A Third Team In Sydney - It's Only a Matter Of Time !!

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Apr 12, 2012
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It really is disturbing how far Rugby has fallen in this country, from winning world cups and having millions watch the Wallabies on Tv to now being non-existent. Be interesting if Wookie or others could construct a timeline of the fall of Rugby union and highlight poor decisions that have resulted in where the sport is today.
Pretty straight forward.

All the money they had around 1999 to 2003 they spent on Rugby League superstars instead of investing in grassroots.
The code was extremely top heavy and it toppled over once that generation came to the fore.

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Pretty straight forward.

All the money they had around 1999 to 2003 they spent on Rugby League superstars instead of investing in grassroots.
The code was extremely top heavy and it toppled over once that generation came to the fore.

There's surely a lot more to it than that. You don't necessarily need lots of money to maintain strong grassroots.
 

Isaac Cumming No 1

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There's surely a lot more to it than that. You don't necessarily need lots of money to maintain strong grassroots.
Yep

The Sydney club rugby GF crowd was an all time record last year. Rugby is unique in that it's actually still mostly amateur, money doesn't appear until the super 15 level. That's supports an argument it's not that expensive to maintain the grass roots. Luckily because the only real money in Rugby is from the broadcaster and they have zilch interest.

I think what's happened is the broadcaster fox has way to much say in the super rugby competition and people have simply switched off. It's way too hard with the conferences to understand who's actually the best teams, and it seems random who turns up to play finals every year.

Even the international comp has an element of killing the golden goose. What was once a rare treat of a series against the AB's or the Boks has become a stylized annual event, followed by an annual spring tour. Except in the world cup years when it's understood no-one tries until September when that tournament starts.

It's a salient lesson for the AFL not to allow the broadcaster to dominate the "product" , or else it becomes more like a reality TV show than a sporting competition.

I like rugby, other than footy it's the only code that really interests me. I am old enough to remember the amateur days, and this is a bit if a rant. It really pisses me off.
 
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Pretty straight forward.

All the money they had around 1999 to 2003 they spent on Rugby League superstars instead of investing in grassroots.
The code was extremely top heavy and it toppled over once that generation came to the fore.

Sent from my SM-G960F using Tapatalk

There's surely a lot more to it than that. You don't necessarily need lots of money to maintain strong grassroots.

1. Unions problems started in 1995 when it declared itself professional and started chasing stars from League.
2. Instead of expanding in-country in the 90s, the ARU joined itself to Super Rugby and put itself at the mercy of NZ and SA from then on. Its amazing to me that instead of putting second teams in their stronghold states of Qld and NSW, and even Melbourne or Perth, the Union went all in on the international comp.
3. The then provincial nature of Australian teams meant the top level in Au simply wasnt big enough to score big locally when the AFL and NRL media deals really started to take off in 2002. Unions deals are heavily reliant on NZ and SA, as well as bidding wars in the UK.
4. Lack of Australian content in Super rugby means local teams spend far too much time playing overseas and not enough time playing in front of home audiences, playing in NZ and SA also lends itself to unfriendly times for TV viewers also hampering the product.
5. Lack of visual presence for Australian audiences and a somewhat mediocre Wallabies, combined with the presence of other options, mean theres a lack of momentum at grassroots particpation, that is only alleviated in small part by the development of 7s and the womens game.
 
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1. Unions problems started in 1995 when it declared itself professional and started chasing stars from League.

I agree with most of your points and while this point is correct it has to be kept in the perspective that the whole of Rugby Union around the world went professional in 1995 not just Australia and the ARU weren't the only Union to chase League players.

3. The then provincial nature of Australian teams meant the top level in Au simply wasnt big enough to score big locally when the AFL and NRL media deals really started to take off in 2002. Unions deals are heavily reliant on NZ and SA, as well as bidding wars in the UK.

Yep the TV deals have hamstrung the Super Rugby teams and with the English and French leagues having double the salary cap (because of their huge TV deals) that Super Rugby has it has caused a drain on the playing stocks as a result which makes the product on show even weaker. There are almost 150 Australian players at overseas clubs not available for selection for the Wallabies because the ARU won't selection overseas based players unless they have 60 Test Caps. So the player pool is weaken and the Wallabies aren't winning like they once did but the whole code is set up around them doing well to grow.
 

