Folau to Western Sydney

[dimelb]

Thats becasue you live in Sydney. No brainer really. Sydney people accept other codes because they have learned to live with mulit codes in winter.

Please come down to melbourne and spend a whole winter with just one code on tv 24 7.

Next time Annie H posts, have a look at her sig.
I grew up in Sydney, lived there until 1990 and since in Melbourne. I played League and Union and still watch SoO and Wallabies. My preferred game is AFL, even though I'm worried about the continual tinkering with rules, and I think RL could take a leaf out of AFL's book about protecting the player's head. I think many Melburnians are parochial about AFL, but the city is big enough and the media (esp. online) are diverse enough to make most people happy.
I assume you're in Melbourne because you have to be; have you found something about the place that you like?

[KirkysSocks]

What a load of crap re: Melbourne and sports. Despite a 150 Year love of Aussie Rules, it is the Melbourne public that will turn out and support the Kangaroos, Wallabies etc, it is the Melbourne public that had the highest NBL crowds, it is the Melbourne public that will switch on State of Origin despite it having nothing to do with their state, it is Melbourne people who delivered the best crowds in the A-LEAGUE, it is Melbourne people that you can actually mention other football codes to without having to deal with ridiculous comments and attitudes.

Big Footy, League Unlimited, all those sites are for hardcore fans, so you will get the fringes, using Big Footy as an example of Melbourne's attitude to non AFL football codes is lunacy. The correct generalisation is that Sydney is a closed minded event driven city and Melbourne is a city that actually embraces and enjoys a contest.

You have never lived in melbourne, yes?

I think by your reply the answer is no.

Using bigfooty is a perfect example, it is after all the biggest forum in australia.

[KirkysSocks]

I have lived in Melb from 1997 to 2000 and never experienced this.

Really i think you are lying. Actually no you are lying.

[Lucky Knickers]

Really i think you are lying. Actually no you are lying.

You would be wrong. Situation normal.

[KirkysSocks]

Next time Annie H posts, have a look at her sig.
I grew up in Sydney, lived there until 1990 and since in Melbourne. I played League and Union and still watch SoO and Wallabies. My preferred game is AFL, even though I'm worried about the continual tinkering with rules, and I think RL could take a leaf out of AFL's book about protecting the player's head. I think many Melburnians are parochial about AFL, but the city is big enough and the media (esp. online) are diverse enough to make most people happy.
I assume you're in Melbourne because you have to be; have you found something about the place that you like?

Congrats you are 1 in 10.

Funny for all these claims of locals loving and being so open minded about all sports that in the past few seasons when the storm have won it was in the news and then that was it. Arriving at the airport they were greeted by a handful of fans, no official reception outside the town hall nor any chat about it in the papers. The monday after the HUN went with a draft nothing story over the storm as it's backpage.

where are the multitudes of mad fanatical melbourne storm people?

Are these the same people who still call RL rugby?

[KirkysSocks]

I really dont know how adding a team in GWS is going to make all of these families all of a sudden realise that there is another sport other than RL for their kids to play. Its not as if the swans dont have a presence in western sydney, they have been playing games at Homebush for a number of years now and crowds have dwindled rather than increased as time has gone on. Do you think just by putting a label on a team and calling them GWS that all of a sudden a sleeping giant is going to awaken.

The key to any code is getting support at grass roots level. Yes you could argue that by putting a team in place they have a face and a name but then the swans are called the SYDNEY swans and their supporter base despite some peoples perceptions is from all over the place including many from the Central Coast and probably Woollongong and Newcastle.

Even the areas that are perceived as traditional swans supporter bases like the Eastern Suburbs and North Shore are not in any way AFL strongholds. I have lived on the central coast , inner west, lower north shore and upper north shore and never found any of these areas to have any real supporter base. In fact I am usually the odd one out as a New South Wales based AFL fan and now dont even bother to explain why i follow it. In all my time moving around those suburbs I have only found a handful of people who I watch the AFL on even the most casual of basis and even fewer who I can have a conversation about the game. In saying that , its the same probably for NRL in melbourne.

