How should the AFL spend its billion dollar war chest?

Rosie says:

04:20pm | 28/04/11

You must be kidding, AFL with cricket is the best. My only complain is it should have been Channel 9 instead of Channel 7. Channel 9 has something about the commentors there that make this game very very Australia that is lacking with the Channel 7 commentors. I don’t mind watching the footie on Channel 10 and only watch on Channel if I really have to. I love the Channel 9 Footy show, especially Sam the old timer. One of the only few things left that is fair dinkum Australian these days!

We will soon find out whether the money will be spent wisely as it goes back to the game. I wouldn’t like to see women play at the top level of the game.

Aitch B says:

05:00pm | 28/04/11

@SSR

There’s a place for all codes and each has its devotees. Mindless rubbishing of those that you don’t like is just childish.

I like them all (including US football), so where do I stand in your eyes?

FFS grow up, get over it and realise that not everone has your tastes and are therefore lesser human beings than you because of it.

Sad Sad Reality says:

05:02pm | 28/04/11

Exhibit A.

Classic cross country basketball fan.

DavidK says:

05:03pm | 28/04/11

Spend it on anything but to encourage and train women from playing at the highest level. I am with you Rosie!

DavidK says:

05:03pm | 28/04/11

Spend it on anything but to encourage and train women from playing at the highest level. I am with you Rosie!

PDiddy says:

05:18pm | 28/04/11

AFL crosses all boundaries from the boardrooms of our biggest corporates to the battlers in suburbs like Broadmeadows. It is played in the most elite of private schools as well as in working class suburbs and in the bush. Rugby League is nothing more than a sport for those lacking the intelligence or skill to play anything better and is followed by low income earning Centrelink types. Hence why the AFL gets $1.25bn for it’s TV rights as sponsors know they get a cashed up and knowledgeable audience. The best the NRL can hope for is a few scraps of TV $$ and the odd sponsor that appeals to its Woodstock drinking base.

Roja says:

05:19pm | 28/04/11

@SSR - Shouldn’t you be hanging out under a bridge somewhere?

Sad Sad Reality says:

05:40pm | 28/04/11

PDiddy, thanks for proving my point. AFL fans are elitist tossers.

NRL has grunt. AFL has no grunt. Men like grunt. Ergo AFL has no men.

If I want to watch two and a half hours of knock-on, I’ll watch the Rugby World Cup.

If I want to watch stick thin weaklings roll around on the ground at the slightest touch, I’ll watch the Serie A.

If I want to see old ladies in knitted scarfs, I’ll go visit the old folks home.

If I want to see pretentious tossers discuss crumbing, I’ll watch MasterChef.

If I want to hear Bruce McAvaney orgasm, I’ll watch the Olympics coverage.

Any questions?

SSRB says:

06:04pm | 28/04/11

SSR
I hear you,
naked NRL players gathered round watching a mate have sex while grunting themselves off is very exciting to watch.
Real men they are.
Got any videos?

buckyboy says:

06:05pm | 28/04/11

SSR asks…Any questions?

SSR you say ‘men like grunt’...are you the gruntor or the gruntee?

Sad Sad Reality says:

06:22pm | 28/04/11

About as entertaining as watching several players “seduce” a 16-year-old they picked up during a SCHOOL visit, hey SSRB. You know before they denied the whole thing and tried to silence the girl with legal wrangling and appointments to therapists. That is the epitome of class.

Likes Joining Dots says:

06:29pm | 28/04/11

@SSR

‘AFL fans are elitist tossers.’ Now, I had to laugh at that comment. If Collingwood fans are your idea of elitist tossers, the bar you set exists in a parallel universe - do people know about fire in SSR World?

Seano says:

07:15pm | 28/04/11

Oh gawd…I agree with SSR, shoot me shoot me now!

Likes Joining Dots says:

07:38pm | 28/04/11

lol Seano - I know I’d be hurting too, having made an confession like that.

In the words of a famous Sydneysider - chk chk ...  (wait for it)

PS This is intended as humour and in no way constitutes a death threat in the event that Seano is actually a member of Parliament.

Kris says:

08:31pm | 28/04/11

Give 5 million to everyone in Australia and still have plenty leftover to spend on those who are already well overpaid for playing a simple game of footy.

Robert Smissen, rural SA, God's own country says:

11:51pm | 28/04/11

Rosie & Aitch B, AFL would be OK if it wasn’t SOOOOO SLOOOOW. A game fit only for Bogans. Rosie I can’t believe that as a female over the age of 10 that you can bear to whatch buffoons like Sam Newman & co., or do you as a woman like being demeaned & put down? ?