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I agree with most of your points and while this point is correct it has to be kept in the perspective that the whole of Rugby Union around the world went professional in 1995 not just Australia and the ARU weren't the only Union to chase League players.



Yep the TV deals have hamstrung the Super Rugby teams and with the English and French leagues having double the salary cap (because of their huge TV deals) that Super Rugby has it has caused a drain on the playing stocks as a result which makes the product on show even weaker. There are almost 150 Australian players at overseas clubs not available for selection for the Wallabies because the ARU won't selection overseas based players unless they have 60 Test Caps. So the player pool is weaken and the Wallabies aren't winning like they once did but the whole code is set up around them doing well to grow.

The TV rights to the english rugby premiership were only 152 pounds for four years from 2012 to 2016, which works out to be about $70M aus per year in todays exchange rate. Apparently it went up a bit (can't find a number on a quick search) but that is not the kind of money that could draw so much southern hemispheric talent. The real problem is private spiv ownership pouring pocket money into inflationary, under regulated salaries.

But I agree with Wiki the biggest error was going all in with the ever-expanding psuedo-provincial pan-southern hemispheric super rugby. Obviously a lot easier to see all this with the benefit of hindsight, of course!

This is the story globally. Even cricket, the sport uniquely dominated by the international game, has seen a epic rise in popularity of tribal club/franchise competitions

NZ and Ireland can get away with centrally controlled, national-team-as-supreme-objective because they have no other professional domestic competitors.

I love rugby but barely watch it nowadays. I'll watch more this year with a world cup in our time zone but then it will be back to ho-hum super rugby and rugby championship - an imbalanced "provincial" competition that is merely a feeder to an imbalanced rugby championship that for some reason the Wallabies go up against the fricken AFL and NRL finals!
 

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There may well be a third Sydney team, but if there is, it won't be for at least two generations so give or take 50 years.

It was what, 35 years between Sydney and GWS? With the much faster growth in NSW caused by the 2nd team and AFLW I think it's fair to expect the time till the next team will be shorter, I'd guess 20-25 years. I'm not an expert on NSW so no idea where it will be located, ideally somewhere that has a rivalry with Sydney.
 
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The TV rights to the english rugby premiership were only 152 pounds for four years from 2012 to 2016, which works out to be about $70M aus per year in todays exchange rate. Apparently it went up a bit (can't find a number on a quick search) but that is not the kind of money that could draw so much southern hemispheric talent. The real problem is private spiv ownership pouring pocket money into inflationary, under regulated salaries.

The deal for the English Premiership was enough that they could raise their salary cap from $8.64 million a year (£5 million) in 2015/16 to $12.1 million (£7 million) this season when the new TV deal began. The TV previous deal the English Premiership had for their rights was on was par with what the ARU have for their entire TV Rights package (Super Rugby and Wallabies matches included, the RFU sell England matches in their own right) currently. The Players have been leaving Australia for years before the raise but why?

The lack of spots for starters, 4 teams with 35 places (was 5 until a year ago) and even then the salary cap for the Australian clubs is $5.5 million per season.

So when you look at the salary cap for the French Top 14 $17.44 million (€11.3 million) along with the Premiership and add the player budgets of the Irish $11.09 million (€7million), the Welsh $8.64 million (£5 million) budget and the Scots $8.30 million and $8.81 million (£4.8m-£5.1 million) for their clubs and its easy to see why the depth in Australian Rugby has been brought out from underneath it.

Spread over a squad of 35, that works out at an average of $498,285 per player if they go to France to an average of $155,000 per player if they stay in Australia. It's quite stark.

Links to my figures
https://www.rugby.com.au/news/2018/01/10/super-rugby-salary-cap-transition
https://www.rugbypass.com/news/top1...now-dwarfs-that-of-the-premiership-confirmed/
https://outline.com/xeAGsA
 

NoobPie

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The deal for the English Premiership was enough that they could raise their salary cap from $8.64 million a year (£5 million) in 2015/16 to $12.1 million (£7 million) this season when the new TV deal began. The TV previous deal the English Premiership had for their rights was on was par with what the ARU have for their entire TV Rights package (Super Rugby and Wallabies matches included, the RFU sell England matches in their own right) currently. The Players have been leaving Australia for years before the raise but why?

The lack of spots for starters, 4 teams with 35 places (was 5 until a year ago) and even then the salary cap for the Australian clubs is $5.5 million per season.

