Action must be taken to stop the AFL killing league

[docbrown]

Guess whos the Minister for Sport and Recreation?

Graham Annesleythe former Chief Operating Officer of the National Rugby League!!!

Well I had asked them how they can justify building projects like the new boutique AFL stadium when there's an existing oval stadium right next door given the state's finances and cost cuttings and the fact that it's a free gift for a billion dollar corporation. Annesley's response was that they're legally obliged to continue the commitments made by previous governments and that they're committed to funding all sports. :crazy:

However it's all about the lobbying. The AFL begs, pleads and sometimes outright lies to get what it wants.

 

[Loudstrat]

Why are you worried about AFL. Scared kids may find it a better game? AFL is played in central west NSW but that doesn't stop the area supplying league players to Sydney.

Im not worried at all. Never have been. Im more worried about you seeing AFL as the solution to disaffected refugees.

Of course there are no islander gangs in NSW . . . my mistake. They're all here on holidays

I said refugees you dumb senile old git. R E F U G E E S. A refugee is NOT someone who joins a gang. There are 8th generation Australians in gangs dipsh*t. Where are they refugees from? Strathfield?

Someone in your ancestry f*cked a goat. I am sure of it.

 

[Perth Red]

Gould continues to miss the point that it is not the NRL's role to do this work. Their job is to run a premier league of rugby league for the benefit of the 16 clubs that belong to the NRL. Gould should be targeting his anger at the ARL/NSWRL who are the organisations that have had the responsibility for this type of work. It is not the neglect of the NRL, it is the neglect of the ARL/NSWRL in not fulfilling its role for jnr development and development of the game at grass roots.

Now hopefully the IC will address this and have greater funds to do so.

 

[Loudstrat]

Actually, it's the clubs responsibility, and the CRL where there are no clubs.

Interesting you blame the NSWRL - is everything ok in Queensland?

 

[Perth Red]

I'm not hearing anyone whinging about the AFL's take over of the Western Corridor?

Is the CRL responsible for Western Sydney? Again its not really the NRL clubs responsibilities directly though you would hope their engagement in their own area was strong. It should be the stewardship of the ARL who have the strategy plan for development of the area and the clubs are helping in that with their presence at schools etc.

Why is Gould blaming the NRL when it is not their job to sort out A) social problems of Western Sydney or B) grass roots involvement?

 

[CC_Roosters]

http://www.blacktownsun.com.au/news...ey-to-leagues-growth/2257655.aspx?storypage=3

Interesting article about the need to operate under one banner for development, which we will hopefully see under the IC. Also the NRl needs to beat its chest more and get the codes acheivements out there in the media for all to see, the AFL do this and spin their numbers to make it look like they are making gains. Perception is 9/10's of the battle.

 

[carlosthedwarf]

Good jon Fox Sports

Latest League News


Folau spreading the AFL gospel

Australian rules football is now recognised as a "proper" sport in Tonga following Israel Folau's defection from rugby league last year

:roll:

edit: it's the second story on the Rugby page too :lol:

 

[El Diablo]

why is it in League :?

http://www.bigfooty.com/forum/showthread.php?t=859509

This is the sort of story that will have rugby league administrators genuinely concerned and justifies the investment made in players like Folau, and to a lesser extent, Hunt.

f**king dumbarse boggerball fans and media

Union is the national sport of Tonga

League was never bigger there and fuicking fumbleball won't even register a blip on the radar

 

[betcats]

For those who are interested:

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/sport/phil-gould-instils-new-penrith-panthers-culture/story-e6frexni-1226116296949

Penrith Panthers to take fight to AFL by engaging more heavily with the community

* Tyson Otto
* From: The Daily Telegraph
* August 17, 2011 12:00AM


PHIL Gould has fired rugby league's first salvo in the battle for the minds and hearts of Western Sydney kids - vowing to have Panthers players devote their Monday nights to selling the code.

As part of the Penrith club's plan to launch a community blitz across the district, every player from the NRL, NYC and NSW Cup squads will run clinics and open training sessions at junior leagues clubs every week - flying in the face of the AFL's western Sydney surge.

Gould, the new Panthers supremo, yesterday revealed phase one of his plan to ward off the threat of the AFL and its GWS Giants, less than a week after meeting with club bosses from the Bulldogs, Eels and Tigers to co-ordinate their offensive against the AFL.

Beginning in round one next year, the Panthers will train at different venues across western Sydney every Monday night in a bid to get to every junior club in their district - representing about 10,000 kids.


Panthers director of operations Phil Moss said: "Our staff and players know why we have to do this. They know we have to promote rugby league and do everything we can for it. We just see this as one way of being able to use our players to grow the game."

