Expansion Think outside the square

[Denmark AFL]

With the talk of AFL expanding to west sydney at the Gold Coast, why doesnt the AFL expand into other areas?

The Central Coast are crying out loud for an NRL team. They could start supporting AFL

Newcastle has a very strong competition in the Black Diamond Cup, so we could have a team

If Aussie Rules wants to become international, we need to go to a different country. New Zealand could have a team, in Auckland or somethin

Darwin love their Aussie Rules, and would be able to field a very strong team with local juniors.

Tasmania loves their footie so I dont see why they cant get a side

What's your thoughts?

 

[Denmark AFL]

Canberra could also have a team

 

[Pessimistic]

I'd temper the 'new areas' with those with strong support aalbeit smalller communities

in 2012 add Queensland gold ( have competitive tender for qld cities to host games - biggies at the gabbe and a traditional tassie team

In 2018 (maybe) add NSW/canberra with the NT

That makes 20

In 2028 (maybe) the strongest 12 form division 1.

the other 8 join 2 from WA and 2 from SA to make div 2 - 12 teams in all

Promotion and relegation series runs concurrently with finals series

 

[walhawk]

Great idea, but I reckon we should base it on soccer in England.

Give every town & city a team, and have a 180 teams (maybe more), 15 divisions (of 12) with promotion and relegating in every division (2 up, 2 down).

For example
Premier
Essendon
Collingwood
Carlton
West Coast
Adelaide
Sydney
Brisbane
Hawthorn
Geelong
W Bulldogs
Riichmond
St Lilda

Div 1
Port Adelaide
Freo
Melbourne
North M
Gold Coast
W Sydney
Norwood
Sturt
North Adelaide
West Perth
East Froe
Claremont

Div 2
Southport
Tasmania
NT
Cairnes
Port Melbourne
Nth Ballarat
Morningside
Williamstown
Sth Freo
Swan Districts
Central Districts
Canberra

and so on...











Just kidding.

 

[Denmark AFL]

yeah thats a pretty good idea wal

 

[Benigro]

Great idea but??????

Basing it on Engeland...or any other association based country means to forgo the franchise based system. The AFL would then be nothing more than a organising body that controles the competitions and accoutable to the Australian Rules Football Association. The ruling body. The clubs being members of the ARFA. Two divisions at nationwide level. Under this four divisions regional with a play off for the inter-regional championship.
Going down the ladder they would have to include in thier structure the governing of the minor divisions or state divisions, a semi pro state division for instance TFL, NSWFL QFL who would all have a structure based on and accountable to the ARFA. The clubs in these states are members of the state leugue. The state body inturn takes care of every aspect of the state game...right down to the youths, amature game , schoolgames and so on.
For an international set-up you would need a divise Governing body that sets-up and structures the world game, the mekka being Australia. The governing bodies of these countries are accountable to the IAFL (International Australian Football Association), and are member bodies...ect ect. A rating system could be devised. Britain AFL (BAFL) would have a higher rating than the Dutch Australian Football Association (DAFA) who would have a formative rating. A country with a 6 team plus competition would have an apprentiship rating and so on.
A set-up like this could include having a European team playing tests against an AFL side for promotional purposes on the European mainland. If you talk about growth potential...you have to broaden the borders....with a populas of 16 million the growth in Australia can be nothing but limited.

But first you would have to get rid of this frachise system for that to work and structure an AFL nation and statewide. Something I dont think the main moneygrabbers are willing to forgo.

 

[bluesbreaker]

I've lived in Newcastle 22 years and i've never heard of the "Black Diamond Cup", so whichever joker said it's a strong competition should run along and catch up with the circus.

 

[Cassio del Monte]

I've lived in Newcastle 22 years and i've never heard of the "Black Diamond Cup", so whichever joker said it's a strong competition should run along and catch up with the circus.

The Knights and the Jets between them have virtually shut out the Newcastle market for other codes.

 

[gostk86]

The Knights and the Jets between them have virtually shut out the Newcastle market for other codes.

yeh jets have done really well...i didnt think it would work up there but proved me wrong big time

 

[Cassio del Monte]

yeh jets have done really well...i didnt think it would work up there but proved me wrong big time

Every team bar Perth Glory are doing quite well. Sydney are maybe a bit disappointing, but still acceptable.

 

[TigerCraig]

I've lived in Newcastle 22 years and i've never heard of the "Black Diamond Cup", so whichever joker said it's a strong competition should run along and catch up with the circus.

www.bdafl.com.au

It's not that great a comp, but...

You must never have watched NBN or Prime news, as they always give the scores (NBN newsreader Ray Dineen was an umpire in the league for years)

You must also have given the Newcastle Hearld a miss, as it usually gives a write-up.

Ever been past No 1 Sportsground and wondered what all those posts were ?

I played in both the Newcastle & Central Coast comps (for Wests & Woy Woy) respectively before the comps merged to form the BDAFL. A few AFL players have come from it - Troy Luff, Ray Hall, Mark McVeigh, Jarred McVeigh.

 

[TheMase]

www.bdafl.com.au

I played in both the Newcastle & Central Coast comps (for Wests & Woy Woy) respectively before the comps merged to form the BDAFL. A few AFL players have come from it - Troy Luff, Ray Hall, Mark McVeigh, Jarred McVeigh.

As did I!

 

[Denmark AFL]

I've lived in Newcastle 22 years and i've never heard of the "Black Diamond Cup", so whichever joker said it's a strong competition should run along and catch up with the circus.

it is a great competition

move up here and see how awesome it is

 

[Howard Littlejohn]

With the talk of AFL expanding to west sydney at the Gold Coast, why doesnt the AFL expand into other areas?

The Central Coast are crying out loud for an NRL team. They could start supporting AFL

Newcastle has a very strong competition in the Black Diamond Cup, so we could have a team

If Aussie Rules wants to become international, we need to go to a different country. New Zealand could have a team, in Auckland or somethin

Darwin love their Aussie Rules, and would be able to field a very strong team with local juniors.

Tasmania loves their footie so I dont see why they cant get a side

What's your thoughts?

Potentially, down the track, Newcastle, North Qld, Darwin, etc might be looked at - Darwin will need to grow a lot, North Qld is hard because its four hours or something between Townsville and Cairns and neither are big enough on their own.
But its going to be expensive enough, and hard enough, getting the GC and WS established; so I don't see anything else happening in NSW or Qld soon. Or Tas or NT due to population, economic and TV reasons. Or overseas, due to start up costs and the game having even less exposure than in NSW (PNG being the exception to that, but economics suggest that is unlikely).

If #1 was capable of holding it, a few games could be played in Newcastle, I've only ever seen the ground on TV and it didn't look like its up to the mark unfortunately. And being predominantly a cricket ground, I presume it is not available for practice matches in the pre-season.l