So when you look at the salary cap for the French Top 14 $17.44 million (€11.3 million) along with the Premiership and add the player budgets of the Irish $11.09 million (€7million), the Welsh $8.64 million (£5 million) budget and the Scots $8.30 million and $8.81 million (£4.8m-£5.1 million) for their clubs and its easy to see why the depth in Australian Rugby has been brought out from underneath it.

Spread over a squad of 35, that works out at an average of $498,285 per player if they go to France to an average of $155,000 per player if they stay in Australia. It's quite stark.

Links to my figures
https://www.rugby.com.au/news/2018/01/10/super-rugby-salary-cap-transition
https://www.rugbypass.com/news/top1...now-dwarfs-that-of-the-premiership-confirmed/
https://outline.com/xeAGsA


Should be noted that even though the RFU sells the English teams rights separately, it is required to essentially pay the clubs for the time of centrally contracted players https://www.bbc.com/sport/rugby-union/36884250

The point is though that the extra tv monies are marginal. In 2016/17 the clubs were receiving around a combined £5 million from the tv payments and RFU payments. Overall they lost a collective £28 million

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2...s-the-full-club-by-club-breakdown-and-verdict

IN other words, on average each club in the english premiership loses the equivalent to almost the entirety of an Australian super rugby team's TPPs.

The bigger drain on Australian rugby's talent pool is the NRL. Even though it has a far more sustainable salary cap it collectively has 6 times the TPP to spend and lots more sports available to entice younger football talent.
 

BringBackTorps

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(1) The NRL is having its worst off-season ever in terms of NRL player off-field alleged bad behaviour/assaults etc. Six women have claimed they have been assaulted by NRL players, & police charges have been laid. Eight other NRL players have been accused of assault (non-sexual), & other poor behaviour.

On 22.1.18, "a frustrated, angry, & embarrassed" NRL CEO T. Greenberg said there "was no doubt rugby league's reputation had taken a battering after a summer marred by ugly headlines about player misbehaviour". These issues have received great prominence in the MSM in NSW & Qld.

Whilst AFL players have also in the past been guilty of similar appalling behaviour, the frequency has been FAR less than their NRL counterparts (& the AFL has c. 25% more listed players).

This poor NRL behaviour must have a negative impact on parents/RL player nos. in clubs; & being adopted as a sport in primary & secondary schools in NSW & Qld (where contact RL nos. are diminishing). In primary schools, approx.80%+ teachers are female.
The NRL is also now making major efforts to promote GR female contact RL- where nos. are growing strongly, off a very small base- & a NRLW comp. These alleged assaults on women will hinder the NRL cause.

https://www.foxsports.com.au/nrl/nr...s/news-story/75f020879366c6cd13062b7f58659f09

(2) The Australian newspaper
"In the northern suburbs of Sydney, a sporting shift is under way. Prestigious girls' school are seeing an AFL surge..."

The Sydney Independent schools first organised introduction of female AF was a one-off Gala day in 2017- then a tournament in 2017 involving 15 teams from 7 Independent schools. "The competition is expected to grow into a statewide (my emphasis) event" ie girls from other schools outside Sydney will play in this competition.

http://aflnswact.com.au/igsgd/

Pymble Ladies College will have permanent AF goal posts erected on its grounds in 2019- ie not temporary, "match day" posts.
(This is also happening in some private girls' schools in Melb.)

In 2019, an 8 week female secondary school competition will be played by 32 teams from 9 Independent Girls' schools in Sydney.
Competing schools will be MLC, Brigidine St Ives, St Catherines, Abbotsleigh, Ravenswood, Mont Sant'Angelo, Queenwood, & Pymble Ladies.

As St Clares & Roseville played in the Oct. 2018 Girls' Independent schools Gala day competition, they might join the 8 week AF comp. in the future.

http://websites.sportstg.com/assoc_...D=386329&&news_task=DETAIL&articleID=63894443

Female AF is growing strongly in other primary & secondary state & private schools in Sydney.
 
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BringBackTorps

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(1) This link is informative of how/why Sydney girls' private schools are starting to adopt the "scary/full body contact/foreign/male" sport of AF. For virtually all of these schools (including St Clares), AF is the only full-body contact sport offered.

The Sydney Catholic GSSSA held its inaugural AFL Gala Day round-robin competition in July 2018. 11 girls' schools participated, divided into 2 age divisions. (The SCGSSSA is different to the IGS Independent Girls' Schools' competition described above).

