Re: Is there anyone out there who will be ditching their current AFL team for 1 of the new Franchise
I've lived my whole life in different parts of Western Sydney. Out as far as Rooty Hill then to the inner west, a little detour to Adelaide, then back to the inner west and now to the aussie rules rich Hills District.
I never, ever will be supporting GWS though. They may be the 'local' team, but I'm wholly invested in the Swans who in my mind have respected and well represented the whole of Sydney (both the east and west) well in their 28 years here. I also love them dearly and my heart is with them completely.
I'm growing to not like GWS unfortunately. I'm a great supporter of the game, but something about them gets under my nose. I don't think they or the AFL administration has any idea about the people of Western Sydney or the area.
The Falou thing rubbed lots of people up the wrong way. Nobody likes a turncoat. As much as Sheedy wants to see him as a 'local' westie, he made his allegiances long ago and to most is nothing more than a 'dirty' queenslander
. The fact that he also turned his back on the NRL doesn't at all entreat him or GWS to the public in Sydney. That move has now polarised the AFL and NRL as opposing forces when I think they would have benefited from being more 'hey we can all operate successfully in this market' like the Swans have done. It would have at least got them onside with the local press and given them positive publicity instead of the constant hate and scorn.
I also received some of GWS marketing in my mail earlier this year. It was some stupid 'return this footy' card that had a registration number which asked people to sign up for info on GWS and in doing so GWS would donate a $1 to some charity of sorts. Smart marketing, but I didn't appreciate the psychological coercion and I suspect neither did other people.
Also, I'm currently studying in Canberra actually and their 'ACT4GWS' campaign although highly successful (I'm pretty sure they got their required $50 from 5000 people) I think gives the wrong impression. They're claiming to be a local team there as well which I do think is the right way of going about it.
I mean lots of people in Canberra are passionate AFL supporters and desperately want to see more games. I love that this is bringing more games here, but seriously, how can Greater Western Sydney be representative of Canberra; a whole other city, in a whole other state. Most people in Canberra disassociate themselves with Sydney completely and in my experience here, harbour some resentment of sorts (little brother syndrome would be an accurate description).
Not to mention, how would people in Sydney think about having to share a team and some games with Canberra. In their first years, perhaps it would be more important for them to play all their home games in their base area in order to build support up instead of rushing off to Canberra.
Just my thoughts, mostly irrelevant to the initial question of the thread, but yeah... I do want them to succeed in order for the game to prosper, but I'm not entirely convinced about the way they've gone about it, so I won't be making any sort of investment in them even though they are my local team.
I've lived my whole life in different parts of Western Sydney. Out as far as Rooty Hill then to the inner west, a little detour to Adelaide, then back to the inner west and now to the aussie rules rich Hills District.
I never, ever will be supporting GWS though. They may be the 'local' team, but I'm wholly invested in the Swans who in my mind have respected and well represented the whole of Sydney (both the east and west) well in their 28 years here. I also love them dearly and my heart is with them completely.
I'm growing to not like GWS unfortunately. I'm a great supporter of the game, but something about them gets under my nose. I don't think they or the AFL administration has any idea about the people of Western Sydney or the area.
The Falou thing rubbed lots of people up the wrong way. Nobody likes a turncoat. As much as Sheedy wants to see him as a 'local' westie, he made his allegiances long ago and to most is nothing more than a 'dirty' queenslander
. The fact that he also turned his back on the NRL doesn't at all entreat him or GWS to the public in Sydney. That move has now polarised the AFL and NRL as opposing forces when I think they would have benefited from being more 'hey we can all operate successfully in this market' like the Swans have done. It would have at least got them onside with the local press and given them positive publicity instead of the constant hate and scorn. I also received some of GWS marketing in my mail earlier this year. It was some stupid 'return this footy' card that had a registration number which asked people to sign up for info on GWS and in doing so GWS would donate a $1 to some charity of sorts. Smart marketing, but I didn't appreciate the psychological coercion and I suspect neither did other people.
Also, I'm currently studying in Canberra actually and their 'ACT4GWS' campaign although highly successful (I'm pretty sure they got their required $50 from 5000 people) I think gives the wrong impression. They're claiming to be a local team there as well which I do think is the right way of going about it.
I mean lots of people in Canberra are passionate AFL supporters and desperately want to see more games. I love that this is bringing more games here, but seriously, how can Greater Western Sydney be representative of Canberra; a whole other city, in a whole other state. Most people in Canberra disassociate themselves with Sydney completely and in my experience here, harbour some resentment of sorts (little brother syndrome would be an accurate description).
Not to mention, how would people in Sydney think about having to share a team and some games with Canberra. In their first years, perhaps it would be more important for them to play all their home games in their base area in order to build support up instead of rushing off to Canberra.
Just my thoughts, mostly irrelevant to the initial question of the thread, but yeah... I do want them to succeed in order for the game to prosper, but I'm not entirely convinced about the way they've gone about it, so I won't be making any sort of investment in them even though they are my local team.