The Panthers have sought help and financial assistance from the NRL to boost their resources for junior development and participation.

Their commitment to junior clubs in their district has earned praise from Western Sydney academy development coordinator Martin Shanahan, who said appearances by players in their own backyard remains a "trump card" NRL clubs don't play often enough.

"It adds so much to the kids' experience and to what we are able to do," Shanahan said.

"We appreciate every second players spend with the kids. I suppose the more they do it, the less opportunities there are for people to criticise and say they don't get out there enough."

Panthers ARL development officer Ben Hardin, who is based at the Panthers' offices, said the NRL needed to help the Panthers hold their turf.

"We are underresourced and we're still doing well. We've been going to just as many schools in Blacktown as the AFL have. We just need more," Hardin said.

Bulldogs chief executive Todd Greenberg and Eels boss Paul Osborne both indicated yesterday they will also increase their own community involvement programs.

 

[betcats]

And:

http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-league/league-news/even-in-brisbane-petero-will-add-fuel-to-nrls-fire-20110816-1iwea.html

Even in Brisbane, Petero will add fuel to NRL's fire

Brad Walter, Michael Cowley
August 17, 2011

"I have seen how passionate the people in western Sydney are about rugby league. But we can't afford to take that for granted" ... Petero Civoniceva.



ON THE eve of his last home game for Penrith, Petero Civoniceva has revealed he is set to continue in the battle to ensure league remains the dominant code in western Sydney.

Despite returning to Brisbane to finish his career with the Broncos next season, Civoniceva said he had spoken to Panthers supremo Phil Gould about an ongoing role promoting the game in Sydney's west.

''We spoke about a role I would have if I stayed at the club next season and then after footy, working in the western Sydney region,'' Civoniceva said. ''Then when I decided to go back to Brisbane, Gus mentioned that he would still like to keep me involved in helping to make sure that rugby league is the dominant sport in this area.
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''It is something I definitely want to do because after spending four years here I have seen how passionate the people in western Sydney are about rugby league. But we can't afford to take that for granted and obviously with what AFL is doing here it has become so important to make sure kids keep following league.''

To help ensure that, the Panthers will next year conduct coaching clinics at each of the junior clubs in the Penrith district and hold open training sessions for fans every Monday. The plan was trialled on Monday at St Marys and about 350 kids turned up for the coaching clinic with Civoniceva and the other Penrith players.

The Panthers have also been working closely with officials from ARL Development, who are based at Penrith and have already organised a television promotion next season that will feature more than 3000 junior players at Centrebet Stadium.

''Regardless of where I go in western Sydney, I get great respect from people because they love rugby league and are very passionate about it,'' Civoniceva said.

''But we'd be foolish to just say that rugby league is the dominant sport here and we don't have to do anything. We need to look at how we market the game and we have to make sure that we have people promoting the game in the general community and in the schools.''

The NRL is expected to manufacture the draw next season to ensure the four western Sydney clubs play each other twice, and host a number of other big matches in the area. The move would coincide with the introduction of the Blacktown-based GWS Giants into the AFL.

This season, Penrith have had to play in every regional centre that hosts an NRL team, and have not met each of the other eight Sydney teams in home-and-away fixtures.

Penrith's last home game of the season is on Saturday against the Warriors, and Gould helped ensure a bigger turnout for what will be Civoniceva's home farewell by ordering wayward star Michael Jennings to buy 2000 tickets to hand out to fans last Friday night. Jennings was yesterday named at fullback following a one-week ban for turning up to training on Thursday affected by alcohol.

A stark reminder of what Gould, Civoniceva and rugby league are up against came yesterday with the Giants' star recruit Israel Folau trying to win hearts and minds on the Panthers' patch in Doonside.

Since signing with the AFL just over a year ago, Folau has been spreading the gospel but he insists it's not about stealing NRL fans. Still, he admits he has noticed the game is growing.

''Yeah, I certainly have. I think it comes down to how much work we have done off the field with all the community stuff, all of the players have done a lot of work, going out to schools and clinics, and that's paid off massively because the feedback we are getting is great and all the kids are loving it,'' he said.

Was he surprised at how much off-field work he was asked to do? ''I was in the start a little, but I know it's part of my job to try and promote the game out here in western Sydney.''

So is AFL a major threat to rugby league in western Sydney? ''Mate, I think it's not a threat at all. It's good to have both sports around the community. It's good for the kids to have different options playing sport. I think it's great that we're in western Sydney, it's a pretty big area.''

