A-League will kill Sydney's D-League.

[Rafters]

There is a saying in life about being too big for your boots ... there is no one simple solution to improving footy in NSW ... there are a heap of steps ... a heap of strategies ... a heap of time and effort ... and mostly they require a lot of time & money.

Troy - your stance on a State League has been an extremely strong one for as long as I have seen you post/write. However I am struggling to find one state in Australia that has their own State wide based league where players need to travel a minimum of 3-4 hours every second game ... as I understand it they are capital city centric. Please convince me otherwise.

Why haven't the successful footy states have a proper State wide league? Why doesn't East Perth play Broome; Woodonga play Geelong or Port Augusta play Glenelg??? Because of the time, travel & money constraints more than anything else. It is a reason why the NSW/ACT RAMS are not in the u/18 comp on a fulltime basis.

So if the other states don't have a state-wide league & they have proven to be successful over the years ... why do we need one Troy???

Will a NSW State League be a better quality of football just because a comp is called a State League ... the same player pool is going to be used & they will have the same work, player & study contraints ... they will not be fulltime professional players. Imagine a typical Sunday/Monday for players/supporters/volunteers - 8am bus trip to Canberra; 2pm play game; 6pm bus trip back to Sydney; 10pm home 11pm finish dinner, go to bed ... rise 5am for work ... stuff that every 2nd week.

I did the 1996 pre-season with Campbelltown (the year they went to Canberra) but I struggled getting to training during the week from a city job and I found it took a toll on the body (particularly back) when travelling a few hours before a footy match. Forget about them not being a force in Canberra (they were competitive at least) ... the reason they left the competition was for reasons other than quality competition (which drove them to the comp in the first place) ... remember that they are the most travel-friendly club outside Canberra as well ... how would North Shore go with the travel every 2nd week??

As a club administrator/volunteer it takes alot of time & effort running a footy club on a normal game day. Lifting the intensity of competition will make it alot harder on them as you know only a handful truly run a footy club & they run out of steam & burnout eventually. Are you volunteering our time Troy to help out a club?

There is no doubt that the burnout of volunteers at Campbelltown (Messrs Noack, Matheson, McLaughlin, Prenter & co) took its toll on the Campbelltown club that has been the most successful I have seen during my playing career. Remember these volunteers have their own family, work & study commitments too?

Why are we crying over "only getting $9m"? I think we should be really grateful ... do you realise how hard it has been for sporting organisations to get funding post-Olympics?

Where do we spend that money? Not solely on senior players who will not do anything for the promotion of the game at the grass roots ... no we need to spend that money wisely ... let the appropriate people/stakeholders have their 3 year & 5 year plans
& devise the strategies required & maximise the funding. I believe that there are alot of smart people around NSW footy who would lead us in the right direction. If you think you are the right person then nominate yourself for that position.

Let's look at the quality of rep footy matches to see ... lets have more NSW State teams at all age groups playing other states on a more regularly basis.

But lets not have a State wide league

[Troy G]

First of all I want to say that I haven't really followed or cared about the SydneyAFL for about three years now and after this week I will go back to not caring apart from continuing each week to give the results/ladder/fixtures on my radio program.

I just think that this is worthy of debate and no one was debating it and it seemed to me that the "Community Weekend" was the time to raise the issue. I'm happy to be the one who asks the questions because I don't see anyone else doing it and if that makes me the bad guy in some eyes then I'll live!

It really doesn't matter what I or anyone else here thinks because what will happen is what those guys and girls around the table all day yesterday decided is going happen for the next ten years and I for one will take great interest. I hope more now do!!

Unless like the Task Force some judge them later to be only recommendations and put a line through some things for various reasons.

This will be the last time I have anything to say about the SydneyAFL because I'm talked out and people know what I think, but I do want to clear up some final things.

Just to respond to you Rafters and good on you for putting in your view:

I've never said it was a simple solution and agree that it needs massive money, resources and complete overhaul!!

