Expansion Time to ACT on Canberra

[gostk86]

There are 14 teams assosiated with the juniors, some with teams in every age group from under 8 to under 18.
Don't know exact numbers but would be close to 2000.

not too bad....TBH canberra could probably support AFL, find alot of people there support all codes...

 

[Professor Knowall]

There are 14 teams assosiated with the juniors, some with teams in every age group from under 8 to under 18.
Don't know exact numbers but would be close to 2000.

James Hird and Nathan Buckley played in the same under 13 side in Canberra!

 

[genghiskhan]

The AFL has treated Canberra with arrogance and disdain for decades and thats why its lost the city.
Canberra's got successful teams in the NRL and Super14 and will probably eventually have one in the A-League. Its a town that doesn't see itself as a provincial backwater, it sees itself as a major city with its own identity.
The arrogant, sneering scraps it's been fed by the Kangaroos and the AFL in general have left a very bitter taste in the mouth of the average Canberran.

Honestly, even if whats suggested here does happen I think it'd take a long time to overcome the damage the Kangaroos did.
Look at whats happening on the Gold Coast. Its another city with its own teams in other major competitions that felt like it deserved more than scraps, and yet from the AFL got only arrogance, w***ers talking down the city in comparison to Melbourne, and cash grabs.
Now the AFL suddenly is trying to give the Gold Coast a real AFL presence, but its up against the years of antagonism they've built up in the general population.
The same thing would happen in Canberra.

Aussie rules is quite strong in Canberra. A few years ago, the Cambelltown Blues even played in the ACTAFL because it was much stronger than the Sydney league. I don't think they lasted though. If memory serves me correctly, they kept getting slaughtered by the Canberra teams.

A lot of the ACT clubs are quite financially powerful, definitely stronger than the Sydney clubs. They get crowds and have licensed clubs backing them up. And the ovals are much better. The ovals in Sydney are shocking while those in Canberra are good. I think the ACTAFL used to have a Football Park as well. It was in a good part of the city. I'm not sure what has happened now with Manuka oval. I think that is managed by cricket. If the ACTAFL still owned Football Park, it could be redeveloped if Canberra ever got an AFL team. You need to piss Manuka off.

 

[RussellEbertHandball]

Perhaps it makes sense to fixture three home games a season in Canberra for the second Sydney team should it truly emerge as an AFL team by 2012. Clearly Homebush and its 80,000 capacity will not provide a permanent home-game venue and the ACT deserves at least a stakehold in a side that believes it will take at least a decade to gain 25,000 members..

Where does she get this bullshit from. No better way to piss off potential supporters in western Sydney than make it a two town team. The ACT deserve nothing. It is either a 100% wetern Sydney side or a 100% Canberra side.

Aussie rules lost their chance in Canberra when the Raiders set up in 1982 and the Brumbies in the mid 90's has effectively locked an AFL team coming out of Canberra for a very long time. Prior to the Raiders, Canberra was marginally a more Aussie Rules town. There aren't enough 2nd and 3rd tired private businesses in Canberra to support 3 professional football teams. An AFL team needs about 60% more revenue than the other league and union teams to survive. So unless all those government departments are allowed to sponsor an AFL team, I can't see them getting a team much before Tassie.

500,000 seems to be the population base you need to get enough supporters from to get you 25,000+ members. So given the latest demographic stats

3101.0 - Australian Demographic Statistics, Sep 2007

if ACT continue to grow at 1.5% compounded they will reach the magical 500,000 in approx Sept 2033 and have the population base Tassie now has.

 

[genghiskhan]

Where does she get this bullshit from. No better way to piss off potential supporters in western Sydney than make it a two town team. The ACT deserve nothing. It is either a 100% wetern Sydney side or a 100% Canberra side.

Aussie rules lost their chance in Canberra when the Raiders set up in 1982 and the Brumbies in the mid 90's has effectively locked an AFL team coming out of Canberra for a very long time. Prior to the Raiders, Canberra was marginally a more Aussie Rules town. There aren't enough 2nd and 3rd tired private businesses in Canberra to support 3 professional football teams. An AFL team needs about 60% more revenue than the other league and union teams to survive. So unless all those government departments are allowed to sponsor an AFL team, I can't see them getting a team much before Tassie.

