WSYD West Sydney is AFL's Vietnam

[ChrisFooty]

It's a terrible idea. Even during an economic boom the 2nd Sydney team would of failed. It's Just way too early. Hell, even in 50 years it will still be too early for another AFL team in NSW.

What happens if the GFC creates a recession that lasts a couple of years? What about if America does indeed fall into another Great Depression? It could very well mean the rest of the world, including Australia, would also follow the American economic path.

Eddie makes very good sense. The AFL should be very cautious about expanding in the worst financial conditions since the Great Depression. Whats wrong waiting for another couple of years? Example- 2015 -2020 period.

Australia could have China's 2005-07 hyper growth, but Western Sydney would still fail. Even in 50-100 years it would still fail.

Look after the Victorian club and promote growth in grassroots VIC, TAS, WA, SA, NT.

 

[harmesy 37]

The Telegraph is owned by News Ltd, and News Ltd owns the NRL.

Also, the Telegraph is the paper of choice in those blue collar neighbourhoods, so it's understandable that it's league-centric.

I understand that but have a look on their website as well. It is actually quite scary how they are trying to manipulate people into hating Australian Football. Phil Rothfield's blog on the website is beyond belief.


I have no problem with informed reports on League and Australian Football, but to have the manipulation going on that they do... it is similar tactics to what the Nazis had prior to WW2 in terms of propaganda and spreading hate.




You will never get comments like this one from Jason Akermanis in the Tele, not when they are in the middle of the hate campaign:

"Just like Vegemite, Australian rules football is all ours, but unlike Vegemite, it is still Australian owned and run.

Most of the other main sports have come from another country. While we accept it and live with it, to me it is un-Australian and unpatriotic to bag our one true native game, Australian rules. "


The Tele. is trying to convince people that Australian Football is un-australian, un-sydney (when in fact aust. football was played in Sydney at least 20 years prior to League) and should be viewed as pro=sydney and pro-australian.

 

[Beaussie]

The pig headed attitude to West Sydney by Demitriou and Anderson and cronies is going to be absolute disaster there is no other way to put it.

Surely someone high up in the AFL or perhaps the club Presidents should be forcefully telling these knowalls they are really dangerously wrong with West Sydney.

This is such a stupid risk that they want to take, I'm amazed.

Could it be that the AFL and it's 16 clubs who support expansion in QLD and NSW know more about the subject matter than all of us and can see the potential for the future growth of our great game?

Why not take the risk in a FOOTBALL STATE and put number 18 in Tasmania.

Better still do not dilute the AFL at all, and leave out GC17, and get a Melbourne club into Tasmania. Tassie can and would support an AFL club in that state.
Why do these AFL heavies listen to NO ONE, and just go on bulldozing their own self serving interests and ideas thinking only of TV dollars. Fair dinkum AFL Presidents its time for the change before they wreck the sport altogether.
Once again I say "THERE IS ALREADY A SYDNEY TEAM AND A QUEENSLAND TEAM'!!!!!!!!

I would like to see Tassie eventually in the competition too, but the facts remain that Sydney already provides a much bigger TV audience and crowds than the whole state of Tasmania for Australian Football. Add to that a dwindling population and great divide in Tasmania and it then becomes obvious why the AFL favours the Gold Coast and West Sydney over a side in Tasmania.

 

[Beaussie]

I understand that but have a look on their website as well. It is actually quite scary how they are trying to manipulate people into hating Australian Football. Phil Rothfield's blog on the website is beyond belief.

I have no problem with informed reports on League and Australian Football, but to have the manipulation going on that they do... it is similar tactics to what the Nazis had prior to WW2 in terms of propaganda and spreading hate.

The Tele. is trying to convince people that Australian Football is un-australian, un-sydney (when in fact aust. football was played in Sydney at least 20 years prior to League) and should be viewed as pro=sydney and pro-australian.

It's pathetic, I agree.

 

[Beaussie]

Theres an anti-AFL hit article in todays Sydney Daily Telegraph titled 'AFL's broken Sydney Dream'..

