State of the Game: 2012 participation

This is a major flaw of a supposed cross code website. That and seemingly absent intelligent moderation judging by the liberties afforded this Rough Conduct person. Reading through and I can't help but laugh given that I'm yet to see Aust Football using Rugby (either) kicking coaches. Tackling - yes. Kicking - no. Wallabies and ABs have used .AF kicking coaches. 'Nuff David really.

Geez you are resorting to straight out BS now. http://www.nrl.com/portals/nrl/RadEditor/Documents/State_of_the_Game_2012.pdf

TC i posted that around midday yesterday.. It stayed "Your comment is awaiting moderation.",for a long while.as most of my posts do..sometimes overnight. I cant help if the truth is pointed out & the cheersquad refuses to accept it.. The simple question that i have asked is why do the AFL lie about numbers?.& all i get is deflection ,or denial. The avoidence speaks volumes about AFL fans ..

After reading through most of it - The Leichhardt Council consistently recognises the AFL Balmain Dockers and their juniors should have a decent ground and facilities in the Leichhardt LGA, which currently they dont have (They are currently located in the Canada Bay LGA) It is obvious the council bears no ill will to our sport - Why because our game is getting kids involved in activities. One question arises will lack of facilities restrict our game up there eventually because Sydney is a bit of a mess in that regard. Will the AFL be forced to acquire eventually land outright and build their own mini setups offering the facilities to the respective communities.

The below is from the council document ................... AFL - the need to establish an AFL facility within the LGA (CURRENTLY NONE) The recommendation allows AFL to develop its sporting profile within the Leichhardt LGA. AFL originally applied for the Glover Street Playing fields, NOT BIRCHGROVE PARK Having strategically reviewed current recreational provision the most suitable ground for AFL in the Leichhardt LGA is at Birchgrove Oval. Birchgrove Oval is large enough and the correct shape (oval rather than square) to cater for junior games as well as provide access to a full sized AFL ground. Historically AFL has strong links to Birchgrove Oval having been played at the park from 1903 through to 1926. It is therefore recommended therefore that Balmain and District Soccer are relocated from Brichgrove Park to the Glover Street playing fields to allow for the development of an AFL training and competition format at Birchgrove Park.

Its a war for you mate isnt it, gee, who would have thought more adults and kids play afl in adelaide than the eastern seabord, staggering numbers their on an upward spiral perhaps. Your being questioned with the numbers from your own sport right here, forget anywhere else .

Marc, And anybody else interested here is the link to the Sydney AFL Health report originally mentioned by The Wookie. Go to the link below and at the bottom of the page is a link to the actual PDF file. There are other PDF files also relating to footy in Sydney on the same page. On reflection it seems GWS will have to rearrange their priorities juniors wise but as Sheeds said there are not enough experienced AFL people on the ground up there anyhow ATM in that Zone. http://www.sportingpulse.com/assoc_page.cgi?c=1-1047-0-0-0&sID=53282&news_task=DETAIL&articleID=20940957

Have to agree, the funniest quote was from the Wagga council, who stated ...."we have not heard from RL for years, not since the Leagues club closed, if they make a proposition, we will look at it ".

Indeed, you will find it was the council who suggested Birchgrove, because of its size, not the Sydney AFL. Although that must be because the council and the Sydney AFL are conspiring against RL ....is that right DB Swannie !!!!!! LOL

Brothers possibly !!, The report which is a Sydney AFL one makes good points, it is open about the problems the game faces in WS, and it's not going to be easy, the crossover from school and community auskick to club auskick is not good. There is a strategic plan being put in place for 2013-2016 community football in metro Sydney, whether this works or not, and to what degree, only time will tell, it will be available for perusal in the next couple of weeks. http://www.sportingpulse.com/assoc_page.cgi?client=1-1047-0-0-0&sID=53282&&news_task=DETAIL&articleID=20940957

If there are two comical sporting events we were to nominate for this calendar year, it would be: 1. Soccer sucking League into protecting Birchgrove Oval from the AFL, when in fact the AFL never asked to play there. Outcome for League getting sucked into doing Soccer's dirty work? Soccer got access to more grounds, League got nothing. 2. Gallop galloping into Wagga with his posse after discovering that the Giants had been promised a measly $150,000 for playing a pre-season game there and having some training sessions down there. TC