500,000 seems to be the population base you need to get enough supporters from to get you 25,000+ members. So given the latest demographic stats

3101.0 - Australian Demographic Statistics, Sep 2007

if ACT continue to grow at 1.5% compounded they will reach the magical 500,000 in approx Sept 2033 and have the population base Tassie now has.

Agree with you that a two city name is silly, but I think Canberra will grow faster than that. I think it is destined to be Australia's next major migrant centre. Then once a city reaches around 500,000 it can churn the money around to become relatively independent of its main industries. Look at Las Vegas for your guide. In 1990 the city population was only around 250,000 that were mostly employed in gambling related industries. Today,the metropolitan statistical area is around 1.8 million people and has a far greater diversity of industries.

It's not ready for an AFL team but it shouldn't be neglected either.

 

[RussellEbertHandball]

Agree with you that a two city name is silly, but I think Canberra will grow faster than that. I think it is destined to be Australia's next major migrant centre. Then once a city reaches around 500,000 it can churn the money around to become relatively independent of its main industries. Look at Las Vegas for your guide. In 1990 the city population was only around 250,000 that were mostly employed in gambling related industries. Today,the metropolitan statistical area is around 1.8 million people and has a far greater diversity of industries.

It's not ready for an AFL team but it shouldn't be neglected either.

I agree Canberra shouldn't be ignored but it is doomed to being a few games a year city for a long time.

Your stats on Las Vegas are some what out. This link shows that metro Vegas was 741,000 in the 1990 census and the mid 2006 estimate was 1,777,000 which is in line with what you said about the current population.
http://www.citypopulation.de/USA-Metro.html

The population bound by the city council boundaries in 1990 was 164,000 and the mid 2006 estimate was 552,000. http://www.citypopulation.de/USA-Cities.html.

The population movement in USA is to where the sun shines and the weather is warm. In Australia the population movement is to the coast not inland.

Las Vegas' economy is driven by tourism, gambling and conventions in that order. The construction industry and housing and real estate is also pretty important as a result of all the growth. It was the massive rebuilding of casinos and all the tourism venues and facilities around those casinos that drove it's grow. It was private sector growth. I don't see anything on the horizon that is going to double Canberra's population in the next 15 to 20 years. Las Vegas is a town driven by the desire to make a buck. I don't think Canberra has that mentality and they aren't going to change things that quick.

 

[bradrowe#32]

are there many juniors in ACT?

There seems to be quite a lot of younger people having a go. There is a school near my house and they have a football oval where there seems to be training every night. At my work there are ovals and it is the same deal. Today I got there and there were kids having a kick of the footy at lunchtime!

I'm not sure what the interest was like years ago, but there are heaps of keen supporters and players up here.

 

[genghiskhan]

I agree Canberra shouldn't be ignored but it is doomed to being a few games a year city for a long time.

Your stats on Las Vegas are some what out. This link shows that metro Vegas was 741,000 in the 1990 census and the mid 2006 estimate was 1,777,000 which is in line with what you said about the current population.
http://www.citypopulation.de/USA-Metro.html

The population bound by the city council boundaries in 1990 was 164,000 and the mid 2006 estimate was 552,000. http://www.citypopulation.de/USA-Cities.html.

The population movement in USA is to where the sun shines and the weather is warm. In Australia the population movement is to the coast not inland.

Las Vegas' economy is driven by tourism, gambling and conventions in that order. The construction industry and housing and real estate is also pretty important as a result of all the growth. It was the massive rebuilding of casinos and all the tourism venues and facilities around those casinos that drove it's grow. It was private sector growth. I don't see anything on the horizon that is going to double Canberra's population in the next 15 to 20 years. Las Vegas is a town driven by the desire to make a buck. I don't think Canberra has that mentality and they aren't going to change things that quick.

Just compare Canberra to West Sydney. The population of west Sydney is predicted to increase by a million or so people over the next 20 years. What jobs are the new migrants going to do in West Sydney? Why are they going there? The joy of apartment living? The great culture?

