The AFL is a monster!!!

[zero]

Its a good article when talking about league in WS, but when talking about AFL it's paranoid rubbish.

AFL is trying to carve a secondary niche in WS, not kill league.

 

[sherb]

The Giants/AFL are after a piece of the very large pie. They're not out to try and convert die-hard RL supporters. They're targeting the kids/families/people who don't follow a code so in 20 years time, it will have a very noticeable fanbase in Western Sydney.

They haven't invested so much money in junior development in the last 10 years or so for nothing.

One of the prime reason for doing so is to get kids interested in the game, whether they go on to play it at higher levels or not.

In other words, money into junior development is producing potential future AFL consumers.

 

[Pnut]

the afl and the nrl are absolutely competing directly with each other and trying to encroach into each other's markets. make no mistake, the afl would absolutely love to overtake nrl in tv markets and attendance in the northern states and there's no doubt that's exactly what they're planning to do in the very long term. it is a war and it's the afl who are currently winning. easily.

 

[legend166]

I love how Gould says the AFL has strategically cut off Penrith from the rest of the western Sydney clubs, as if this is some sort of battle front and Penrith need supply lines or something. Ridiculous.

 

[Pessimistic]

I remember Barassi predicting there would be 6 AFL clubs in sydney.

There wont. the rest of the competition wont allow it - GWS is already shared with canberra.

2 in NSW ia enough tfor the AFL. Objective acheived

 

[vjknight]

Meanwhile League is hardly doing much to make inroads in Melbourne. I went to the Storm game last night and honestly felt sorry for the poor mascot trying to gee up the "massive" 12 thousand crowd by beating a cow bell.

and as always folks, thats the problem. a game where the crowd need geeing up on a regular basis. yes we have poor visual games too, but they are rare in comparison.

I don't get why Aussie Rules fans have a fixation with destroying the other codes. There's plenty enough fans for the AFL, the NRL and even the A-League if they ever work out what they want to achieve.

i dont think theres any fixation to destroy. i am as anti rugby league as anyone. not because i fear it, not because i want my footy code to dominate the landscape, but simply cos that other game is shit. shit to watch, totally run & mostly owned by media interests for their own pockets, who constantly hide the truth, and followed by a mass of deluded individuals who in turn support a campaign to run everything but their red neck sport out of town.

i keep asking this question of nrl fans, but no one wants to answer it. they either deflect the question off, or just rant on about gAyFL.
the question is............

WHAT WOULD HAPPEN TO RUGBY LEAGUE IF NEWS LIMITED PULLED THEIR FUNDING ?

 

[Aucklander]

i keep asking this question of nrl fans, but no one wants to answer it. they either deflect the question off, or just rant on about gAyFL.
the question is............

WHAT WOULD HAPPEN TO RUGBY LEAGUE IF NEWS LIMITED PULLED THEIR FUNDING ?

You do realise the game was in great shape before News ripped it to pieces don't you? Actually, given your question, you probably don't.

Where would it be if News withdrew their funding? Plenty would argue in much better shape. Personally I think it will be fine. The sports networks will pay plenty to put the game on tele and that will bring in loads of cash. Then there is SoO and Internationals too. Got some issues with a couple of clubs, but then so has the AFL.

So in summary and to ease your concerns, I really wouldn't worry about Rugby league as it'll be fine with or without News ltd. and just like its been for over a 100 years.

 

[qman]

AFL won't destroy rugby league in the GWS area - not next year, not in 20 years, not in our lifetime, not ever. It won't happen. There is not going to be a mass defection of people renouncing their interest in rugby league and converting exclusively to the Giants.

Western Sydney is a big place. Our game can carve out a fruitful existence for itself, and grow our game there. AFL is expanding, albeit off a very low base. But the effect on rugby league will be negligible.

Actually it will , it might take 30 years but it will happen . It is quite an obvious transition . For numerous reason's , Australia is turning it's back on the more violent , physical combat sports . Apart from the occasional violent 'accident ' in the AFL , the commission has softened aussie rules dramatically through their rule changes and suspension's of violent acts .
AFL is being tailored for the future fan where as league is passing it's used by date for this society .
It's an unfortunate thing in a lot of ways but it is fact .

 

[MaddAdam]

League Unlimited is a never ending cavalcade of dipshits.

