Time to fight AFL (60 Minutes)

[camsmith]

I'm aware that the GC has a fairly strong following of the AFL but surely selling like 8000 seats(mostly free tickets) to a game is a warning?
And the weather wasn't as much as a factor as people make it out to be - Earlier during the week as little as 1000 tickets had been sold...

The GC is a League city,the crowds and success of the Titans should tell you that much.
The AFL is going to fall on it's *ss but the AFL and it's fans in general need it.

lol at using that game on the GC to have a go at the AFL. It was between two teams who aren't even close to the Gold Coast, one had just recently said it wont relocate to the GC and it wasn't the best day for footy (a favourite excuse of NSW RL supporters).

Why would people on the GC go to a game with a team who has just snubbed them, when they are guaranteed a team in a few years?

 

[NthKnight]

Just a little taste of the email I have sent to 60 mins:

Regarding your segment on Sunday night titled "Turf War".

I was appauled to watch such a shameless attempt by the AFL to push their "Game of the people" propaganda and badmouth Rugby League but the most distubing aspect was that it was shown on the very network that supposedly is the "home of Rugby League". Mr Brownless's comments were so ill informed that I literally cried out in laughter at the extent of his ignorance. Shame on you channel 9 for airing such an obviously fabricated piece of promotional fluff designed to denigrate the opposition instead of promoting what is clearly an over-rated, stale footy code that the "Mexican" state claims is "Australias favourite game".

I urge every league supporter to vent their spleens to Ch9 as they need to be made aware that sh*t canning your own product, the game we all love and cherish, is simply not on.

 

[camsmith]

You can knock the guy for arrogance and such, but I will credit these AFL stooges for putting a positive spin on everything. I was watching The Offsiders on Sunday morning and the State of Origin discussion mostly related to the fact is wasn't a sellout. 67,000? Where's the rest?

Yeah.. the best game in RL and thats all they get?

A gimmicky "SoO" game in AFL that didn't even feature two states (ie, no rivalry and no history) got more than that.

 

[Ziggy the God]

lol at using that game on the GC to have a go at the AFL. It was between two teams who aren't even close to the Gold Coast, one had just recently said it wont relocate to the GC and it wasn't the best day for footy (a favourite excuse of NSW RL supporters).

Why would people on the GC go to a game with a team who has just snubbed them, when they are guaranteed a team in a few years?

So if the game was packed out, the AFL would not have trumpeted the fact?

You are kidding yourself. :lol:

 

[Billythekid]

What bothers me isn't so much what AFL is doing but what channel 9 is doing. For f*ck sake they have the rights to the NRL coverage they shouldn't be advertising AFL over NRL.

 

[Tap Twist Snap]

Meh! There is nothing to worry about as far as AFL trying to expand. They will be money pits for a long long time if they go ahead with them and in the end they will just end up being forced to "merge" with the melbourne AFL clubs that are going broke even quicker than leagues Sydney clubs. Across the country there are more people watching league each week than AFL so overall there is more interest. The problem is they are not going to the grounds and that is something the NRL needs to look at. In the end all our main issues are internal due to the game being owned by news limited and the lack of money being invested. They only give the game enough to survive which is not going to do anything to move the game forward. If any club dies it's because of news ltd under funding no other reason. The clubs need to get together and demand better conditions if they all packed up together (something that would obviously never happen) and went back to the ARL all profits could be invested back into the game and we would be a much better position.

 

[KalgoorlieRed]

Done!.

Me too!
60minutesmailbag@nine.com.au

 

[fightingirish69]

Great to see channel nine really supporting rugby league. You know, being the "station for league" and all......

good point

 

[camsmith]

So if the game was packed out, the AFL would not have trumpeted the fact?

You are kidding yourself. :lol:

They would have been astonished. They never expected many to turn up.

Wait till the GC gets a team then look at the crowd figures.

 

[Ziggy the God]

They would have been astonished. They never expected many to turn up.

Wait till the GC gets a team then look at the crowd figures.

You didn't answer my question.

 

[Perth Red]

I'm aware that the GC has a fairly strong following of the AFL but surely selling like 8000 seats(mostly free tickets) to a game is a warning?
.

Should we be equally concerend with the 8000 at the CC game? After all I thought CC was screaming out for a team and the number 1 priority for the NRL?

 

[Shorty]

lol at using that game on the GC to have a go at the AFL. It was between two teams who aren't even close to the Gold Coast, one had just recently said it wont relocate to the GC and it wasn't the best day for footy (a favourite excuse of NSW RL supporters).

Why would people on the GC go to a game with a team who has just snubbed them, when they are guaranteed a team in a few years?