 

[azza29]

The NRL is expected to manufacture the draw next season to ensure the four western Sydney clubs play each other twice, and host a number of other big matches in the area. The move would coincide with the introduction of the Blacktown-based GWS Giants into the AFL.

This is the same paranoid attitude that scheduled the majority of Storm's home games this year up against Rebels matches, which only ended up hurting Storm attendance figures.

So is AFL a major threat to rugby league in western Sydney? ''Mate, I think it's not a threat at all. It's good to have both sports around the community. It's good for the kids to have different options playing sport. I think it's great that we're in western Sydney, it's a pretty big area.''

Folau is absolutely right. I enjoy AFL, but dislike that Melburnians can be so parochial about the code, believing that a homogenous sporting culture is a good thing. League will always be the major sport in Western Sydney, but that doesn't mean the area can't also host a successful AFL team.

 

[Everlovin' Antichrist]

This is the same paranoid attitude that scheduled the majority of Storm's home games this year up against Rebels matches, which only ended up hurting Storm attendance figures.

Don't talk rot.

Rebels round 4, 11/3
Storm round 1, 12/3

Rebels round 5, 18/3
Storm round 2, 19/3

Rebels round 6, 25/3
Storm round 3, 28/3

Rebels round 7, 2/4
Storm round 4, 4/4

Rebels round 8, Bye

Rebels round 9, 15/4
Storm round 6, 17/4

Rebels round 10, 22/4
Storm round 7, 25/4

Rebels round 11, 30/4
Storm round 8, 30/4

Rebels round 12, 6/5
Storm round 9, 7/5

Rebels round 13, In Seth Effrika

Rebels round 14, In Seth Effrika

Rebels round 15, bye

Rebels round 16, 3/6
Storm round 13, 5/6

Rebels round 17, 10/6
Storm round 14, 13/6

Rebels round 18, 17/6
Storm round 15, 19/6

Feel free to post your retraction, unless of course you actually are stupid enough to base that statement on one game....

 

[carlosthedwarf]

Dont they both play in the same stadium? They'd be doing a good job to schedule them head to head then.

 

[Everlovin' Antichrist]

Dont they both play in the same stadium? They'd be doing a good job to schedule them head to head then.

It pretty much can't/won't happen for that reason.

And if he meant that the NRL/Storm deliberately put their home/aways games up against Rebels away/home games he's sadly mistaken, as the list I posted shows.

 

[betcats]

Can i ask someone in Melbourne are the Rebels fans and storm fans two seperate groups completely? or is there some overlapping, if there is the Storm and rebels should look at some sort of package for when both clubs have home games the same weekend.

 

[Perth Red]

In perth we always get a good smattering of Force jerseys at the NRL games. I know of a few NRL fans that go and watch the Force as it is better than watching AFL. I suspect there is good cross over but given both clubs are competing for corporates it is unlikely they will be keen to jump into bed with each other.

 

[azza29]

Don't talk rot.

...

Feel free to post your retraction, unless of course you actually are stupid enough to base that statement on one game....

My point was not that they were scheduled directly against each other, but that a the majority of Storm home games were scheduled in the first half of the season, which is the same time of year as the Super Rugby season. The idea being that with enough games people would have to choose between Storm and the Rebels as they wouldn't attend a game every single week.

Melbourne only has so much demand for non-AFL sport, having a lot of rugby in the first half of the year definitely had an impact on Storm crowds.

Can i ask someone in Melbourne are the Rebels fans and storm fans two seperate groups completely? or is there some overlapping, if there is the Storm and rebels should look at some sort of package for when both clubs have home games the same weekend.

Storm fans will go to Rebels games, Rebels fans won't go to Storm games. Plenty of union snobs down here too.

 

[Perth Red]

Melbourne are avg their third highest crowds ever so not sure the Rebels have made any difference.

I believe the Melbourne RL fanbase is similiar to perth's and dominated by Kiwis. Majority of them I have found to enjoy Union and League equally.

 

[Everlovin' Antichrist]

My point was not that they were scheduled directly against each other, but that a the majority of Storm home games were scheduled in the first half of the season, which is the same time of year as the Super Rugby season. The idea being that with enough games people would have to choose between Storm and the Rebels as they wouldn't attend a game every single week.

Melbourne only has so much demand for non-AFL sport, having a lot of rugby in the first half of the year definitely had an impact on Storm crowds.

I assume you actually think that The Storm should have schedule all their home games for after the end of the Super 15 season.

f**king trolls...

Just piss off.

 

[Billythekid]

They shouldn't have front ended the games so much for the storm. Not because of the rebels but because it's stupid having so many home games early in the year.

I have no doubt it had an impact on the storms crowds this year.