Its all pretty much BS, the article gives the dumb Sydney reader the impression the AFL has already failed in NSW, despite the fact that West Sydney admin and training facilities are being built as we speak and the WSFC will be playing home games out of Homebush....

Typical garbage from the anti-Australian Rules Sydney press

And yet we see today that the AFL has not even put a funding proposal on the table for the NSW government to consider, let alone reject as the Daily Telegraph pointed out yesterday.

Both the State Government and AFL yesterday denied reports that promised funding for a $100 million redevelopment of the Homebush Bay showgrounds had been withdrawn and the establishment of new franchise imperiled.

The AFL has been studying the feasibility of turning the showgrounds into a boutique stadium that could accommodate crowds of about 25,000 for some of the western Sydney team's games, with larger-drawing matches to be played at ANZ Stadium. However, the NSW Minister for Sport, Kevin Greene said a formal request for funding of the showground's development had yet to be made.

"I understand the AFL are still looking at their options on this issue and we are more than happy to speak to them when they are ready," Greene said. "They have not yet made a proposal for the Government to respond to."

http://www.realfooty.com.au/articles/2009/04/29/1240982277325.html?page=fullpage#contentSwap1

 

[madmug]

WRONG, the AFL doesnt really favour GC/WS over Tassie, its supporting unviable Victorian clubs over the proper cosideration of how to best structure a truely national competition. The Draft & salary cap were designed to keep the competition more even, its effect was to keep many suburban Victorian clubs alive. Even with that boost they continue to bleed the competition dry. really at least 2-3 of them must go. To GC, WS & Tassie, & perhaps ACT

 

[tonk]

What absolute garbage

To continue with the analogy, I have been fighting the good fight on the ground in western Sydney for almost 30 years, so I think I have some sort of idea, unlike those who blew in yesterday or have never lived here and speak with such authority on something they know very little about.

Some posters such as Glory and Fame are worth listening to, at least he has some idea of what he's talking about through experience.

The fact is that there are 2 million in western Sydney who contribute little or nothing to the overall Australian Football "pie". Clearly it is going to take a lot of money and probably 15-20 years for people to start to see real progress, but in the long term it will be worth it.

Sure, there are the rusted on League fans who won't give it the time of day, but bear in mind, just 9,000 turned up to the game in Penrith on Monday night, and games at Homebush between traditional Sydney clubs are lucky to draw 15,000. The point is that while League is quite clearly and always will be number one, they hardly vote with their feet.

There is a certain level of apathy that is exuded by the Sydney public towards sport that you just don't see in other cities.

If you spend some time in the Blacktown area for example given that this is where the club will be based, you will note the large percentage of migrants from the sub-continent and Asia. There are also a notable number of Islanders, but these people tend to be traditionally drawn to the Rugby codes.

Clearly if the AFL concentrate on the community aspect and look to draw in those that are not currently drawn to any particular football code, and there are many, then in the long term this thing can work.

No-one's pretending it will be easy though.

Great to hear from someone who lives in the area.

 

[Gaz_Brownlow]

From the age today:

"(Geelong CEO) Brian Cook volunteered four to six weeks ago that he thought it would cost the AFL system probably $20 million a year, and that's not an insignificant amount of money … if you do that for, say, 10 years, it chews up a substantial amount of money that could be deployed somewhere else."

..........


However, Colless said it was important the public understood the difficulties of expansion, noting that where there was "a massive outpouring of support for a Super 14 franchise" when the Western Force were established in Perth, there was no such demand for AFL in western Sydney.

Two pretty ****ing crucial points one would think - and coming direct from people involved with helping the AFL establish their expansion plans. This venture is a dud....don't do it now, wait sometime and introduce AFL there slowly; play some exhibition games (flog sponsors products that way) and see if the demand comes. Yes we all know the argument that no-one gives two shites about a team that doesn't belong to that area (noboody will identify with it etc etc...) but Tasmania managed to succesfully stage Hawthorn games! Tasmania managed to boost (and significantly so) the profit to Hawthorn, and in turn generate immediate benefits to Tasmania itself (in terms of game development, exposure and tourism dollars).

