The battle for western Sydney has just begun
Will Swanton, Adrian Proszenko and David Sygall | February 17, 2008
NATIONAL Rugby League boss David Gallop yesterday described western Sydney as a football "battleground" after revelations the AFL will launch a full-blown raid into the rugby league heartland.
And Australian Rugby Union supremo John O'Neill called the AFL's expansion a wake-up call while flagging the possibility of the expedited introduction of a Super 14 side to play out of Parramatta Stadium.
"For NRL and rugby union, in particular, we are being attacked in the heartland by the AFL and we have to fight very hard to protect that heartland," O'Neill said.
"The competitive pressures in this country surpass anything that happens anywhere else in the world. We're the only country with four football codes - AFL, NRL, rugby union and football.
"That's why in recent times we've speculated … the expansion of Super rugby could quite possibly include a team on the Gold Coast and western Sydney at Parramatta Stadium. Sydney and NSW are more than capable of hosting two rugby union teams.
"Rugby league has eight teams in Sydney and we've got one with the Waratahs. When we're looking at strategic choices, western Sydney has to at least be on the agenda.
"With the arrival and expansion of the A-League, the cake is only so big and it's going to get cut up into smaller slices.
"It's the price of competition. We're unbelievably mindful of the need to grow the game and to put up a fight to stop the inroads being made, particularly by AFL."
AFL chairman Mike Fitzpatrick told yesterday's The Sydney Morning Herald that the competition intends to expand from 16 to 18 clubs, with a new team on the Gold Coast in 2011 and another in western Sydney in 2012.
Western Sydney is league's traditional heartland but the creation of an AFL side in the middle of Penrith Panthers territory - one of league's largest and greatest nurseries - is the official declaration of war. The A-League has already stated its intention to have a team in western Sydney.
"Western Sydney is a battleground," Gallop said. "We're very strong in that area and we need to continue putting resources into our development programs in the west.
"Expansion is a difficult exercise and they will face a range of issues. For us, it's just another reminder of how competitive the market is. We're well aware of the threat of other codes."
Gallop said the AFL's plans were further vindication of the NRL's move into south-east Queensland last year with the establishment of the Gold Coast Titans.
"There's already a lot of support for league there and the signs are very positive for the future. We've already given ourselves a foot in the door there," he said.
Panthers general manager Mick Leary admitted the AFL's move was a serious threat and Parramatta boss Denis Fitzgerald called for the NRL to consider expansion of its own, with a Sydney team moving to the NSW Central Coast and New Zealand fielding a second team.
On the possibility of AFL luring western Sydney juniors away from league, Fitzgerald said: "There's already plenty of AFL in western Sydney, north-western Sydney, south-western Sydney - I don't think it'll make too much of a difference, to be honest.
"There's already a lot of junior AFL fields and competitions. From a Sydney point of view, the Swans have doing well for a few years now so AFL has already been trying to make inroads. I can't see rugby league changing from being the No.1 code. You can't say always, but I can't see it happening for at least 10 years."
Leary called for the NRL to have more junior development officers out west.
"You've got to be on your toes out here," Leary said. "Blacktown is our area, one of our great areas for producing juniors.
"Our league is undoubtedly the best-run junior league anywhere and we need to protect that. We won't be taking this lightly. We won't be blase because we'll be treating this as a serious threat.
"We have more than 500 teams in our area. There's AFL, but I also think soccer is going to be a big threat in our area. At the moment, kids seem to play soccer till they're 14 or 15, then they change. But that could go the other way, too, with the way the Socceroos and soccer in this country is going.
"They're all threats but in saying that, we've got to be on our toes. We'll treat these other sports with respect and keep working to promote rugby league. Development needs to be seriously looked at in terms of having more development officers, not just in our area, but all areas."
The man in charge of the increasingly popular A-League, Football Federation Australia chief executive Ben Buckley, said the FFA still planned to have a side in western Sydney within the next two to three years.
"Western Sydney is a great football region," Buckley said.
"There is enormous interest in football in the area. As well as having large numbers of players, it also has a fine tradition of producing outstanding talent such as Harry Kewell, Brett Emerton, Mark Schwarzer and former Socceroos captain Paul Okon."
Christ reading some of Gallop's comments in today's media he may as well start handing over the silverware to the AFL already, he's dead-set got nothing. 
