"Where AFL football is about to be taught a lesson".

[jono2707]

The reality is, Sydneysiders don't care about the code as much as we, in Victoria, would like to think they do.

That is quite true, although I would probably say 'most Sydneysiders....', as this site can attest that some of us do care. However, AFL is just another sport vying for attention in this town, and it is a long long way behind Rugby League, and to a lesser extent Rugby Union, in terms of this city's psyche. The AFL's ignorance and arrogance in plonking another team in this city and thinking that they can change the whole fabric of the place by throwing a huge amount of money at it is just breathtaking.

[stellation]

So whats that say about our attendences? We need other victorian teams to prop up our avg? That no matter what we have a dissapointing membership in Sydney?

We don't normally draw a large crowd against North, and the weather was poor; if that makes our membership disappointing then I'd suggest most teams in the AFL are in trouble as it's a pretty consistent theme.

[stellation]

As i said i don't expect AFL diehards to understand let alone form an objective opinion. As soon as anyone dares to suggest some home truths about the code up north with some actual facts things turn very nasty. We victorians are very sensitive to any kind of critique towards our code.

The gay fl comment might not have been needed but the reality is there, kids and adults and bogans call the code that. Just as many victorians call rugby league thugby or just simply call it rugby without bothering to differentiate between two codes.

The reality is, Sydneysiders don't care about the code as much as we, in Victoria, would like to think they do.

So you're suggesting that we are AFL diehards so cannot understand nor hold an objective opinion, yet seem comfortable that you are above that generalisation and can, as a Victorian, inform those of us in Sydney of what's really going on?

I don't think anyone here, or in the AFL, is particuarly suggesting that Australian Rules is the dominant code in Western Sydney (or will be in the near future)- but it's not exactly the doom and gloom wastelands that the article suggests, either.

[wolftone57]

It's an opinion piece dude. You might not agree with it but no need to start getting all hurt because somebody wrote an unflattering article about Aussie Rules.

Stop being so dam sensitive.

Where is the sensitivity in that material. All I was doing was establishing the man's credentials. In other words he is not a sports journalist. Sports Journalists, as much as you might not like them, spend a great deal of time studying their sport. Bruce McAvaney, as much as some people don't like him, is very knowledgeable about sport. I was at Radio School with Bruce and he is a likeable and very intense person who's job is his life. He spends hours of his own time studying sporting events and records.

My point about Mr Atkins is that he is not a sports journalist and just that. The point you made was exactly my point. By the way he is also a big RL supporter.

[WeHaveTheGoodes]

It's an opinion piece. So he can write about whatever he wants.

[wolftone57]

[B]So whats that say about our attendences? We need other victorian teams to prop up our avg? That no matter what we have a dissapointing membership in Sydney?[/B]We Have The Goodes

Back that statement about poor membership in Sydney up please. Where are your figures? The majority of Swans memberships are held in Sydney for your information.

You consistently knock AFL Diehards as ill informed. Yet you make statements about Sydney on one visit.
Where is your evidence of your trip? Did you take photographs?

Have you got the figures of teams playing Aussie Rules in Sydney?

Do you know the change over rate of Soccer Players that jump to other codes when they reach teen years?

Have you ever looked at the Strategic Plan for the AFL in Sydney?

What is your experience in research and development?

You don't live here, have you ever lived here? I live here and most of RWO probably do too. We are very aware of the battle of the codes in Sydney. Nowhere in Australia is it more evident. Please read my 11:00am post to understand a little more.

Sydney will not be developed in a day, it is a long term project. Laying the infrastructure is the first level of this plan and while at the moment some of that infrastructure is underutilised I would rather that it is there than not. In time all the infrastructure will be utilised, in say ten years there will be hundreds of kids kicking an Aussie Rules Ball around every park in Sydney. I took a bus ride last weekend and saw no less that thirty Junior Aussie Rules matches in the Eastern Suburbs alone in less than 30 ks.

[WeHaveTheGoodes]

30 years and the iron chief still outrates the swans on TV.

Thats proof right there.

Now you could spin it all you want..but the fact is AFL is like a passing interest (if that) to 3/4 of sydneysiders.

Last time i was there i tried to talk footy with some people and got a polite answer but thats about it. The same does not happen in Melbourne.

Sure there are the swans diehard and i am proud of the fact that we have so many in sydney but apart from the core 25k there isnt that much interest in the code..and if it took us 30 years..

And the article is right..the majority of fans up north seem to be ex pats.

[Cheer Squad]

Sure there are the swans diehard and i am proud of the fact that we have so many in sydney but apart from the core 25k there isnt that much interest in the code..and if it took us 30 years.

