View Full Version : Tassie over West Sydney
Haggard H
15 Sep 2008, 10:58
If you think Tasmania deserves the 18th team ahead of West Sydney please copy the text below (feel free to change it a bit if you think you can word it better), and email to andrew.demetriou@afl.com.au and adrian.anderson@afl.com.au
Please also circulate this information to other AFL chat groups, forums, Dreamteam comps, family and friends.
It will probably have no effect on the pigheaded people who make the decisions, but then again weight of numbers and public opinion may finally get through to them.
If you don't have club or AFL membership just leave it blank - but buy a Bomber's membership next year!
............................................................ ............
I am a follower of the Australian Football League, and a football supporter who wants to see the game survive and thrive.
I have no faith or confidence in an AFL team based in West Sydney. In no way do I support such a football club.
I do believe that a team based in Tasmania is viable, sustainable, and desired. I fully support and encourage the inclusion of a Tasmanian based club in the Australian Football League.
Name
AFL club supported:
Club Membership No:
AFL Membership No:
I will copy and send it in.
Good luck but king Vlad and the ARFL (thats Always Right Football Leauge) don't change their minds on anything. They are never wrong.
toddy104
15 Sep 2008, 12:56
I sent it in. Want do much good. Prob automatically get deleted.
Ben the Gooner
15 Sep 2008, 17:56
Sent in.:thumbsu:
Keep fighting, guys, and you'll get a team.:thumbsu:
Gus2Gumby
15 Sep 2008, 18:13
I don't understand why the AFL is pushing this move to West Sydney. The Swans lost money this year and couldn't even get 20,000 to a 'do-or-die' final! The city can't support one team. The new one is doomed from the start.
Tassie seems like a logical move as there isn't any other major sport team there. The support of the government and the money from Mars seems very promising.
I'll definitely be forwarding this message to Drewy...
Good luck with it! :thumbsu:
The_Young_Gun
15 Sep 2008, 18:39
Who the F___ came up with this West Sydney idea in the first place..?
FFS, Tassy already have an established team in the Mariners. It would Save Demitriou plenty of (PRECIOUS!, PRECIOUS!) Money in establishing costs. And Tassy obviously is the publics prefered choice... Someone better put this in Billboard size writing and shove it in Demetriou's face, cause it turns out Andrew doesn't like Mars Bars all of a sudden.
The move is all about establishing market share and driving another nail into the coffin of the NRL.
Soccer is coming and the AFL know it.
I don't understand why the AFL is pushing this move to West Sydney. The Swans lost money this year and couldn't even get 20,000 to a 'do-or-die' final! The city can't support one team. The new one is doomed from the start.
Who the F___ came up with this West Sydney idea in the first place..?
these questions have been answered on the expansion board. but
basically the afl just wanna take over NRL territory while it's struggling
whether its a good idea or not is a different question
Little Birdy
15 Sep 2008, 20:39
I spoke with Alan McConnell (Head of AIS Acadamy) earlier this year at a Level 2 Coaching Course, and who is now based out of Sydney, and when I asked him about how hard it was trying to establish an AFL presence in a rugby league dominated state, he said it was an uphill battle as the only player some kids had heard of when they were going around the school's was Adam Goodes. How are the AFL going to break the mindset of kids in this area that strongly and historically support the other code.
Western Sydney is a long term project which will take a huge amount of resources to establish, and in the short term Tasmania would be a lot more successful IMO. Whether that is with a new team or an established side relocating I'm not sure what is the best solution.
Tassie do deserve a team before West Sydney but I also understand the AFL's reasons for doing what they're doing.
I'll copy and paste only because I think they deserve it, just not dead against the GC and WS.
Gus2Gumby
16 Sep 2008, 10:44
I'm not sure if he actually read it or not, but I got a reply from A.A saying he has forwarded the message to Chief Operating Officer, Gillon McLachlan
The move is all about establishing market share and driving another nail into the coffin of the NRL.
Soccer is coming and the AFL know it.
That's the one.
Tasmania do deserve a team, but the AFL needs to establish a presence in QLD and NSW before soccer can capitalise on it's foothold.