This whole West Sydney argument falls flat on its face with lack of any sort of credibile evidence that it will benefit the AFL. The only sensible facts, figures or opinions have been sharply negative and what more, they have come directly from people in the know. Demetriou has his eyes on what he thinks is his 'pet project' a stubborn attempt to establish himself. He and the rest of the AFL board are failing to account for any sort of reason and will, just like their restructuing of melbourne based clubs stadium deals, fall flat on their faces at the expense and detriment of the game.

If they go ahead with this project by 2012, it will fail. Tasmania is ready now.

 

[grayham]

Two pretty ****ing crucial points one would think - and coming direct from people involved with helping the AFL establish their expansion plans. This venture is a dud....don't do it now, wait sometime and introduce AFL there slowly; play some exhibition games (flog sponsors products that way) and see if the demand comes. Y

Are you really that out of touch. They have been playing exhibition games in Western Sydney since 2002. 3 or 4 AFL games at homebush per year average about 50,000. A couple of finals got 70K in Western Sydney. Several pre-season games haven been played there too. Only a few months ago, an AFL NAB cup game sold out Rouse Hill.

What exactly are you waiting for ?

If they go ahead with this project by 2012, it will fail. Tasmania is ready now.

Western Sydney has nothing to do with Tasmania. The only option for Tasmania is a relocated Vic team. Its Tassy v North for who gets the licience.

 

[legend166]

I don't think pointing to the Force as an example of a successful expansion. It looks to be imploding right now. Players leaving en masse, the whole Firepower debacle, etc.

 

[Memories]

The worst thing about this is 18 teams is just too many. 3 teams in Melbourne need to fold, and then a Tassie license should be given. Western Sydney should go ahead and have money thrown at it, because if it doesn't AFL in NSW will never take off to the extent it needs to quell the rugby rebellion. Melbournites need to realize more than anyone they are holding back the AFL, not western sydney or whoever, having 10 victorian teams is a joke, an unbalanced joke.

The other side of the coin is, NSW sports watchers are used to violence, so the AFL needs to go back to it's roots. Have melees once a week and more violence during the game like the 80s/90s by giving the 3 umpires a single whistle to share. One reason people go to NHL games is the violence alone. This will benefit the whole league.

 

[Gaz_Brownlow]

Are you really that out of touch. They have been playing exhibition games in Western Sydney since 2002. 3 or 4 AFL games at homebush per year average about 50,000. A couple of finals got 70K in Western Sydney. Several pre-season games haven been played there too. Only a few months ago, an AFL NAB cup game sold out Rouse Hill.

What exactly are you waiting for ?



Western Sydney has nothing to do with Tasmania. The only option for Tasmania is a relocated Vic team. Its Tassy v North for who gets the licience.

What was the finals attendance between North and Sydney last year? Was that played at Homebush? I would be interested to know the profitability of selling 10,000 tickets in an 80,000 capacity stadium! FFS the Swans are struggling to post any sort of profit and they have been one of the most successful clubs over the last decade.

True i forgot about the NAB cup, and it is impressive that it sold out. However i still have my concerns about West Sydney pulling a crowd at all. I know the Swans faithful will not be coming en force to support the West.

Why the rush? Why do we have to establish a team by 2012...it just doesn't have the support, will cost money and exposes the AFL to a huge risk - given current conditions and unnecessary risk. If AFL is the game that people want, then wait until there is stronger outcry from the local area.

 

[Falchoon]

afl has that argument because its played in the kangaroo flats of perth and adelaide

whereas in nsw, "the end of the universe" stops in the blue mountains in katoomba, because in all honesty, theres not all that much out there when you go past that point. you can go to brissy or melbourne, but dont bother going to any further west - its just a whole lot of nothing when you get out there

as a Melburnian living and working in Sydneys west I find the sporting culture tremendously different. Where I worked in outer Melb, out of the office I'd guess at least 30% of people would go to the footy at least once per year. Off the top of my head there'd be 7-8 who go every week or most weeks including a senior cheer squad member.