John says:

01:06am | 29/04/11

God you got to love the AFL haters. Sorry that two of your top NRL players have jumped ship to play AFL and many more will follow over the next couple of years.

acotrel says:

08:35am | 29/04/11

I congratulate the AFL on their success in gaining a monopoly of TV air time.  However how will other sports ever get coverage and grow?  Simple pleasures such as cycle and motorcycle racing, club level motor sport, and all of the other team sports - how will they ever get onto the air waves?  This obsession with aerial ping-pong, surely the attraction must fade after we get thousands of hours of it?  Or are we so susceptible to indoctrination, that we will never get enough of it?

acotrel says:

08:37am | 29/04/11

I watched the baseball on OneHD the other day.  It made a pleasant change!

Sad Sad Reality says:

09:37am | 29/04/11

@buckyboy, here’s a blank piece of paper. You can finger paint on it.

@likesjoiningdots, they are in Sydney.

@John, you AFL losers go on about that like it’s a big issue. We create players like that every year. Five or ten to each and every club. The sad part is the only way you could make your game relevant was to steal our players. If that’s not insecurity, you’re not an accountant.

@acotrel, club level motor sport? Please don’t reply to this thread again.

Dash says:

09:39am | 29/04/11

SSR - Sour grapes anyone? The reason the TV rights are so huge are because it’s the most popular sport in the country. No one cares that you don’t like it, including Fox, 7 and the ALF! The game is a great spectacle. That’s why the attendences are significantly greater than the rugby codes!

Rugby is a game of big blokes sticking their heads up each others arses! You call that a spectacle?? Or the third bloke in hitting a guy that’s already being held down by two other blokes! And you call that tough? Give me a break. How have the crowd numbers been at the Tahs this year???

Oh and John, they may be top NRL players, but I saw Israel play in the same comp I use to play in a couple of weeks ago. And he did not get one touch of the football! No skill at all. Seems he can play a one dimension game of hit up but is lost when it comes to the skills, athleticism and aerobic requirements of Australian Rules Football. Israel will be back in the NRL next year. He will not play a single game of senior AFL football.

Sad Sad Reality says:

10:03am | 29/04/11

Dash, I agree Rugby is almost as pathetic as AFL. It’s a shame you moronic southerners have no idea what Rugby League is.

1. The audiences are bigger for AFL because it got in first. And now it has a monopoly. Melbourne storm fans have to get up at 3am just to watch their team play on local TV. What a joke. And you guys call us insecure.

2. I call a guy side stepping through four players over 100kgs that are actually trying to kill him a spectacle - yes. Do I call a gaggle of male models having a push fight a spectacle? No.

3. Who cares about the tahs? Am I wearing a polo shirt with the collar turned up and boat shoes?

4. Your pathetic game needed Israel to make its pathetic attempt to win over Western Sydney. News flash dumb dumb: not going to happen.

Ando says:

10:08am | 29/04/11

Dash,
Israel will do about as good as any AFL player taking the first hit up in an Origin anyone with a clue knew that, and yet Karmichael Hunt makes the run on side in the elite competition within a year.

Dash says:

11:00am | 29/04/11

@Ando, Hunt is also struggling big time! When the ball is in the air, he is nowhere. The difference, is he has already played the game before.

@SSR:

1. I am not a southerner! Sorry but I live in what was NRL territory. Our local junior AFL numbers are up 30% this year. We now run two junior teams in each age group. Parents love the game. It is very well run. Facilities are on the improve with two new AFL standard grounds recently built. Their children are not being smashed up by Islander kids three times their size every week.

2. No, AFL has bigger attendences because it is a more popular game. And it’s more popular because it’s a better spectacle.

3. A push fight??? WTF. You need to get out more. NRL is about killing each other??? Wow, no wonder mothers like their sons playing the game! As i said, what’s so tough about hitting a loke whilst two of your team mates hold him down?? Complete nonsense! 5 hit ups and then a kick x30 during a game. Wow, what a spectacle!

4. Yeah, it would appear no one cares about the Tahs. And few seem to care about the NRL. Swans attendances are better than the average NRL crowd.

