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http://www.nswrl.com.au/default.asp...cipation-numbers-a-sign-of-the-games-strength
Increased Junior Participation Numbers A Sign Of The Games Strength
Brad Walter
Sydney Morning Herald
15/06/2011 8:45:12 AM
A SELL-OUT crowd for tonight's Origin match is just one indication of the increased support for the game in Sydney this season.
A review of junior numbers has revealed that there are 7690 new players registered in the greater Sydney area this season.
Of those, 4590 are in western Sydney, where the AFL is trying to muscle in through the establishment of the GWS Giants franchise.
''These are actually players who will turn out for a team every weekend for a club, not kids who turn up for one Auskick session,'' one NSWRL official told the Herald.
NSWRL coaching and development manager Martin Meredith said the numbers represented a big increase on the 40,000 juniors who played last season.
''There is a new groundswell of support for the Blues this year. You can feel it out there,'' Meredith said.
''I think there is just a good feel about the whole game at the moment. We have a great product, the new 'tough love' policies we have introduced are working, the games on TV are good and the NRL clubs are doing a great job in helping to develop the game at grassroots level.''
NSWRL Western Academy development officer Tim Auremi, whose promising career was cut short by injury, is among the 82,000-plus who have bought tickets for the match and said he did so before full-time in Origin I.
''It was just after Michael Jennings scored [in the 69th minute] and I thought we're a chance of winning this year,'' Auremi said.
''Origin just seems bigger this year.''
Much of the credit for that has been given to new NSW coach Ricky Stuart, who was also in charge of the Blues the last time there was a sell-out crowd at ANZ Stadium, in 2005.
NSW won the series that year but Queensland have dominated since.
''I don't know what it is but people seem to be behind the team more than in previous years,'' NSW hooker Michael Ennis said.
''The players feel it, too. I can't pinpoint it but it is certainly a good feeling. When you are walking around the streets at Coogee, people have been yelling out of cars and at training they are singing out, so it is a good vibe.''
Stuart said: ''I think the fans have given us a message - the stadium was sold out six, seven days ago. They're showing our players there's support there, and I think the players showed our fans in game one that they've got a side there. They're passionate and they know they've got a passionate team.''
The match will be Queensland and Australian captain Darren Lockyer's last representative appearance in Sydney - and possibly his last game unless the Broncos play here in the finals - but ARL officials said there would be no official acknowledgement of his great career
.
NSW captain Paul Gallen, whose club side also ignored Lockyer's last premiership appearance in Sydney at Cronulla two weeks ago, urged Blues fans to give the Maroons a hard time.
''I know when we're up there it's not real nice and comfortable for us,'' Gallen said.
''[We need] to get a bit of Origin mentality, a bit of us-versus-them mentality and not show them too much support, [which] would be nice.''
Increased Junior Participation Numbers A Sign Of The Games Strength
Brad Walter
Sydney Morning Herald
15/06/2011 8:45:12 AM
A SELL-OUT crowd for tonight's Origin match is just one indication of the increased support for the game in Sydney this season.
A review of junior numbers has revealed that there are 7690 new players registered in the greater Sydney area this season.
Of those, 4590 are in western Sydney, where the AFL is trying to muscle in through the establishment of the GWS Giants franchise.
''These are actually players who will turn out for a team every weekend for a club, not kids who turn up for one Auskick session,'' one NSWRL official told the Herald.
NSWRL coaching and development manager Martin Meredith said the numbers represented a big increase on the 40,000 juniors who played last season.
''There is a new groundswell of support for the Blues this year. You can feel it out there,'' Meredith said.
''I think there is just a good feel about the whole game at the moment. We have a great product, the new 'tough love' policies we have introduced are working, the games on TV are good and the NRL clubs are doing a great job in helping to develop the game at grassroots level.''
NSWRL Western Academy development officer Tim Auremi, whose promising career was cut short by injury, is among the 82,000-plus who have bought tickets for the match and said he did so before full-time in Origin I.
''It was just after Michael Jennings scored [in the 69th minute] and I thought we're a chance of winning this year,'' Auremi said.
''Origin just seems bigger this year.''
Much of the credit for that has been given to new NSW coach Ricky Stuart, who was also in charge of the Blues the last time there was a sell-out crowd at ANZ Stadium, in 2005.
NSW won the series that year but Queensland have dominated since.
''I don't know what it is but people seem to be behind the team more than in previous years,'' NSW hooker Michael Ennis said.
''The players feel it, too. I can't pinpoint it but it is certainly a good feeling. When you are walking around the streets at Coogee, people have been yelling out of cars and at training they are singing out, so it is a good vibe.''
Stuart said: ''I think the fans have given us a message - the stadium was sold out six, seven days ago. They're showing our players there's support there, and I think the players showed our fans in game one that they've got a side there. They're passionate and they know they've got a passionate team.''
The match will be Queensland and Australian captain Darren Lockyer's last representative appearance in Sydney - and possibly his last game unless the Broncos play here in the finals - but ARL officials said there would be no official acknowledgement of his great career
.
NSW captain Paul Gallen, whose club side also ignored Lockyer's last premiership appearance in Sydney at Cronulla two weeks ago, urged Blues fans to give the Maroons a hard time.
''I know when we're up there it's not real nice and comfortable for us,'' Gallen said.
''[We need] to get a bit of Origin mentality, a bit of us-versus-them mentality and not show them too much support, [which] would be nice.''