Compare that to my workplace in NRL heartland which is in a similar industry of similar size where I don't know of one person who will attend a NRL game this year.

But the biggest single difference is the "female factor", not one female here would give 2 hoots about the NRL, they are plainly not interested, not even in something as simple as footytipping, wheras in Melbourne 30-50% of the girls in the office would have a very good understanding of what is happening in the AFL and most participate in the footy tipping.

Sydney has a big population, but 50% of it has zero interest in any sort of football. Add to that people in Sydney rarely attend sporting events and that it takes bloody ages to get anywhere by road or public transport and crowd numbers will always be limited. 15,000 is considered more than acceptable for home grown sports.

And bugger me, if the AFL prop them up at the expense of an even and fair competition it will cost numbers in the AFL states, guaranteed.

 

[InformedOpinion]

I don't think pointing to the Force as an example of a successful expansion. It looks to be imploding right now. Players leaving en masse, the whole Firepower debacle, etc.

The Western Farce are facing extinction. This time we have a credible report, not a Daily Terror rant:

http://www.rugbyheaven.com.au/news/news/force-facing-extinction-report/2009/04/24/1240079842723.html

Bringing them into this argument is like talking about the price of fish.

 

[InformedOpinion]

But the biggest single difference is the "female factor", not one female here would give 2 hoots about the NRL, they are plainly not interested, not even in something as simple as footytipping, wheras in Melbourne 30-50% of the girls in the office would have a very good understanding of what is happening in the AFL and most participate in the footy tipping.

Sydney has a big population, but 50% of it has zero interest in any sort of football. Add to that people in Sydney rarely attend sporting events and that it takes bloody ages to get anywhere by road or public transport and crowd numbers will always be limited. 15,000 is considered more than acceptable for home grown sports.

The difference is rugby league is sport that largely appeals to working class males because of its boof-head/punch-up/controversy-filled image.

Why would women want to be involved in that????

Get into the East where the women are interested in AFL football to a far greater extent. This is because the Swans have a clean, family-oriented image.

When the West has a team it can relate to (not the Swans/silver-tails from the east/lower north shore), they will take an interest. No doubt.

 

[grayham]

What was the finals attendance between North and Sydney last year? Was that played at Homebush? I would be interested to know the profitability of selling 10,000 tickets in an 80,000 capacity stadium! FFS the Swans are struggling to post any sort of profit and they have been one of the most successful clubs over the last decade.

True i forgot about the NAB cup, and it is impressive that it sold out. However i still have my concerns about West Sydney pulling a crowd at all. I know the Swans faithful will not be coming en force to support the West.

Why the rush? Why do we have to establish a team by 2012...it just doesn't have the support, will cost money and exposes the AFL to a huge risk - given current conditions and unnecessary risk. If AFL is the game that people want, then wait until there is stronger outcry from the local area.

If you are going to wait, what criteria are you waiting for ?

IMO, Western Sydney, based on the figures I gave you, is much better placed than Sydney 25 years ago, Brisbane 15 years ago, or Gold Coast in 2011.

 

[Gaz_Brownlow]

If you are going to wait, what criteria are you waiting for ?

IMO, Western Sydney, based on the figures I gave you, is much better placed than Sydney 25 years ago, Brisbane 15 years ago, or Gold Coast in 2011.

What figures are those? The fact that a Swans vs Collingwood game got a crowd in? So all those Swans supporters are going to turn up to a Wests game as well? NO...Wests are going to have to build an entirely new fanbase, can you see it happening?

The Swans are running at a loss over the past 3 years...what does that tell you?

