Could we see a super league start for australian footy?

[joy division]

I'd support any new league in a heatbeat. Love the sport but can't stand the AFL. Not interested in history and if my team won a string of flags in the 1870's. Just want to watch good footy without the AFL boys club and Gil involved.

 

[LoungeLizard]

I would hope the Crows got in would be an awesome competition.

Teams from NT, Tassie and Canberra would make the game truly national.

I am confident that is how it will be one day, whether it is 25 years from now or 50 years from now, the number of teams in Victoria will diminish over time.

History suggests this will be the case. Look at the teams in the various WAFL, SANFL and VFL in the initial period and look at the ones that folded. There is enough evidence to suggest that it will happen.

About 25 years ago there was a team Fitzroy in the AFL.

You may be right, you may be wrong.

But i will say with 100% confidence that 90% of footy supporters would not follow a breakaway league unless their team went there.

So where would all the support come from?

 

[gingernuts]

Amazon could throw in a couple of billion to keep them afloat.

Yep and the centre bounce could be done by drone and we could name it the "A League" A for Amazon

 

[GROTTO]

You may be right, you may be wrong.

But i will say with 100% confidence that 90% of footy supporters would not follow a breakaway league unless their team went there.

So where would all the support come from?

I was under the assumption that the AFL will develop a Super League in my comments.

I know the AFL owns all the rights to the Clubs names colours etc etc IIRC. Could be wrong? Not sure.

That 90% you speak of, you may be surprised as to how many would follow and eventually support a Club in their home city. That is 100% confident I am, it wouldnt be that high.

We have a dynamic population so overtime the supporter base will always get replenished and increase.

A good case example of this, is actually the Adelaide Football Club to join the AFL ("Super League"). When it was first established, it was disliked by many that followed SANFL, over time those attitudes and opinions changed. You will also find those that didnt follow the Crows was a much older generation. That was now almost 30 years ago, the issue of them following is no longer a problem.

The Super League would have packed stadiums for every game and would attract more dollars for the Clubs which at the moment is diluted by having 18.

I know its easy for a Crows supporter to say this. But lets not dig our head into the sand. A Super League would be great and a much more fairer for all teams concerned that were a part of it.

 

[Billy ray]

I just want to see a knock off AFL with the South Australia Pride Cows and the Punt Road Big Cats.

it'd be like Aldi brands!

 

[BF Tiger]

It would need the support of the best players. The backers would need to publicly state they were starting someone up in four(?) years, explain the concept and then try to attract players to it in that time. Players in the AFL would have to not sign contracts past the start date if they wanted to be involved.

 

[The 747]

Would be awesome. Much preferred.

Involve, Eagles, Freo, Crows,Power, Sydney, Giants, Brisbane, Cats, Pies, Richmond.

Fancy that.

10 Teams, play each other twice. A Final 5 system in place.

No salary cap in place. No draft.

Rest of the Clubs can be feeder teams.


Welcome to Thunderdome.

Crows are a feeder team now with very little history, why should they be involved? If Melbourne only gets two teams then Adelaide would have one and that would be the one with a long and rich history.

 

[Coaster2012]

Would prefer a national reserves competition first.

 

[GROTTO]

Crows are a feeder team now with very little history, why should they be involved? If Melbourne only gets two teams then Adelaide would have one and that would be the one with a long and rich history.

Thats fine and thats your opinion.

I think I had Victoria with 4 teams? Not sure.

The point being is sustainability and the market place to be able to support teams. Teams wont be selected based on history.

Even if you are correct, the advantages of having a Super League is far more advantageous. If you think by saying No Crows, that will upset or put me off, it couldnt be further from the truth. A Super League is what really what should have been formed properly way back in 1991. If Port was the team that was chosen that would be fine. Youre allowing your personal feelings to interfere with the discussion without looking at it objectively.

Just because I cherry picked a few teams does not mean they are the right or wrong ones. What is important in terms of this discussion is that a Super League in place would be much better than the AFL product we have.

Just to appease you and so you dont turn this into a pissing competition of which teams should be selected or not.