Basically, migrants head to Sydney and Melbourne because

1) they have family there that they hook them up with a job, sponsor a work visa, give them a place to stay
2) Sydney and Melbourne are like brands. Just as people are inclined to buy a famous brand when they are buying something for the first time, migrants go to the city they have heard of or know something about.

Canberra is about 2.5 hours from Sydney CBD, which is comparable to the distance of the Blue Mountains from the CBD. If the very fast train is ever built, the distance between Canberra CBD and Sydney CBD will be one hour. It is 1.5 hours to the beach, which is closer than most areas of Sydney.

Canberra's problem is that it still doesn't have a diversity of industries, and is basically populated by the Australian born. However, it offers the kind of life many foreigners dream of when they think of Australia. In Asia, people dream of a life in a house with a dog, friendly neighbors and perhaps a white picket fence. Sydney can't offer that. Canberra can offer that for the next 50 years. All that needs to happen is a slight change in migratory patterns. As for jobs, once a city hits 500,000 or so people, it can become relatively self sustaining. In any case, Canberra is so close to Sydney that it can feed off Sydney's industries.

 

[Zvim]

Rob, I am pretty sure the cash for playing in Canberra does not come from the AFL.
Give the Roos a clean stadium at Lavington and the gate, a 20K crowd should net them at least $400K.
http://www.austadiums.com.au/stadiums/stadiums.php?id=63

ACT were paying us $200k and the local people were bitching and moaning about the government paying us anything at all. They couldn't remotely match the $400k that the GC had offered or the $600k that was offered by Football Park in SA.

AFL said we couldn't play games in SA or WA. ACT asked the AFL to help make up the difference between what they could afford and the GC offer, AFL said no because they wanted us to play on the GC. We had problems making ends meet with just the $200k per game and given the AFL was scheduling teams like Collingwood there it was not feasible.

Once we had moved the AFL gave the ACT extra money to have the Dees and Dogs give away a home ground advantage so Swans could get 13 home games.

 

[nobbyiscool]

NO AFL IN CANBERRA !

They do not support AFL at all here, to even try and watch an AFL game here at a club when the rugby is playing is impossible.

Secondly "Canberrans" have an identity crisis, they only telecast all Sydney games and ignore all the other blockbuster games.

Newsflash Canberra, but Sydney do not want you ! Just your money at the gate !

It is such a depressing place to live in.

I would rather AFL in Tassie ahead of this place.

i agree with that post so much i was wondering if i wrote it while drunk.

a team would get nothing out of an association with canberra. despite the fact that there are some many migrants from southern states to canberra, its just impossible to follow. the local rag has no coverage of it. we get terrible FTA coverage. to go to a game here is to leave wanting never to go back, because so many people that go to the game here spend all day making stupid, inane comments because they don't actually know what they're watching.

the comment about the canberran identity crisis is spot on - to the point where it barely has an identity. not many people raised in canberra stay here. most who move from interstate, like myself, hate the place. why? it has no soul.

The AFL has treated Canberra with arrogance and disdain for decades and thats why its lost the city.
Canberra's got successful teams in the NRL and Super14 and will probably eventually have one in the A-League. Its a town that doesn't see itself as a provincial backwater, it sees itself as a major city with its own identity.
The arrogant, sneering scraps it's been fed by the Kangaroos and the AFL in general have left a very bitter taste in the mouth of the average Canberran.

Honestly, even if whats suggested here does happen I think it'd take a long time to overcome the damage the Kangaroos did.
Look at whats happening on the Gold Coast. Its another city with its own teams in other major competitions that felt like it deserved more than scraps, and yet from the AFL got only arrogance, w***ers talking down the city in comparison to Melbourne, and cash grabs.
Now the AFL suddenly is trying to give the Gold Coast a real AFL presence, but its up against the years of antagonism they've built up in the general population.
The same thing would happen in Canberra.

i couldn't disagree with that post more. canberra treats itself as a major city? what crap! as i said, very few people that live in canberra like the city. there will not be an a league team - of the franchises that have registered interest for entry into the a league, none of them were from canberra (and the canberra cosmos were an epic failure in the nsl). the raiders aren't succesful, to the point where there are rumours of a relocation. the brumbies are the only semi successful team (they still get crap crowds) because canberra is full of public service, private school yuppies.

the reason that the kangaroos treated canberra with disdain, and the reason that nobody has embraced canberra is simple - there is no value, no money in canberra.