I am waiting for reasonable evidence to suggest that West Sydney could financially support a team and get some level of interest from the area. I think they are a much better candidate for a relocation license rather than establishing a team from scratch, but they are not ready to host a team now, or in 2012, it would simply cost too much money and yield little return (not to mention exposing the competition to a downgrade in interest/quality when other clubs have to host a team from West Sydney; imagine the interest in all away games for West Sydney, clubs would be lining up to sell these games because they would surely run at a loss).

Tasmania is a far better candidate for a team, but even this is besides the point as West Sydney is just going to be an absolute joke that will be funded and supported via the AFL for the next 20 years; It will be a very sad day when there is a big ANZ stadium filled to the rafters with less than 10k people there to support a West Sydney vs. Freo match (or have the Swans already gone under the 10k at ANZ mark; imagine the loss they would have on that!)

 

[grayham]

What figures are those? The fact that a Swans vs Collingwood game got a crowd in? So all those Swans supporters are going to turn up to a Wests game as well? NO...Wests are going to have to build an entirely new fanbase, can you see it happening?

What, you want exhibition games in Western Sydney, but not with the swans involved ???

It will be a very sad day when there is a big ANZ stadium filled to the rafters with less than 10k people there to support a West Sydney vs. Freo match (or have the Swans already gone under the 10k at ANZ mark; imagine the loss they would have on that!)

You clearly have no idea. No, the swans have never got near 10K at ANZ, and with the introduction of Western Sydney, would schedule more games back at the SCG I would imagine. In fact 19K v North is lowest by a considerable margin. An anomoly.

A lot of Rugby league clubs survive just fine on 10K crowds at ANZ stadium. But with Blacktown able to host 10K crowds, if that sort of support was anticipated, why wouldnt they schedule at a more appropriate ground ?

All can be overted with a preferential draw during the initial years (ie, no hosting freo, gc, port), playing the odd game in Canberra if required. IMO, plenty of Swans supporters will go to the Western Sydney games. Its not like its going to clash with a swans game. Plenty of people will like a game to go to every weekend.
I would also estimate that the SYdney derby games will be close to sellouts at ANZ year in year out. If the Swans can get 70K to a brisbane game, 60K to freo, then its not far to go for what should be the biggest non-final game on the Sydney AFL calendar.

 

[scotty88]

as a Melburnian living and working in Sydneys west I find the sporting culture tremendously different. Where I worked in outer Melb, out of the office I'd guess at least 30% of people would go to the footy at least once per year. Off the top of my head there'd be 7-8 who go every week or most weeks including a senior cheer squad member.

Compare that to my workplace in NRL heartland which is in a similar industry of similar size where I don't know of one person who will attend a NRL game this year.

But the biggest single difference is the "female factor", not one female here would give 2 hoots about the NRL, they are plainly not interested, not even in something as simple as footytipping, wheras in Melbourne 30-50% of the girls in the office would have a very good understanding of what is happening in the AFL and most participate in the footy tipping.

Sydney has a big population, but 50% of it has zero interest in any sort of football. Add to that people in Sydney rarely attend sporting events and that it takes bloody ages to get anywhere by road or public transport and crowd numbers will always be limited. 15,000 is considered more than acceptable for home grown sports.

And bugger me, if the AFL prop them up at the expense of an even and fair competition it will cost numbers in the AFL states, guaranteed.

I agree with you a lot of people in Sydney dont like sport and even if they do, not all of them like the NRL, some like AFL, some like rugby union and some like soccer. In melbourne, everyone loves AFL. Melbourne is more community orientated and cultered and whereas sydney doesnt have that. Sydneysiders tend to do their own thing so I think AFL has huge potential in that region.

I dont think the biggest difference will be the "female factor". I think the biggest difference is "ethic aussie factor". One of the reasons Rleague is so popular in Western sydney is coz of how multicultered Rleague is. I mean one of the main reasons a lot of leb aussies like the Canterbury bulldogs(a western sydney team) is because they have a leb aussie in Hazem El mazri(their goal kicker) in their team and you only have to look at every team in the nrl and see the amount of polynesians that play the game. If you know anything about Western sydney, you'd know its probably the most multicultural region in Australia and there is a huge population of polynesians and leb aussies not to mention other ethnicities.

