Unheralded and unknown – it’s a good combination. At least that’s the theory of the sporting clubs working their hardest in enemy territory.
Over the past decade the Swans in Sydney and the Storm in Melbourne have battled to win the hearts and minds of sports fans in cities where their sport is not number one.
As fans of both Australian rules football and rugby league will attest, clubs leading the charge into a foreign market need to be permanently successful to ensure they are held in high esteem in cities where sports followers have only the time and money to support to their first love.
The Storm and Swans have been attractive to players on the cusp of the scrapheap, for those looking for a fresh start.
From an outsider’s viewpoint, it seems that the allure of being a small fish in a big pond is tantalising. Footballers who have had to move to another city, where their sport is not on the back page of the paper, have historically produced career-best football form.
The Swans have regularly traded or drafted players with AFL experience, be it a handful or games or close to 100.
Of the current list Josh Kennedy (Hawtorn), Shane Mumford (Geelong), Rhyce Shaw (Collingwood), Ted Richards (Essendon) and Mark Seaby (West Coast) have all come from foreign states.
Throw in Mike Pyke from Canada and Tommy Walsh from Ireland (via St Kilda) and the successful development of players in the Sydney environment appears to be unrivalled.
Looking south, it is the same scenario with the Melbourne Storm. The Storm have acquired players from other clubs – namely Maurice Blair (Penrith), Ryan Hinchcliffe (Raiders), Jaiman Lowe (South Sydney), Todd Lowrie (Parramatta), Bryan Norrie (Cronulla) and Jason Ryles (Sydney) – and provided them with opportunities or enhanced their game.
In both codes the respective cultures of the Storm and the Swans are revered and held in high esteem by opposition clubs and supporters alike.
The Storm under Bellamy and the Swans under Roos-cum-Longmire are clubs that create mountains out of molehills. They are clubs that – if you have a modicum of talent that hasn’t been fulfilled then – roll the dice, request a trade and watch your potential be reached.
In cities where the microscope of the local press hones in on all your mistakes, lack of game time or just bad luck through injury, a trade is better than a holiday.
All of a sudden an escape from the petri dish means that you can go about doing what you love without the average man on the street reminding you of that bad kick or missed tackle.
With both the Storm and Swans starting the 2012 season undefeated after seven and four rounds respectively there is obviously more than the change of scenery for some players to attribute their results to.
Both sides have superstars of the game on their lists, both clubs have strong winning cultures and both teams remain a second, third or even fourth viewing option for the vast majority of sports fans in their city.
The Storm are favourites for the NRL premiership. If last year was meant to be retribution for lost glories that ultimately wasn’t realised, then look out this year.
The undefeated Swans are still sixth or seventh favourite with most agencies. However, if they keep winning games like their opposite numbers in Mexico then we might be acknowledging them as the surprise premiers of 2012.
The gift to the recruited players of a second chance could be trumped by the gift of a premiership.
slickwilly
Guest
and the league mantra - 'look at the regional tv ratings' is equally boring
Crosscoder
Roar Guru
look at it this way decent exposure over a long period tends to help a code. Rugby league has not been afforded that opportunity in Melbourne either via the elctronic media on a regular basis ditto the press.The Swans conversely have.And you appear to be comparing a Sydney swans on Gem to Sydney and compare it to a non Melbourne storm team back to Melbourne. . The Swans game was not in Sydney,so their local fans watched on Gem.Hardly a scoop. 30 years compared to 14 years residence,big difference.
JamesP
Guest
Swans averaged 61k on Seven Mate yesterday At the same time, a graveyard like 9k Melbournians tuned in to watch the Rugby league. I say graveyard because those figures are akin to what the AFL used to pull in Sydney for Friday night games showed at 12am Saturday mornings. Nine are continuing to get hammered on their decision to show live or near live rugby league into Melbourne. Even with the Storm undefeated Just wait until the Swans have the same run of success the Storm have had...their FTA ratings are well on the way up this year.
Crosscoder
Roar Guru
Sorry, yet to convince me otherwise ,having more local attendees on average than members, suggests more fans outside the city is not strictly correct."more fans outside it ,than in it".. Note just about every fan in a code has a 2nd favourite team. We are drawing comparisons as per the thread ,and you have been given circumstances re the Storm,its not pie in the sky but the reality. The attendance stats for the Swans after poor previous years 1982-1994 ,show a direct correlation with the start of the SL war in 95 jumping from 9,813 to 15,949,the in 96 up to 24,996 and 1997 the year of 2 rl comps 36,612.what a coincidence. . From 1996 -2011 The Swans have been 1st once 2nd twice 3rd once 5th thrice 6th once 7th thrice 8th once 10th once 11th once 12th once Give the Storm 30 years in situ and get back to me.
JVGO
Guest
Go for a drive IW, count the bunnies, spot the Swans.
clipper
Guest
Man U would have far more supporters outside their town, but are the top team in it - as are the Green Bay Packers, so that is not like the Storm situation at all.
Ian Whitchurch
Guest
JVGO, Its a pretty nice day in my Sydney. Whats the weather like in your reality ? Is Barry O'Farrell premier there ? In what other ways does it differ from the universe the rest of us live in ?
JVGO
Guest
I guess 100% increase in the number of teams in Sydney for a 5% increase in ratings would be pretty impressive. $200 million well spent on behalf of the AFL and Ch7 no doubt.
JVGO
Guest
Norom, I thought crowds were all that matters. Aren't GWS averaging more at home than the Swans?