Victoria - Pies, Dons, Cats and Melbourne.

SA- Port Adelaide.

WA - Eagles.

NSW - Sydney.

NT - Darwin

QLD - Lions

TAS - Tassie Devils.

This would have been the best way to run the competition in a manner in which would lead to a fairer draw and finals system.

Each state has its own responsibility of developing its own talent, so the draft can be abandoned. Rewards come from those teams that develop kids and football in their respective states.

In any case, I will leave it like this. A Super League will be formed eventually, it just wont be called one. The sustainability of certain teams and their existence will be the reason why a Super League will be formed naturally by attrition.

Just as Fitzroy fell away and has many teams in all the state leagues, over time it will happen in the AFL.

It may take time, but the AFL landscape in 25-50 years from now, will be far different to what it is today, in terms of team compositions.

 

[M Malice]

Eagles.
Dockers.
Crows.
Power.
Swans.
Giants.
Lions.
Cats.
Magpies.
Bombers.
Tigers.
Hawks.

22 rounds of true home and away competition followed by a 5 team finals series.

 

[HTPunter]

I just want to see a knock off AFL with the South Australia Pride Cows and the Punt Road Big Cats.

Knock off players too.

The Punt Road Big Cats would have a big fat bikie as their star mid and some random 45 year old bald guy as their prime small forward.

 

[Spuddigger]

I'd prefer to see the state that invented the game have its own competition. 12 teams, play each other twice, home and away.

Good players from lesser stats can come and play in that comp.

That,s how it used to be and *ers like John Elliot sent them broke.

 

[Spuddigger]

I just want to see a knock off AFL with the South Australia Pride Cows and the Punt Road Big Cats.

You want to see a knock off AFL? Welcome to preseason.

 

[Pessimistic]

Super league? What happened to them? Who records their history?

 

[Scotland]

I'd prefer to see the state that invented the game have its own competition. 12 teams, play each other twice, home and away.

Good players from lesser stats can come and play in that comp.

What if one of the 12 bought one of the others as a play thing?

 

[Priddis Is Done]

I'd prefer to see the state that invented the game have its own competition. 12 teams, play each other twice, home and away.

Good players from lesser stats can come and play in that comp.

Tried before

Went bankrupt

 

[Fire]

Omg no. The only reason why media companies were able to take over cricket and rugby was because there was no money in them. These days the AFL turns over billions annually. No one has that kind of money to throw away year after year.

Not even Amazon would value the Australian sporting market

AFL clubs also cannot break away like they did in 1897 because the Afl own their trademarks. One of several things the clubs willingly did in the 90s to prevent such a breakaway.

So this is literally an impossibility and not even worth discussing. If we're gonna talk fantasy let's at least add a dragon to it.

 

[Carringbush2010]

Geez there's some wild fantasies going here..................... breakaway league with big clubs. Where is the league based? Are we just going to expect that the majority and their dogs are just going to up and leave because they're fed up with the way the league currently is?

This may suit a lot of non vic bases because they're fed up............. but the majority of the market which is in vic I don't think will be following a rebel break away league.

And what of these clubs like Coll & Ess? Does the op and others think that these clubs are thinking "yep we've had enough of HQ, let's abandon our huge supporter base for umm"

 

[footyfan1978]

I'm not talking rugby league/world series cricket style, but rather similar to the Indian premier league soccer.
There's quite a few clubs at state level that are fed up with the way the AFL has treated them, so could we see them break away and form their own national league, filled with mainly the "coulda been" 22+ yr olds, with a smattering of older types who've retired?

So let me get this straight, you are proposing clubs like Norwood, West Perth. Glenelg, Port Melbourne, Claremont, East Fremantle, Swan Districts, North Adelaide, West Adelaide, Williamstown, Sandringham, South Fremantle, East Perth. Sandy Bay, Southport Sharks and Fitzroy Reds start something like an alternative national league. How are they going to fund all the travel and make it worthwhile for all the player to leave their full time jobs to embrace this not so super league that has players that far from the elite of the game playing in it?

Nice idea, but..... reality is a bitch..