If the West sydney AFL team was comprised of maybe 4 polynesian players, a couple of lebs and a few white aussies, then I reckon a lot of people would support it over there.

 

[Magpie03]

People Change!!!!

Ten years ago before I met my wife she had a mate who played football for Mac Uni up here. She used to love paying out on him about GayFL. Fast forward ten years she has still pays out on him but because he supports the Roos. She has sat on our clubs committee as secretary and still organises social functions still year despite being pregnant.

My wife grew up in the western suburbs here, supported Parra and had a grandfather play for Balmain yet she is now 100% converted and a dyed in the wool Carlton supporter.

The icing on the cake however is her daughter - a couple of weeks ago we had the opportunity to take her to watch the Swans and Dorks thanks to tickets from the AFL - she didnt want to go, not because she doesnt like going but becuase it clashed with Carlton live on Foxtel - Didnt care that we could record it she wanted to watch the Blues live in particular the Fev and Eddie show. Two weeks ago we had to rush from the game I was involved in straight to the SCG so she could again watch the Fev and Eddie show - she is mightly pissed with Fev at the moment but very happy with Eddie though.

Her daughter has done Auskick at her school and would play on weekends except for my involvment at a local senior club.

Just becuase people dont go to the Swans doesnt mean the game isnt growing up here. Give it the proper planning and time and it will be a far bigger success than the Swans.

 

[Demonoid]

I understand that but have a look on their website as well. It is actually quite scary how they are trying to manipulate people into hating Australian Football. Phil Rothfield's blog on the website is beyond belief.


I have no problem with informed reports on League and Australian Football, but to have the manipulation going on that they do... it is similar tactics to what the Nazis had prior to WW2 in terms of propaganda and spreading hate.




You will never get comments like this one from Jason Akermanis in the Tele, not when they are in the middle of the hate campaign:

"Just like Vegemite, Australian rules football is all ours, but unlike Vegemite, it is still Australian owned and run.

Most of the other main sports have come from another country. While we accept it and live with it, to me it is un-Australian and unpatriotic to bag our one true native game, Australian rules. "


The Tele. is trying to convince people that Australian Football is un-australian, un-sydney (when in fact aust. football was played in Sydney at least 20 years prior to League) and should be viewed as pro=sydney and pro-australian.

How very true. Patrick Smith has adressed this rather splendidly in his article in The Australian today. Stick that up ya Phelps and Rothfield eh!!! http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,25405933-12270,00.html

