It's the biggest concern I can see with the whole "growth" mindset...the converted stay converted, and the newbies don't jump on board...As I said above. A lot of the population growth is from overseas. They aint gunna line up for an AFL membership anytime soon. Also any support gained from population growth will not be spread evenly across the clubs. The big will get bigger, the small will get relatively smaller.
There has been a great increase in indigenous footballers in the AFL, but you can't say the same for non-West Europeans, Africans or Asians. Nic Nat stands out as a Fijian Aussie Rules player, pretty much the only one, all the more remarkable because the East Coast of Australia is where most Fijians reside in this country, but there's hardly anyone else - a stark contrast to RL which has completely captured the attention of the entire Pacific Islander population (who were already fans when back home, granted) and keeps pumping them out into first grade. The sheer lack of Asian talent in AFL ranks is almost baffling, since most of their immigration has surely been here long enough to make some sort of impression, and enough of them emigrated to Victoria, WA and SA...
Go through the lists, and the surnames don't represent the Australian population. A lot of Smith's and Jones's...! And that's just the players - look at any shot of a crowd during any given match, and it could just as easily be White Australia 1970...
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