While the first recorded game of Australian football in Sydney was in 1877, between the Waratah rugby club and the now-AFL Club Carlton, it wasn’t until 1880 that the NSW Australian Football Association was formed, albeit loosely.
In that year, the first local game was recorded as being played between East Sydney, who defeated Sydney 3.10.28 to 1.6.12 at what is now the Sydney Cricket Ground.
This was the first game of any football played on the ground.
The game attracted a reasonable amount of newspaper exposure and rivalled the rugby code until 1894, when during one of the worst depressions to hit the country, the game fell from favour and the association collapsed.
It was revived in 1903 when it was arranged for VFL clubs Collingwood and Fitzroy to fixture a match at the Sydney Cricket Ground in May of that year.
This stimulated interest in the game, a new competition and the NSW Australian Football League was formed. To use a contemporary phrase, `the league was powering’. In 1911 it purchased a ground on Botany Road, Alexandria, and appointed a full-time secretary.
The game in Newcastle mirrors somewhat the Sydney league, with the game introduced via miners in the 1880s. The game in the Illawarra was a relative latecomer, with the South Coast Senior league forming in 1969.
[latest_videos_strip category=”afl” name=”AFL”]
In 2017, the game around the Sydney Basin is at its strongest in history.
In 2010, there were 54 senior teams playing in Sydney, fast forward to 2017 and there were 79 (plus a few more in the NEAFL). In the Black Diamond League, centered around Newcastle, in 2011 there were 18 senior teams, in 2018, 41 teams have nominated. In 2013, there were 854 players playing senior football in the BDL and in 2016 there were 1034.
In Sydney junior football, in 2012 in GWS’s zone there were 67 junior teams, in 2017 there was 155. In the Swans’ zone, in 2012 there were 210 teams, in 2017 there were 366 teams from under 8s to 17s.
Schoolboy football in Sydney across elite private schools such as Shore, Riverview and Knox did not exist in 2012, yet on Saturday mornings in 2017, 50 teams were playing from Year 7 to 12, and quite a number of AFL footballers have been drafted from there. Something similar will happen next year in the city’s private girls schools.
Newcastle junior football has also gone through something similar. In 2013, there were only eight under-9 teams, in 2017 there were 18. The Central Coast juniors, which is a separate junior league, has grown albeit slower than Newcastle.
Yhe Illawarra league comprises 19 senior men’s teams across two divisions, and a junior league that has remained relatively static for a number of years – nowhere near the growth of Sydney and the Black Diamond League.
The game of Australian football is as healthy as it has ever been across the Sydney basin and looks to grow even bigger in the coming years.
Maybe, just maybe, the game can cement itself and beat the boom-bust cycle that it has had over its 140-year history in the state.
Aligee
Roar Rookie
A couple of years ago AFL Sydney juniors claimed around 10,000 juniors, on their website recently they put an article out about end of year premiers and B&F etc and stated they had over 15,000 juniors - we are talking about CLUB juniors here. Considering the huge increase in team numbers that is demonstrable through the fixtures link in the last few years i would believe it. In various areas of Sydney N/NW and eastern and inner western suburbs the game would have to be considered mainstream now.
republican
Guest
.....concur, however there has been some historically fractious politicking between the two as well. I wonder if the commercial engineers of our code plan to dumb the game down in respect of playing surface anyway. A metaphor for our rationalised, homogenous world, the truncation of codes. Perhaps a rectangular future will be realised in my life time; saints preserve us............
Tokenism
Guest
Depends on NZ and Pacific Islander migration patterns. If they stop coming to Sydney, NRL will lose its potential growth. Why would anyone in their right mind want to take up RL or union nowadays? Not the sort of demographic you would encourage your son to hang out with.
The_Wookie
Roar Guru
Some say Lawson has been bought off. Rubbish. League folks say it. No one else gives a damn. And its not unheard of for someone who writes a report to be bought on board to implement its recommendations.