West Sydney is still on AFL's agenda


Article from: The Australian
THIS is directed in part to the good folk of The Daily Telegraph in Sydney but you need to listen up, too.
There's something here for all of us to learn. Football is suddenly so full of the Anzac spirit and war analogies that the Australian Rugby League chappie Geoff Carr has turned the western suburbs of Sydney into the Vietnam War. Presumably, he will keep a count of the dead and limbless.
We need to talk to The Daily Telegraph staff to alert them to a problem with one of their staff. It is about the boy Phelps. James Phelps. Somebody seek him out and put a damp towel to his forehead. Check his blood pressure. Count his heart beats if indeed you can keep up. Don't discount testing for rabies. That might not be shaving cream. The boy is too excited for his own good.
Yesterday he wrote in The Tele that the AFL dream of a second team in Sydney was over. Kaput. Sunk. Hit a major hurdle. The NSW Government apparently informed the AFL that it would not help fund the redevelopment of the Sydney Showground at Homebush. We would not doubt the accuracy of Phelps' reporting but think he has got more than a little overwrought with the impending demise of the AFL's bid to establish a second side in Sydney.
The Tele also reports that the scramble for supremacy as the No1 code in Sydney is over, the AFL's vision of a two-team town crushed. "In tatters", is the way the paper reports it. That suggestion might need a little bit more scrutiny. The prophecy might prove true but it also might be a little premature. Maybe they ought hand out cold towels to all The Tele sport staff and be done with it.
The AFL still plans to go ahead with establishing a second licence in Sydney in 2012. The commission discussed this very issue at length on Monday and, while acknowledging the challenging logistics of following the Gold Coast with a second NSW side 12 months later, there has been no change to the schedule. The AFL expansion plans are not dependent on NSW Government funding. It wouldn't hurt, mind you, but the AFL has western Sydney in its sights. Even if it is not 2012 because of the global financial crisis, it won't be long after. Remember it was said the Queensland Government said it would not help the Gold Coast. $60million later. Expect the AFL to be exacting in its process of awarding the Sydney licence just as it was with the Gold Coast. It delayed handing GC17 the keys to the lockers until it had determined the business model worked. Expect the same with western Sydney. The AFL should be heartened - and Phelps and co calmed - by comments yesterday from the NSW Sports Minister, Kevin Greene. He told the media that, rather than knock back any AFL proposal, the league was yet to put a proposal to Premier Nathan Rees' team.
"The Government recently worked with the AFL to assist them with a study that looked at the viability of a second team based in western Sydney," the minister told AAP. "I understand the AFL are still looking at their options on this issue and we are more than happy to speak to them when they are ready." So hold the tatters and the disarray banners, boys. Just bring on the ice jackets.
What was most instructive in The Daily Telegraph report was the language of Carr. While the two codes - rugby league and the AFL - have pretended that both could co-exist and that it was not about grabbing each other's turf, Carr's comments made a lie of that. It shouldn't have come as a surprise because the AFL cannot co-exist with anyone or anything. Happily ever after is anathema to Andrew Demetriou and his commission.
What the two codes do share is this frothing thing. The Tele's doing it on behalf of the NRL and Cappuccino Kennett, president of AFL club Hawthorn, has fizzed and foamed himself so much he might no longer have a drop to froth. Kennett has reacted in the manner the AFL thought (hoped?) he would when it ordered him to law and umpire classes in lieu of a $5000 fine for making a dill of himself on radio on the round four weekend.
In an interview on SEN, Kennett suggested the "bloody umpires" were getting bigger than the game. At a lunch straight after he said: "I come along and I want to see a good display of free flowing football with the umpires almost in the background with their light hand on the tiller. I think they're now the sails and the hull and the tiller, and in fact many of the players are there only to support the umpires." Unsurprisingly, the AFL found these comments were not in the best interests of the game, considering the difficulty the code has in recruiting and retaining umpires.
Cappuccino has shown little knowledge of the game in the past and the AFL thought rather than a fine a little education would not go astray. Thus it offered the president the opportunity of detention but with a chance to understand the role of umpires, something that has been completely beyond him in his reign with Hawthorn. Kennett reacted as most thought he would, arrogantly and erratically, posting his thoughts on the club website.
The former Victorian premier is entitled to have his opinion on all matters but some - for the sake of the health of the competition - are best discussed with the AFL in a private forum. But then those goings-on would not reported, there would be no microphones or cameras and thus no headlines or vision would result. No way to maintain an ego.
In a year when his team is struggling with just two wins Kennett is proving a distraction to the Hawks. No wonder staff cry with glee now that Cappuccino has decided to change his club's constitution so no president can serve for longer than six years. Nonetheless the nongs in the media and among the supporters think Cappuccino refreshing. It is not just the boy Phelps who is all a'steaming. Couldn't hand us that iced towel could you? Taa.

 

[Demonoid]

From the age today:

"(Geelong CEO) Brian Cook volunteered four to six weeks ago that he thought it would cost the AFL system probably $20 million a year, and that's not an insignificant amount of money … if you do that for, say, 10 years, it chews up a substantial amount of money that could be deployed somewhere else."

..........


However, Colless said it was important the public understood the difficulties of expansion, noting that where there was "a massive outpouring of support for a Super 14 franchise" when the Western Force were established in Perth, there was no such demand for AFL in western Sydney.