5. Yes Israel is a good marketting tool. Shame he can’t play.

6. AFL is so pathetic it just signed a $1.3b tv rights deal. I hate to think what that makes the NRL.

Tim says:

11:31am | 29/04/11

Dash,
do you even know why the AFL got the $1.2B dollar deal?
It has nothing to do with popularity even though AFL is number one. It is all to do with potential market and NSW and QLD are the biggest.
With the new GWS and Suns teams, the AFL is able to show it will have more games relevant to those states in the next five years.
The real test will come after we see if anyone is watching.

As for your figures on junior AFL, whatever.
Every time I talk to the people in local AFL in different places around League territory (both QLD, NSW and the ACT), they talk about how they are going to be the dominant sport in a few years and how numbers are booming. They’ve been saying the exact same thing for the last 20 years.
Oh and if parents are really worried about their kids getting hurt, then both AFL and League should be more scared of Soccer than each other.
Both sports have high levels of injuries.

Dash says:

12:27pm | 29/04/11

Hi Tim,

My wife’s cousin plays first grade for the West Tigers. So I’m not interested in the death of the NRL or Rugby league and I can watch and enjoy the game. But for SSR to say AFL is a non-spectacle and people who enjoy it are morons, is just rediculous!

TV companies would not put the biggest amount of money into the sport if it wasn’t the biggest game in Australia.

I’ve been involved in Australian Rules here in Sydney for the last 26 years in various capacities. I can tell you that the game has gone from strength to strength here within that time. When I look back to where the game was when I first came here and during my playing days, the junior numbers, development, facilities, grounds, media coverage have all moved forward in leaps and bounds. The game is significantly more popular and there are now many more quality players coming out of Sydney. Look at the McVeigh boys and Keiren Jack as prime examples. That would have been unheard of 25 years ago!

I’m not proclaiming the death of the NRL at all, nor suggesting the game will dominate the rugby codes here. But Australian Rules has been growing here and it is also growing in Qld. The NRL has contracted (Adelaide Rams, what ever the WA team was called). Because of it’s history in the other states and territories, AFL has more chance of being a truely national game (which it already is) compared to the NRL. And getting back to the point you make, yes that means it has wider appeal for TV executives.

Places like Tasmania and the NT don’t have local teams in the comp yet don’t even know there are two codes of rugby. And you only need to look at the strength of the Canberra comp to understand the national appeal of the game.

In terms of the injury issue, weve seen a number of kids coming to our club recently from League because of the fact there is no weight for age and islander kids are just smashing the other kids up. That cannot be good for their game. The way junior Aussie rules is run with the Auskick program, it’s much more attractive to families. And it’s cheaper to get kids involved here in NSW than any of the other winter sports. The AFL and NAB sponsorship of the junior game here in Sydney is absolutely fantastic.

Hamish says:

12:41pm | 29/04/11

Too true SSRB, WTF is it with rugby players (both codes) and weird homoerotic gangbang rituals? I feel sorry for Matty Johns. They all do it. He was just unfairly singled out. I wonder if they ever do a ‘John Hopoate’ to eachother when they’re waiting their turn. “It’s not gay or nothing, but”.

Robert Smissen, rural SA, God's own country says:

02:28pm | 29/04/11

Dash do you you really think that people watch it for the “sport”? ? The blokes watch to see a bit of biffo & the women watch to see the boys bums in tight shorts. Anything as low skilled as AFL can’t really be called a sport, after all when they miss the HUGE goals they still award a point so the players don’t break down sobbing & calling for their mummies

Dash says:

02:47pm | 29/04/11

@Robert, spoken like someone who’s never played the game. Well done.

mike j says:

03:11pm | 29/04/11

Aitch B: “There’s a place for all codes and each has its devotees. Mindless rubbishing of those that you don’t like is just childish.”

Very true, Aitch B. And the place for AFL is Victoria.

No-one cares about AFL outside Victoria. AFL fans in NSW are just overflow, and AFL fans in WA are just desperate for anything to fill the void in their lives.

Robert Smissen, rural SA, God's own country says:

08:48pm | 29/04/11

You are sooooo right Dash, I played sports with older traditions that are played WORLD WIDE, not just a few Bogans in Australia

PDiddy says:

05:13pm | 28/04/11

You must be kidding! An 11-game home membership works out to about $16 per game. No different to a ticket to the movies and a far more enjoyable spectacle. Kids tix are still dirt cheap at around $5.

S.L says:

05:29pm | 28/04/11

Newcastle Jets Soccer team and Knights NRL team have recently been bought by the same cashed up individual. 1st move was to cut ticket prices. “Better to have 30,000 fans at $10 a head than 10,000 fans at $30 a head!” I like that philosophy!