TWLS
Guest
Spot on with that comment. The private Girls Schools in Sydney mentioned in the article have only just given the ok to admit Aussie Rules Footy to their programs, after requests from Parents and the Students. As a matter of interest those schools have a variety of sports -The football activities cover Touch, Soccer Football, Futsal and now Aussie Rules - Currently neither of the Rugby Codes are present. That School network covers 30 Schools Statewide and AFLNSW has said they will eventually start up a Statewide Comp. There were about 8 Schools who signed up for the trial last month and at least a few put two teams on the field, which for a non heartland region is extraordinary, which I can speak with some knowledge of that market, having lived there for 8 years a few years ago, in regard to our Code being no 4 in the pecking order for every thing sports related. Its a tough gig up there. However translating School teams into Club competitions is not easy, and that is the challenge. Regionally in NSW there are Womens teams popping up everywhere and in 2017 there was 79% increase in Female Club members, likely off a low base.
Hunter
Guest
I agree as soon as sports start talking about 'participants' I zone out. Might be worth reading the AFL Sydney annual report. It clearly outlines the numbers of CLUB players and teams. Of particular note is the increase in junior club players since GWS entered the competition, its almost doubled, although off a very low base. This increase is yet to filter through to the senior levels, probably about 10 years away.
Aligee
Guest
According to some posters on the RL board that is a big no!!, AFLW had nothing to do with it, of course any subjective analysis puts paid to that wonky theory, however i think the gold medal from the womens rugby 7's actually stung the AFL into action a bit quicker than what they wanted.
Kangajets
Guest
ABC has got radio apps for nrl afl and A league soccer I think 702 radio might have seen better days
Norad
Guest
Won't be long before ABC 702 in Sydney dumps NRL for AFL? You can bet there is lobbying going on.
Redb
Roar Guru
I the AFL women's game in NSW and potential growth has startled both the rugby codes into action.
Redb
Roar Guru
No, why would you. Cricket and AFL are good ground sharers in the main, different seasons and they make their stadiums pay their way.
Aligee
Guest
I don't think it is hard to say at all, i am talking about CLUB registered players and teams, not after school, before school or even during school auskick participants etc, but payed up club weekend footballers. There has been quite substantial growth and BTW you are talking about something now nearly a decade old. Logically i am not sure why someone needs to be bought off when it is a public document.
Aligee
Guest
Well that would be for Melbourne Swans members, or old south Melbourne fans, i think we can safely say for the bulk of Swans members the SCG is.
Kangajets
Guest
Mat That is the most sensible well thought out comment on any thread today on any site . Optimism with a dose of reality . Brilliant.
Kangajets
Guest
A r Swans in the posh end of town is nothing like Western Sydney . It’s a rich people socialite thing to be seen with a swans scarf . That is not the image of Western Sydney . Gws could get good crowds one day , but I would not hold my breath .
Kangajets
Guest
SCG is a great ground, but a terrible place to get to . Maybe 20 years away , but I can envisage the swans moving .
Mat
Guest
It's hard to say if the AFL has got sustained growth in Sydney. Every year they put out figures that shout out record numbers of 'participants', every year, year on year, they shout out the same thing. Yet the only real objective analysis we have seen in recent times was the Lawson report of 2012. Dr Lawson reported that even though the AFL trumpeted 'massive growth' in Sydney the real figures showed a decline of 6% junior registered players since 2008. He further stated the AFL's 'participation' numbers were for marketing purposes only and actually masked the real figures and challenges for the game. Dr Lawson has since been on the AFL payroll and has been mute on the subject. Some say he has been bought off to remain silent. I think the AFL is certainly having it's voice heard in Sydney. Like the school kid at the back of the room yelling and screaming and waving his arms to get attention. The money they have spent for this attention is in the $100's of millions. The real test will be when the Swans inevitably have a few down years. They have been up for so long it is overdue to happen. That is when we can judge how sustainable AFL is and can be in Sydney.
Kangajets
Guest
Their spiritual home is lakeside oval in south Melbourne, so they reckon . The bloods lol
Liam Salter
Roar Guru
@aligee I'd argue that Port are massive here in South Australia. They don't have the raw membership numbers as the Swans, but they're still very big down here. I betcha that even though the Swans have more members per se, you'd notice support for the Power more throughout Adelaide than you would the Swans in Sydney, if that makes sense.
Kangajets
Guest
U could be correct . It’s an ugly look though if they bottom out crowd wise like Brisbane Lions and Gold Coast suns I agree the junior base is west Sydney entrenched now though .