Why do AFL think they can convert Sydneysiders to AFL when they wouldnt watch a game of league to save themselves. If they think its because its somehow the better game then they are really really kidding themselves and if they continue to go down the no contact , netball style game that sees the likes of Mumford rubbed out for a hard tackle they really dont know their audience. If they want the hearts and minds of Western Sydney then they need to make the game a lot tougher. I means you are talking about an audience that loves State of Origin football and you know why ? - Becasues they belt the crapper out of each other and everyone cant wait for an all in brawl. When they do a origin greatest moments, its often they will refer to when one player poleaxed another or when there was a massive all in brawl. To then go and stick a watered down AFL game in with a rugby league star who will be rubbed out the first time he tries to throw his weight around or when he tackles one of the Melbourne untouchables like Ablett, Riewoldt judd et, they have sorely missed the mark. Rugby league fans like seeing points being scored but they equally like the warrior type hard at it side of the game just as much. What they dont like is no tackling , boot the ball down the field and take a gradeful mark type stuff upon which the nickname "aerial ping pong" came from .

AFL support is minimal in sydney. Sure there are a few here that refuse to believe it but stats tell the picture. What you say is true, this whole thing about creating awarness for the code is a big slap in the face for the swans. 30 friggen years they have been in sydney..and they, the afl think they need to splash around money to make people aware of the code. Newsflash AFL..if the game in sydney has not taken off in 30 years..getting a friggen qld who turned his back on NSW to entice people in sydney to watch the code is not going to pack them in.

I am suprised at the amount of swans people on here that would looove to see GwS so they get too see footy live twice a weekend..never mind the long term damage it could do to the swans.

[ScottH]

Storm arrived back during a work day. Only the hardcore fans would have gone.
There are not multitudes of fans, but sufficient to keep Storm going, and fill their stadium.

Took Sydney a LONG time to endear the city of Sydney. A long time.

Storm have been hear 10 years.

By the way, this thread has gone a looong waaaayyyy of topic.

[Melbourne_Blood]

Look i don't mind RL, I watch a game occasionally. More the representative stuff and international but occasionally just a regular Home and Away game. It's enjoyable enough. But mate , Aussie Rules is religion in this town. ( I don't know where your from KirkysSocks or where you live, but I'm gonna take it that your A Sydney sider that lives in Melbourne? Seeings as how your an expert on Victorians but seem to despise them) Footy season is the only thing that gets us through a @@@@ty, cold Melbourne winter. I think first and foremost ( like a lot of people from Melbourne, possible other Aussie Rules states also) i am a fan of Aussie Rules, and secondly a swans supporter, where as perhaps with you guys from Sydney its the other way round. We love the fact that the Footy is on constantly on the weekend. Most people wish there was more of it, and it was shown live on free to air. That's just how it is in this town mate. I think Sydney supporters in Sydney are equivalent to Storm supporters in Melbourne, in that they are a loyal following of a team in a town that largely supports a different code. Like i said i dont mind RL, and if i supported a team it would be the Storm, but i'd rather go to an AFL match the swans aren't in ( as im doing on Saturday: Demons VS Blues at the Magnificent MCG) Than a RL game. I dont want to get into a debate on which is the better of the two codes, my opinion is obvious but i understand it is a matter of opinion.

We grew up playing the game. There was soccer if you wanted to play that, and probably RL too if you were willing to find a club, but for the majority of us there was no question which game we wanted to play. Ausssie Rules. Our game. In my opinion, the greatest game. The game where you get to sing the song after a win. The game you get to watch at our biggest and greates stadium, the 'G'. The game where you run on the ground after and have a kick well, maybe not anymore ).

Basically, if there was a demand for more Rugbye League to be shown down here, it would be. Television networks wouldn't miss an oppurtunity to cash in simply because of a preference for Aussie Rules. Fact is, ther is no demand, because the majority of people down here just love there Footy, and they can't get enough of it. Simple as that. Dont want to touch on the comment that suggests Sydney, ahead of Melbourne, is the sporting capital of Australia. Please....

[Big Al]

You have never lived in melbourne, yes?

I think by your reply the answer is no.

Using bigfooty is a perfect example, it is after all the biggest forum in australia.

When someone resorts to Big Footy to back up their argument you realise that the term grasping at straws certainly applies. KS, you have to realise that because it's been your experience does not mean it's the norm. From the replies I've seen from people who live there it seems that it isn't the norm.

[KirkysSocks]

Storm arrived back during a work day. Only the hardcore fans would have gone.
There are not multitudes of fans, but sufficient to keep Storm going, and fill their stadium.

Took Sydney a LONG time to endear the city of Sydney. A long time.

Storm have been hear 10 years.

By the way, this thread has gone a looong waaaayyyy of topic.

There is always some excuse..haha you cannot win with melbourne people. They do no wrong!!

Geee scott the last training before the GF is a weekday - thousands turn up for that
Even the Semis you thousands showing up to watch their team train..
The day after the GF is a work day and you get a lot of people who take sickies..