Seano says:

07:15pm | 28/04/11

Go the Knights!

acotrel says:

09:24am | 29/04/11

I wonder how many footy fans have actually played the game?  Vouyerism is not participation!

Shifter says:

02:00pm | 29/04/11

@PDiddy - $16 a game? Presumably for a struggling Victorian club who is trying to scrape together all the members it can.

What to do with the $1.25 billion? Subsidise WA AFL fan’s foxtel subscription because we will still have to put up with Better Home and Gardens before a 2 hour delay on any Friday match. Channel 7 are a joke.

buckyboy says:

07:12pm | 28/04/11

Welcome to the Americanisation of AFL football. If you want to watch your team play, either live at the venue or on TV, you now have to pay for it…simple as that.

Darragh Scully says:

11:06pm | 28/04/11

Why is having to pay for anything that ought to be free unique to America. I remember when everyone in Europe was class distinguished as the Sky Channel emerged in the 80s. Maybe though thats part of the reason this is a new record number. Im not watching Eagles v Melbourne tonight are you? Right now the match centre has it as 13 13 to 5 12. Let those who want to pay for that. I may have gone to the game for obvious reasons had Tom Scully not been left out due to that knee injury. However I guess by that reasoning I am really annoyed I didnt get to see Guy McKennas Gold Coast Suns get that first win, makes me wish I wasnt the centrelink bourbon swilling rugby league kind of stereotype he he that cant fn afford Foxtel.

Robert Smissen, rural SA, God's own country says:

02:31pm | 29/04/11

Yeah, well the VFL/AFL fans in SA get NO FTA games, not that I care

Fredbear says:

05:31pm | 28/04/11

90 000 there Monday, 80 00 there Tuesday - yeah Envyc, I think we know who is irrelevant

Hamish says:

04:04pm | 28/04/11

Or they could just buy half the clubs in the day-release premiership then run it into the ground. Most of the clubs are insolvent anyway so they wouldn’t cost much. I wouldn’t pay $10 for the Cronulla Sharks, for instance.

Martin says:

04:23pm | 28/04/11

Hamish ? If the NRL is so bad why are you so concerned that the AFL destroy it ? - Your aren’t one of those mythical Sydney creatures who follow the Swans are you ?

Hamish says:

05:08pm | 28/04/11

Martin, I don’t really care if it survives or not. It’s really just an irrelevancy in Australia’s broader sporting landscape. Although I do quite like the fact that the best performed team in the comp is based in Melbourne. They’ve been so successful that you Sydney boys had to take their premierships away.  And I also like reading about all the drug trafficking, match-fixing and brawling the players get up to.

Alex says:

04:47pm | 28/04/11

We will have to wait and see about GWS’s success but the fact they already have near 10000 members ( I am one) and all their games will be one FTA TV is a fair start. What I find living in Sydney is that League people do a lot of talking because the actual onfield product is so boring. Reality is that bums on seats will be what matters and I will be astounded if GWS don’t outdraw Penrith games.

Martin says:

04:48pm | 28/04/11

Haha. . “Oxford Street” . . .You hit the nail on the head. . . In Sydney, straight guys want to be mates with NRL players. . . while the gay guys want to be boyfriend with the AFL players. . . I guess because they both wax their chests !

Sad Sad Reality says:

05:02pm | 28/04/11

I had tears in my eyes reading that. Bravo.

Alex says:

05:25pm | 28/04/11

Gavin and Martin - are you fair dinkum you support a code where 12 grown men rest their heads next to other mens sweaty thighs for no purpose in the name of a scrum ( league only, at least in union they are allowed to push). If blokes carried on like this in the street they would be arrested.

Jillene says:

05:26pm | 28/04/11

If No Real Logic is so skilful why do they need a scoring zone the entire width of the field. 

A drunken sailor could score by falling over the line. But they would probably still have to check the video to see he didn’t drop his rum.

Mitch says:

05:30pm | 28/04/11

Behind the blatant homophobia its easy to see the thugby fans crapping their pants at the sight of the AFL pouring millions into their heartland as it’s slowly but surely colonised.  GWS might only get four figure crowds to begin with (which puts it on par with most NRL teams anyway!), but so did the Swans and Brisbane only 20 years ago.