The link relates the experience of St Clares Catholic College (Waverley, Syd. eastern suburbs), & this was their first AF competition. Many girls had never played competition AF before this first game!
St Clares said "There was much anticipation and excitement leading into this day...as...we...keep growing this awesome sport of AFL at St Clares"; & it also acknowledged the heavy involvement of AFLNSW/ACT (which, obviously, is crucial to the female AF boom).

https://stccsports.wordpress.com/afl/

In addition to St Clares, some of the other competing schools in July 2018 were Trinity, OLMC, St Ursula, Bethlehem, Marist Sisters, OLSH Kensington, St Scholastica, Bethany, & Mount St Joseph. It is hoped some/all of these schools will commence in a full H & A permanent AF competition soon.

To see & hear a video of Mont St Josephs Milperra girls' AF team belting out their school song , google
our junior afl team won the cgsssa gala day


(2) The Giants Cup was played in June 2018 on Thursdays, between 6 Catholic girls' schools & state schools in Sydney's west.

A student, Bronte, from Mount St Joseph Milperra (80% of their girls played AF for the first time in 2018) said re AF
"It explores more skills than a lot of other sports. Most girls who have tried AFL have fallen in love with it".

Another MSJM student, Lana,said re AF
"...I loved it. In AFL you have so many more components compared to other sports- hand to eye co-ordination, catching, kicking, and fitness".
Check out the photos of the girls' "assisted" speccies!

https://aboutcatholicschools.wordpress.com/2018/06/15/afl-aces-milperra-team-in-giants-cup-final/

(3) As part of its "propaganda" campaign, the AFL has created & distributed to schools the large, colourful "Play Our Game Australia's Game Youth Girls" poster.

It is identical to the below, linked, Bilpin (Blue Mountains, far west of Sydney) co-ed primary school AF poster. For girls' schools, however, their poster shows only female footballers playing (Daisy Pearce is the central adult), & has "Youth Girls" in large lettering.

http://www.bilpin-p.schools.nsw.edu...th_may_2014_website_edition_1400475544176.pdf
(scroll to pg 4- the last page- of the newsletter for a picture of the poster)
 
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BringBackTorps

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(1) NSWRL 17.1.19

The NSWRL has announced that the Western Suburbs District Junior Rugby League has been placed into Liquidation. The WSDJRL organises the junior competition (5 y.o-17 y.o. players) for the area covered mainly by Campbelltown & Liverpool (far SW Sydney). The new A League soccer Club will be representing this area.

https://www.nswrl.com.au/news/2019/01/17/junior-rugby-league-district-goes-into-liquidation/

In June 2018, media commentator Graeme Hughes (former Canterbury NRL player) said on Fox Sports RL "Controversy Corner" that he was very concerned at the decline in male RL playing nos. in the Parramatta District JRL & general WS of Sydney.

In 2017, the WSDJRL & Canterbury Bankstown District JRL had to merge their U13 - U17 higher graded players- due to declining player nos. overall ; & to maintain competitiveness/eveness of the teams in the higher age divisions.


NSWRL 25.1.19

The NSWRL has said the 2019 WSDJRL competition will proceed as normal- following a "...meeting held after concerns were raised about the future of Rugby League in the Macarthur region...".

The meeting deemed there will be:-

."...newly structured junior League".

. "Digital innovation that puts Wests at the forefront of junior sport".

. "Shorts and socks will be paid for...".

The policy that WSDJRL players will receive free socks & shorts as part of their Club registration fees is very unusual. It is very rare that sporting codes provide free shorts & socks for their players- only jumpers (which are returned at end of season).
There are c. 3,000 jnrs. aged 5 y.o.- 17 y.o. in the Macarthur region, an heartland RL area.

https://www.nswrl.com.au/news/2019/01/25/exciting-times-ahead-for-wests-junior-rugby-league/

(2) In 2017, the NRL announced a "$100 million plan to stop the game dying" in its heartland. (Sunday Telegrah headline).
One NRL official told The Sunday Telegraph " At this rate our game will be dead in 10 years".
(The Reddit thread provides the full transcript of P. Rothfield's The Sunday Telegraph article, which is behind a paywall. Click on "Old" after opening Reddit article below).