That's been my point all along... that I think we need to offer something new to Sydney's AFL sporting public that will energise everybody from the top down- IMO therefore to go back to the drawing board.

If natural attrition of the SydneyAFL hasn't happened by now, it's not going to, particularly if the response is wait and keep waiting and while you wait, we give it more of the same money,resources, time and effort and how much longer are people prepared to wait for another 10 years, 20 years, 50 years. How many years did it take for UNSW and Easts to merge? How many mergers have we seen since through natural attrition since and likely to see? None. I say the clubs start afresh with less but bigger teams in Sydney to cater for the next level below the Swans in Sydney to help push the AFL cause that's it. So that it doesn't come down to just the Swans and Auskick and nothing in between for people in large numbers -outside of the AFL community- to get behind and support.

I've always called it a "State League" for want of a better term, yet people have this idea that I'm suggesting Bateman's Bay play Tibooburra each fortnight or something. All I'm talking about -and have ever talked about- is a combined Canberra AFL SydneyAFL with less teams from both areas plus the Swans reserves (playing theirs only at the better grounds SCG or North Sydney or Manuka). The current SFA would then become the SydneyAFL, which someone here described as bursting with talent!

I'm not totally up on what they do in other states to answer your questions fully - I really don't care about other states just Sydney- but I suspect part of the answer lies in the fact that those other AFL states have two teams, which must suck up resources, money, time and effort! And you are talking about AFL dominated states, AFL there doesn't compete with other football codes now, but I look forward to it being a case of "welcome to our world" in WA, now with both the Perth Glory and Western Force.

What you say about it being the same players etc is true to a point but we will have the best players in the "B League" because there will be less teams thus better quality and if more money, resources, time and effort and better media coverage all round and attractiveness to sponsors and personel will improve that if people are playing their part. Imagine if you had to pick a SydneyAFL rep team times three?

Everything else you raise will take more money and resources and that's all I'm calling for but I don't want good money to go after bad any longer we have to offer up something better, something that will stimulate everything else.

You mention the bus trip getting up early etc. It won't be happening for the same club to travel to Canberra or Wagga every week -like some seem to think- to travel to Canberra would be fortnightly or even the third or fourth week because home and away might mean playing another Sydney club or the Swans in Sydney. We might also see a team cut in Canberra in favour of a team in the Hunter thus less travel for Sydney teams. And if you want to know how it'll work then ask the Canberra AFL teams that travel to the SCG every third or fourth week they are already doing it and that have the same constraints. Also Sydney clubs have also already been asked and done the up at 5am then bus trip and play etc. Ask Campbelltown what it was like playing their games at 9.50am at the SCG and how early they had to get up in order to get to the SCG in time to prepare and least this way the game's in the afternoon and you can get some sleep on the bus on that fortnight or third week. I think young players will get use to it if clubs are given as much help as possible financially and those that can't always have SFA/ SydneyAFL.

But no one's even talking about what might be possible!! Because everyone just wants to say it's hard and we don't have the money, resources and time and effort. I've advocated that with the negotiations on the Tv rights that what should be on the table is the complete funding and solutions to these things to set up a "B League" and if it is Seven and Ten maybe one of them could cover the competition as well. Last time it was $500 million, surely if NSW is the last bastion then we deserve more than $9. That's all I'm advocating.

But I'm seeing nothing here about other alternatives of what to do about the SydneyAFL and footy in NSW in general to help the Swans except- we need to be competing with other footy codes in schools (but no suggestion how we go about it) and nothing here about alternatives for the Sydney AFL as to how to get the funding, personnel, sponsorship, media coverage, raise the standard, increase membership, crowds etc for clubs except more of the same and wait.

Unless something amazing comes out of yesterday I suspect ten years from now there'll be another big meeting or task force report and we'll be talking about a second team in Sydney as we were ten years ago and yesterday.

[Coastal Boy]

Troy, I for one applaud anyone who wants an input into AFL in Sydney and consider each opinion valuable.