Funny how there was no hysteria at all when the Storm or Rebels were created.  Must be a Sydney thing.

buckyboy says:

07:31pm | 28/04/11

Sad Sad Reality says….“I had tears in my eyes reading that. Bravo”

SSR….Tears always happen when you are the “gruntee”

Sad Sad Reality says:

09:40am | 29/04/11

Hey buckboy, here is a prolate spheroid shaped ball. Perhaps you’d like to bounce it.

Jeronimo says:

04:21pm | 28/04/11

With Foxtel committing so much to the AFL the NRL are in a great bargaining position. . . The NRL outrates every other program on pay-tv so if Foxtel don’t play ball the they lose the NRL . . . . and see their subscriptions in NSW and QLD plummet.. . !

Tim says:

04:22pm | 28/04/11

Indigenous game?
Haha, Thanks for the laugh I needed that.

I think the AFL will be spending a fair bit of this money propping up the GWS and Suns who were the main reason the AFL got this money in the first place.
Getting a bigger foothold in Sydney and the Gold Coast/Brisbane is the only way the AFL will be able to justify their pricetag and I think they will be in for a rude shock when GWS tanks.

Hamish says:

05:04pm | 28/04/11

Tim, indigenous as in it was invented in Australia. That’s what indigenous actually means - native to a particular country. I suppose you can’t really expect rugby league supporters to know the meaning of words…or spell them.

Levi says:

06:26pm | 28/04/11

Hamish, your comments are an embarrasment. It’s Melbournite tossers like you that give the rest of Australia a bad name. The AFL has such a massive chip on its shoulder that it feels it has to dominate the NRL at all costs just to feel good about itself.

What is funny is that the NRL still outrates the AFL in terms of TV ratings throughout the season. Indigenous?? Even your own AFL historian concedes that AFL was not invented indigenously, rather it is a mish mash of games which were already being played in the British Isles. I’m an both a league supporter and player and i have 2 degrees and am quite proficient at spelling, so that kind of puts your bullshit generalisation to bed.

Have fun with your aerial ping pong. If i wanted to watch a bunch of sea gulls fight over a chip i would go down the beach. I suppose theres nothing better to do in Melbourne anyway.

SSRB says:

06:45pm | 28/04/11

Levi
You live in that parallel universe with SSR?
Like a lot of grunt do you?
2 degrees? you sure it’s not 10? I mean you can say what you like on here, you’re amongst friends.

Hamish says:

10:16pm | 28/04/11

SSRB, Levi has two separate PHDs in petty theft and vandalism. Todd Carney has a masters in drink driving, Anthony Watts has a post-grad diploma in domestic violence and Chris Houston was, up until recently, running a very successful distribution business. All rugby league players need at least a Cert IV in drunk and disorderley conduct conduct, preferably alongside some on-the-job training in drunken violence or they’re not allowed in the comp. That last course is generally referred to as the ‘Benji Marshall’.

Daniel says:

01:58am | 29/04/11

@Levi- The first Football game was played before Rugby and Soccer even seperated themselfves. Cop that Mr “I have two degrees”

Tim says:

09:18am | 29/04/11

Hamish,
I knew what your were talking about. At least you’re not one of those crazy Mexicans who think Marngrook was the precursor to Australian Rules.
But hey I suppose you’re right about the indigenous thing-
in the same way that pouring a Coke and a Pepsi into a glass and then selling the resultant drink as my invention would be an indigenous cola drink.
Coksi, Pepke?  What do you think? I’m sure you’ll be behind it cause it’s fully Orstralian and stuff.

Oh and you’ve obviously never been to a Collingwood or Port Adelaide game if you think that AFL fans are intelligent.
Even finding one who doesn’t have missing teeth is a struggle.

Tim says:

10:18am | 29/04/11

Hamish,
surely you’ve learned by now that people in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones?
Well…...maybe not.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Australian_rules_football_incidents

Hamish says:

12:33pm | 29/04/11

Yeah Tim, I accept our boys also get into trouble, but your league boys always just have to do one better. Like Benny Cousins takes drugs, Chris Houston trafficks them. A couple of AFL boys get busted betting on AFL and then Ryan Tandy gets busted match-fixing. Brent Moloney stays out too late and gets pissed, Benji Marshall stays out too late and gets charged with assault. Some AFL players have some embarrassing nude photos leaked and Joel Monaghan has a photo of himself in a ‘compromising position’ with a dog posted online. Always one better…Still, as I say, the players are much more entertaining off-field than on it anyway. It’s actually the most interesting aspect of the game.

I never said AFL followers were intelligent in an absolute sense, only relative to league fans. I’ve been to enough Collingwood games to know there are plenty of feral AFL fans. FYI - I personally believe Richmond supporters are the worst.

