The Australian Football League wants a new team in the west of Sydney. It will never work say many. The AFL is being bold in this new venture and will make it work.
Some Victorian teams are on the verge of bankruptcy and can possibly see the writing on the wall: relocate or die. It is an unpopular notion. It was hard in 1981 when South Melbourne moved to Sydney and it will be just as hard today. But that’s the reality. No team wants to relocate to Sydney or the Gold Coast to guarantee their survival so the AFL will form new teams.
The new team on the Gold Coast appears well on track to join the competition in 2011. There is more conjecture about the proposed second team in Sydney. Most of the detractors come from south of the border. In the Inside Football magazine, respected journalist and football historian, Russell Holmesby (St Kilda fan), states “the AFL has to see sense and abandon the West Sydney concept.” Premiership player with North Melbourne, Peter ‘Crackers’ Keenan, in the same publication suggests that having a team in western Sydney is “getting further away for the AFL.”
Wait ten years is what I’m hearing from too many. The AFL is cashed up and Rugby League is in crisis with their own problems. Strike while we can. Think it will go down the drain? Then buy a membership when the club is launched to help it get off the ground, even if you are a devout Swans fan like myself.
It is the same Victorian clubs bagging the idea that will benefit hugely when a new TV rights deal is agreed upon in the near future. Kudos to Andrew Demetriou.
Some Victorian teams are on the verge of bankruptcy and can possibly see the writing on the wall: relocate or die. It is an unpopular notion. It was hard in 1981 when South Melbourne moved to Sydney and it will be just as hard today. But that’s the reality. No team wants to relocate to Sydney or the Gold Coast to guarantee their survival so the AFL will form new teams.
The new team on the Gold Coast appears well on track to join the competition in 2011. There is more conjecture about the proposed second team in Sydney. Most of the detractors come from south of the border. In the Inside Football magazine, respected journalist and football historian, Russell Holmesby (St Kilda fan), states “the AFL has to see sense and abandon the West Sydney concept.” Premiership player with North Melbourne, Peter ‘Crackers’ Keenan, in the same publication suggests that having a team in western Sydney is “getting further away for the AFL.”
Wait ten years is what I’m hearing from too many. The AFL is cashed up and Rugby League is in crisis with their own problems. Strike while we can. Think it will go down the drain? Then buy a membership when the club is launched to help it get off the ground, even if you are a devout Swans fan like myself.
It is the same Victorian clubs bagging the idea that will benefit hugely when a new TV rights deal is agreed upon in the near future. Kudos to Andrew Demetriou.
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3 comments:
As always, an interesting blog, Tim :) (I'm yet to catch up on the others!)
Why is having a team in Western Sydney such a contentious idea? Is it because it would be difficult to build up an established team or is there not enough (good) players perhaps or is it a lack of funding or support?
A few reasons:
*Some think that a second team in Sydney won't get the support needed to survive
*Some think other areas deserve a team in the competition before western sydney
*Some are just plain cynical
Oh, I see...thanks for that :)
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