LOL@ it?
Yes I do,because it's a show of what it's going to be like for the GC team.
I had already explained that the tickets sold were as little as 1000 a week before the match,that's way before this weather crap.

The Kangeroos were quite successful last year,what are the AFL going to do with a crap GC side against the Titans?
Brisbane only really embraced the Lions when they were actually winning things.

But continue to laugh,cause it's not going to be successful.

Was this the CC game on the weekend PR?
Because I'm sure people are dying to see Melbourne Storm Vs Rabbitohs...that game was going to be really entertaining(Although it was predictably it wouldn't have been).

 

[dallymessenger]

They would have been astonished. They never expected many to turn up.

Wait till the GC gets a team then look at the crowd figures.

:lol:

i was astonished they gave away so many free tickets and got se few in the ground

 

[Perth Red]

LOL@ it?

But continue to laugh,cause it's not going to be successful.

.

Depends on how you define succesful and in what time frame. If it costs them $20mill a year but they get $50 mill a year extra TV and corporate support because of the perception that AFL is a vibrant expanding National sport then it has been a success, regardless of how many turn up, how many Q'land kids start to play the game or if they get a you beaut stadium. This is something the NRL doesn't (or can't due to News ownership) understand and take action on.

Wellington are a great example. The Warriors bring in $8mill+ to the NRL due to selling the rights to their games plus the intangible benefits of having a NZ team in the comp. Has Gallop actually gone to the NZ TV and asked if they would be willing to pay $15mill for TWO NZ teams? I very much doubt it, I can bet the AFL would have done by now.

 

[Shorty]

It would be like the Melbourne Storm vs North Queensland Cowboys playing a regular season match at the ANZ Stadium. How many people would would you expect to see at that game?

It would rate higher than anything going at the GC.

Considering by the time this actual team is placed on the GC,the Titans will be well established and perhaps even won a premiership.
They are embedded it in everything down there,AFL will get wiped like a dirty nose:lol:

Um FJ,it was reported that they had to resort to free tickets...face facts mate.

 

[Perth Red]

If that was true,why didn't it get a great number of people turning up and had to resort to free ticket offers?

The Titans sell out almost every match at Skilled Park without fail,why can't the AFL do this?
Surely,if the GC was AFL-mad they would turn up in decent numbers to games?

Why did the government reject an offer for an AFL stadium then?

the GC is RL heartland, surely you would expect their to be a lot more fans than AFL? Are you suggesting that we shouldn't have a Perth NRL team because they won't be able to draw 40,000 like the AFL teams, or maybe you consider the Storm are a failure because they don't draw 60,000 like the Vic AFL teams?

Getting a succesful NRL GC team in before the AFL was essential and has sewn the area up for RL but that doesn't mean an AFL team can't be succesful for the AFL in terms of the way I described success in my previous post.

 

[Shorty]

the GC is RL heartland, surely you would expect their to be a lot more fans than AFL? Are you suggesting that we shouldn't have a Perth NRL team because they won't be able to draw 40,000 like the AFL teams, or maybe you consider the Storm are a failure because they don't draw 60,000 like the Vic AFL teams?

Getting a succesful NRL GC team in before the AFL was essential and has sewn the area up for RL but that doesn't mean an AFL team can't be succesful for the AFL in terms of the way I described success in my previous post.

What's your point here PR,and what was your point quoting me all along?
I struggle to see your side on this issue...

 

[Knight87]

Me too!
60minutesmailbag@nine.com.au

I'm going to email that link later on tonight. Don't you worry, I won't forget about doing it. In the meantime, I do thoroughly encourage everyone here, who is truly passionate about league, to email that link and to really express how you felt about that appauling piece of tripe from Ch9 last night. I'd love to see Peter Harvey's mailbag pile-up with loads and loads of responses from us league fans:lol:. However, I don't know if it is him or the producer of the program who gets to decide which letters go to air.

 

[Perth Red]

What's your point here PR,and what was your point quoting me all along?
I struggle to see your side on this issue...

My point is that mocking the AFL for "only" getting 8,000 in a RL heartland area is ridiculous and suggesting that they can't have a succesful GC AFL team (depending on how you define success) because they only got 8,000 is also ridiculous. As is suggesting that because the AFL don't draw the same as the Titans for games played on the GC therefore they are wasting their time is also ridiculous.

I have no love of the AFL and no desire to see them succesful in Q'land but I don't see too many failures in the last 20 years for them! They have an administration taht we could only dream of in the NRL.

 

[Chapsta]

Does anyone on the GC even know the Kangaroos rejected the city? its not an excuse for the poor crowd. Just face it trolls, AFL does not register on the Coast.