The AFL has completely misread the sporting mentality of the average Sydneysider. They love events. They attend events. A Sydney Swans game is an event but it’s unlikely a GWS game ever will be. It’s why the NRL will always continue to play home and away games at suburban boutique stadiums and the bigger stadiums only sell out for State Of Origin and The Grand Final. It’s not that people in Sydney don’t care about their sport, they just approach it differently than we do. It’s always been like this and always will be. One AFL team in Australia’s largest city is probably enough.
I think you’re confusing “average” with “stereotype”.
Western Sydney is a different place. Several different places in my short experience of them. It’s not the Bondi-to-Balmain barista trail, for sure. There’s enough people there, but they’ll have to be gathered patiently and over time.
Only one year older but WSW have significantly bigger average crowds than GWS. Still sub 20k but that’s in spite of their own unique “fan group issues”. GWS just HAS to succeed in building support at least up to that level as a minimum benchmark not for their future but for the future of our game.
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