 

[fabulousphil]

ACT footy has always been a lot stronger than Sydney footy, the AFL made a massive blue IMO sending South Melbourne to Sydney instead of Canberra.

At around that time at senior level the code was probably stronger than RL and was definitely stronger at junior level, now the junior comp is way weaker (although still battling along) and the senior comp is really struggling ....verging on pathetic with only a few teams a chance of winning and year by year teams dropping out, although at amatuer/district level the code has some depth.

If the powers that were in charge sent south to Canberra they would have stopped the NRL or at least made it very hard for them to suceed in Canberra.

Clubs such as Ainslie and Eastlake had the money and there was and still is a big latent supporter base in the ACT that has no interest in the local comp but a real interest in the AFL/VFL.

Its all academic now but i wonder if they had their time again would the VFL have sent South to Canberra or straight to Sydney.

 

[cos789]

Its all academic now but i wonder if they had their time again would the VFL have sent South to Canberra or straight to Sydney.

Having a successful team in Sydney is a lot more important than having
a successful team in Canberra .But the VFL erred in not accepting the Canberra consortium .

With Tasmania putting up serious submissions and the likelyhood of clubs
drawing lesser crowds to survive , would it make sense to include a canberra side
to bring the number of teams to 20 , with a 19 game season ,
midseason break for state football etc .

.

 

[medusala]

Melbourne and the Western Bulldogs — two more Victorian clubs who desperately need the money and have no intention of working to develop the code in the Australian Capital Territory — have been dumped onto the Manuka Oval in a continuation of an agreement that ends at the finish of next season

Is it merely coincidence that both the Manuka deal and ASD agreement expire at the end of next year?

I doubt it.

 

[Refried Noodle]

ACT footy has always been a lot stronger than Sydney footy, the AFL made a massive blue IMO sending South Melbourne to Sydney instead of Canberra.

At around that time at senior level the code was probably stronger than RL and was definitely stronger at junior level, now the junior comp is way weaker (although still battling along) and the senior comp is really struggling ....verging on pathetic with only a few teams a chance of winning and year by year teams dropping out, although at amatuer/district level the code has some depth.

If the powers that were in charge sent south to Canberra they would have stopped the NRL or at least made it very hard for them to suceed in Canberra.

Clubs such as Ainslie and Eastlake had the money and there was and still is a big latent supporter base in the ACT that has no interest in the local comp but a real interest in the AFL/VFL.

Its all academic now but i wonder if they had their time again would the VFL have sent South to Canberra or straight to Sydney.

I've heard around the traps from the great unwashed that Aussie Rules was very popular, especially, as you say, in the local competition with healthy crowds getting to games throughout the 70's. And when the Canberra Raiders started up in 1982 it was the move that lost Canberra, potentially forever. Union dominated the private schools and League dominted to public schools to an extent, but being on the boundary of League/Union from the north and Aussie Rules from the south all three sports were well represented and supported. It was just a simple case of League getting here with a team first and winning the market.

If South Melbourne came to Canberra in '82 as well as the Raiders starting in '82 I reckon the Swans would have succeded and the Raiders would have stuggled to compete as they played out of Queanbeyan initially. Since then Aussie Rules has become a national game and everyone has chosen an AFL team to support. Putting another team here will NOT work. The (required level of) support is not here, the corporate dollar is not here, the facilities are sub-standard etc.

 

[genghiskhan]

I've heard around the traps from the great unwashed that Aussie Rules was very popular, especially, as you say, in the local competition with healthy crowds getting to games throughout the 70's. And when the Canberra Raiders started up in 1982 it was the move that lost Canberra, potentially forever. Union dominated the private schools and League dominted to public schools to an extent, but being on the boundary of League/Union from the north and Aussie Rules from the south all three sports were well represented and supported. It was just a simple case of League getting here with a team first and winning the market.

