Is the AFL really a threat in Western Sydney?

I hope everyone is having a fabulous start to the weekend! I know I breathed a sigh of relief when I remembered Parramatta had the bye this weekend… it’s certainly nice to know that you have 2 points in the bag.

The topic of my post today is one that I have been thinking about quite a bit lately and one which gets media attention every so often. My question revolves around the AFL and whether it really is a threat to Rugby League heartland – namely Sydney’s Western Suburbs. I would argue that over the last 10 years the NRL has become arrogant and has failed to put enough money into, has failed to recognise the importance of and has not worked hard enough to develop its product in its heartland – the West.

Whatever your views on the AFL, it cannot be questioned that its leader, Andrew Demetriou is one of the most well respected and professional men in Australia. In his time as executive officer of the AFL, he has made sure that the AFL and all its projects have been well funded and well resourced. The ultimate goal is obviously for AFL to be the number one sport in Australia. The AFL certainly has the resources to do this – it is the wealthiest sport in Australia with revenue of approximately $425 million per year.

For the AFL the strategy has certainly been focused on expansion – seen with the introduction of 2 new teams, being the greater Western Sydney Giants and the Gold Coast Suns.

In order to ensure the success of these two clubs, the AFL has allowed them a number of concessions – this includes salary cap allowances, draft concessions and allowing these clubs to obtain the services of players uncontracted from other clubs. This allowed GWS to poach Tom Scully and allowed the Gold Coast Suns to secure the services of Gary Ablett. The AFL are also willing to invest. To use Western Sydney as an example , the AFL made a $200 million dollar investment in this area, including its Centre of Excellence and Skoda Stadium.

It cannot be said that the plans to expand have not been controversial. Match day crowds have averaged less than 7000 this year at Skoda.  Further, much in the same way that many NRL fans feel like the expansion into Victoria is folly, not everyone in the AFL is on board. For example. Jeff Kennett recently made the comment that the AFL expansion into Sydney will ‘never work’ and that continuing was akin to ‘Gallipoli’.

I do feel like however, that while the performance of these two teams can be criticised now, irrespective of crowd and membership numbers this year, this plan for expansion is long term and will not be judged on its success over the next couple of years.  The AFL is willing to use both teams as a ‘loss leader’ in order to achieve its ultimate goal – being expansion into Western Sydney. Demetriou is passionate about these two teams succeeding.

I have watched GWS play and I think that they are spirited, committed and extremely talented. This talent, I believe will be showcased in the next 2-3 years and it might be at this point that the AFL finally begins to see its investment pay off.

The key point to remember and that is sometimes forgotten is that the AFL isn’t really interested in converting people like you or I. My love for the Eels and for NRL is eternal. While I enjoy AFL and support the Swans, there will never be another team for me like the Eels. The AFL is targeting the next generation because they know that if kids grow up playing AFL, watching AFL and being exposed to AFL, AFL will become their sport of choice.

One area which I think is key is the youth. The numbers of kids playing AFL are heavily debated. While last year it was claimed that the number of kids playing AFL had increased by 27 per cent in a year, this was heavily criticised by Roy Masters last year: http://www.smh.com.au/afl/afl-news/study-slams-afls-takeup-figures-in-west-20121023-283jn.html.

There is concern amongst parents in regard to the heavy contact in NRL and the focus on the physicality of NRL has certainly been in the media lately following the punch ons happening. AFL does offer an alternative. Many NRL commentators have written about the difficulty the NRL faces at a junior level because of disparity in size between different children. Smaller kids often make the switch to AFL and become midfielders.  The AFL also spends an incredible amount of money developing programs for schools and visiting schools.

I feel like the NRL needs to stop depending on tradition to ensure that it remains strong in the West.  We need to invest in our Stadiums, in our Juniors and stop thinking that the AFL is a problem that is just going to go away.

 As always, your thoughts are welcome.

Love,

@LadiesWhoLeague