Yep. The stupidest poster on BF is easily in the top rank of LU types. Which is saying something.

As for the article, Blacktown is not the fastest growing area in Aust, western suburbs of Melbourne is.

 

[GiantForce]

What boggles my mind is the LU types think the AFL is targeting them/other die-hard RL fans....lol. The AFL/Giants are trying to appeal to familes, kids and people who don't follow a certain sport. Here's a little message for you LU trolls....the AFL/Giants don't give a us stuff what you think.

 

[Ice-Wolf]

I remember Barassi predicting there would be 6 AFL clubs in sydney.

There wont. the rest of the competition wont allow it - GWS is already shared with canberra.

2 in NSW ia enough for the AFL. Objective acheived

The next expansion targets in NSW and Queensland would be Sunshine Coast & Newcastle.

Other teams that might come first would be WA III, Tasmania, ACT (unlikely)

The AFL might even look at a team on the NZ North Island eventually.

 

[catters05]

The next expansion targets in NSW and Queensland would be Sunshine Coast & Newcastle.

Other teams that might come first would be WA III, Tasmania, ACT (unlikely)

The AFL might even look at a team on the NZ North Island eventually.

WA III and Tasmania will be next, and i hope soon but the AFL need to fix up the local leagues and the juniors of those or else there are going to be a lot of AFL players that probably will not be up to the supporter standard of AFL players.

 

[Oakland Raider]

Looking forward to the Rugby World Cup 2011 in NZ.

AFL can't compete with a monster world game

Great little match last night Syd v Ess. Viewed across Australia predominately

 

[catters05]

Looking forward to the Rugby World Cup 2011 in NZ.

AFL can't compete with a monster world game

Great little match last night Syd v Ess. Viewed across Australia predominately

Rugby Union World Cup!

I think the issues here are between Rugby League and AFL.

 

[Oakland Raider]

Rrreally!

Its (Rugby) bigger than i thought.

 

[Jedi01]

What boggles my mind is the LU types think the AFL is targeting them/other die-hard RL fans....lol. The AFL/Giants are trying to appeal to familes, kids and people who don't follow a certain sport. Here's a little message for you LU trolls....the AFL/Giants don't give a us stuff what you think.

Great point.

I lost all respect for Gould when he chucked a hissy fit and threatened to walk out and never come back on the Sunday Rugby show if they ever showed a clip of Hunt kicking his first goal again.

 

[JP Sauce]

Meanwhile League is hardly doing much to make inroads in Melbourne. I went to the Storm game last night and honestly felt sorry for the poor mascot trying to gee up the "massive" 12 thousand crowd by beating a cow bell.

12,000? Was it the grand final?

 

[MaddAdam]

Looking forward to the Rugby World Cup 2011 in NZ.

AFL can't compete with a monster world game

Great little match last night Syd v Ess. Viewed across Australia predominately

Yeah, the people of China and the US will be glued to the screens. same with Russians. And across the Middle East they'll be riveted. The Brazilians also are champing at the bit.

Union is very much a minority sport even in the countries where it is 'big'.

NZ is the only country on Earth where union is the number one footy code.

 

[latrell]

What Gus and all of these paranoid rugby diehards are failing to see is they are competing with a superior product.

Gus argues that there has been too much finger pointing but in the process he fails to realise that he is doing the same thing blaming poor administration and planning when in reality rugby is a terrible spectacle, and like soccer has no regular breaks for television commercials.

 

[___ccroo___]

^^ Haha your funny.

20 countries v 1.

 

[btdg]

Once again, the NRL just don't get it.

Sports are not competing for a market. They are complements to each other, at least in a general sense. Fans of one sport will become fans of another, if its enjoyable, accessible and something they can relate to. Sure, they might prefer one or another, but in my experience, the more sport they enjoy, the more they will watch overall (and the more money they will spend).

Consider foxtel, for example. Rugby league is dependent on the Foxtel dollars (as is the AFL to some extent). Who is more likely to fork out for a foxtel subscription? A diehard parramatta fan who goes to all their Sydney games, and only needs foxtel for the replays/games they can't get to; or, a diehard Parramatta/GWS fan who goes to all the Parramatta games in Sydney, then goes to 2-3 GWS games as well, and wants to watch GWS play outside the state 10x a year in addition to the Parramatta away games? Clearly, its the latter case. A strong GWS team means a strong Foxtel sport presence, which means a strong NRL. The same is true in reverse; a strong Melbourne Storm team means good things for Foxtel in Melbourne, which means a strong AFL.

