David Gallop: State of the Game address

[The_Coach]

Western Sydney is a growth market that the AFL has identified that they need to be in. They are going to keep coming,

Yeah true Western Sydney is a growth market and i'm sure the AFL would love a piece of the action, but there is 0% interest in AFL here. They couldn't give tickets away. AFL is loathed here.

 

[League Freak™]

The thing is....just because there is no interest out here doesnt mean League should sit on its hands and do nothing.

 

[The_Coach]

The thing is....just because there is no interest out here doesnt mean League should sit on its hands and do nothing.

True. But between the Eels, Panthers, and Tigers Western Sydney is well and truely covered.

If the AFL had brains they would go for the North to North West of Sydney. There is no NRL teams from Castle Hill up to Hornsby and back towards Chatswood. That whole area is rip with the type of people who would watch AFL.

The area which i think the NRL is going to have defend the most is Canberra. If the Raiders can't become sucessful and get their crowds up the AFL will be able to strole straight in.

 

[League Freak™]

I think a second Brisbane side is still needed as well. I think Brisbane Rugby League fans need an alternative. If Sydney can handle having 500 NRL clubs Brisbane can handle having two of them!

The exciting thing about the NRL is that after the next expansion (Probably two teams) the League will be looking to expand into some really exciting areas.

 

[JW]

The area which i think the NRL is going to have defend the most is Canberra. If the Raiders can't become sucessful and get their crowds up the AFL will be able to strole straight in.

Not whilst the AFL can only get 3,000 paying attendees to games at Manuka, where the "Canberra Kangaroos" have been on show.

9,000 free tickets, lol.

 

[Everlovin' Antichrist]

Yeah, Canberra has been a dead loss for AFL. They'll put the cue in the rack on that one soon, they'd be better off in Tassie.

 

[dubby]

The NT is where the AFL could go, or even Tassie. ACT is under siege from the Brumbies more than AFL, but if the AFL concentrated on school level in the ACT more they would eventually win the day unless the Raiders start winning again soon.

And the bush in the Riverina is behind AFL now, it never used to be, and Union is making inroads as well. SO before we all start patting ourselves on the back we should look at things that weren't mentioned in the report. The demise of teams like Perth and Adelaide didn not help our cause, Perth now have a non-existant RL presence as do Adelaide. If Union decide to go Central Coast there would be trouble ahead too.

 

[Balmain_Boy]

True. But between the Eels, Panthers, and Tigers Western Sydney is well and truely covered.

If the AFL had brains they would go for the North to North West of Sydney. There is no NRL teams from Castle Hill up to Hornsby and back towards Chatswood. That whole area is rip with the type of people who would watch AFL.

Living in the area (about 10 minutes from chatswood), I can assure you there is no chance AFL would be watched here. Union is undisputed king, but there is definately a latent interest in league. You don't get the absolute diehards, there's no disputing that. What you do get is people watching and talking about the game and supporting a side on TV.

There is no way AFL could find a base to watch the game here. The sorto f people on the North Shore that would support a team are already going to see "our swannies". An extra team would merely draw support away from the swans. AFL would be slitting their own throats with another team in Sydney, as we would be with another team in Melbourne.

I'm a sports fanatic and will watch just about any sport on TV (within reason). I don't watch union on principle. AFL on the other hand I don't watch because it holds no interest for me. I don't understand it, it makes no sense and I don't wish to understand it. During their matches I'm watching live rugby league, either on TV or at the game. I am typical of a Sydney sports fan. Which is why all AFL can hope to do is establish a niche market in Sydney, a niche market incapable of supporting 2 teams.

Maybe they'll prove me wrong though.

 

[Everlovin' Antichrist]

Sorry dubby but if the AFL were ever going to go to Tasmania, they'd have done it before now. Tassie is ALL Australian Football, the problem seems to be that the corporate $'s aren't there. Same for Darwin, but League has a presence there so it wouldn't be easy anyway. Besides, Darwin is probably too small. The AFL probably won't put a team in a small city, they haven't before. Apart from Geelong, which is to Melbourne what Wollongong is to Sydney, there is no presence in the AFL outside capital cities.

