Eddie McGuire once described the western suburbs of Sydney as the “land of the falafel”, so it was ironic to find the AFL’s latest leader, Gillon McLachlan, in Auburn earlier this week, begging us falafel-eaters to bite into his GWS Giants.
Only two days after one of the great nights in Australian football saw the Western Sydney Wanderers take a 1-0 lead into Sunday morning’s return leg of the Asian Champions League final in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, the AFL head was out spruiking for business at an Auburn primary school.
To hear and see from the kids at this school just how little an impact the Giants and AFL had made in western Sydney would no doubt have reminded him of the mountain of work that lies ahead to make this venture work.
At one point McLachlan described one of the classrooms as a “tough crowd”. It was a metaphor for what was going on more broadly across the sporting landscape out west.
Here the Wanderers are big business. Everywhere you go you can’t escape the sea of red and black strips, a large proportion of them on the backs of kids.
Over the past couple of weeks, for example, I’ve seen that first hand, whether at trials for the eight, nine and 10 year olds hoping for a place in the Skills Acquisition Program (SAP), or those kids fronting up for their club trophy presentation day.
The red and black hoops were everywhere, not just on game-days like the thrilling Sydney Derby or the ACL final of the past fortnight.
The irony wouldn’t have been lost on anyone to see McLachlan wandering out to the west, with his arms out, begging fans of the Wanderers to rescue a team that looks anything but a giant.
And to hear, only 24 hours later, back in the cocoon that is the “world” of AFL in Melbourne, that both the MCG and Etihad Stadium are tied with AFL games on the week of the A-League grand final.
Is it any wonder the fans out west haven’t embraced a code that has essentially felt it could ride roughshod over Australia’s sporting scene.
Here was a sport that felt it could simply splash the cash out west and win over the hearts and minds. Hitherto it’s been a cruel reality check.
These are tactics that would have worked in the past. But football in Australia has a new found confidence, and David Gallop has been quick to douse any suggestion of giving the Giants a leg-up.
“What would that entail? At the end of the day, we are in a competitive environment,” Gallop told Fairfax today.
“We want people to choose our game to play and watch.
“Our popularity is booming and we are going to concentrate on our sport – and the business of our sport.”
This Sunday morning thousands out west are likely to get up at 3am and flock to Centenary Square in Parramatta to see the second leg of the ACL final live on a giant screen.
This isn’t for a Socceroos game in a Word Cup or crunch World Cup qualifier, but for a team that has become the unifying symbol of the west.
Win or lose, the fact the Wanderers can move people in the tiny hours of a Sunday morning, for a competition Australia hasn’t always embraced, is a sign of just how big a mark the club has made.
After it, a few of the clubs fans might even venture over to a falafel stand for a bite.
Renell
Guest
Penrith and Parramatta stand to stay longer in the midst of a Wanderers growth this decade. Unlike the Giants, they're firmly entrenched in Western Sydney society. You could say they're specific to an area...you can be a Wanderers fan but go for the Eels/Tigers/Dogs/Panthers. I don't even know where GWS are placed. Their Blacktown experiment failed it seems, and playing out of Homebush without a 'heartland' gives the impression they're strangers to a foreign sporting landscape
josh
Guest
I wasn't aware that a 100 point mauling week in week out was a contest. There you go hey.
bryan
Guest
Axel,unlike the AFL,the "A" League hold the GF in the home city of the club with the highest number of points at the end of the regular season. If that team is WSW, the Glory,the Roar,or whatever,the stadium in Melbourne won't be needed.on that day. That said,it wouldn't be the end of the world if they had to use a "lesser" stadium. The AFL has had to do that on one occasion-------the first appearance of the West Coast Eagles in an AFL GF was a Waverley Park!
my mate james
Guest
Without football and the Victory they'd still be punting their Steedens around Olympic Park.
Bondy
Guest
Dmak Strange comment, not enjoying signing at a sporting contest its the communion of people as one, most of the world does it and not just in football either ....
Dmak
Guest
When I speak to to Aleague fans they will always mention how enjoyable it is attending matches due to the chanting and jumping around with the other supporters but will usually fail to mention what actually occured on the pitch. As the game is mostly irrelevant to the enjoyment. To answer your question attending a Giants will actually offer you the chance to watch a sporting contest not a community sing along.
duecer
Guest
Yes, that is true, but how much longer will they be friendly if WSW keeps eating into the junior base and if they continue to rise but Parramatta and Penrith stay stagnant:.