 
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BringBackTorps

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(1) Abbotsleigh Girls' College is located in Wahroonga, Upper North Shore, Sydney. From prep to yr. 12, it has c.1400 students. From 2013-2015, it was ranked the top Independent school in NSW, based on academic performance. It is one of Australia's top schools.
The senior school, yr 7-yr 12, has c.900 girls. Whilst Sat. school sport is not compulsory, a suprisingly high (for a strongly academic school) c. 80% of the senior girls play sport, for at least 1 term, each year on a Saturday.

The Independent Girls Sporting Association is introducing an 8 week inter school comp. in 2019- the first ever full season AF comp. in the IGSA.
Of Abbotsleigh's 900 senior female students, an amazing 100 have registered to play in this Sat. comp. (which requires, also, mid week training- provided by outside AF expert coaches Abbotsleigh employ).
Abbotsleigh also has c. 500 junior students ie to year 6. Some of these year 3-6 students are also playing Saturday inter-school AF in the junior Independent PSHA competition.

In the Dec. 2018 newsletter, the headmistress wrote "Abbotsleigh Old Girls Union (ie the school's organisation for previous students' alumni- my words) is arguably one of the strongest old girls' networks in Australia".

It can be assumed that many Abbotsleigh parents could be described as a "top end of town/affluent/well connected" segment of Sydney society.
The benefits of the strong growth of female AF in Sydney are incalcuable, for the short & long term future of GR AF- and the AFL.
The promotion of female AF is a very wise investment for the AFL- with the enormous benefits not enunciated in the annual AFL Balance Sheets and P & L statements.

https://www.abbotsleigh.nsw.edu.au/news/junior-school-sporting-opportunities-in-2019

(2) The All Saints Greek Orthodox Grammar school is located in Belmore, SW Sydney. From Prep to Yr 12, it has c. 660 co-ed students.
It has introduced year 3- year 6 AF teams in the Independent Primary Schools Sports Organisation. AF is voluntary, & plays during the week or on Saturdays, against other IPSSO schools.

It is my understanding that a big majority of its students are from a Greek/Hellenic (Egyptian Orthodox) background. The fact this school, based in SW Sydney (a weak area, relatively, for GR AF) has some students playing primary school AF, is another sign of the inroads that AF is making in different segments of Sydney society.

http://www.allsaints.nsw.edu.au/sport-primary/

By comparison, Melb. has a larger Greek/Hellenic- background population, & has Greek Orthodox schools (Prep - year 12) at Alphington Grammar, Oakleigh Grammar, & St Johns Preston. Soccer is very strong in these schools, cf AF. Some don't offer inter-school competition AF to their primary students eg Oakleigh Grammar, St Johns.

http://www.oakleighgrammar.vic.edu.au/learning-at-og/sport/
 
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Isaac Cumming No 1

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Looks like the Girls/Womens AF will be Australian Footballs Trojan horse in Sydney/NSW!
It's why we were keen to get an AFLW team from the beginning. It fits perfectly with our strategy of growing the club sustainably through the juniors.

The Netball team as well, which grows the brand.
 

BringBackTorps

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Astonishment # 1.
Daily Telegraph 7.12.18

" For years the NRL has trumpeted rubbery figures about the growth of the game...the ways of cooking the books were many...touch footy...a junior player... counted twice, sometimes three times...the grass roots were starving...problems the NRL is now facing, much of it driven around concussion and collisions...NRL figures show that U 8's had been in decline since 2000. And the drop off from there is rapid".

https://outline.com/yX8sKM

Astonishment # 2.
Wide World Of Sports Channel 9 15.12.18

"National Rugby League...startling 2017 figures that showed of the 140,000 nationally registered players, 40,000 left the sport due to negative experiences".

https://wwos.nine.com.au/nrl/queens...ling-ban/e082c7c7-fd87-41c1-8e6b-883cc343128a

Astonishment # 3.
Daily Telegraph 15.12.18.(paywall). Via reddit/nrl ( but full Daily Telegraph transcript provided)

"...worrying data shows the code is losing up to 10,0000 participants nationwide every year...at grass roots level, there are signs of decay...".





Astonishment # 4.
NRL Media Release 20.9.18

"Rugby League (sic-my word) participation grew more than 3.5% in 2018".

https://www.nrl.com/news/2018/09/20/rugby-league-participation-up-in-2018/


Astonishment # 5
The Guardian 9.1.19

The NRL is having a terrible off-season- due to violent etc NRL player off-field behaviour. See post # 860 above.
The Nth Qld Cowboys are now employing "MINDERS" to oversee its players, when they are socialising in public places- to ensure the players don't get into "trouble"!