 

[terrybull]

You may be right, you may be wrong.

But i will say with 100% confidence that 90% of footy supporters would not follow a breakaway league unless their team went there.

So where would all the support come from?

SANFL and WAFL club supporters left their clubs for new teams in the highest competition. Would be the same for Victorian fans as proven in1897 and Fitzroy in 1997.

People want to see the best footy players and loyalty to one’s club is not as strong as everyone makes out to be.

 

[crocsta]

Geelong are clearly above the AFL and in need of playing in better league against better teams. How about Geelong, New York, London, Tokyo, Berlin, Shanghai, Paris?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[The Warlord]

Tried before

Went bankrupt

With modern marketing, management, media etc, would be a massive success.

 

[76woodenspooners]

So let me guess this straight, you are proposing clubs like Norwood, West Perth. Glenelg, Port Melbourne, Claremont, East Fremantle, Swan Districts, North Adelaide, West Adelaide, Williamstown, Sandringham, South Fremantle, East Perth. Sandy Bay, Southport Sharks and Fitzroy Reds start something like an alternative national league.

I’d imagine they’d be more state based clubs, but let’s go with that.

How are they going to fund all the travel and make it worthwhile for all the player to leave their full time jobs to embrace this not so super league that has players that far from the elite of the game playing in it?

That’s the easy part. If such a league was started by somebody who was cashed up and with very deep pockets (Amazon) then they’d simply poach the best AFL players. Cripps, Grundy and a bunch of other elite players would go to play for Fitzroy Reds on $2 million / year contracts.

The hard part would be access to grounds. The AFL own Marvel and likely have tight contracts with the other big stadiums. It might have to be a Wednesday night comp or something. The new comp would need to just stick at it for a number of years until the AFL is bled dry - very quickly AFL clubs would be unable to sustain their salary caps / football dept caps as fans get drawn to the new elite league (as happened in SA and WA when the AFL came to town as somebody else has already pointed out).

That kind of thing happens in business all the time.

Nice idea, but..... reality is a bitch..

Think of the reality of you and me united in our passion for the Fitzroy reds, Side by Side, our team never letting us down, watching Grundy palming the Sherrin down to Cripps ...

 

[footyfan1978]

I’d imagine they’d be more state based clubs, but let’s go with that.



That’s the easy part. If such a league was started by somebody who was cashed up and with very deep pockets (Amazon) then they’d simply poach the best AFL players. Cripps, Grundy and a bunch of other elite players would go to play for Fitzroy Reds on $2 million / year contracts.

The hard part would be access to grounds. The AFL own Marvel and likely have tight contracts with the other big stadiums. It might have to be a Wednesday night comp or something. The new comp would need to just stick at it for a number of years until the AFL is bled dry - very quickly AFL clubs would be unable to sustain their salary caps / football dept caps as fans get drawn to the new elite league (as happened in SA and WA when the AFL came to town as somebody else has already pointed out).

That kind of thing happens in business all the time.



Think of the reality of you and me united in our passion for the Fitzroy reds, Side by Side, our team never letting us down, watching Grundy palming the Sherrin down to Cripps ...

Fair enough, guess anything is possible but how many people actually want it?

It would have to tidy up the game to be a spectacle better than the league do now, to have a selling point.
Guess it is actually possible for very imaginative and deeply funded source.
Packer did it with World Series Cricket. Cost him a lot of money to do it but the people eventually were won over. He was losing money but had deep resources. The Cricket Board of Australia at time were losing money but due to not being able to lose their much dwarfed funds they were happy to come to Kerry Packer and try to get him to give up WSC cricket and instead give him the rights to cover all the international cricket he was originally after. But he insisted one day cricket which was the staple diet for his tv coverage continue with coloured uniforms and call the tri-series out here each summer WSC. England refused to wear anything but whites in that first series after World Series Cricket ended but because we used a white ball they were forced to wear black pads in those games as their one concession. Now every one day side has coloured uniforms. The last World Cup not to was 1987.

 

[Upgrayedd]

How do they break away? the AFL owns all 18 teams.