Expansion Where is Wellington, New Zealand at?

[Sherrinator]

Why is the title explaining which country Wellington is in?

He was differentiating between the town and the boot.

 

[Cmarsh]

The game is there now, so how about giving it a bit of time to evolve

Your chatting on a forum full of Victorians who think the game should be exclusively theirs. No chance.

 

[The King!]

Your chatting on a forum full of Victorians who think the game should be exclusively theirs. No chance.

lol but seriously it will need time to grow

 

[swiftdog]

and Saints too
No different to AFL televising Freo & Eagles games in WA every week or
Lions & Suns games in QLD every week

You mean apart from the fact that West Coast and Freo are based in WA and Brisbane and Gold Coast are based in QLD?

 

[gillo94]

You mean apart from the fact that West Coast and Freo are based in WA and Brisbane and Gold Coast are based in QLD?

Yer

 

[Geoff Dickson]

The AFL is apparently looking at moving it to Auckland, otherwise it's highly likely that the game won't happen again.

Read #6 again.

 

[Geoff Dickson]

I daresay more Saints fans made the trip the first year than subsequently for the novelty factor, and now it is more likely to be their opposition who brings a traveling fan base, for the novelty factor.

Not correct.
But even if it was, why would that concern the Wellington City Council?

 

[Geoff Dickson]

Doesn't help that the previous games there have been pretty bad.
Lots of comments on NZ sports radio last year from fans who went and left before the end, as it was like a game of under 10 rugby with a mass of bodies following the ball round, and very little free flowing footy. The stadium is pretty small too which doesn't help

The 7.40pm start time from previous years explains the early departures.

"....like a game of under 10 rugby with a mass of bodies following the ball round, and very little free flowing footy....". Yep, pretty much like any game of AFL these days.

 

[Geoff Dickson]

thanks Geoff, good to get some accurate info.

I think it is pretty obvious the talent is in NZ, it is just a matter getting it young enough, i would imagine that RU with far more kicking than RL would be beneficial to players moving between sports.

There's usually only two guys in a RU team that have sort of advanced kicking skills - first-five (#10) and fullback (#15). Looking at the NZ guys on the international lists, I would say that they are equally divided between league, union and basketball backgrounds.

 

[MrsEddieBetts]

Read #6 again.

I hadn't read the whole thread before I posted.

 

[SterlingArcher]

What a stupid thread

Wellington is a great idea just needs to be marketed better and have 2 established sides every year going upto NZL to play on AnzacDay. Can't scrap the idea when hasn't been promoted to its potential. If Saints & Blues commit to next year could double (crowd). AFL should negotiate with NZL stations to televise 2 games every round, similar to SA, WA or Northern States in which get two guaranteed games being their local teams. NZL should televise a Saints & Blues game every week to grow the product and brand.

You're always prattling on about this s**t how Carlton/St Kilda in NZ should be an ANZAC Day tradition?

Why not sydney? Why not brisbane? What have we done to show that we will make this match a success and we deserve it?

 

[SterlingArcher]

Hawthorn Crowds in Tasmania
2015:
v W.Bulldogs - 15,559

2014:
v Brisbane - 12,430
v West Coast - 15,504
v Gold Coast - 13,178
v W.Bulldogs - 14,187

2013:
v Fremantle - 12,619
v GWS - 10,513
v Brisbane - 15,796
v W.Bulldogs - 14,022

It's hard to maintain a good crowd in Tasmania where there is strong support for Hawthorn, they only get 6-7 matches for the year and Hawthorn is winning.

The crowds in NZ are marginally less (and yes, they may have been free etc), but it's a non-football place, out of the 4 teams to have played there only 1 was in any good form (Sydney)...

I'd say 12-13k isn't too bad.

 

[fabulousphil]

There's usually only two guys in a RU team that have sort of advanced kicking skills - first-five (#10) and fullback (#15). Looking at the NZ guys on the international lists, I would say that they are equally divided between league, union and basketball backgrounds.

That's more than most other sports, although the technique may need to be changed somewhat and if you are looking at big guys ( ruckman) kicking becomes sometimes secondary ....... Pike, Grundy etc.

One question Geoff, does the NZAFL board have a goal in mind of how many annual draftees to an AFL club it would like ?

 

[Yellow Feathers]

It's hard to maintain a good crowd in Tasmania, when there is currently strong support for Hawthorn.

 

[gillo94]

You're always prattling on about this s**t how Carlton/St Kilda in NZ should be an ANZAC Day tradition?

Why not sydney? Why not brisbane? What have we done to show that we will make this match a success and we deserve it?

This is our first year playing over there

These thing need least 3 years to establish itself and allow it to grow with just the same 2 teams. I'm sure Pies & Bombers needed bit of time before their game hit off

Hope we do fine other marquee games to build over the next 20 years like Opening match against Tigers, hope Wellington game and maybe Good Friday if we get it

 

[Geoff Dickson]

One question Geoff, does the NZAFL board have a goal in mind of how many annual draftees to an AFL club it would like ?

Off the top of my head, we have about 7 guys on the international lists at HFC (Kurt Heatherly, Shem Tatapu, Siope Ngata), Saints (Joe Baker-Thomas,
Giovanni Mountain-Silbery, Barclay Millar) and Melbourne (Maia Westrupp). A few others have been signed but subsequently dropped.