Canberra isn't big enough to warrant a huge influx of money to push it, they've dipped their toes in it and it isn't warming up. That's why they're eyeing Western Sydney and the Gold Coast.

But the NRL putting a team on the Gold Coast is going to cause them plenty of consternation.

 

[Balmain_Boy]

The NT is where the AFL could go, or even Tassie. ACT is under siege from the Brumbies more than AFL, but if the AFL concentrated on school level in the ACT more they would eventually win the day unless the Raiders start winning again soon.

And the bush in the Riverina is behind AFL now, it never used to be, and Union is making inroads as well. SO before we all start patting ourselves on the back we should look at things that weren't mentioned in the report. The demise of teams like Perth and Adelaide didn not help our cause, Perth now have a non-existant RL presence as do Adelaide. If Union decide to go Central Coast there would be trouble ahead too.

Union won't get another Super 14 franchise for a long while now. Central coast is very much league heartland. I was up there recently on a saturday morning. Every oval you went past they were playing league, with a spattering of soccer, as you see evrywhere. They were even playing league on a field with soccer goal posts.

ACT is a bit of a worry though. Canberra need to be doing more for the country hinterland.

 

[t-ba]

Living in the area (about 10 minutes from chatswood), I can assure you there is no chance AFL would be watched here. Union is undisputed king, but there is definately a latent interest in league. You don't get the absolute diehards, there's no disputing that. What you do get is people watching and talking about the game and supporting a side on TV.

There is no way AFL could find a base to watch the game here. The sorto f people on the North Shore that would support a team are already going to see "our swannies". An extra team would merely draw support away from the swans. AFL would be slitting their own throats with another team in Sydney, as we would be with another team in Melbourne.

There's some support for AFL around the Lower North Shore, but it's Swans support.

You're right though, The AFL simply can't put a side in the Northern Suburbs. You'd be cutting the Swans base up.

And that's why they're investing heavily in the West. They can't do it anywhere else in this state!

 

[Everlovin' Antichrist]

The only thing I've seen from the Swans where I live or work is a couple of girls selling raffle tickets at a local Shopping Centre.

They weren't impressed when I told them I wouldn't buy a ticket but I'd put in to send 'em back to Melbourne.

From the looks of it, they weren't getting many takers.

 

[White Poiner]

lol

 

[Green Machine]

Gee, so the AFL is no threat to Rugby League at all. The Swans with all its poor TV ratings somehow get better TV exposure that any NRL side in Sydney. A low sport like the AFL has equal radio coverage if not better, that the whole NRL in Sydney. The Swans have Phillip Clark on 2GB, Russell Barwick and James Brayshaw on 2MMM and Steve Price on 2UE. Who does Rugby League have on Sydney Radio? I pick up a magazine lift out of one of the Sunday papers where Jean Kittson told what it was like to follow Football in Sydney and in particular her Swans. I wonder how the Swans keep getting pages of print space in the Sunday papers if they are going so terrible. The AFL might get a $150m TV deal soon. To treat them with no respect is asking for trouble. If you listen to any AFL commentator, the thing that the AFL is praying for is a Swans Grand Final win.

 

[Balmain_Boy]

You really think people will give a f**k if the Swans win?

 

[Bring back John Fifita]

Gee, so the AFL is no threat to Rugby League at all. The Swans with all its poor TV ratings somehow get better TV exposure that any NRL side in Sydney.

I wonder how the Swans keep getting pages of print space in the Sunday papers if they are going so terrible. The AFL might get a $150m TV deal soon. To treat them with no respect is asking for trouble. If you listen to any AFL commentator, the thing that the AFL is praying for is a Swans Grand Final win.

Its not a threat in the short term, but the market it is preaching at cannot be underestimated. I went to the SCG a couple of years ago, was invited to the members by business folk, and the crowd was big and really into the game. I couldn't follow it, lost interest, and spent the second half in a rotation buying beers from the bar. Apart from that, It was the amount of families & in particular kids at the game which astounded me. I'd never go back but there are plenty who do.

It is these kids who go to the AFL who will grow up following AFL as opposed to league. In other words, what they grow up watching is what they will follow all their lives. Sure as sh!t if I grew up in Bleak City I'd probably think (like the rest of em) AFL is the pinnacle of sport and follow the Cats or some mob like that. Thank god I'm Sydney-bred.

