2.53 The committee requested that the AFL provide statistics on participation
levels in Western Sydney, the Gold Coast and Tasmania, including the proportion of
participants made up of the Auskick program. Unfortunately, the AFL only provided
the committee with figures for the entire NSW/ACT region, rather than Western
Sydney alone. They are included in Appendix 3. These statistics are not helpful in
assessing meaningful participation in the code in that area as they include far Western
NSW, the Riverina, Canberra and the far South Coast of NSW, where Australian
Rules football enjoys strong support and well established club competitions exist.
2.54 Information on the public record, attributed to the New South Wales Minister
for Sport suggests that actual participation in Western Sydney is fewer than 3,000.47 In
contrast Tasmanian participation is about 24,000 or nearly five per cent of the
Tasmanian population. In the absence of more authoritative figures the committee is
inclined to accept that participation in Western Sydney is, as a proportion of its
population, relatively insignificant.
