A North Australia football team

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Sydneyfan

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Aug 15, 2000
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I saw on the AFL website rumours section that a guy called Croc says that there is going to be the announcement of a team coming from North Australia being entered into the AFL by 2002. He says how the AFL and NTFL have agreed to it and it is all but signed with announcement being made by around Ansett Cup time next year with the presumed coach, Michael McLean already moving to Darwin to get ready for the club. Croc says how the other teams will cry 'blue murder' at the concessions made to the new club but the AFL is keen for the team to go ahead.
This rumour sounds very unlikely indeed and I seriously doubt there is much to it at all. The closest thing to a Top End AFL team is the NTFL backed NT side entering the SANFL which last I heard was entering the SANFL competition in 2002.
I doubt Croc's is true and if it is, I believe that North Australia doesn't yet have the money or population to support an AFL club. Maybe in about 20 years or so it could since it has a rapidly growing population, but not now, there are plenty of other areas in Australia such as Canberra with more need of an AFL than the Top End. Maybe in 20 years there could be a North Australia team possibly based in Darwin but playing several games a year in Cairns to draw support in North Queensland as well as the Top End.
Has anyone else heard anything about Croc's rumour of a North Australia team being put into the AFL by 2002?
 
The NTFL side will be in the SANFL in 2002. The rumour you saw is a croc itself.
Give it time though & you will find they might have the money (Darwin has the second highest average income of Australian cities).
If our political clowns actually build the Alice - Darwin rail link the explosion in top end population & wealth will stagger most people.
It is crucial that the AFL pay the proper attention to Darwin & the Territory as it is a place the bumsniffers are chipping away at.
However it is not ready yet & Sydney fan your timetable would be about right I think
GM
Goatmaster
 

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The population of the NT is probably less than 100,000. There is insufficient infrastructure to support an AFL team there as well - They would need a quality stadium capable of holding at least 30,000 people and I think that they are a long way from achieving that.

The most likely candidates for new sides would be either Tassie or Canberra. The AFL has repeatedly told the TFL that they need to build their infrastructure up if they are going to have a hope of supporting an AFL team.

I don't know if the population of the NT will explode as has been suggested. Too damn hot!
redface.gif


P.S. That is not an embarassed smiley, it is one expiring from the heat!

[This message has been edited by CJH (edited 20 October 2000).]
 
It'll be good to have the Darwin Buffalos/Crocs/Dugongs or whatever in the SANFL in 2002. Once they start to take the flag year in year out - they'll follow Port and get in the AFL where they'll have to start fro mthe bottom like Port - but that's the way of the world.
 
There would be no way that the AFL would take another club into its present 16-team competition, for these reasons:

1. There are not enough good players to fill 16 teams as it is.

2. A brand new team from the north would not be competitive in the current AFL competition and would need to be propped up with other clubs' players as happened with the original Brisbane Bears.

3. The AFL is trying to lower Victoria's ten clubs to six, so why would they be stupid enough to add another team to the already overcrowded competition.

4. There would need to be too many concessions given to the north side and there would be a terrible backlash from the AFL clubs and also their supporters.

5. As pointed out by other contributors to this topic, it would be difficult to support this project considering the small population in that area.

Sorry guys, forget this one. The AFL made enough blunders this year, they are not likely to follow the same path again for many years or at least until the four clubs are gone from Victoria.

Signed - Oldfashioned Supporter
 
OldFashioned Supporter raises some interesting points ... but consider this.

1.By relocating Essendon to Darwin you would keep the number of AFL clubs at 16.

2.The Darwin Bombers would be instantly competitive. No need to prop them up.

3.There would be one less Victorian team cluttering up the Melbourne market.

4.No concessions necessary (see point 2).

5.The small population of Darwin would not be a problem because it would be more than compensated by the vast army of ARMCHAIR supporters that the club attracts. By that I mean the Tim-Tam brigade, those never-say-die loyalists who have stated that they will support their club even if it relocates to Timbuktoo. Never mind the poor crowds. Just count the advertising revenue from the TV ratings.

And if the Bombers were to secure the makers of Tim-Tams as their major sponsor ... well, it would be a licence to print money.

**Darwin Bombers ... don't mention the war**
 
Originally posted by AlfAndrews:
OldFashioned Supporter raises some interesting points ... but consider this.

1.By relocating Essendon to Darwin you would keep the number of AFL clubs at 16.

2.The Darwin Bombers would be instantly competitive. No need to prop them up.

3.There would be one less Victorian team cluttering up the Melbourne market.

4.No concessions necessary (see point 2).

5.The small population of Darwin would not be a problem because it would be more than compensated by the vast army of ARMCHAIR supporters that the club attracts. By that I mean the Tim-Tam brigade, those never-say-die loyalists who have stated that they will support their club even if it relocates to Timbuktoo. Never mind the poor crowds. Just count the advertising revenue from the TV ratings.

And if the Bombers were to secure the makers of Tim-Tams as their major sponsor ... well, it would be a licence to print money.

**Darwin Bombers ... don't mention the war**

Alf,
Your argument is well made, certainly pertinent,
however,
Wouldnt the sponsorship of the Darwin Bombers by Tim Tams be playing with economic suicide ?
Consider the enormous ramifications of 25,000 Darwin Fans munching their Tim Tams ( flat out like a dog trying to bury a bone in a marble floor ) during a game,
In Darwins heat.. only to switch the lights on and realise they are covered in melted chocolate !!!!!

Face, hands, lap,arm chair handles...crisis time for Tim Tam company...

Darwin need a sponsor fellow, but it is important we dont use these pages to push our own beloved brands, or become farcical ,we must consider the people of Darwin and their new team the relocated Essendon/Darwin Bombers as well.

Tim Tams are an innapropriate biscuit for Darwin....

Perhaps, Milk Arrowroots ?


PA1870
 
Anyone who seriously thinks that there will be AFL standard football in Tropical Australia is stark raving bonkers.

There is not enough population there to even begin to sustain an operation that costs as much as running an AFL standard football club.

Lets look at some of the larger towns in Northern Australia :

Townsville pop 130,000
Cairns pop 106,000
Darwin pop 85,000
Alice Springs pop 28,000
Karratha WA pop 28,000
Katherine pop 13,000
Kunnunurra WA pop 12,5000

None of these towns are large enough to sustain an AFL standard footy club.

cheers
 
Us Kunnunurranins will live in hope
frown.gif


You can't take that hope away from us!

And BTW- i counted 13,000 last time.... where did you get those ridiculous figures??? 12500.... geeze ... as if we're not a thriving metropolis or something...
 
The fact remains that even 'overcrowded' melbourne is still a long way more viable for current AFL teams then anywhere (and I mean ANYwhere) else. So expect economic suicide when they try to re-locate a team. However, expect Victorian teams to go 'on the road' more often to promote the game in other areas.
 

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Yeah, I thought that it was most likely fantasy stuff, if it turned out to be true it would have to be about the biggest mistake the AFL has ever made. I guess Croc's name says it all, the whole story of an NT AFL team in 2002 is a croc. However, it should be good to see the NT side in the SANFL in 2002, it should be a good stepping stone for up-and-coming NT stars to match in a high-quality league like the SANFL.
 

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