None of 'our players' have made it to 'the list'.

No explicit target set...but I would say we would be going well when we place at least five guys annually on the international list (meaning that in three years we should have 15 international scholarship holders) ...and that one of these get drafted every second year. On that basis I would say we are not quite half way to where I want to be.

Most clubs do not even come close to filling their international lists.

 

[dewah07]

If they didn't fixture Nz rugby on at the same time it would help

 

[LordLucifer]

I'm all for expansion into NZ, nothing would please me more than to see one AFL club in both Wellington & Auckland, in fact I'd be happy to relocate to Wellington to work with the new entity to get it up and running.

Wellington FC (aka "The Boots")
Auckland FC (aka "The Jaffas")

Can't wait to see this become a reality.

 

[L_W_P]

This is our first year playing over there

These thing need least 3 years to establish itself and allow it to grow with just the same 2 teams. I'm sure Pies & Bombers needed bit of time before their game hit off

Hope we do fine other marquee games to build over the next 20 years like Opening match against Tigers, hope Wellington game and maybe Good Friday if we get it

Has it been established that Carlton will be the 'other' team? I was under the impression that the Saints would be playing a different opponent in Wellington each year.

 

[gillo94]

Has it been established that Carlton will be the 'other' team? I was under the impression that the Saints would be playing a different opponent in Wellington each year.

Is there a link?
I thought they wanted 2 set opponents each year, doesn't make sense just 1 set and other rotating

 

[L_W_P]

We have played Sydney, Brisbane and Carlton in the 3 games so far.

Carlton are keen to lock it in as a regular game but im not sure if the AFL or Wellington council have given that a tick at all.

When we first locked in the contract Im pretty sure the AFL said they would rotate teams to give multiple clubs a chance to play on ANZAC Day and to give fans of multiple clubs a chance to travel for the game.

We could still play GWS, GC and the other Vic clubs except Essendon and Pies aside, maybe Dees and Tiges if they have their ANZAC Eve game.

Not saying it wont be Saints v Carlton every year, just that isnt locked in at all.

Geoff Dickson what is your understanding?

 

[Howard Littlejohn]

Not correct.
But even if it was, why would that concern the Wellington City Council?

My understanding (from the online version of a Wellington newspaper in year one of this experiment) was that the council, and the local business community, were behind the extra charge on business to bring in thousands of Australian tourists for the weekend. Those funds are how Wellington pays for the games. The average rate payer is not out of pocket for the games.

If my assumption re: St Kilda supporter travelling numbers was correct (and you are in a position to know, so I accept the assumption is erroneous) getting less people from Australia each year would impact in business agreeing to extend the levy. If they aren't getting the return in tourism, they won't keep agreeing to the funding scheme.

 

[Geoff Dickson]

We have played Sydney, Brisbane and Carlton in the 3 games so far.

Carlton are keen to lock it in as a regular game but im not sure if the AFL or Wellington council have given that a tick at all.

When we first locked in the contract Im pretty sure the AFL said they would rotate teams to give multiple clubs a chance to play on ANZAC Day and to give fans of multiple clubs a chance to travel for the game.

We could still play GWS, GC and the other Vic clubs except Essendon and Pies aside, maybe Dees and Tiges if they have their ANZAC Eve game.

Not saying it wont be Saints v Carlton every year, just that isnt locked in at all.

Geoff Dickson what is your understanding?

I haven't been part of any conversation on that matter...and I wouldn't comment if I was because it would be inappropriate for me to comment/share.

Saints vs DIFFERENT TEAM provides a novelty factor for DIFFERENT TEAM fans to travel. Saints vs SAME TEAM runs a risk of SAME TEAM fans not coming back year in year out.

 

[Geoff Dickson]

My understanding (from the online version of a Wellington newspaper in year one of this experiment) was that the council, and the local business community, were behind the extra charge on business to bring in thousands of Australian tourists for the weekend. Those funds are how Wellington pays for the games. The average rate payer is not out of pocket for the games.

If my assumption re: St Kilda supporter travelling numbers was correct (and you are in a position to know, so I accept the assumption is erroneous) getting less people from Australia each year would impact in business agreeing to extend the levy. If they aren't getting the return in tourism, they won't keep agreeing to the funding scheme.

What you have written immediately above is correct.

I thought you were under the impression that Wellington City Council would be concerned if travelling AWAY team supporters outnumbered the Saints supporters.

Anecdotally, I understand it was tough to get a room in Wellington over the weekend. I know this because the CEO of the AFL South East told me he found it all but impossible to get a last-minute room for his Chairman. AFL South East Under 16s were playing our national under 16 team. And the bars sure seemed to be full of AFL fans. AFL fans are nothing if not good drinkers and eaters.

 

[tugga]

How many supporters of each club went over to watch?
I was going to Hong Kong on the Thursday of the 2013 game and there were quite a lot of Saints fans at the airport going over.
Also, how many of the crowd were made of Aussie expats?
I think you'll find there might have only been about 7,000 actual Kiwis at the game*, which is not good.

* my estimate only.