If South Melbourne came to Canberra in '82 as well as the Raiders starting in '82 I reckon the Swans would have succeded and the Raiders would have stuggled to compete as they played out of Queanbeyan initially. Since then Aussie Rules has become a national game and everyone has chosen an AFL team to support. Putting another team here will NOT work. The (required level of) support is not here, the corporate dollar is not here, the facilities are sub-standard etc.

Canberra is a expat city. It is populated with people from around Australia. About ten years ago, I saw some figure that said the average Canberrean has only been in the city for five years. (It's probably changed a bit now.)

Canberra has no traditional code and I can't see anything changing soon. It will remain an expat/transient city for a long time yet. That's bad for any sporting team that tries to build a sense of community affinity. On the positive side, it means the AFL can relax. The city will be just as receptive to an AFL team in 2020 as it was in 1980.

 

[Howard Littlejohn]

Hardly any actual Canberra born and breds under 40 follow Australian Football at all. Or at least that's my experience over the last 2.5 years of being in this shithole.
There are plenty of juniors, it seems mostly whose family moved from Vic or SA in the last couple of years and very few actual locals. Those that are locals seem to drop off the sport and start following the rugby code exclusively by the time they hit high school.

I can't see any way the ACT can support three professional football codes, the Raiders are struggling, there was talk Brumbies were going to get relocated when Melbourne lost out to Perth in the super rugby expansion, and both are far more popular than anything Australian Football related here.
The same "growth of the game" argument could be made as makes Western Sydney a must do. But at 350k people (including Queenbeyan), compared to 2m+, its not the same type of market to be moving into. There's no chance of a full time team here, and little chance of another team wanting to come part-time (or of Canberrans trusting the AFL enough to take them on board).

 

[one 4 the road]

Hardly any actual Canberra born and breds under 40 follow Australian Football at all. Or at least that's my experience over the last 2.5 years of being in this shithole.
There are plenty of juniors, it seems mostly whose family moved from Vic or SA in the last couple of years and very few actual locals. Those that are locals seem to drop off the sport and start following the rugby code exclusively by the time they hit high school.

I can't see any way the ACT can support three professional football codes, the Raiders are struggling, there was talk Brumbies were going to get relocated when Melbourne lost out to Perth in the super rugby expansion, and both are far more popular than anything Australian Football related here.
The same "growth of the game" argument could be made as makes Western Sydney a must do. But at 350k people (including Queenbeyan), compared to 2m+, its not the same type of market to be moving into. There's no chance of a full time team here, and little chance of another team wanting to come part-time (or of Canberrans trusting the AFL enough to take them on board).

Anytime you want to leave please feel free and don't bother coming back. We got rid of your name sake so losing another Howard would be just fine by me.
If you are going to mention MY home town then FFS spell it right.
Your last sentence is exactly correct, Canberra does not trust the AFL now and it would be crazy to think that our region is big enough to support a third professional footy side.

 

[genghiskhan]

Anytime you want to leave please feel free and don't bother coming back. We got rid of your name sake so losing another Howard would be just fine by me.
If you are going to mention MY home town then FFS spell it right.
Your last sentence is exactly correct, Canberra does not trust the AFL now and it would be crazy to think that our region is big enough to support a third professional footy side.

I never have much respect for people who complain about the place they live. It doesn't say much for them that they choose to stay there.

It does seem to be a problem of Canberra though. Lots of people from around Australia move to the city, can't make friends and blame their environment instead of their own problems. So Canberra gets populated by lots of people with no friends feeling bad about not having any friends.

Potentially, that's something that could work well for a football team. It can create a sense of community that brings people such as this Howard character together. I'm not sure either union or league have been able to achieve that; perhaps because both codes have always been anchored in class.

 

[Howard Littlejohn]

Anytime you want to leave please feel free and don't bother coming back. We got rid of your name sake so losing another Howard would be just fine by me.
If you are going to mention MY home town then FFS spell it right.
Your last sentence is exactly correct, Canberra does not trust the AFL now and it would be crazy to think that our region is big enough to support a third professional footy side.