Two pretty ****ing crucial points one would think - and coming direct from people involved with helping the AFL establish their expansion plans. This venture is a dud....don't do it now, wait sometime and introduce AFL there slowly; play some exhibition games (flog sponsors products that way) and see if the demand comes. Yes we all know the argument that no-one gives two shites about a team that doesn't belong to that area (noboody will identify with it etc etc...) but Tasmania managed to succesfully stage Hawthorn games! Tasmania managed to boost (and significantly so) the profit to Hawthorn, and in turn generate immediate benefits to Tasmania itself (in terms of game development, exposure and tourism dollars).

This whole West Sydney argument falls flat on its face with lack of any sort of credibile evidence that it will benefit the AFL. The only sensible facts, figures or opinions have been sharply negative and what more, they have come directly from people in the know. Demetriou has his eyes on what he thinks is his 'pet project' a stubborn attempt to establish himself. He and the rest of the AFL board are failing to account for any sort of reason and will, just like their restructuing of melbourne based clubs stadium deals, fall flat on their faces at the expense and detriment of the game.

If they go ahead with this project by 2012, it will fail. Tasmania is ready now.

In the very same article:

While the Swans have been careful to avoid going head-to-head with the NRL, as the AFL would do in western Sydney, Colless said he did not believe the new franchise would unduly harm the Swans - as long as its introduction was properly managed.
"I don't fear for our viability because I think the strategic importance of the Swans now is undoubted. But what you won't be able to do with this new team is offer discounted seats, and discounted sponsorships, because if you do that, you cannibalise what's taken us nearly 30 years to build up.
"That's why I think the amount of subsidisation is going to be massive and [that] it's going to be open-ended. Now that in itself is no bad thing and if the AFL has the financial clout to do it, it might be the greatest strategic move in its 100-odd year history. But as long as people understand this is more than just a consequence of the economic downturn, this is fundamentally supply and demand."

You're not a Pom are you Gaz? You sure whinge like one....
Tas may offer minimal risk, but it also offer NO GROWTH.

 

[mcgarnacle]

id think the overwhelming majority of people in western sydney would prefer to see the money being spent on a decent transport infrastructure. at the moment there is none.

on the other hand, there are already home ground options for the new team......next door at the olympic stadium which was altered to cater for the AFL, and a venue out at Rooty Hill. the fact the former is void of atmosphere, and there wasnt foresight to build a bigger ground at the later shouldnt have to be another expense the state govt have to fork out for.

 

[InformedOpinion]

id think the overwhelming majority of people in western sydney would prefer to see the money being spent on a decent transport infrastructure. at the moment there is none.

on the other hand, there are already home ground options for the new team......next door at the olympic stadium which was altered to cater for the AFL, and a venue out at Rooty Hill. the fact the former is void of atmosphere, and there wasnt foresight to build a bigger ground at the later shouldnt have to be another expense the state govt have to fork out for.

you could use that old argument to stop redevelopment of whitten oval, arden st, etc in Melbourne.

the redevelopment of carrara was done to inject tens of millions of dollars into the GC every year through construction, tourism, etc. same for WS.

at the end of the day you have to spread the money around and give people a life outside of trains, hospitals and schools.

 

[Magpie03]

id think the overwhelming majority of people in western sydney would prefer to see the money being spent on a decent transport infrastructure. at the moment there is none.

on the other hand, there are already home ground options for the new team......next door at the olympic stadium which was altered to cater for the AFL, and a venue out at Rooty Hill. the fact the former is void of atmosphere, and there wasnt foresight to build a bigger ground at the later shouldnt have to be another expense the state govt have to fork out for.

With regards to transport infrastructure what are you refering to? As far as roads go they are better off than their inner city counterparts with the m2, M4, M5 and M7. With public transport they now have dedicated bus roads from Parramatta to Balcktown and Rouse Hill and surrounds.

Trains lines out west are pretty good to although you could improve it with a Blacktown to Liverpool to Sutherland direct line.

The biggest fault is the scrapping of the Blacktown to Richmond train line upgrade given the rapidly expanding population along that line.