"...so its a safe environment for everyone".

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2...al-minders-to-create-safe-environment-for-all


Astonishment # 6.
NZ Herald 29.1.19 Headline re a new international rugby competition "World Rugby Shakeup: Wallabies Face Decimation...".

"One British paper is claiming a privateer is waiting in the wings, ready to take over rugby".

The Australian newspaper's RU writer, W. Smith, writes Australian rugby can't compete financially with Britain, France, & Japan

"Already there are fears that the Wallabies could be decimated by players departing for overseas clubs following this year's World Cup".


https://www.nzherald.co.nz/sport/news/article.cfm?c_id=4&objectid=12197794
 
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BringBackTorps

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Daily Telegraph/North Shore Times Doug Conway 31.1.19

Pymble Ladies College, Sydney North Shore, has 110 girls playing in the 8 week AF competition in the Independent Girls Sports' Association.
AF is the 2nd most popular sport there, after tennis. It has 2 AF ovals.

Also, the Sydney private Independent Girls' Schools in 2019, for the first time, are introducing a junior girls' AF comp.- for girls between yr 3- year 6.

Some of the senior school female AF players provide their reasons for wanting to play AF- they love

"... the physicality, it is a stress release, AF does not have many stoppages, it is not too structured...Knox boys...on Saturday afternoons...are now coming to Pymble to watch girls play Aussie Football...it is empowering a lot of girls...I'm proud to play a game...to tackle people twice my size...it makes you tough".

Principal V. Waters said "Courage is one of the five core values of the College...girls who play AFL need to be courageous...".

https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/n...0Q9AHMYkOEF8vOCRwZfFvihbPJBNur5K6B6JINbAWulEE

If this is behind a paywall, try PLC Twitter- which quotes DT article in full.

https://twitter.com/PymbleLC
(Then go to 31.1 tweet)

To see a photo of Pymble's permanent AF oval ( & also a great article and emotional video about GWS' Haneen Zreika, the first muslim woman to play in the AFLW), see PLC's R. Moten's 2 tweets dated 30.1.19 & 31.1 respectively

https://twitter.com/MotorvateF?ref_src=twsrc^tfw|twcamp^tweetembed|twterm^1090742042957799424&ref_url=https://s9e.github.io/iframe/2/twitter.min.html#1090742042957799424
 
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BringBackTorps

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The Australian 7.2.19 Fiona Bollen

Bollen has written, re the AFLW GenW advertising campaign,"...with a particular focus on grassroots where AFLW has had a huge impact, most noticeably in non-traditional states like NSW/ACT where CLUB participation is up more than 40% (in 2018: official regd. AF Club players in GR club competitions- my words & emphases)". "With those girls and women going to footy clubs, it's not just females who are getting involved but it's males who are getting involved", Nicole Livingstone said.

AF GR nos. are booming in NSW/ACT.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/sp...s/news-story/37776affe545fa716daec5440f93a8f9
 
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HavUEvaSeenTheRain

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The Australian 7.2.19 Fiona Bollen

Bollen has written, re the AFLW GenW advertising campaign,"...with a particular focus on grassroots where AFLW has had a huge impact, most noticeably in non-traditional states like NSW/ACT where CLUB participation is up more than 40% (in 2018 official regd. AF GR club competitions, my words & emphases).

AF GR nos. are booming in NSW/ACT.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/sp...s/news-story/37776affe545fa716daec5440f93a8f9
Do you know what the male figures were?
 

BringBackTorps

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(1)The reputation of the NRL is being excoriated by the current extraordinary, totally unprecedented, number of separate player off-field "problems"/allegations/police charges. Add to the litany in my post# 860 above, new cases of former star Ben Barba being sacked for allegedly assaulting his partner; & a new, as yet unreleased, rumoured phone video of 3 NRL players being filmed in a very "unsavoury" situation.

The Australian Phil Rothfield 9.2.19 Headline " NRL SET TO PAY FOR SUMMER OF SHAME".