I agree it a tough situation and I dont think even the most perfectly constructed plan wont have hiccups. Everything in life must change or it will die. I hope we are not sitting around in 10 years saying nobody has done anything and look at the mess.

My stance is just a cautious one and I feel we can learn a lot from the mistakes of other sports. To cite another example, the baseball went national in the 80s/90s only to go belly up completely. I dont want poor planning, a lack of insight, a lack of support or a lack of money to do more harm than good to our game in Sydney. Thats not personal at all, just an opinion of someone who cares, as we all do.

[Norris Lurker]

As Rafters mentioned, a state league competition with the travel involved does present some problems; and it?s a big ask for volunteers and for players.

I think I?ve floated this idea before on here, but one way to go that could achieve the state competition while maintaining the local clubs would be to keep the local leagues but also bring in a knockout FA Cup-style competition.
To minimise the travel involved, all Cup ties would be played between local clubs until the quarter-final stage ? so as to not extend the length of the season too much, some early-season league games could also double-up as Cup ties.
The quarter-final stage is where the travel factor begins; and the 8 competing teams could be drawn as 2 from Sydney, 2 from Canberra and 1 each from Central West, Black Diamond, South Coast and Farrer.
The most any team would have to travel out of their area is 3 times ? and a team that had to do that would be a team that is winning games and is off to play in a grand final.

I think a competition like this would be the best of both worlds ? the local leagues would remain intact and their role in the game would continue; but a new dimension would be established to NSW/ACT football beyond what any individual league can provide.

[Pekay]

Originally posted by Norris Lurker
As Rafters mentioned, a state league competition with the travel involved does present some problems; and it?s a big ask for volunteers and for players.

I think I?ve floated this idea before on here, but one way to go that could achieve the state competition while maintaining the local clubs would be to keep the local leagues but also bring in a knockout FA Cup-style competition.
To minimise the travel involved, all Cup ties would be played between local clubs until the quarter-final stage ? so as to not extend the length of the season too much, some early-season league games could also double-up as Cup ties.
The quarter-final stage is where the travel factor begins; and the 8 competing teams could be drawn as 2 from Sydney, 2 from Canberra and 1 each from Central West, Black Diamond, South Coast and Farrer.
The most any team would have to travel out of their area is 3 times ? and a team that had to do that would be a team that is winning games and is off to play in a grand final.

I think a competition like this would be the best of both worlds ? the local leagues would remain intact and their role in the game would continue; but a new dimension would be established to NSW/ACT football beyond what any individual league can provide.

i'll pay that-but what if Nimbin Demons(Summerland) came up against Ganmain Grong Grong Matong (not the strongest in the state,i just wanted to type that out.)or Western Suburbs?those hippies would freak out man.....

[DLH]

The overwhelming structural problem in regards to the SAFL Premier Division at the moment is the lack of a club in the corridor west of Homebush to Penrith. If you plot on a map of Sydney the areas currently covered by this competition, it stands out like the proverbial. Given the demographics and the fact that the region accounts for almost 10% of the entire population of Australia, it's an issue that must be addressed. How you do that though is the big question.

It would seem that the best way to go would be a collective effort by the clubs in the region, however, given recent talks on the subject, it won't happen. The other option is for the League to annoint a club, and it's clear that there is no one club that is in any sort of position to take on that role.

The only answer is for head office to show some leadership and make something happen either way. If you look at their five year plan, it calls for a ten club competition and this is the region where it has to be located, presumably to play at the new Blacktown facility.

[trouble]

from what i have seen from all of the safl club is most clubs have a home ground apart from east coast,

this team plays at alan davidson oval, great place but surely out of where they attract their juniors,

east coast are the team the safl should be trying to get in that corridor.

they need a permanent home ground and a base, they have the set up running well, need better results however would be a club that hasnt got a base yet.

[Rafters]

I think a new club should be created in that Western Sydney corridor that DLH mentions.

[Coastal Boy]

Does anyone know of the results of the recent meeting to discuss a plan for the development of AFL in NSW?