The move is all about establishing market share and driving another nail into the coffin of the NRL.
Soccer is coming and the AFL know it.
Yes and there is also fighting the fights you can win. The Gold Coast being a massive growth area with people coming from a variety of states and already having a reasonable Victorian presence was an obvious choice.
Sydney on the other hand is going to cost them a heap more money and could end up damaging the brand of the Swans that has taken them 25 years to establish and even now they are not on totaly solid ground. The AFL would be best served having the Swans with 35,000 Sydney members and looking at getting one million people following the game (roughly 1/4 of the population) than trying to drive nails into the NRL coffin. They are not going to push Rugby Leauge out of the number one spot. They need to consolidate a market share and pushing an extra team into the market there is not the best option. At this stage they should be pumping the money into Junior programs and get the kids playing the game in schools for 10 years or so before pushing another side onto them.
And as far a soccer goes the A Leauge need to be carefull. They currently have a pretty good set up that is popular. They don't wan't to dilute their market and send it back down the road of previous national leauges.
Ben the Gooner
16 Sep 2008, 17:25
Thank you for your e-mail regarding your support for an AFL team in Tasmania.
Responsibility for the coordination of competition expansion falls within the area of our Chief Operating Officer, Gillon McLachlan.
I have forwarded your e-mail to him.
Kind regards
Adrian Anderson
Don't know whether anything will come of it, but it seems he's replying to each one, so they'd notice the numbers.
Tassy deserves a team, due to their support of Aussie Rules.
But so does Ballarat, going by that logic.
Hobart only has 230,000 people, Sydney has 4.1 million. Sydney is 17 times bigger than Hobart, and the best way to grow the game is to have weekly football, via two teams in the countries biggest city.
Hobart my deserve a team, but they are simply irrelevant, and not important to the future of the game, especially from a financial point of view.
I fully support the addition of a West Sydney team, because Sydney is the city we (as a code) need to get bigger in. Expanding to Hobart doesn't grow the game - expanding to West Sydney does.
Gus2Gumby
16 Sep 2008, 22:57
Tassy deserves a team, due to their support of Aussie Rules.
But so does Ballarat, going by that logic.
Hobart only has 230,000 people, Sydney has 4.1 million. Sydney is 17 times bigger than Hobart, and the best way to grow the game is to have weekly football, via two teams in the countries biggest city.
Hobart my deserve a team, but they are simply irrelevant, and not important to the future of the game, especially from a financial point of view.
I fully support the addition of a West Sydney team, because Sydney is the city we (as a code) need to get bigger in. Expanding to Hobart doesn't grow the game - expanding to West Sydney does.
Good points. But is now the right time to do it?
Perhaps they need to wait, as some have suggested, until the Swans have fully established themselves in NSW.
Good points. But is now the right time to do it?
Perhaps they need to wait, as some have suggested, until the Swans have fully established themselves in NSW.
Adelaide VS West Coast.
Does that get the passions of those teams supporters up in arms?
Or is it the Derby's that do?
Freo VS West Coast.
Adelaide VS Pt Adelaide.
Brisbane VS GC
Sydney VS West Sydney.
Getting these two teams in these states will be huge for the game.
And getting more than one team to support into the states will be huge.
I believe that with real rivalries going on, that the kids will get involved. That passions will flare higher as it's not just an us VS everyone else mentality anymore.
Tassy deserves a team, due to their support of Aussie Rules.
But so does Ballarat, going by that logic.
Hobart only has 230,000 people, Sydney has 4.1 million. Sydney is 17 times bigger than Hobart, and the best way to grow the game is to have weekly football, via two teams in the countries biggest city.
Hobart my deserve a team, but they are simply irrelevant, and not important to the future of the game, especially from a financial point of view.
I fully support the addition of a West Sydney team, because Sydney is the city we (as a code) need to get bigger in. Expanding to Hobart doesn't grow the game - expanding to West Sydney does.
And Sydney has two codes of Rugby that have over 100 years of history that are not going away and will not fall from the number one spots.
