CURVE
Formally DEVO
- Sep 8, 2000
- 20,574
- 22,461
- AFL Club
- North Melbourne
- Other Teams
- Eels, Cumbrians, Staggies & La Viola
This may sound like a dumb question (and I'm sure every Victorian will think so), but do you believe that the AFL can remain the number one game in Australia well into this century if a majority of it's teams still reside in Melbourne??
There are currently nine teams in Melbourne (plus Geelong) all vying for the same piece of the corporate sponsorship pie. This will eventually drive teams out of Melbourne, either through relocating to another city, or through extintion. You also have other sporting organisations vying for corporate sponsorship which adds further strain on the smaller clubs.
As I said this may be a dumb question considering the new TV deal the AFL are about to get, but the NRL, NBL, WNBL and the soccer league are all showing a decline in support amongst the general public as well as the coporate support, and we are seeing clubs folding because of this, and their are some Melbourne clubs that are struggling to keep their head above water. Because of the worldwide support of Basketball and Soccer I believe these competition will continue, but we may very well be seeing the end of Rugby League as we know it. If the strongest competition in the early nineties can self destruct inside a decade, then the same can happen to the AFL.
As much as I dislike some of these clubs I'd hate to see them disappear because they all have been such a big part of Australia's sporting culture. All these clubs have histories that go back to at least the 1870's and to see that history die out would be criminal. The AFL has to look into the possibilty of relocating a couple of the Melbourne teams to other cities before they are wiped out. While both Hobart and Canberra don't have the facilities (yet) for a team to relocate there, they do have the support, so these are the obvious starting points for the AFL. The fact that the Kangaroos are already looking into Canberra as a viable option suggests that yet again, they are taking their future survival seriously. And it's good to see other teams like Hawthorn and the Bulldogs doing the same.
The talk about two teams for Brisbane and Sydney should remain nothing more than talk. They have been and always will be League and Union strongholds. While League may become nothing more than a local competition, Union will continue to grow on the strength of our National Team, the Wallabies.
While I believe the AFL will survive, and be as strong as ever, the AFL has to do something about spreading the gospel international before it gets eaten up by the global sports such as Rugby Union, Soccer and Basketball. This is such a fantastic, fast, skillful game the rest of the world deserves to see it at it's strongest, with the best teams playing tough attractive footy week in week out. Not a small provincial competition played with entusiasm by the locals but a shadow of it's former great self.
OK ladies, gentlemen, blast away
------------------
Are We Not Men
We Are DEVO
There are currently nine teams in Melbourne (plus Geelong) all vying for the same piece of the corporate sponsorship pie. This will eventually drive teams out of Melbourne, either through relocating to another city, or through extintion. You also have other sporting organisations vying for corporate sponsorship which adds further strain on the smaller clubs.
As I said this may be a dumb question considering the new TV deal the AFL are about to get, but the NRL, NBL, WNBL and the soccer league are all showing a decline in support amongst the general public as well as the coporate support, and we are seeing clubs folding because of this, and their are some Melbourne clubs that are struggling to keep their head above water. Because of the worldwide support of Basketball and Soccer I believe these competition will continue, but we may very well be seeing the end of Rugby League as we know it. If the strongest competition in the early nineties can self destruct inside a decade, then the same can happen to the AFL.
As much as I dislike some of these clubs I'd hate to see them disappear because they all have been such a big part of Australia's sporting culture. All these clubs have histories that go back to at least the 1870's and to see that history die out would be criminal. The AFL has to look into the possibilty of relocating a couple of the Melbourne teams to other cities before they are wiped out. While both Hobart and Canberra don't have the facilities (yet) for a team to relocate there, they do have the support, so these are the obvious starting points for the AFL. The fact that the Kangaroos are already looking into Canberra as a viable option suggests that yet again, they are taking their future survival seriously. And it's good to see other teams like Hawthorn and the Bulldogs doing the same.
The talk about two teams for Brisbane and Sydney should remain nothing more than talk. They have been and always will be League and Union strongholds. While League may become nothing more than a local competition, Union will continue to grow on the strength of our National Team, the Wallabies.
While I believe the AFL will survive, and be as strong as ever, the AFL has to do something about spreading the gospel international before it gets eaten up by the global sports such as Rugby Union, Soccer and Basketball. This is such a fantastic, fast, skillful game the rest of the world deserves to see it at it's strongest, with the best teams playing tough attractive footy week in week out. Not a small provincial competition played with entusiasm by the locals but a shadow of it's former great self.
OK ladies, gentlemen, blast away
------------------
Are We Not Men
We Are DEVO