Apologies about the Queanbeyan spelling. Complete brainfade. Its how I used to think it was spelt before moving to Canberra, and I simply didn't notice the mistake when I typed it.

As for the gist of what I said, I stand by it as my observations. I've very rarely met anyone under 40 here who is actually a long term ACT resident and follows footy, though there do seem to be a decent number of junior players, and that three professional football clubs simply couldn't operate in the market.

 

[Allan Shorty]

I never have much respect for people who complain about the place they live. It doesn't say much for them that they choose to stay there.

It does seem to be a problem of Canberra though. Lots of people from around Australia move to the city, can't make friends and blame their environment instead of their own problems. So Canberra gets populated by lots of people with no friends feeling bad about not having any friends.

Potentially, that's something that could work well for a football team. It can create a sense of community that brings people such as this Howard character together. I'm not sure either union or league have been able to achieve that; perhaps because both codes have always been anchored in class.

I'm liking the Mongol's contributions to this debate (the whole thread is very good) and I think this is another good point. I lived in that joint for a few years, I know that a greater sense of community would have helped me like the place a lot more. Whether they know it or not, people don't like feeling they are just passing through, that they just work in Canberra and live in Sydney/Melbourne etc. Following a big truly local footy team that plays at Manuka Oval every couple of weeks would be a great thing for embedding people and giving them some pride about the city.

Those pubes who work in Canberra want things put in front of them before they will take them on. If you make a big thing of a Manuka Oval game on a Friday night, they will head to the bars in Manuka and Kingston, have dinner, get tanked up and walk over to the ground. Beats sitting in that ridiculous line of traffic trying to get in/out of Bruce Stadium.

For it to work (and I think it could) a Canberra footy team would need to include the whole region, down to Wagga and Albury. What would stop it would be what stops every attempt at turning Canberra from a beautiful surburb into a real city: the anti-development nuff nuffs who all vote Labor like its their duty, but oppose every city development effort and don't realise how deeply, deeply conservative they really are.

 

[genghiskhan]

I'm liking the Mongol's contributions to this debate (the whole thread is very good) and I think this is another good point. I lived in that joint for a few years, I know that a greater sense of community would have helped me like the place a lot more. Whether they know it or not, people don't like feeling they are just passing through, that they just work in Canberra and live in Sydney/Melbourne etc. Following a big truly local footy team that plays at Manuka Oval every couple of weeks would be a great thing for embedding people and giving them some pride about the city.

Those pubes who work in Canberra want things put in front of them before they will take them on. If you make a big thing of a Manuka Oval game on a Friday night, they will head to the bars in Manuka and Kingston, have dinner, get tanked up and walk over to the ground. Beats sitting in that ridiculous line of traffic trying to get in/out of Bruce Stadium.

For it to work (and I think it could) a Canberra footy team would need to include the whole region, down to Wagga and Albury. What would stop it would be what stops every attempt at turning Canberra from a beautiful surburb into a real city: the anti-development nuff nuffs who all vote Labor like its their duty, but oppose every city development effort and don't realise how deeply, deeply conservative they really are.

I like your take on the anti-development lobby of Canberra. They oppose development (such as on street seats for Cafes), but when they get it they think it is great. One of the strangest one's I've heard of in recent times is this new road past Bruce. Massive development near Belconnen way but then goes into single lane past the AIS. Apparently they were concerned the noise would disturb the athletes so decided against two lanes. But it seems now people are complaining about it only being one lane because its a handy road.

I am positive about Canberra though. I was there last summer and the growth of civic has been amazing. It has added about 20 per cent to the vibe of the place.

Manuka is also potentially a great place to get the before, during and after football experience. I had some Canberreans last summer tell me how great they thought it would be to have 20/20 cricket on a Friday night at Manuka. Finish work, have a beer, watch some cricket, and then head home or have more beers. It was good to meet these people thinking positively about what could be done.

 

[one 4 the road]

Apologies about the Queanbeyan spelling. Complete brainfade. Its how I used to think it was spelt before moving to Canberra, and I simply didn't notice the mistake when I typed it.

