While most sports enthusiasts have endured the marathon that has been an endless summer of cricket, it’s now time to pump some air into the oval ball ready for the footy season. Cricket administrators, commentators and fans alike have all debated the roles and the futures of the various formats of cricket during 2009/10 season. However it appears that the entrance of AFL into the Western Suburbs of Sydney is heating up as a far more passionate debate.
Saturday night will see the first official game of AFL in NSW west of Homebush. The home of AFL in Greater Western Sydney is at Blacktown Olympic Park in Rooty Hill which according to google maps is a tidy 50 kms from the SCG. It lists the journey as 49 minutes (if using the M2 & M7, for those of you playing along at home and adding up cost of the tolls).
The Sydney Swans host Carlton in NAB Cup Round One in what has already been reported as a Sell Out of the 10,000 capacity venue. Pessimists are already dragging out the calculators and working out what percentage this represents of the available population. Whilst the AFL enthusiasts are wondering exactly how many more would have attended, if only the capacity were greater.
Sydney Swans V Carlton Rnd4 2009 SCG
Fans of both teams are eager for a great match from two almost full strength teams, with Sydney based Carlton fans keen to see their team for the only time in Sydney in 2010. The Carlton Football Club have rewarded their Interstate Members with their Membership packs arriving in the mail this week; ensuring the ability to proudly wear the 2010 Membership Cap to this weekend’s game.
For the Swans players competing on Saturday night, (assuming the removal of Salary Cap Concessions and forced to avoid motorway tolls) from their SCG home they might flirt with the unpredictable mood swings of City West Link, Parramatta Road and the M4 (no tolls). This is listed as 53 minutes but doesn’t take into account the additional traffic from a few old blokes who have dusted off their guitars for a few gigs at ANZ Stadium.
The distance from the former stage of the 2000 Olympics and part time Swans home ground to the Olympic Baseball precinct where GWS will reside is 22.5kms and represented as 29 minutes by car. Geographically this metropolis beast can comfortably accommodate another AFL team. Although the NRL and the Swans beg to differ.
The passionate debate of AFL into GWS has become a sport in its own right, attracting its own fair share of media interest. It has become the Kevin Sheedy Vs David Gallop show for any slow news day. It would appear that the Rugby League faithful seem to have taken the launch of second AFL club into Sydney as a personal attack on their sport. Interestingly at the same time that north of the border the arrival of the AFL’s 17th franchise on the Gold Coast has crept up with relatively much less attention.
It’s as though the NRL are content for the AFL to marry one of their cousins in Queensland, but when it comes to being with one of their sisters closer to home in Western Sydney the NRL take things a bit more passionately and seriously.
Whilst GC17 attracted initial attention upon the signing of League star Karmichael Hunt it now seems commonly accepted has put away the Steeden in favour of the Sherrin. Yet back in Sydney: Imagine the uproar when at a media launch to promote the NRL All Stars match recently when Hunt’s former Broncos team mate Israel Folau should suggest that he hopes AFL grows in the future in Western Sydney. Folau developed an appetite for the “Mexican” code during his time south with the Melbourne Storm. Ironically the media launch became better known for Israels comments (and lack of media training) and the fact that it was staged in Blacktown rather than the All Stars match itself (which incidentally would actually be played in the backyard of next year’s AFL team on the Gold Coast).
“Coincidentally” the NRL have scheduled a Western Sydney “Blockbuster” on the same night of the Swans/Blues NAB Cup game: last year’s Grand Finalist Parramatta Vs Penrith. This could be perceived as Rugby League demonstrating their paranoia at the first sight of an official AFL game in their western heart land.
Only the benefit of time will tell, but maybe this weekend the residents of Sydney and Western Sydney may just start to plant the seeds of “co-existence” in the football code war. A murky crystal ball would suggest high quality games of both AFL and NRL on Saturday night, with the footy fans of their chosen code easing their cricket indigestion with a nice appetiser of pre-season footy.
Rival codes aside, it’s a bittersweet proposal for the Swans who are generating interest in the national game albeit at the risk of building a fan base for their future cross town rival, or maybe the Swans can achieve in the next two years what they have failed to do in 27 and win the hearts and minds of Greater Sydney with this great game. But that is another story.
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February 22nd, 2010 at 12:26 pm
Personally I think it will fail because of one reason and that is their coach. I watched his interview on channel 10 on Saturday night and its obvious GWS is not about football in West Sydney or expanding the AFL in Sydney and across other nations…
No its all about Kevin Sheady, his interview reeked of pig headness and a huge ego that he is loving to be stroked. I saw the advertising of him on the banners asking for a mascot name.
February 22nd, 2010 at 1:30 pm
GWS (and GC17 for that matter) are new territory for the AFL in more than one respect. Other AFL ‘expansions’ have been predicated on calculable local support. For GC17, banking on expat southerners looking for a more regular footy fix seems like a fair bet, but western Sydney is a ‘greenfields’ site in local support terms.
Perhaps the closest previous experience is Melbourne Storm. After ten years and two(?) Premierships, the Storm remain firmly attached to the News Ltd/NRL drip feed. It will be interesting to see what effect the new rectangular stadium has on Storm attendances (and paid-up support). Storm’s northern cousins are maintained by Leagues Club revenues, which the Storm don’t have access to.
The AFL’s closest previous experience, the Sydney Swans, remain about as well-integrated as a drop of oil in a swimming pool nearly thirty years after migrating north of ther Murray. The Swans’ saving grace is their ‘inherited’ history and tradition.
NRL seems to be paranoid about GWS, where the AFL has all but ignored the Storm.
In the end, neither the AFL nor the NRL can afford to cut their outposts in enemy territory loose once established. To allow them to flounder would be a PR disaster of epic magnitude.
@ Jermayn: Sheedy was chosen specifically BECAUSE he could be the large-than-life spruiker. He’ll be outrageous because that will gain attention and publicity — brand awareness — (and he’s naturally-talented in the area). It’s what he’s being paid to do!