Expansion 3rd Western Australian club

[Carringbush2010]

IMO, for a 3rd wa team to have supporter base (let's face it, won't survive without it) it'd have to be a WAFL team to get a licence.

As a local I don't see any of the Docker or WC fans jumping off ship to support it unless it's their WAFL club.

 

[Ambrose Burnside]

IMO, for a 3rd wa team to have supporter base (let's face it, won't survive without it) it'd have to be a WAFL team to get a licence.

As a local I don't see any of the Docker or WC fans jumping off ship to support it unless it's their WAFL club.

But even then, the average membership base of a WAFL team promoted to the AFL would make that of the Eagles look like teenagers.

This is the Eagles' 37th year, and the Dockers' 29th. Supporters who remember a time before the Eagles would be in their mid-late 40s. There wouldn't be too many willing to give up the last ~40 years of supporting the Eagles to go back to a side they last followed (properly, as in attending games every week) as a kid, so you'd have to go older, to people in their 50s at the youngest. Not too many young supporters will be born to that cohort.

 

[Carringbush2010]

But even then, the average membership base of a WAFL team promoted to the AFL would make that of the Eagles look like teenagers.

This is the Eagles' 37th year, and the Dockers' 29th. Supporters who remember a time before the Eagles would be in their mid-late 40s. There wouldn't be too many willing to give up the last ~40 years of supporting the Eagles to go back to a side they last followed (properly, as in attending games every week) as a kid, so you'd have to go older, to people in their 50s at the youngest. Not too many young supporters will be born to that cohort.

Oh I dunno, know many many dockers and wc fans who still hold passion for their wafl club. I'd like to see it, just to see if it works.

If I may ask do you support a wafl club? And if so would you jump ship from wc to that club if it was granted a licence? And if not why not?

 

[Coolangatta]

Yeah, if there's a new WA club, it'd have no connection to WAFL clubs whatsoever. WAFL is nothing compared to what it used to be. If they were going to have WAFL clubs in the AFL, it should've happened 40 years ago.

 

[Coolangatta]

And FWIW I think they should have, because while it would've killed the WAFL, it's already on life support as it is. The VFL and SANFL are also nothing compared to what they used to be, but only one league has gotten to keep a lot of their traditional clubs alive.

 

[Ambrose Burnside]

If I may ask do you support a wafl club? And if so would you jump ship from wc to that club if it was granted a licence? And if not why not?

Most people have a WAFL side, me included. But I was two, turning three when the Eagles played their first game, so I don't remember a time when the WAFL was the be all and end all in WA.

People younger than me (I turn 39 this year, FML) would most likely have even less connection to their WAFL club. I know my father in law has a big East Perth thing up on the wall. He probably would swap from Freo to East Perth. His kids wouldn't (my brother in law Freo, my wife Eagles), and his grandkids wouldn't even be able to name the WAFL teams.

 

[Coolangatta]

FWIW I think the AFL should've looked something like this:

Carlton Blues
Collingwood Magpies
Essendon Bombers
Geelong Cats
Hawthorn Hawks
Richmond Tigers
Sydney Swans
West Perth Falcons
East Perth Royals
East Fremantle Sharks
Port Adelaide Magpies
Norwood Redlegs
(1985) Sturt Double Blues
(1987) Brisbane Lions
(1993) Canberra Demons
(1997) Tasmania Devils
(2011) Southport Sharks
(2014) Western Sydney Giants
??? expand to NT Thunder and someone else? FNQ?

Traditional clubs, **** the licensing rights with mascots and songs and jumpers (clash jumpers hello). Big Perth clubs rivalry, Port-Norwood rivalry, strong non-VFL clubs with history, the big Vic clubs; only thing missing is a Fremantle rivalry but they could've had one with the Perth sides.

 

[Carringbush2010]

Most people have a WAFL side, me included. But I was two, turning three when the Eagles played their first game, so I don't remember a time when the WAFL was the be all and end all in WA.

People younger than me (I turn 39 this year, FML) would most likely have even less connection to their WAFL club. I know my father in law has a big East Perth thing up on the wall. He probably would swap from Freo to East Perth. His kids wouldn't (my brother in law Freo, my wife Eagles), and his grandkids wouldn't even be able to name the WAFL teams.

Fair enough, I do know a lot of wc & freo fans that do have strong support for their wafl club, yes they're older. Like mid 40's plus, the younger I know yeah are more the two afl clubs and would stick phat.

Would be interesting know how much a wafl club would garner support if their club had a licence.

 

[Coolangatta]

Fair enough, I do know a lot of wc & freo fans that do have strong support for their wafl club, yes they're older. Like mid 40's plus, the younger I know yeah are more the two afl clubs and would stick phat.

Would be interesting know how much a wafl club would garner support if their club had a licence.

My dad's a Royals supporter, he took me and my brother to see them play East Fremantle in the 2000 GF when we were kids.

By that stage I was on the Brisbane Lions bandwagon but I'd probably get on board with the Royals because of that history/nostalgia/family connection.

Also happens to be a good choice in terms of mascot (not a bird), colours (no AFL team with black and blue), it's got the name Perth in it and I could see more East metro/Swan people getting behind them as they'd be closer to that area. Not the kids who play footy and have connections to Swan Districts but the rest that don't really follow the WAFL. They were also the first WAFL side to try and join the VFL. No club song clashes either.

I don't think it'll ever happen but wouldn't be upset if it did, as long as it doesn't screw Canberra over from getting a team.