On that topic, we currently have 26,403 members.

Does anyone know how many of those members live in Sydney, and how many interstate?

Just how many members do we have in Victoria, QLD, SA, WA, Tassie etc?

[WeHaveTheGoodes]

Isnt there 10k in melbourne on top of 26k in sydney?

And the last "survey" conducted had us at 1 mil fans, the most of any team.

I know i know it was flawed..but still it made the pies and bombers really upset.

[wolftone57]

I live here and have lived here far a lot of years. I was born in NSW, the town of Broken Hill. We play real footy there not bum sniffer stuff. I can talk to a lot of people in Sydney about AFL. Nobody wants to talk about Rugby Union and they were here origionally, except a conclave on the North Shore & East. Soccer is only talked about in Leichhardt and a few select suburbs. Rugby League is the main sport and so it is going to be as it has had a stranglehold up here for a long time. They have had since 1907 to get people involved in their sport here in Sydney. They still can't get a crowd and some of their matches on NINE don't rate either. The Swans v GWS match was in direct opposition to the RL match and out rated it.

Sydney people are not great sport followers really. If you look at the figures of sport watched or frequented they would be poor for a city of this size.

[Cheer Squad]

Isnt there 10k in melbourne on top of 26k in sydney?

I've always understood that the figure published on the website was our total membership.

I think we've probably got about 17,000-18,000 members in Sydney.

[jono2707]

Melbourne is a great city for sport - Sydney is much less so. Of course we like to say that there are plenty of other things to do here, but I wont get into that one. I think the powers that be at the AFL, in Melbourne, have seriously overestimated their ability to gain a firm foothold in Sydney with GWS. I think that regardless of the amount of money they throw at the concept, and the amount of on-field success they have, the great majority of league, soccer and/or rugby supporters in the west will remain uninterested. Furthermore I think they will remain cynical and untrusting of the AFL, which isn't helped by Kevin Sheedy always acting like he's in on a joke that no one else knows about (my take on his antics). Nor is it helped by Israel Folau, who is unconvincing at best at the moment and isn't really considered a western Sydney product, even though he is. This by virtue of the fact that he played for the Storm and the Broncos, and worst of all, for Queensland - this is viewed pretty poorly by most league followers in Sydney so I hardly think he would have great pulling power over and above the curiosity factor. He was obviously a poor second-choice for Jarred Hayne, who for some reason knocked back the huge amounts of money that surely would have been waved at him.

Regardless of how well the Swans are going now, AFL has still not had a great level of success in Sydney, and as noted previously, a lot of followers are originally from out of town. I'm originally from the Riverina from Victorian parents and am one of the few people who follow both NRL and AFL - I've found that pretty rare, and most of my NRL-following friends only have a cursory idea of what is going on in the AFL at any given time.

If the AFL think they can get enough people interested enough in AFL to give two teams a healthy level of support, well good on them, but I remain to be convinced. As long as the Swans are not impacted negatively, I'm all for more AFL here - I'm just worried about what could happen if it doesn't take off like they think it will...

[Nico]

Who's Gavin Atkins when he's at home? Never heard of him so take no notice of him.

Probably got knocked back when he applied to be an AFL Accredited journo.

[GongSwan]

I lived out there for a number of years, although a ;long time ago now. Back then AFL was unheard of, wasn't until I moved to the North Shore that I got interested in AFL. It's really mostly about exposure I guess. I live in Wollongong now and grassroots Aussie rules is maybe bigger here than in sydney's west, I've seen some pretty good kids run around on SAturday mornings, teh AFL might have been better off looking at other demographics than clogging up Sydney Metro, I don't necessarily mean here, but NSW is a big state, Central Coast to Newcastle maybe, big area lots of people, central coast has been crying out for their own league team, why not give them AFL instead, they might well adopt it. The AFL might want to throw some money at the Daily Telegraph, the paper people read on the way to work on the train, so as to get more than a passing interest and a couple of paragraphs

[bodgie]

I hadn't thought about it much until now, thinking that more AFL in Sydney could only be a good thing but now as the reality emerges you'd have to say that they've really put the GWS up against it. They don't get to play at the showgrounds in what is supposed to be their heartland until round 9 which I guess will never change while its still easter at the showgrounds. There is still a huge distance between the Rooty Hill olympic wasteland and the Homebush olympic wasteland; some 32ks. Somehow they think they can build a 3rd base at Manuka by playing 3 games there! No-one else like 'established' teams Bulldogs or North equalled Sydneys interest down there. I think if the AFL showed some more commitment to true national expansion by cutting some Melbourne based teams then people in other states like NSW or QLD might feel like there is a genuine commitment to the quality of the game in those states.