What's happening out West?

[Jupiter]

Terrible news. Properly applied (and by that I mean league and Clubs have responsibilities), promotion and relegation criteria should have meant this type of drama was avoided.

[radar oreilly]

Club Statement: Proposed Merger with Campbelltown - Camden Cats - FOX SPORTS PULSE

[mountainsofpain]

MEDIA RELEASE: Campbelltown Out of Premier Division in 2015 - AFL Sydney - FOX SPORTS PULSE

Growing the game in Western Sydney remains a key priority for the AFL...............

Really? That would explain why the GWS Giants are in bed with the Manly senior club then.

[Mug Punter]

Was before my time in Sydney footy, but it's happened before - when the Goannas pulled out after the first round mid-1990s.

In those days, Campbelltown was the powerhouse club in Sydney footy. There'll be a lot of heartbroken footy people in the south-west with what's happened now.
They'll have a strong Div 4 team this year, with any Premier Division standard players who stick around. But it'll be a long way back for a Div 4 club to get back to Premier Division.

I think that the outcome is the best for all the clubs in the region.

First of all, all three clubs survive as stand alone entities and given they each have their own catchment areas this is crucial (their combined footprint over Sydney is enormous).

Campbelltown now have a chance to survive and rebuild, much like Balmain have, another NSWAFL debacle.

Camden and Moorebank, who both seem to be well managed can continues to aim high with their ambitions without being thrown under the bus.

Their handling of this whole episode would be laughable if not so serious. They wait till ONE WEEK before the comp to actually do something!! And I do not for a minute think they were motivated by anything more than wanting to save their own skin by keeping a senior team from the area, even though it would have effectively reduced the number of clubs in the area.

I am glad that Camden and Moorebank have more common-sense than the NSWAFL and applaud them for how they have handled themselves.

The clubs have said no to a quick fix band aid hob and good on them. What is needed now is for the NSWAFL to come back to these clubs, in conjunction with GWS, and present a long term, genuine and properly resourced strategic plan to get Prem Div footy back in this area. And the first thing they can do is get GWS to drop their ridiculous sponsorship of Manly and re-direct the resources to the area they are meant to represent.

[unconfuseme]

You could be excused for thinking that the AFL Western Sydney Development team were employed on an incentive basis .... by the NRL.

[King Zog]

Trouble still not over, their U/19's forfeited round 1

[unconfuseme]

Take a bow AFL ... or should that read "... oh Magooo, you've done it again!"

Mr Magoo Opening Theme - YouTube

[Mug Punter]

Take a bow AFL ... or should that read "... oh Magooo, you've done it again!"

Mr Magoo Opening Theme - YouTube

The upside is there is still a club, just, called Campbelltown Australian Football Club in operation, not in recess...

Now the NSWAFL has failed in trying to make this problems someone else's (i.e. Camden or Moorebank) and now those clubs have the common-sense to tell them to F-Off maybe, just maybe the NSWAFL, in conjunction with those clowns at GWS, show some leadership on this and get the club and game up and running again in that area.

[Coastal Boy]

I don't get it.
So Campbelltown lose some key personnel from their Premier Div team.
I'll assume half of the team.
Surely half of a premier div team combined with half a div 4 team would be competitive in div 1 or at worst div 2.
But div 4? Why don't Campbelltown just sign releases for every good player they have. Only the die hard premier div players would stay around for div 4. They may have had a chance if they chose div 1. Div 2 definitely needs more teams.
How many years will it take the once mighty Blues to get back to Premier Div even under optimistic circumstances? 10 years? Not good

[Mug Punter]

I don't get it.
So Campbelltown lose some key personnel from their Premier Div team.
I'll assume half of the team.
Surely half of a premier div team combined with half a div 4 team would be competitive in div 1 or at worst div 2.
But div 4? Why don't Campbelltown just sign releases for every good player they have. Only the die hard premier div players would stay around for div 4. They may have had a chance if they chose div 1. Div 2 definitely needs more teams.
How many years will it take the once mighty Blues to get back to Premier Div even under optimistic circumstances? 10 years? Not good

From all reports their junior program is now in tatters so it makes it very very hard for them to rebuild.

Of course you'd think GWS would be throwing everything at that region but they are off sponsoring Manly

[often_confused]

MP, you appear to exist in a world where fault always lies elsewhere ! If it is not Uni stealing players and conniving to be above all in Sydney Footy it is GWS that is responsible for the Club and for some reason Manly is involved.