Yes there is about 10k storm fans..but most of them are either expat leaguies or ppl who have had enough of the AFL mixed with some cross code people.

And Melbourne people are event driven just as much as sydney people are! If there is a huge hyped up international game they will go..same as sydney..but anything that revolves a non hyped up match and only the die hards will go. Can i use the Kevin Muscat tribute match at the new bubble stadium? Hardly anyone showed up..whats the excuse? it was too cold? It's not a proper game?

What i have noticed is that in melbourne if the event does not collide or effect the AFL in anyway then people will turn up. As soon as you put it up against the footy watch out! Check out the AFL and The huns silly anti soccer tirade. For weeks the hun orchestrated a scare campaign about the WC. Talk back radio like SEN had idiots ring up state they hate soccer and didn't want the WC at all all while saying the AFL is the best code in the world.

[KirkysSocks]

When someone resorts to Big Footy to back up their argument you realise that the term grasping at straws certainly applies. KS, you have to realise that because it's been your experience does not mean it's the norm. From the replies I've seen from people who live there it seems that it isn't the norm.

Umm bigfooty is the biggest forum in australia, you are aware of this? Most media agencies, including the age and the hun use bigfooty for most of their stories. SEN usese it all the time. When there has been an issue in football it has been broken on BF first and the media a day later. Sure the place is littered with absolute morons..but unfortunately that's the majority of footy fans. If you think going to the footy in melbs is like sitting in the sun at the SCG and clapping behinds then you have it wrong.

I hate using it (bigfooty) as a reference but unfortunately stats don't lie.

[KirkysSocks]

KS, you have to realise that because it's been your experience does not mean it's the norm. From the replies I've seen from people who live there it seems that it isn't the norm.

My experience has been tainted by the constant @@@@ i hear about the swans and fellow swans supporters. I don't know who you chat with..maybe they are happy to sit there and cop @@@@ from a bummers fan or a blues fan..maybe i tend to stick up for my team and city a bit too much..but believe me it's the norm.

And it seems to be the swan fans who live in Sydney who seem to disagree and cannot understand that it happens in melbourne.
As i said melbourne is an awesome footy crazy city provided:

• You follow one of the local sides - then you would love melbourne
• You are able to ignore non swans news and the constant heckling because you just love footy and love the culture.

[Big Al]

Umm bigfooty is the biggest forum in australia, you are aware of this? Most media agencies, including the age and the hun use bigfooty for most of their stories. SEN usese it all the time. When there has been an issue in football it has been broken on BF first and the media a day later. Sure the place is littered with absolute morons..but unfortunately that's the majority of footy fans. If you think going to the footy in melbs is like sitting in the sun at the SCG and clapping behinds then you have it wrong.

I hate using it (bigfooty) as a reference but unfortunately stats don't lie.

It maybe the biggest forum of it's kind but only a small percentage of all footy supporters actually post to it. Relying on such a small sample especially when it caters to a lot of the lunatic fringe would be wrong.

[KirkysSocks]

It maybe the biggest forum of it's kind but only a small percentage of all footy supporters actually post to it. Relying on such a small sample especially when it caters to a lot of the lunatic fringe would be wrong.

Again Al..you live in Sydney. Most people i have chatted too at the footy or at a pub after a game has posted or has viewed bigfooty.

If bigfooty was irrelavent and only for the diehards then why do papers like the age and the hun reference it these days? why do you always see quotes from posters after a scandal? I guess you don't read the age nor the hun in sydney?

Why does SEN reference it? Heck BF also helped in removing a SEN host due to the bad rep he was getting on BF.

[Wardy]

Rubbish rubbish rubbish. You don't even live in melbourne.

Very learned friend..haha i almost spilt my coffee. I have a lot of very learned friends who follow both codes down here, thing is they are not locals like your geeeelong friend.

I misssed the part wardy where you mentioned that you lived in the heart of melbourne and have to deal with victorians on a daily basis, care to remind me again.

Well he is a Science professor, so I'd be safe in saying that he is far more intelligent than you and me combined, and he lives in Melbourne but is originally from Armidale NSW!!! you have a problem with that too?

Honestly if you cop so much grief - I'd suggest you seek new friends or colleagues - otherwise, if you react the way you do to these things, then they are just egging you on to get a reaction.

I did live in melbourne - East St Kilda actually - you'd probably have a problem with that too. (not that anyone here has to answer too you) I went to many games at Moorabin, the Western Oval , Princes park & the MCG - yes it was in the mid 80's - and no one gave me a hard time for following league as well as VFL (as it was then)