I dont think League will ever be overtaken as the no1 sport in Sydney in my lifetime, but I'm also just as certain that AFL will not only survive, but grow its market too. What will be critical is League not losing any corporate dollars to the Swans. The Swans games at Telstra generate huge corporate dollars, and gate taking to-boot. Re-invested, their game will continue to grow. And as stated in the quote above, the AFL would love nothing more than for the Swans to win the comp. This is their holy grail, and a meal ticket into the Sydney market - biggest in the country. The NRL cannot underestimate this. Forget the talk of "we are not trying to compete with league" - that is their goal no question.

I used to think that the only people who followed AFL were ex-mexicans, gays and weird Sydney families. I've got an opinion now is that they are more like Amway members - A secret society in the community with great numbers, who sneakily coerce simple folk to join there group with the promise that there lives will be ever richer for the experience. Some - like me, realise the fraud that it truly is. Sadly, others remain trapped in the idea, lots of them.

 

[Green Machine]

You really think people will give a f**k if the Swans win?

I don’t think it matters what I think. I will never go to an AFL game, so I’m a waste of time preaching to. Yes, I do think certain people would give a f**k if the Swans win the Grand Final. I think it will create a bandwagon effect. It might last as long as the Swans last bandwagon in the late 90’s. But, give people an opportunity to taste it, and they may be interested. I know a lot of people who think of the Swans as their second team. I think if the NRL was better run, and never gave out an exclusive radio contract, a station like 2MMM would not have created an opportunity for the AFL. If the NRL did not let Channel 9 have all the FTA deal in their favour, we might have had radio stations calling Friday night games. Taxi drivers in NSW have no football coverage on radio. But, if you are an AFL fan in NSW, you can get “Live” AFL coverage on ABC Radio National. As unpopular as AFL is in Sydney, it gets good crowds to games and gets unbelievable media coverage. Rugby League helps the AFL to get higher TV ratings on a Sunday. Here is the AFL’s “Live” coverage jammed in between the Sunday League talk shows and the 4.00pm replay. The AFL is a lot smarter than the NRL,

 

[Everlovin' Antichrist]

Horse sh*t.

They've been plugging AFL incessantly in Sydney for 25 years and it's got them 15,000 people per week in the ground and sweet f**k all on the TV.

They had their heyday in 1996. If the pink flamingos make the GF they'll get a decent rating but it won't get anywhere near what it did in 1996. It got the ratings in 1996 because of one player and he doesn't play any more.

Big bad boofy bumgrinder Barry isn't worthy to lick Lockett's boots as far as popularity in Sydney goes. But they're both poofs.

 

[nqboy]

Exactly right.

The Telstra Dome is the best when it comes to facilities. It has the best design for a stadium i've ever seen.

Telstra Dome or Telstra Stadium? To me, one of the important parts of big stadiums is the ability to move people away from them afterwards. That means trains.

 

[nqboy]

If AFL are truly targetting Western Sydney, they are in massive strife.

The interest in AFL is so close to zero here it's laughable. Notwithstanding that, the Swans average 15k per week, do they think those 30k people will go to one game a fortnight to see someone other than the Swans?

Swans games ratings are sh*t, and non-Swans games get rolled by test patterns, so how can they think there's enough interest to fill a stadium once a fortnight in what is quite possibly the nadir for AFL interest in the whole country?

They are obviously desperate and know that they have nowhere else to go whilst being stuck with 3 or 4 Melbourne Clubs who spend 1/2 their existence surviving on handouts. I think it's their intention to move the Western Bulldogs to Western Sydney and they'll just have to do it and pump millions into advertising just to get a 5 figure crowd regularly.

Putting an NRL side on the Gold Coast screwed them.

Good.

Are we forgetting Carrara? The Southport Sharks are still the wealthiest club in the area. It will be interesting to watch support for the lions now they have missed the finals after all the success they've had. Is Carrara too close to the Lions (who don't polarise support the way the Broncos do) and SEQ population too small? Western Sydney and Carrara must be the next steps for the AFL, I hope what you're saying about support for AFL there is true.