Rothfield writes:-

. " Damning new research has revealed how the NRL's brand has been destroyed by an off-season of shame that threatens the loss of millions of dollars in revenue and sponsorship. The Weekend Australian has obtained a confidential report used to measure the brand health of the game that was tabled at Wednesday's independent commission meeting.
The games NPS rating (Net Promoter Score which measures customer loyalty) has slumped from plus 3 per cent after the grand final in October to minus 7 per cent...at the same time, the AFL has a plus 12 per cent score".
"That's a massive swing...normally you might see a variance of 1 or 2 per cent (marketing expert comments- my words)".

. T.Greenberg said " Once the brand is damaged it becomes much more difficult to attract sponsors and that results in less revenue for the game".

."A Sports marketing expert told the Weekend Australian a 10 per cent switch in an NPS rating in three months was almost unheard of...That the AFL image rates so highly on the eve of the football season is likely to sway potential corporate backers from rugby league to its rival".

. NRLPA board member, & star player, James Maloney said " These issues have put the game under huge pressure".

(No paywall for those on minimum, free monthly views of The Australian ie for full article, Google "Phil Rothfield The Australian NRL rating plummets in summer of shame")


The Australian Brent Read 16.2

Read writes

"It is understood the commission has legal advice that they should allow the court process to run its course, or risk of prejudicing the case against any player who is charged by police".
(But some court cases can take many months to be resolved. The NRL is split as to whether it should take immediate punitive action against these players- my words)

The Australian B.Read 16.2 Headline "SPLIT NRL SET TO RISK WRATH OF THE PUBLIC"

Daily Telegraph 16.2 P. Rothfield Headline "NRL ACCUSED OF WATCHING THE GAME GO UP IN FLAMES ROME BURNS"

Melb. Storm Chairman B. Campbell said "Standing around while Rome burns is not good enough".
Campbell "...went on the warpath in the lead-up to yesterdays meeting (Commission-my word) amid fears the public relations damage could cost the game and its clubs millions in corporate support".


ABC Offsiders Program 17.2

. Francis Leach said " This has been the worst summer that Rugby League could have imagined in the off-season... The culture of the game is there for everyone to see. The game is being brought into disrepute (my emphases)".
. Mel MCLaughlin said "It will definitely put people off the game".

https://iview.abc.net.au/show/offsiders
(go to 20 mins 27 seconds for relevant RL discussion)

(2)It is probable that the poor public image of RL is a major reason why most private schools do not want RL to be played in their schools. Sydney
GPS, CAS & ISA schools have introduced AF in 2013, & it is growing strongly (as have female private schools from 2017).

This is also probably reflected in SE Qld where, in 2019, school AF is being introduced in:-
. a regular, all years, Brisbane GPS H & A school competition
. a regular, all years, Catholic AIC H & A school competition (AIS will have 45 teams initially in 2019, with 900 male players)
RU is, of course, still being played in these organisations- but not RL, the most popular sport in NSW & Qld.

https://www.aflq.com.au/inaugural-aic-afl-competition-paves-way-for-future-stars/

(3) At Have U, the AFL has not yet, surprisingly, released their Official registered participant nos. for 2018- but some figures, as per post #868 above, state female competition club nos. in NSW/ACT rose a huge 40% in 2018. Male nos. have not yet been made publicly available.

EDIT: Another article in The Australian (by Amanda Lulham, 7.2.19 said "...female AFL club participation increasing by 46% across Sydney from 2017 to 2018...".
 
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NoobPie

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Offsiders and the DT hanging s**t on RL. No great surprise there. Absolutely shocked to see the HS put up a positive article on the game today.

You don't think the fact there have been several alleged incidents involving NRL players of sexual and physical violence against women in one off season warrants some adverse media coverage?
 
May 3, 2003
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You don't think the fact there have been several alleged incidents involving NRL players of sexual and physical violence against women in one off season warrants some adverse media coverage?

There's 4 different articles every bloody day. It's as boring as the idiots who are giving the game a bad name.
 

BringBackTorps

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Jan 5, 2017
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There is great concern that the continuing stream of NRL player very poor off-field behaviour will cause many sponsors to downgrade or abandon their sponsorship of the NRL.

It is pleasing, however, that some sponsors, who have long term timeframes & vision, anticipate a mutually beneficial & profitable arrangement emerging from the unfortunate NRL troubles.
Adidas' wonderful & exciting innovation will, rightfully, promote an international spotlight on the NRL

https://www.betootaadvocate.com/spo...-boot-featuring-ankle-bracelet-compatibility/
 
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