Crosscoder
Roar Guru
And I will be brief and short, sometimes facts at length tend to undermine those of a close mind. The Storm have membership of 10,000 odd,they have attendances averaging 14,000 odd. Maths: local attendees exceed membership.Simple response. The Green Bay Packers have more supporters outside their town,and one could argue Man U. .Enjoy your drinkees at the Woollahra pub.
clipper
Guest
Norm - don't let the facts get in the way! All I did was pose a simple question and I get JVGO going on about how I've only been to two pubs in Woollahra, when in reality the list of pubs I've been to would be longer than one of Crosscoders replies. I shall reword my question, as Crosscoder has a point about not many cities having as many teams as Melbourne (although Sydney would be one). Would there be another team like the Storm in the world that has more support outside their home city, yet is not one of the top teams in it?
Norm
Guest
AFL on FTA in Sydney is up 5% this year
JVGO
Guest
Clipper, the Swans are on a downward spiral. The AFL has stuffed this up big time. Once upon a time the Swans could claim to cut across the traditional cultural and sporting boundaries in Sydney and to some extent at least unite Sydney. The AFL claimed to want to be everyone in Sydney's second team. Of course that has all been thrown out with the new masterplan and the introduction of GWS and the AFL's pretensions to be number one in Sydney and across the country. The Swans can no longer pretend to unite Sydney, they are in fact now divisive. They are no longer supporters of other codes second team, they have slipped to 4 for everybody, just look at the vitriol AFL attracts from all angles on this site, probably further in fact. And all this with Victorians everywhere in Sydney (why do they keep moving here, I thought Melbourne was such a great place to live, I'm sure you've met them in those two pubs you visited around Woollahra all those years ago). The whole GWS venture has been a folly and will mean that the AFL will be stuck with two clubs in Sydney bleeding money with about 25,000 lost soul supporters between them, and declining. The Swans will probably rattle along with good results this season with about 20,000 crowds, and unless they make the GF Sydney will barely notice. There will be Origin, RU tests,the Olympics, NRL finals which will absorb the cities attention. In ten years time i'd suggest the Storm will be more popular and better supported than the Swans.
Crosscoder
Roar Guru
No my point still stands and is indeed relevant , the club has record membership and attendances(as Gauci has indicated in the past some of the figures were fudged and plenty of freebies involved),that is not the case today. If you are going to be selective by mentioning the support of a team in that city ,lets clarify the fact that there are very few towns in the world with as many major sporting teams as Melbourne. Secondly there are very few teams in the world, if any involved in a salary cap drama which dragged the club down to the gutter. The club has been there for only 14 years FHS,the Swans 30 years.In fact the swans have been in sydney only 15 years or so less than the Sharks and Penrith.All relevant and not veering off your point. And 15,000 attendees on average in a city with a population of 500,000 or more less than Sydney is still a good effort.Plus the fact the Storm's ratings back to the Nthn States make up for the outlay by the ARLC(Gallop has stated such)And yet the swans also lose money and do not achieve the desired Tv ratings.. The Storm average 14,000 plus ,and have a membership of 10,000 plus.Not the other way around,indicatiing the locals attend more than the membership.Because there are not thousands of away fans in attendance at Storm NRL games. And funnily enough any rl fan who brings up the marketing and money expended by the AFL in sydney,is met with a deathly silence.Why the fear to acknowledge the huge sums spent over the years.Because the money expended has not tarnslated to an upswing in TV ratings. Any case an interesting comment by Chris Barrett in the SMH today http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-league-league-news/offfield-figures-put-storm-sale-on-agenda=20120426-1xnzw.html From what I hear around the traps,there is a lot of tooing and froing ,even talk of simulcasting of TV rl.the current rights holders have up to monday 30/4 and then the other guys have there dollars' worth.The HD channels like Gem etc will be used . One wonders when News is out of the Storm,will the sniping continue such as it does today.
Ian Whitchurch
Guest
MIcka, Yes, yes they are. And across all codes.
Crosscoder
Roar Guru
i know micka being through thick and thin is the test of a real supporter,but sports fans at times can be fickle,that is human nature.Else we all may as well follow the nrth korean method of everyone on the same song sheet. It is not just Sydney BTW.
NF
Guest
Sydney= bandwagon city deal with it. Brisbane=bandwagon city too case in point Lions & Reds crowds growing all of sudden when they started winning then dropped down where they started losing again but to some AFLers QLD is a AFL state lol.
micka
Guest
Does that mean that a large proportion of Sydney sport followers are what would be called fair-weather-friends? Thats not being a supporter, thats a groupie. If you aren't there for the low times, you have no business rocking up when the wins roll in.
clipper
Guest
Crosscoder - you have veered off the point I was making, which so far no one has answered, namely - would there be another team in the world that has more support outside their home town than in it, but is not in the top 10 attended teams in their home town? The point about the TV coverage will change if the commish does a deal where they have to show it, even if they don't want to in the southern states, like the AFL does here - do you think ch7 would show AFL matches if they didn't have to?
Crosscoder
Roar Guru
And it should be well noted the reasons why the team has stabilised(not grown) attendances and falling TV ratings it has in Sydney town,when one tries to draw distinction with the Storm ,Clipper. As spelt out earlier hardly apples with apples -30 years in a town compared to 14.Virtually zero FTA Tv in Melbourne compared to the opposite for the Swans in sydney.I could go on-with promotion, history,little media coverage compared to Sydney. The 9 teams argument is indeed valid,as is 40,000 attending the ANZAC day club match .As soon as I happen to mention your name Clipper,the auto moderating function man, goes into a lather.Yet I am rl fan posting in a rl thread!!!!!!! .But would still get the same tired old mantra( even if the Storm had been there 6 months) "the crowds,the crowds". Gee maybe the NRL should use "the crowds the crowds"for a trial in Hobart with 14,000 attendees.It was an event call it a niche moment. Well the crowds may get tired also of a bad run of outs over the years.Sydney people are like that.They invented the word bandwaggon.