 

[Rob]

The benefit of a 3rd WA team is the timezone - you could play a game at 730 WST and effectively have another exclusive timeslot.
Except the AFL doesn't seem to want to do that with the existing WA teams, so it's of no interest to them.

 

[Bjo187]

Q1. Who is the wafl club with the biggest supporter base?

Q2. If you did choose a wafl club as w.a 3, which club would have the best prospect for growth?

 

[RedV3x]

Q1. Who is the wafl club with the biggest supporter base?

Not worth debating.

Q2. If you did choose a wafl club as w.a 3, which club would have the best prospect for growth?

Armadale is in the S.E. corridor of Perth. It has no WAFL club but it did have it's own league.
So Armadale support would not be divided by WAFL loyalties.

 

[Coolangatta]

Not worth debating.



Armadale is in the S.E. corridor of Perth. It has no WAFL club but it did have it's own league.
So Armadale support would not be divided by WAFL loyalties.

Armadale in the AFL, eh?

Lose all the games, win all the fights.

 

[TWLS]

Armadale in the AFL, eh?

Lose all the games, win all the fights.

We have rellies in Armadale which is very slowly changing - Yes I know there is an Aboriginal population there but it appears to be stagnant or in decline. The Council has opened up new areas and young couples are moving in who are linked to the lower end of the financing market and Armadale was voted as ok by the residents recently in a State wide media poll.

 

[Coolangatta]

We have rellies in Armadale which is very slowly changing - Yes I know there is an Aboriginal population there but it appears to be stagnant or in decline. The Council has opened up new areas and young couples are moving in who are linked to the lower end of the financing market and Armadale was voted as ok by the residents recently in a State wide media poll.

Yeah I know mate, just having a laugh with the old bogan/disenfranchised youth stereotypes.

Knew a former dog cleaner who lives there. Lovely lady, didn't have anything bad to say about Armie, and that was at least 5 years ago.

 

[Canary]

A third WA club would be a long-term prospect that would probably, maybe, eventually get the best market share. Initially the main support would, I think, come from West Australians who don't follow either WCE or Freo (ie, me). I'd probably buy a membership and get to most of the home games and then the challenge would be creating an identity that is distinct enough to stand on its own.

For me, if WA 3 goes ahead (and fwiw in my utopia NT gets their own team and GWS becomes Canberra), it should be based in Joondalup for lots of reasons more elegantly explained by other in the past but primarily it is a large migrant area which doesn't have a major presence from any other sporting code and encompasses a huge swathe of land and population (cities of Joondalup, Wanneroo and Stirling are more populous than Tasmania) and they have a ready made reserves team in the Falcons should West Perth agree to it. Going even further, if they wanted to capture whatever market is left for West Perth fans they could adopt the Falcons name and use the light blue + red (plus another colour) should the organisation agree to it. I also didn't mind the East Perth suggestion from earlier in the thread, although I'm not the biggest fan of even more cardinal directions in team names. Mandurah and the South West also decent options for expansion, although if a team is based in Bunbury, say, the downside would be requiring a new stadium.

With lower ticket prices and smart marketing it's not absurd to think that a third WA team would get an average of 25k to home games in their first year and keep growing from there. People like going to the footy but prices to WCE games are absurd, Freo slightly less so, and in a two-team where it's either/or a third option would quickly become a second team (at worst) for the majority of the footy following population.

I think there is a tendency to be scared by a third team simply because we don't have one.

 

[budge27]

Think of all the Derbies you could have with 3 teams in Perth - feasibly you could have 6 per year that’s one every 4 weeks - the media would love it. Even if a new Perth team averaged 20k a week the’d still get 55k to all the derbies, granted over half the crowd would be Eagles or Dockers supporter at their home Derbies but it would be a good atmosphere.

 

[Johnny Bananas]

Have the WAFC or any WAFL club campaigned for a team? I'm not expecting a grassroots community movement or anything, but this will only happen if someone in Perth with some level of footballing presence actually wants it to happen.

 

[Rob]

Only thing I've seen is the mayor of Joondalup talking about it. And some clown that suggested Geraldton.

 

[madmug]

I still think the best option would be for a new team to be called Perth.

Perth Sharks. Playing at the new stadium.

Perth could handle having 3 teams, all playing out of Optus stadium.

Better use of such a great facility. Perth has 2.1million people so it'd be a good fit for a new club.

 

[Coolangatta]

I still think the best option would be for a new team to be called Perth.

Perth Sharks. Playing at the new stadium.

Perth could handle having 3 teams, all playing out of Optus stadium.

Better use of such a great facility. Perth has 2.1million people so it'd be a good fit for a new club.

If it’s gonna be WA3 as the 20th, that is the perfect set up.

 

[Rob]

If it’s gonna be WA3 as the 20th, that is the perfect set up.

Perfect apart of the total lack of supporters.

Seriously, who's going to follow Perth Sharks?

 

[jatz14]

Have the WAFC or any WAFL club campaigned for a team? I'm not expecting a grassroots community movement or anything, but this will only happen if someone in Perth with some level of footballing presence actually wants it to happen.

Didn't someone from the WAFL or WAFC recently call the talk of a third WA club madness?

On SM-X200 using BigFooty.com mobile app

 

[Canberra Pear]

Perfect apart of the total lack of supporters.

Seriously, who's going to follow Perth Sharks?

I also assume the Sharks name would be a no-go with East Fremantle in the WAFL, right?

 

[Rob]

I also assume the Sharks name would be a no-go with East Fremantle in the WAFL, right?

Swap sharks with anything else. Perth Pumas, Perth Quokkas, whatever.

Who's going to support them?