In Melbourne, we get this. I'm a footy fan through and through, an AFL member and a club member. I'll go to every Carlton game I can this year (which is probably only 7-8 due to other factors). But in the past 12 months I've also been to several NRL games, several NBL games, the cricket, a soccer match, etc. I love the Storm because everyone in Sydney hates them and wants them to fail (which, to be honest, seems a bloody crazy way to handle an expansion franchise). They aren't my first love, but I'll support them nonetheless. With AFL expansion, we get this. The Swans are successful because they are a quality franchise in a city of 4 million people. If a quarter of those people go to a single game in a year, then the Swans can fill the Olympic Stadium for every single home game they have! In actual fact, that doesn't mean competing with NRL. It means complementing it, in a "Your team not playing/interstate this week? Why not check out the Swans instead" type role. GWS is the same. 2 million people in the target market, and if they get 20k to a home game (for the first decade) it'll be a success. That is 1/100 of the demographic. We don't need to smash Rugby league to do that. In fact, we don't want to smash rugby league; we want it to continue making people interested in sport, training up athletes, and giving Foxtel a reason to televise sport. The AFL can make huge inroads in Sydney without touching the NRL - and will do so (it's already done so). The NRL could do the same in Melbourne if it wanted, but its far too insular for that.

 

[Memories]

Of course it's a war, I don't get what people here don't understand. You can't have two leagues the size of the AFL in Australia. It is impossible. One of the leagues is running on borrowed time, playing out of it's depth. The winner will have a clear gap between it and the second place sport within 10 years.

It is very likely that the AFL will take the first place simply because it has the most money, variety of supporters, and is already in every major capital city. This isn't even including the fact that AFL is a better sport to watch, has more athletic things happen in it than league, and can appeal to a wider range of people who want to play sports professionally. You don't have to be 180cm and 100KG to play AFL (the average rugby player). You can be 175cm and 75kg to 211cm and 130kg.

 

[MaddAdam]

Playing LU bingo, I just came across this gem:

A friend's son is actually a sports all rounder. He plays junior rep cricket in summer.

However he tried out for both league & soccer and failed to make the cut - just too much competition. However he was appointed the AFL rep captain right away.

The thing is though - he had previously only played ONE muck around feebleball game.

He actually dislikes the game but it's good for his CV to be captain as he wants to get into sports medicine. But he actually hates the game and has said that the majority of the kids in the small pool are kids from parents born interstate.

There are nowhere near enough Victorians in Newcastle to ever make an AFL team work.

Now, I have no doubt that footy isn't liked in Newcastle. It is a backward place reliant on sunset industries and has long bred the kind of person only capable of understanding a sport where big men run at each other and throw the ball short distances. Anything else would be way too complex.

But really, I couldn't get give two tugs what they do up there.

I fail to see why the rugby types get so het up about GWS.

Storm have been playing games a stone's throw fro me for years and it doesn't bother me one bit. I don't go to see them, but I don't see them a 'threat'.

FFS.

 

[Memories]

What Gus and all of these paranoid rugby diehards are failing to see is they are competing with a superior product.

Gus argues that there has been too much finger pointing but in the process he fails to realise that he is doing the same thing blaming poor administration and planning when in reality rugby is a terrible spectacle, and like soccer has no regular breaks for television commercials.

Exactly. People think you are biased to say such a thing but it's a completely valid point when you realize more athletic events happen in a space of AFL time vs Rugby time.

Rugby is players running into each other 4 or 5 times then kicking the ball, repeat. Every now and then a player gets a run on and a try is scored. It's completely repetitive and doesn't showcase much athletics besides raw strength.

AFL on the other hand is an aussie made product, featuring constant jumping, marking, kicking, handballing, tackling, goal shooting, etc.

 

[___ccroo___]

Looking forward to the Rugby World Cup 2011 in NZ.

AFL can't compete with a monster world game

Great little match last night Syd v Ess. Viewed across Australia predominately

Particularly when there are 20 odd countries involved. So they don't.