rugby League. This is well known.
Punter
Guest
No-one said AUS did not get the WC because of Demetriou, please.... It was his stance against the WC that made him & AFL so disliked outside of AFL heartland. Please understand the difference.
Bondy
Guest
I think League Freak is spot on the further out west the better if they were playing at Parra stadium then half of your supporters could potenially go to Sydney F.C. games their only up the road at the S.F.S. . League Freak with the black and white strip (authentic) ,Tinkler uses that for away games with the Jets . Sensible read .
j binnie
Guest
Some interesting points coming from different angles on the original article but none touch on the real problem facing both RL and AFL, and that is the INTERNATIONAL format enjoyed by football in all corners of the world ,a situation that no amount of the money available in Australia will help them overcome. In recent years society in Australia has become much more multi-cultural than at any time in it's population history and with this shift has come demands on TV channels to source more and more football from leagues,not only in England,but Italy,Spain,Germany, Holland,and now Japan & Korea and it won't be long before Middle Eastern country leagues will be adding to that list. Even now,here,at the "crossover times" between the codes, the big two are being forced to use more and more replays of the same games to meet with the competition from the sources I have listed not to mention the European Championship and Trophy tournaments, our own Asian Cup comp, and of course the World Cup tournaments in all ages that now take over 2 years to get the participants down to the nitty-gritty of the finals of each competition. This is an enormous avalanche of televisable entertainment just pouring into the country and there is precious little the big two can do about it so perhaps in a quiet way they are quite pleased the HAL is played in summer,thus not competing directly for the spectator dollar. Food for thought. jb
SportsFanMelb
Guest
MHTID - if you think Demetriou is the reason that AUS did not get the WC then there is no helping you. Either you didn't read anything about what happened during that process or you could not understand how the bidding process was rigged and corrupt. -- Comment left via The Roar's iPhone app. Download The Roar's iPhone App in the App Store here.
Commo
Guest
Long term, the very best place for a Western Sydney A-League team to be based at would be Blacktown. They would be the only show in town with no other major sporting club based and playing games there. Hello! GWS Giants and the Australian game live there. I think the European Football Federation Australia should pay for their own ground.I am sure they can get some Euro's from FIFA
SportsFanMelb
Guest
JVGO you just proved AR's point. You are happy with any sport being played in West Sydney as long as its not AFL. Why wouldn't AFL go there to increase its market share? Why do you think that the NRL is looking at going to Perth? But that's ok because it's NRL and it's ok to go other areas around the country to increase market share. Mate all I would suggest is stick to league and don't stress yourself over the AFL and what they are doing. Also when did anyone from the AFL denigrate NRL players?? Re: the colours of GWS - ordinary argument to say the least -- Comment left via The Roar's iPhone app. Download The Roar's iPhone App in the App Store here.
JVGO
Guest
Keep trying AR. All sounds like marketing BS and PR to me. As do most of the things you and Demetriou spout. Simple fact is that the AFL is out to grow its market share in a region where its presence was formerly negligible. This will inevitably be at the expense in numerous ways of the sports already established as a part of the region. As I say I look forward to the AFL's report on 'How AFL expansion in Western Sydney will benefit other sports and Australia's international sporting competitiveness'. I'm sure it will make hilarious reading. In the time being I'll applaud the FFA on a good move and I'm sure the FFA will conduct itself in a far less arrogant and offensive manner than Demetriou's organisation. Good on 'em. Nevertheless AR I think we may have to call it a day here though as the mods are very loathe to let me write anything on this topic for some reason. I'm sure there are several AFL race scandals or something that are worthy of your attention over on the AFL threads.
gurudoright
Guest
I'm excited by the new team being a westie and all, although I would rather the team call Sydney Something rather than West Sydney Something. Even though the team represents Western Sydney, I hate it how organisations try to clump all areas of Western Sydney as one. I'm grew up in Mt.Druitt and have a connection to the area and people between Penrith and Blacktown. Despite being classed as westies, I have no connection to other westie areas like Liverpool, Campbelltown, Lidcombe, Hills District. Cricket was successful with two Sydney teams in the T20 big bash. Having the Sydney Thunder based at Homebush it was given the identity of the Westie team without having the need to be classed as 'Western Sydney'. The jersey should be Red and Black thick hortizontal bars. Those two colours together look epic
Patrick Angel
Roar Guru
In all seriousness, if there was ever going to be a stadium which everyone can use, put it at Granville, all the trains go past there.
The Cattery
Roar Guru
It was heartening to hear yesterday and today both Andrew Demetriou and Luke Power, co-capt of GWS, giving their unequivocal support to a new soccer team in Sydney's West. I'm sure both GWS and the new soccer team will come to be great ambassadors for the broader region.
ItsCalled AussieRules
Roar Rookie
Wouldn't it be better if they increased the distance between the goal posts instead of just widening the posts? :)