As for the gist of what I said, I stand by it as my observations. I've very rarely met anyone under 40 here who is actually a long term ACT resident and follows footy, though there do seem to be a decent number of junior players, and that three professional football clubs simply couldn't operate in the market.

Apology accepted.
What do you class as long term?
Most people under 40 may still be playing or will be involved with the club they are linked to.
Junior numbers are very good.
Agree three pro teams unviable, 2 that are currently here are struggling.

 

[steviewonder36]

NO AFL IN CANBERRA !

They do not support AFL at all here, to even try and watch an AFL game here at a club when the rugby is playing is impossible.

Secondly "Canberrans" have an identity crisis, they only telecast all Sydney games and ignore all the other blockbuster games.

Newsflash Canberra, but Sydney do not want you ! Just your money at the gate !

It is such a depressing place to live in.

I would rather AFL in Tassie ahead of this place.

Really, you think your the only Canberran who posts on BF do you.

Sure, the Rugby codes are more popular. Aussie Rules is not a backwater sport here, you only have to look at how many kids play the game on a Saturday morning to see that.

This Ferris Rules poster hasn't got a clue, I have 27 years experiencing/playing Aussie Rules in Canberra. It is not as bad as this Ferris Rules turkey claims.

 

[steviewonder36]

Aussie rules is quite strong in Canberra. A few years ago, the Cambelltown Blues even played in the ACTAFL because it was much stronger than the Sydney league. I don't think they lasted though. If memory serves me correctly, they kept getting slaughtered by the Canberra teams.

A lot of the ACT clubs are quite financially powerful, definitely stronger than the Sydney clubs. They get crowds and have licensed clubs backing them up. And the ovals are much better. The ovals in Sydney are shocking while those in Canberra are good. I think the ACTAFL used to have a Football Park as well. It was in a good part of the city. I'm not sure what has happened now with Manuka oval. I think that is managed by cricket. If the ACTAFL still owned Football Park, it could be redeveloped if Canberra ever got an AFL team. You need to piss Manuka off.

You obviously haven't ventured to Phillip/Woden lately!

Football Park is long gone, its been redeveloped into a friendly suburban oval now. ACTAFL sold it off to the ACT Government many years ago.

Shame as I played there on a few ocassions back in my junior days in the 80's. VFL/AFL were even played on it for a long time.

 

[steviewonder36]

i agree with that post so much i was wondering if i wrote it while drunk.

a team would get nothing out of an association with canberra. despite the fact that there are some many migrants from southern states to canberra, its just impossible to follow. the local rag has no coverage of it. we get terrible FTA coverage. to go to a game here is to leave wanting never to go back, because so many people that go to the game here spend all day making stupid, inane comments because they don't actually know what they're watching.

the comment about the canberran identity crisis is spot on - to the point where it barely has an identity. not many people raised in canberra stay here. most who move from interstate, like myself, hate the place. why? it has no soul.



i couldn't disagree with that post more. canberra treats itself as a major city? what crap! as i said, very few people that live in canberra like the city. there will not be an a league team - of the franchises that have registered interest for entry into the a league, none of them were from canberra (and the canberra cosmos were an epic failure in the nsl). the raiders aren't succesful, to the point where there are rumours of a relocation. the brumbies are the only semi successful team (they still get crap crowds) because canberra is full of public service, private school yuppies.

the reason that the kangaroos treated canberra with disdain, and the reason that nobody has embraced canberra is simple - there is no value, no money in canberra.

What a load of crap!

Canberra is not a yuppies-ville. I'm an ex-melbournian living in Canberra for twenty seven years. Aussie Rules at the grass roots level here is still very strong.

More kids play Aussie Rules than both the Rugby codes, only Soccer has more participants. It's been this way since I started playing junior footy here in 1981.

Canberra these days, is made up of either people born here, or those relocated from regional NSW for employment. Calling Canberra, a yuppie city is offensive and so far from the truth.

The lifestyle and infrastructure associated with that, has only changed in the last decade and half. I do agree the place lacks soul though.

Canberra's want their own team (wont happen, population too small), hence the Raiders and then the Brumbies after them changing the footy landscape to Rugby based in the later 80's and then 90's.