Lachlan
Guest
Anyone in Sydney who already cared about the AFL already follows the Swans. There were very few unaffiliated AFL fans in the Western Sydney region. The AFL knew this when they made the club. They had to create a new grassroots, rather than tap into something already there - sometimes by converting existing fans of other codes. Aside from a few places in the NW, there is no grassroots AFL in Sydney to speak of. Their approach has always been one of "muscle in and convert other fans to the light of AFL",or "we know what you want!". They converted rugby league players, and squeezed money out of the government. They created a team called "Greater Western Sydney", a phrase nobody ever says outside of a government department. They made noises about being based at black town, but then moved back to homebush when they couldn't handle the "falafel". None of their players want to even live in Western Sydney - Buddy Franklin's snub being a classic example. On top of this, they moved some games to Canberra. In Western a Sydney, this stuff matters. I don't live in the western half of the city, but everybody knows that people in that area are very proud, parochial, no-nonsense, working class and multicultural. They want football teams to represent these values, not sneer at them. The Wanderers have done a better job than the Giants and a lot of other Rugby league teams in the area at representing those values on the field. That's before you get to the fact Western a Sydney has always been a football heartland. The AFL needs to relaunch the franchise and actually listen to local people, or they need to wind it up.
Dmak
Guest
You are probally right apart from the NRL GF i can not remember any game involving two Sydney Teams being a sellout. But in 2003 over 70,000 attendended at Sydney vs Collingwood match so who knows.
Ben
Guest
Nil all draws are uncommon and aren't necessarily dull affairs.
Perry Bridge
Guest
C - and what was 'appropriate notice'? There's what seems reasonable but there's also what is soon enough to be able to be factored in. The AFL assertion is that back in July they were advised the weekend of May 10 was the week to keep a day free. The AFL did that. The AFL asserts the change was only communicated to them (via State govt) on Oct 16. I understand that to be too late by quite some way. Had it been communicated properly around Sept 19 then mebbe - but, by Oct 16 the fixture is locked away and it's only timeslots that are being finalised. It was the MVFC and Stadium that made the mistake (or otherwise) in communicating that date. If City wins the right to host - they host at AAMI Park I believe. So - on the 10% chance that MVFC wins through there's an issue so this may be all hypothetical. The AFL manager for this indicated that perhaps wait and see if it plays out that way and then it largely comes down to whether Etihad is willing to allow the AFL to drop one of it's contracted matches at the venue - and to get a GF in place then probably they would. However - for the AFL their locked in now with contractual obligations. So - it may yet come to play that if the GF is required then all will be fine. Let's not jump too much at shadows even if it is Halloween!!
c
Guest
perry bridge i understand the ffa provided adequate notice of date change to the appropriate party
Leland Facepalmer
Guest
... clown car, balloon animals, hoop pants, seltzer bottle, string of scarves, oversize shoes, rubber chicken, face in the egg gallery, tears on the inside...
Bondy
Guest
Terry You're a clown where's your tricycle red nose wig and horn...
Kasey
Guest
Oddly the above comment isn't the dumbest thing I've heard this week regarding sport. The guy at the Vinyl store I was browsing yesterday saw my United shirt and told me fair dinkum that he'd be much more likely to watch Soccer if Adelaide United played in the League that Liverpool played in!! Crikey, the urge to double facepalm was almost unbearably high;)
Davo
Guest
Haven't sold out because we're still almost 3 months away?? I can assure you the game like all other socceroos games will sell out.
clipper
Guest
Josh, I believed it was always looked upon as a 20 year project, time for the kids to come through as adults. Of course WSW has had a huge impact out west, but as there was virtually no AFL interest out west to begin with, I don't think they've eaten away at the supporter base. Judging by my experiences out west, you now see more WSW and Football shirts than NRL ones, a big change from even 5 years ago.
Josh
Guest
Results don't mean a thing, people feel connected to WSW because they represent us. No one even knows where GWS is, and they connect themselves with Canberra whenever they can - they will never mean anything to Western Sydney.
The Link
Guest
Yeah looks nothing like league, 6 touches, dummy halves......
Perry Bridge
Guest
Da Lawyah - agree and disagree Agree Giants put there to make money - long term - not short term. Short term a team in Tassie would cost less but long term the AFL hopes the Giants will be worth more. And from a notion of pins on a map - it completed the minimum 2 teams per mainland state and doubles the number of 'home' games in NSW and the number of locally based players to attend clinics and schools etc. Disagree no one wanted a 2nd AFL team - back in 2005 then premier Bob Carr was pushing for it and that was part of his reasoning for allocating $15 million to the Blacktown oval development. Agree the Wanderers were a long time coming - and I'd suspect the FFA themselves effectively wanted to bed down SFC as the only Sydney metro option (always a tougher sell than the WSW).