BARASSI LiNE

[TigerCraig]

Back when I was in my state high school about 5-10 years ago, one of the PE teachers was from Sydney and was big on his Rugby League, so he got a few of the students, like me, who played a lot of different sports and would be open to the idea of learning/playing RL, to convince a few mates to put together a school RL team. We played in a single tournament of which the winner, straight away, went and played the winner of equivalent competitions in SA/WA etc., who, the winner, in turn, would enter the NSW/Qld schools competition part-way through. Googling around, it turns out that it's this competition, I think.

AFL development have done a great job. RL development are useless

Back when I was at school (a long time before you - mid 1980's) my high school in Newcastle put together an Aussie Rules team for the state knock out. Only 3 of us had played before, none of the rest of the team had ever seen a game live, and I was the coach - our PE teacher was officially the coach but he let me run things. In one game I had to umpire half the game, as did a player from the other team because there were no umpires available and neither schools "coach" knew the rules.

Somehow we won through the first 3 rounds before being knocked out.

Compare that with where the game is now..

 

[Garlic muncher]

So centre of Australian Football appears to be around Nhil.

The centre of rugby league appears to be around Narrabri.

The meeting point appears to be around Condobolin.

It is pretty close IMO, Condobolin plays in the Northern Riverina League, but the town itself would be considered a RL town, it is where Shannon Noll comes from, although he comes from a property West of the town, he is a footy fan and ex player for Condobolin, interestingly you will find most of Condobolin's players come from properties West of the town, due to the farmers who bought the land 100 years ago being in the main Southerners.

The properties to the East and North were more likely populated by people moving from Sydney and the North, the town via school teachers, post master, doctors etc would over a period of time would all be sent by the NSW Government and more likely RL orientated.

Condobolin is arguably in the Central west rather than the Riverina.

 

[Garlic muncher]

[QUOTE="Garlic muncher, post: 50408832
And the geomid point of each codes popularity.
http://www.geomidpoint.com/example.html

give bordertown an AFL team now[/QUOTE]

Another point to make about the geo mid point is that the RL point is not at all Sydney centric but quite close to the QLD border and Brisbane, i wonder if that point was taken 50 years ago whether the point would have been much closer to Sydney, my guess would be it would have.

 

[Garlic muncher]

Not sure it's *that* impressive given the AFL teams generally top up with under 18s in the NEAFL. i.e they're not picked entirely on merit.

Getting closer ......

Jack Hardman

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/sp...y/news-story/bb3e6eb0bfcf95c366d4cd4708964b5f

 

[Gigantor]

I hope Shipley makes it because the fact remains that GWS' best "local" recruits have been from Southern NSW and Canberra, none have made it from "greater Western Sydney".

 

[Gigantor]

Speaking of Shipley, he's mentioned in this positive ABC report about GWS, could be our first recruit who actually comes from Western Sydney (well, SW Sydney):

http://mobile.abc.net.au/news/2017-07-18/giant-tide-rising-in-sydneys-west/8720542

GWS Giants' AFL success being felt at all levels of Aussie Rules in Western Sydney
BY MARK DOUGLASSABOUT 2 HOURS AGO
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VIDEO 1:26

Women leading AFL's western Sydney charge

ABC NEWS
It is a cold winter's afternoon at Sydney Olympic Park. Boys and girls are bouncing a Sherrin, practicing their hand passes and kicking goals.

One young boy bends a banana kick through the big sticks from 10 metres with virtually no angle to work with and nonchalantly walks back to high-five his friends.

Josh and Kai play for the Greystanes Goannas. They are here to meet and train with some of their heroes from the GWS Giants.

Josh says he likes AFL because it is unique.

"It's Australia's game and there are lots of skills like kicking and handpassing," he said.

Kai loves the "fast pace and the running involved".

This may be just a sports ground, but it represents the battleground where AFL is making giant strides to win over the hearts and minds of the football players and supporters of the future.

Winning the hearts and minds of Sydney kids
Ten years ago, the young boys and girls of Western Sydney had little reason to play or follow the game made famous in the suburbs of Melbourne.

AFL was an afterthought. Kids grew up kicking a round ball, shooting goals or following the exploits of the region's four rugby league teams. There was precious little Australian Rules infrastructure and few clubs.

How the landscape has changed in that time.