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This post and Unconfused's below are eerily accurate and reflect the experience of dozens of veteran Sydney club people I have known. The only thought I ever had on how things could be improved for the better of local footy instead of just "the Code", i.e. whatever the AFL strategy of the day is - is that Clubs, senior and junior have some form of collective voice - Sydney Clubs Association or whatever, a peak body. Without this the AFL can always churn/isolate the volunteers/clubs that bob up as problematic for them from time to time as clubs will tend to be on their own with the issue of the day and often worse, other clubs tend to line up along self-interested short termist lines (they have learnt this is the only way to stay on good terms with AFL office...). Imagine a Board which could say it represented all clubs saying to the AFL - you cannot do this to Bankstown, its completely unacceptable to us. A much better scenario than them being all on their own, same re: Camden which I read about on here and same about many other issues of the day or yesteryear.
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I genuinely feel sorry for many of the AFL staff, who are simply carrying out directions.
Those directions obviously come from interstate, and are based on decisions made without consultation, by people with no understanding of the local conditions.
VFL/AFL in Victoria have been able to act as they like ... who's going to argue? ... if they do, steamroll them and hope they walk away ... for every 10 you disenfranchise there's 100 more coming through behind them!
Not so in Sydney, a very different landscape! ... far less vitriol about sport/club participation and involvement in general, and far more options open to kids, parents, and senior participants alike ... there is true competition for participants at all levels.
Bankstown is a classic example - the very concept that an area with nearly 200,000 people could only have ONE Junior AFL club and about 150 kids (no seniors, nothing else!) is unimaginable! ... and the fact that it has taken a dozen years to build that club back to where it is?! ... you're not in Kansas anymore Toto!!!
Forget junior and senior clubs, a similar demographic in Melbourne would be serviced by at least 25 Auskick centres alone!!!
How about some "fun facts";
Bankstown has more registered competitive cyclists than AFL players!
Sydney South Juniors covers an area with a population > 500,000 and has about 700-800 kids playing competitive AFL across 7 clubs.
Panania RSL Soccer club, which share the Kelso Park complex with Bankstown Sports Junior AFL has around the same number of registered players ... there are 21 soccer clubs competing in Bankstown within a maximum 15 minute drive from Keslo.
Yet, no one from the AFL cares about this, they continue with their Grand Plans, and of course, all of their actions and decisions then flow on to the senior clubs ... Campbelltown's issues are compounded as a result of GSJ re-zoning decisions made years ago.
All of this can only support the theory that the whole exercise is NOT about sustainable growth of the code in Sydney, but the short sighted money grab to be had by creating a 2nd Sydney AFL franchise.
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First batch oc clearances in. No sensations. A few denials by the usual suspects.
Sydney AFL - SportingPulseComment
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No-one knows who all the players are on the list but, by purely counting heads, you'd think that Camden, Wests, UTS, Manly and the Eastern Uni Bulldogs have cleaned up, while Campbelltown have lost a few.
I'm thinking that UTS might go OK in PD this season....saw them at home one day last year and I was impressed with what they are putting together.Comment
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Nice spot Pekay. Check out the clearances on Sydney AFL, Moorebank to NTFL. Surely not a real name?Comment
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Pretty much.
I don't think too many people here would be under any illusions as to why the AFL is pumping so much money into footy in NSW. I doubt if or when the NSW GM reports back to head office he would be asked "and how's the health of local football" or similar.
Basically, the AFL is only doing it for two reasons. The first is to create supporters of the game (who as a result become AFL "consumers") and the second is to churn out footballers good enough to play in the AFL competition.
Junior football is the means to the end in both of the above aims. How junior football is structured (ie which clubs come and go, which competitions they play in, etc) are basically irrelevant as long as the end goals are achieved. In fact, if clubs have to go or be restructured to achieve those goals, that is what will happen.
And, as for senior football, that is pretty much at the bottom end of the scale as far as importance goes to the AFL. Now, having said that, there are and have been good people working in the AFL over the years that have done their damnedest to further the cause of senior footy here in Sydney. Peter Hiscock and Garry Burkinshaw are two examples. But you could imagine the walls and stumbling blocks they ran into trying to grow and promote the senior game here.
Outside perhaps of the Premier Division, which compares poorly in terms of quality when compared to other state leagues and clearly needs improving, I doubt if the AFL has much interest in senior footy in Sydney. It just doesn't feature on their radar to them, apart from those employees who are directly charged with the responsibility of running it. Could you imagine Harley or in the past Holmes caring about the Camdens, Nor-West Jets, Moorebanks, Penriths etc of this world?
I know of someone who used to be very senior in the AFL (an organization charged with the responsibility of promoting and growing the game at all levels I might add) being openly and plainly derisive and dismissive of the game at the lower senior levels in Sydney. Completely contrary to the values the organization is supposed to hold. Learning about it certainly opened my eyes, that's for sure.
So it's important to keep in mind why the AFL is pumping so much footy into NSW football. It certainly ain't for the welfare and growth of your club.Comment
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Agree again MoP. Peter H came with the furniture when the AFL took over the SFL in the late 1990s, and Garry was an appointee from outside who brought independence. But the new guy is an inside apparatchik (that word again !) who is going to do what the masters instruct.
Can't see it being a benefit to our comps.Comment
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The AFL needs to be very careful here.
They have taken their usual high and might arrogant approach with the GWS corporate exercise. Send it up and the philistines will see the light and come flocking in droves. Complete lack of respect for the Sydney sporting landscape and their competitors and now a complete lack of respect to hardworking people up here who have been the lifeblood of the game which the AFL, until GWS was conceived by some ex Melbourne Grammar boy wonder on work experience, has ignored and not given a cent of assistance.
Well, AFL HQ, you are in for a reality check. You are in internal turmoil with your morally repugnant drugs policy, you have a NRL that is resurgent and you have the WS Wanderers showing you how you SHOULD have set up your club (and they did it in about 90 days on an oily rag).
You are now treating your GWS heartland, small as it is, with contempt but they have choices. Sydney is the most competitive sporting landscape in the world and people may well start talking with their feet. I have a feeling GWS will become increasing irrelevant on the Sydnet sporting landscape this year, no matter what they do on the field with their Draft assisted squad of boy wonders. The day trippers will be gone and all you will have is soccer mums and a few pimply kids on free tickets. And the people who you really need you will have shafted and possibly alienated forever.
What a bunch of clowns.....Comment
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