All Clubs are responsible for themselves, they have Boards, they have members and they have players. The Swans and GWS provide broad community assistance, develop footy in schools and the like ... they are not responsible for holding up individual clubs. C'Town has some problems and is trying to work through them. Why can you not offer support to C'Town and stop trying to shoot everyone else. C'Town does not appear to have sought to lay the blame anywhere and certainly not at the feet of the folk you regularly target.

[unconfuseme]

Those are fine and noble sentiments o_c, but the reality is that GWS is not a Sydney football club, rather a manufactured entity that has no history here, designed and paid for by the AFL, who don't care how much it costs them to keep afloat, so long as they fill a TV time slot.

The joke is the manner in which they and the AFL has gone about the business of implanting them in the local market place.

All that anyone from the AFL has been concerned about from day one, 10 or so years ago has been recruitment and sustainability - of jobs for themselves.

Stuff the game at the grass roots level - if you give away enough Auskick packs and season passes to local Councillors, surely you get all the traction in the community that you will ever need?

And PLEAZZZZ don't ever mention the Manly Giants again ... surely that was just an April Fools joke, and never really happened ... did it!!??

[The Runt]

"Those are fine and noble sentiments o_c, but the reality is that GWS is not a Sydney football club, rather a manufactured entity that has no history here, designed and paid for by the AFL, who don't care how much it costs them to keep afloat, so long as they fill a TV time slot."

That is a statement that could of been said about the Swans when they first lobbed into Sydney all those years ago.

[AnnieH]

"Those are fine and noble sentiments o_c, but the reality is that GWS is not a Sydney football club, rather a manufactured entity that has no history here, designed and paid for by the AFL, who don't care how much it costs them to keep afloat, so long as they fill a TV time slot."

That is a statement that could of been said about the Swans when they first lobbed into Sydney all those years ago.

No.
The swans were an established team that used to be called South Melbourne.
GWS are a pack of ring-ins.
IMO, they AFL would have better spent their money fielding at least one team from Tasmania (if not two).

[The Runt]

No.
The swans were an established team that used to be called South Melbourne.
GWS are a pack of ring-ins.
IMO, they AFL would have better spent their money fielding at least one team from Tasmania (if not two).

The Swans were a basket case and only survived due to the good grace of the other clubs, so what we see now with GWS is the pain the Swans went through now look at them give the newbies 10 15 years to make their own history. Below is some paras copied from Swans official History


In 1981 the Swans received the permission of the VFL to play 11 home matches in Sydney the following season. The first match was played at the SCG on Sunday 28th March 1982, when a crowd of 15 764 saw the Swans defeat Melbourne by 29 points. The Swans? initially successful foray into Sydney continued in July, as they beat North Melbourne to win the Night Series Premiership, and prize money of $105 000.

That initial success, however, was shortlived, and the Club?s tenuous hold on its new home was further complicated in 1985, when the VFL agreed to one of the messiest deals ever associated with football ? one which was to have significant and far-reaching ramifications for the Club. On 31st July 1985, for what was thought to be $6.3 million, Dr Geoffrey Edelsten bought the Swans. In reality it was $2.9 million in cash, with funding and other payments spread over five years. A period of relative on-field success followed, with an array of stars including Greg Williams, Merv Neagle, Bernard Toohey and Gerard Healy lured to Sydney to join the likes of Warwick Capper, the first player to kick a hundred goals in a season for the Club since Bob Pratt in 1935. However, success on the field was not translated to financial security, membership or a sustainable structure. Edelsten resigned as chairman after less than twelve months. By the end of 1988, ownership passed to a group of investors led by John Gerahty, Mike Willesee and Basil Sellers.

Lack of footballing success and financial instability continued to dog the Club, however, and on 1st September 1992 the owners of the Swans told the AFL that unless the Club was restructured it could not continue. A crucial AFL meeting on October 14th granted the Swans seven days to produce a plan for survival - a merger with North Melbourne being one of the options proposed by the AFL.

It was a momentous meeting on October 21st 1992. At 7.33pm, the Club?s survival was ensured when the other clubs voted that the AFL should waive the Swans? outstanding license fee (almost $2 million), provide working capital to the club for three years, and award priority draft choices. AFL intervention was launched emphatically early in the following season when the team?s losing streak extended to eighteen successive defeats and coach Gary Buckenara was replaced by Brett Scott as caretaker coach. On May 4th, the AFL Commission led by Ross Oakley resolved that the Swans would revert to a traditional member-based system rather than continuing with private ownership, that AFL Executive Commissioner Alan Schwab would be appointed Executive Chairman of the Club, and that Ron Barassi would be appointed coach until the end of 1995.