For those interested in the facts of the case, rather than the hysterical stories, here's a link to the Leichhardt city council report on sporting grounds: http://www.leichhardt.nsw.gov.au/IgnitionSuite/uploads/docs/item12b-jul2012-ord.pdf

These people are infatuated with proving the AFL wrong at every turn, Birchgrove was the same, the council fiasco in Wagga the same again, same with comments from the Canberra Raiders CEO, Phil Gould, Mark Geyer etc etc etc about GWS. When you think about it, it's all quite comical how scared these people are. Birchgrove was really funny though, i think some of these posters are still down there manning the barricades, ...LOL.

Nostradamus and Brewski The thing is that the AFL appears to be the only big sporting body that even bothers publicly releasing its annual report and audited financial statements, every year, not occasionally, but every year. And yet, every year, we have to put up with people making up extraordinary stories about the AFL fabricating numbers - the only sport publicly releasing audited numbers! The lengths these people go to, honestly, you'd thing if they were so concerned about transparency and accountability - they'd be agitating to get their own sports producing audited figures every year! TC

Brewski Many thanks for that summary - hopefully some agitators may lie down now...Tragically they will rehash this story again in 6 months and just hope a person with the right info is watching and responding...

@Mike. I would imagine that not many places in the world have grounds big enough for 18 a side, so a lot of games are 9, 11, 15 etc , still footy though. The recent USAFL champs are all 18 a side, the biggest AF tournament in the world, thats not to bad, for around 40 + teams. As far as your comment about about the definition of participation goes, the ABS says to be considered a participant, you have to sign onto a comp that goes at least 6 weeks, many auskick comps go for 6 weeks and longer, i would imagine that many indoor soccer, cricket, netball type comps go for around the same period of time, usually co-inciding with terms at school. When sporting stats are released i have not seen people question indoor soccer particpation or Milo cricket etc, just seems some people have a problem with Auskick .... seems odd to me. What Ian says is correct, the more kids that are exposed to AF through auskick, the less stigma the game will carry in the northern states, particuarly when passed down from their parents !!.

2.53 The committee requested that the AFL provide statistics on participation levels in Western Sydney, the Gold Coast and Tasmania, including the proportion of participants made up of the Auskick program. Unfortunately, the AFL only provided the committee with figures for the entire NSW/ACT region, rather than Western Sydney alone. They are included in Appendix 3. These statistics are not helpful in assessing meaningful participation in the code in that area as they include far Western NSW, the Riverina, Canberra and the far South Coast of NSW, where Australian Rules football enjoys strong support and well established club competitions exist. 2.54 Information on the public record, attributed to the New South Wales Minister for Sport suggests that actual participation in Western Sydney is fewer than 3,000.[47] In contrast Tasmanian participation is about 24,000 or nearly five per cent of the Tasmanian population. In the absence of more authoritative figures the committee is inclined to accept that participation in Western Sydney is, as a proportion of its population, relatively insignificant./quote] The above is the section of the report that DB Swannie is continually fretting about. ........ LOL I might point out that GWS plays home games in Canberra, trials in the Riverina and has academies in those areas. Tapayers should be angry that a senate committe was formed to report on something that quite frankly is none of their business, and a waste of money. Sydney is split in 2 and GWS has for recruiting purposes the southern half of the state. I might also point out that the report bags the AFL for providing stats outside of WS, but then goes ahead and provides the total participation for Tassie, rather than where the team is actually going to play ....which would be probably Hobart, so essentially doing what it complains about. I would be interested for someone to point out where all this lying is ?.

Correct Nostradamus. And to this day - I am yet to come across one League fan who fully understands that soccer played League like a song. As it turns out - at no point did the the AFL NSW express interest in Birchgrove - it was a beat up. They were offered some space somewhere or another, and said thank you. League got nothing out of it, except for the good feeling of having fought the good fight (on behalf of soccer). TC

RC Aussie Rules football was played in Sydney well before Rugby league so broaden your horizons...

Do you mean that Grant Burge the Finance man at the Herald and Leichaardt soccer president was using the paper to run a campaign for his soccer club under the guise of an AFL takeover of the RL spiritual home??