Well Done Peel Thunder

[Rob]

Halfway through the last quarter in the WAFL Colts Grand final, Peel are ahead of Sowfs by 8 goals. Let me be the first to congratulate them on their first premiership.

Give it a few years, Peel will win a seniors flag. The idiots that campaigned to get them kicked out should now go into hiding.

 

[Docker_Brat]

Peel might have gone a lot closer by now if they hadn't been a year to year proposition. It's impossible to run a club effectively if there's a possibility that the opposition can vote you out of existence.

 

[wellsy]

Must of caught Souths colts on a big day off or played some amazing footy cause South Fremantle have been the best colts team for past three/four years. To keep Souths to only 7 goals is some effort so congrats Peel Colts you must of done something bloody well

Congrats Peel colts and hopefully we can see some decent development down in Peel from now on.

 

[Lionel Lyon]

Peel might have gone a lot closer by now if they hadn't been a year to year proposition. It's impossible to run a club effectively if there's a possibility that the opposition can vote you out of existence.

Given that WA and Perth's population is greater than that of SA and Adelaide, shouldn't the WAFL be shooting for a ten team competition? Not only should Peel be allowed to stay, but another club ought to be courted too.

 

[Rob]

Peel might have gone a lot closer by now if they hadn't been a year to year proposition. It's impossible to run a club effectively if there's a possibility that the opposition can vote you out of existence.

Yeah, their seniors showed a bit of promise in 2002, and they were rewarded with a 1 year licence, nearly all the best players nicked off to other clubs (as Peel could only offer them a 1 year contract) and they went to sh*te again the following year.

Hopefully now with some guarantee of being around for a while and some of the best underage players in the state they can capitalise on their location in one of the fastest growing areas in the country.

 

[masai]

Give it a few years, Peel will win a seniors flag. The idiots that campaigned to get them kicked out should now go into hiding.

The irony of that is that the league premiership cup was presented by the biggest opponent of Peel.

Peter Metropolis who was at the time of Peel's creation, the President of Subiaco and wanted an "inner city competition". I think someone better tell him about Joondalup.

He presented the cup to his own team, a job I thought would be done by the Chairman of the WAFL, Fong / Dorrington?.

Good on ya Peel, next year another move forward, 2006 you should be pretty tough to beat.

 

[Ripper]

The sagging support for the WAFL is a very serious issue, one that can't be solved by further diluting support with another side.

I agree, On the bright side crowds were up this year again and appear to have bottomed out. 21k at the GF.

In the WAFC defence they have revised their draw to work more around AFL games, not before time.

As a side not I watched the last 1/4 of the SANFL 2nd semi and it was a great game.

 

[royaldave]

The SANFL has crowds twice the size, and their clubs have twice the money to throw around.

If the WAFL was in a similar boat then we should have a 10 team league - although the powers that be would disagree. In fact the 'experts' want it dropped to 6. But these are the same people who are more concerned with the ability of the league to produce AFL fodder rather than what's best for those who actually watch the WAFL.

Peel came into existance due to the fact it is such a fast growing area - hence the investment made by the WAFC is justified by the players that are now being produced.

Unless another area of Perth can be identified similarly (and is considered too far away from any of the existing clubs), I don't see a 10th team for a long time yet.

 

[ImperialPurple]

Just on the "growth" potential, I remember reading about a new town development in the north of Perth? Maybe a comparison can be drawn with the new town of Elizabeth built in Adelaide - they now are the home of the Central District football club, who are a powerhouse of the SANFL, both in support (2,400 members) and on field performances in the last 5 years (although it took decades for the club to truly "arrive").

Joondalup?? The home of the West Perth Football Club.

 

[royaldave]

The thing in favour of the SANFL and WAFL is that there are large numbers of dormant supporters who do not follow the league due to its comparative lack of profile compared to AFL - but these supporters can be enticed to go to a game if there a promised big match atmosphere. For the SANFL there's clubs like Norwood, Sturt, Central and North who can command a large following should the occasion match it.

What is the situation for the WAFL in this regard? I note as an outsider, it appears to me that the South and East Fremantle, West and East Perth in a derby, and perhaps Subiaco can draw on this sort of dormant support.

The dormant support is there - and you rightly picked the 4 traditionally best supported clubs.

Subi are actually one of the lesser supported clubs, but to their credit they do seem to get a reasonable (by today's standards) crowd to their games.

All the clubs (except Peel) do have dormant support - although I do wonder about Claremont sometimes. For a successful club (the past 25 years) their crowds are pitiful.

I don't know what it will take though to reclaim more of that dormant support, and indeed to get "new" fans to the games.

The recent WAFL season was though was the best in a long time in terms of all-round standard and competitiveness.

Couple that with (finally) some off-field stability and we can only hope to slowly grow the interest again.

 

[Rob]

The dormant support is there - and you rightly picked the 4 traditionally best supported clubs.

Nah, the 3 best supported clubs traditionally are South Fremantle, East Perth and West Perth. Subi is probably the smallest, along with Claremont. That there were over 20k to watch them was an excellent result for the WAFL.