Putting West Sydney into the comp now does not grow the game any more than spending money on making the Swans a better force and pumping money into junior development in NSW. Until you have the junior numbers playing the game you are simply wasting money and drawing support away from the Swans.
Adelaide VS West Coast.
Does that get the passions of those teams supporters up in arms?
Or is it the Derby's that do?
Freo VS West Coast.
Adelaide VS Pt Adelaide.
Brisbane VS GC
Sydney VS West Sydney.
Getting these two teams in these states will be huge for the game.
And getting more than one team to support into the states will be huge.
I believe that with real rivalries going on, that the kids will get involved. That passions will flare higher as it's not just an us VS everyone else mentality anymore.
Yes but you have to have the support first. A good percentage of kids in Sydney schools could not give a toss about the Swans let alone creating a rival for them. There is already an underlying current of discent towards the AFL in Sydney becasue of their arrogent assumptions that they are simply going to push Rugby Leauge aside. Sydney people may be fickle about turning out for events but they are resolute in what they support.
The only way that decent strides are going to be made in Sydney is to get the kids playing AFL through Auskick and through the schools. That is where the money should be spent and not propping up another AFL side in a market that is overly saturated with sporting teams.
Gus2Gumby
17 Sep 2008, 17:03
Adelaide VS West Coast.
Does that get the passions of those teams supporters up in arms?
Or is it the Derby's that do?
Freo VS West Coast.
Adelaide VS Pt Adelaide.
Brisbane VS GC
Sydney VS West Sydney.
Getting these two teams in these states will be huge for the game.
And getting more than one team to support into the states will be huge.
I believe that with real rivalries going on, that the kids will get involved. That passions will flare higher as it's not just an us VS everyone else mentality anymore.
They very well might get 50,000 to a NSW derby. But what about the other 20 games?
My point is that NSW isn't ready to support a second AFL team yet.
Would you have supported the Gold Coast move if they did it in 1995? Would the derby with Brisbane have been enough to establish them back then?
Possibly, but without games there every week and the help of a rivalry they may never be ready, the area is growing and there are kids playing, this could be what they need to get the ball rolling even further.
Of course not, there would still be a reliance on AFL money to get them propped up.
But it's about generating interest. And it's all good and well to get kids interested when they're young, but once they're interested then what? they get to choose out of all of ONE team to support?
Where's the rivalry?
I mean, I *love* Us V Collingwood/Carlton games.
A derby will give a starting platform that that can be built off.
Getting that kind of an effect will generate new fans, even if it's just a starting platform for bigger things.
Of course not, there would still be a reliance on AFL money to get them propped up.
But it's about generating interest. And it's all good and well to get kids interested when they're young, but once they're interested then what? they get to choose out of all of ONE team to support?
Where's the rivalry?
I mean, I *love* Us V Collingwood/Carlton games.
A derby will give a starting platform that that can be built off.
Getting that kind of an effect will generate new fans, even if it's just a starting platform for bigger things.
You have to build the initial support base before you have enough fans to embrace any sort of rivalry. The whole rival aspect only works if you have 50% or more of the market following your product. It is not going to happen. Rugby Leauge is always going to be number one in the market.
You have to remove yourself from thinking about it with your Melbourne brain. In fact you have to think about it in the same way as you would if you where trying to convert people from Melbourne to go and watch Melbourne Storm games. Do you think that having two NRL sides in Melbourne is going to grow the brand quicker than just having the storm and working on getting a better junior program going in Melbourne for Rugby Leauge ?
Now i know the Sydney market is further advanced when you compare the AFL there to Leauge in Melbourne but it is not that far advanced that it has a chance to take hold of a high market share in the near or mid term future.
Yes you get these kids involved and yes they only have one team to follow but how is that bad if you only have say 1/5 of the population following AFL above all else. Lets face it you can only play your rivals twice a year. Most of these kids will more than likely head off and watch their NRL side in the weeks that their side is not playing in Sydney. They are hardly going to goand watch their biggest rivals home games every second week.
If the AFL where a chance to realisticly capture half of Sydneys 4.1 million popualtion then yes you would look at adding another side. In all fairness at the moment i think they would be doing well to capture a market of 500,000 who would regualry follow AFL football.