london blue wrote:
Blue Sombrero wrote:
MarkNo3 wrote:
Sorry bondi this will be a quick reply
I hope GWS succeed. From a person heavily involved in afl in western Sydney I wish them the best and would love to think they would assist us in developing the game. Unfortunately they are a joke in my eyes. My club is the oldest club in their real demographic, we were established in 1947 yet they have no idea we exist or shout I say choose to ignore us.
From a growth point of view the junior competition is western sydney is in a diabolical state. Those in charge of growing the game are happy to tick ok auskick kpis as proof there doing a great job. Presently in 2014 there were only 14 teams in the under 19 comp in syd afl acros 2 divs. in 2015 20 teams have nominated which suggests great growth. Wrong. Three of those teams are additional teams ie what I mean is the club will have div 1 n div 2 teams. Should th be admitted you will see up to 6 maybe 7 existing 19s disappear. Growth is great but not at the expense of the existing clubs. Oh by the way one team is one that previously existed another is a rep team from the Illawarra and the other is an afl initiative club lol
The worst thing GWS have done in my eyes other than ignore the clubs in western syd is to form an alliance with manly Warringah. Wtf could the possibly pick a less western sydney club. Mind you the are known as fibros by the seaside lol.
24 years of involvement in western sydney afl I believe gives me a pretty good understanding of the game and its issues in this region. To add to that being involved in a club that nearly died at the end of 2006 that only had 30 registered players in 2007 while we saved the club to over 200 senior players plus 40 women's members in 2014 should suggest I know n understand my market.
Great post from someone at the coalface but GWS is still doomed to be a bottomless pit. I haven't lived in Western Sydney for a good many years but the rising demographic is mainly Islanders/Maoris Asians and Middle Easterners. None of those groups is AFL -oriented. They are the ones the AFL thinks will be the backbone of the supporter base. It's different from the Gold Coast hinterland where the demographic has more of your affluent anglo-immigrant from the south of the country with an AFL or union background and their kids are registering with AFL teams because that's what's available.
To follow your logic through, Aussie rules is doomed long term nationally if we are to rely on your 'affluent Anglo immigrants'

You can't extrapolate my post to what you said. I didn't go anywhere near that.
The demographics of both regions are a given.
The two regions are start-up franchises looking for a supporter base.
How are the Wanderers going for supporters compared to the Giants? And success on field as well although that's a secondary issue.
The Suns have an area that has more traditional AFL/Union supporters moving there. They are largely affluent anglos. That''s a fact. I can't change that and neither can you regardless of how many smiley faces you post.
How do you get from the demographics of two corners of Australia to your post? I have no idea.
We all know the future of AFL is with the European and African Australians with the occasional Asian or Middle Eastern Australian player. And a Canadian.
Nobody is shying away from that.
Next time you go to the footy, regardless of what game it is, have a look at who is in the stands. There's your window to the GWS situation.