Expansion Wellington Based Club ?? For Sure !!

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Consolaçao

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Yes, they are, really.

Now stop trolling, go and read the previous posts and you will find the references to where Wellington says it would like an AFL team.

Quite amazing stuff. Really.

.

Nah, what's amazing is that we get one game with a good crowd (and I'd love to see stats on how many tickets were given away) and from that, and you draw the staggering conclusion that Wellington is gagging for an AFL team? Ridiculous.

Look, I can't be bothered reading the links because I'm busy, and I just know it'll be mayors, politicians, business groups, etc (i.e. anyone with a direct interest in having thousands of Aussies fly over every fortnight to spend $$$ in the NZ economy) that are talking up NZ's sudden obsession with Australian football. Show me local petitions, show me strong local leagues, show me thousands of junior players, show me evidence of ANY meaningful grass-roots support and then I'll believe that 'Wellington wants an AFL team'.

Have we learnt nothing from GWS? From a regional population of two or three million, they can't draw crowds much more than 10,000. And we expect a city IN NEW ZEALAND with a population of less than 400,000 to be able to support an AFL team? Adelaide's got one million and they can just support two teams (in a football-mad city). You're all mental!
 
16k isn't a bad crowd! Did the locals get into it? Was there much atmosphere or did the fans have an understanding of the rules and what was going?
 

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cos789

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you draw the staggering conclusion that Wellington is gagging for an AFL team?

NO, I said Wellington is asking for an AFL, which is rather staggering.
I also said we had a good crowd and we have good Kiwikick numbers.

Look, I can't be bothered reading the links because ...

....It would undo your posting!

Have we learnt nothing from GWS?

YES, it already outdraws some rl clubs.

And we expect a city IN NEW ZEALAND with a population of less than 400,000 to be able to support an AFL team?

NO. that's why some people (including myself)have suggested Auckland as a more viable option but I don't decry that Welllington has shown something at this stage.

.
 
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if they are willing to sit through this mess they are probably a captive market
^ This ...it was another classical Swans V Saints rugby scrum up and down the ground ..they spent the first ten minutes of the game in a forward pocket with the Ball endlessly going out of bounds..it was an abysmal type of match to highlight our great Game overseas (albeit the conditions didn't help at all )
 
16k isn't a bad crowd! Did the locals get into it? Was there much atmosphere or did the fans have an understanding of the rules and what was going?

New teams must be self-funded, there is no way the existing clubs should pay for expansion when they get nothing out of it other than more low drawing games. It isn't Collingwood that is going to get stuck playing these teams all the time.
 
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^ This ...it was another classical Swans V Saints rugby scrum up and down the ground ..they spent the first ten minutes of the game in a forward pocket with the Ball endlessly going out of bounds..it was an abysmal type of match to highlight our great Game overseas (albeit the conditions didn't help at all )


Maybe but given that this an audience that love there rugby union then maybe this was the perfect introduction for them
 

blaze036

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Does anyone know if this game was on NZ tv? was it on FTA? if so how many people watched it in NZ? those are probably the most important stats
 
Jan 10, 2011
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Hearing the figures of people playing the game over there and their PM wanting a team makes me really excited about the future of the game overseas.

Would be all for an Australiasian Football League. North to Tassie, Dogs to Canberra, Saints to Wellington, a team from the North Island, possibility of NT team and PNG team. Footy is Nauru's national sport as well.
 

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That gag has been done already.

Missed it. I'd like to think my delivery was better though.

as far as the question goes, sure why not, but i'd give it 5 years minumum of spot games here and there to build an appetite and then consider it more seriously then
 
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Kidding, right?
Hearing the figures of people playing the game over there and their PM wanting a team makes me really excited about the future of the game overseas.

Would be all for an Australiasian Football League. North to Tassie, Dogs to Canberra, Saints to Wellington, a team from the North Island, possibility of NT team and PNG team. Footy is Nauru's national sport as well.
Wellington IS in the North Island.
 

fabulousphil

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The real test will be the next game in Wellington, to see if the locals turn back up, they seem generally open minded enough to perhaps enjoy the sport.

Realistically though, a AFL team based in Wellington would IMO require a small miracle to happen within the next 20 years, however with a good deal of luck and hard work Wellington may work for 2 games a year.
 

Consolaçao

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NO, I said Wellington is asking for an AFL, which is rather staggering.
I also said we had a good crowd and we have good Kiwikick numbers.



....It would undo your posting!



YES, it already outdraws some rl clubs.



NO. that's why some people (including myself)have suggested Auckland as a more viable option but I don't decry that Welllington has shown something at this stage.

.


Utter delusion. Wellington has four Australian football teams in the entire city, and I'd bet the vast majority of participants are expats. The entire nation (according to wikipedia) has 'around 536 senior players'. I wonder genuinely if the number of locals participating across the entire country is above three figures?

I'd hazard a guess to say that if the NFL decided to play a regular season game in Melbourne, they'd get 90,000. And they wouldn't need to hold the game on a day of shared significance like ANZAC day nor would they need to give away thousands of freebies. Let's put this in perspective. The event was a success. If it leads to a bit of interest from across the ditch, and we end up having a stronger Kiwi league, and a couple of Kiwi players down the track, then great, but this talk of expansion is pie in the sky stuff.

While you're all here having sincere discussions about the shape of the Utopian Football League, clubs are disappearing in traditional football areas for lack of players and resources. Around the corner from me, Coburg Football Club is in danger of disappearing from face of the earth, and you're talking about the Wellington Wizards or some such rubbish. In my opinion, expansion is necessary to some degree, and I broadly support the idea of teams in GWS and Gold Coast, but I get the sense sometimes that administrators and some fans forget that what makes this game great, are the players and supporters in Victoria, South Australia, Western Australia, Tassie, the Territory and southern and western New South Wales. The AFL takes the long-term support of these people for granted at their peril.
 

Consolaçao

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And 'GWS outdraws some NRL clubs'. You can hide behind attendance figures, but go there and tell me that GWS have a bigger presence than the least supported clubs, like the Penrith Panthers. Not even close. Not even in the same ballpark.
 

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