Sam says:

04:41pm | 28/04/11

So you are tipping the NRL’s current deal of $500 million for 6 years to be increased to $1.2 billion for 5 years, thats ambitious! especially considering the code has zero prospects of expanding to large parts of the nation.

Look mate I watch league as well as AFL and live in Sydney but there is no chance of that happening, fact of the matter is whichever FTA station has the AFL wins the national ratings, look at when channel 7 took over as number 1 it was exactly 5 years ago when they took the AFL off 9.

Fact of the matter is that now Foxtel has committed to AFL with an extra channel and 9 live games each week they will be hamstrung as to what they will pay for the NRL rights, this is where more than half the AFL’s money came from so it is not going to matter who supports the NRL they will not come within $500 million of the AFL.

Ando says:

09:09pm | 28/04/11

Sam,
Foxtel collapses without NSW and Qld.Thats why the NRL has bargaining power.

Andrew Martin says:

09:12am | 29/04/11

Fair point, and if Foxtel do not at least match the coverage of NRL that is currently shown (including live games) then I will be one of the people removing Foxtel from my monthly costs.  It is one of the main reasons I have it, and you can rest assured that there will be a lot of others like me that will do the same.  Foxtel better be very careful about their next move, or they will lose their two biggest cash cows in NSW/QLD customers.  Without them they are dead in the water, and considering they are already p!ssing off many customers with the incursion of ads, this could be a final nail in the coffin.  Ten will make a major play for the games, and the ensuing bidding war with Nine should be a benefit for digital TV watchers and availability of live coverage.

Good luck to the AFL in securing what they can in a competitive market.  The NRL has nothing to fear out of this, in fact they should look at the template being used here (with the internet/mobile coverage it means there are no longer any black holes in reaching people live) and look to roll out a similar package for itself.  The AFL have actually done the NRL a small favour in that sense.  At the end of the day there are not going to be too many more people being lured away from watching NRL and vice versa.  Supporters are tribal and the love/hate of the other code is ingrained in many.  Just because an AFL game is available online will not mean I will want to watch it, I will still want to watch league regardless.  But for those who like both codes they now have more options available.  The overall availability of live coverage in both codes will mean that the viewer can be the winner.

Tony of Poorakistan says:

02:06pm | 29/04/11

Seems to be the removal of viewing rights .. .every time a deal is done, the coverage is worse. I just want LIVE football on free to air, not replays. Just because they bought the broadcasting rights, does not mean they will use them. How many times have we seen them put replays on (or what they laughingly refer to as ‘‘delayed’‘, guys if it was played a half-hour ago and you are showing it now it is a replay of something that happened earlier and I’d rather listen to it on live radio than watch a replay).

Alan says:

04:55pm | 28/04/11

Richo ...if there is one club in Australia that will not need propping up it will be the Gold Coast Suns, under the stadium deal the AFL did with the QLD Govt they will be financially viable for ever. The Suns virtually own the stadium from day one including all sponsorship, catering dollars etc while not sharing gate receipts with a stadium trust.It will be a gold mine.

One thing the AFL can do is pull off a deal.

Al says:

06:17pm | 28/04/11

Graeme - all the sourness in the world won’t stop the fact that the money is in the bank, or more correctly is about to be poured into the grass roots up here in NSW and up in QLD. 

Talking of Propaganda I love when people say we don’t love the game in NSW yet there will be 35000 of us sitting in the rain at the SCG tomorrow night watching the Swans hammer the Blues while down the road 12000 people might be bothered going to the NRL game.

Obvious says:

06:21pm | 28/04/11

Ahh… there’s more people in Vic, SA, WA, Tas, and NT then wherever the bleeding fuck nsw is.. and all of them play and watch footy.
More people go to swans games every week than ANY club NRL or ARU games.
Huge credibility lose by the clown that posted above.

Tim says:

09:30am | 29/04/11

Obvious,
Um you do realise that there are more people in NSW and Qld than the rest of the country put together don’t you?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ranked_list_of_Australian_states_and_territories
And yes the Swans do get a solid 30000 at every home game in Sydney, but that crowd figure is hasn’t grown in the last 10-15 years because it’s only a core group of expat Mexicans (and band wagoners) that follow them and they were already a Melbourne team beforehand.
Who’s going to support the new GWS?

Oh and Al, the Rabbits have an average home crowd of 20000 this year.
I know AFL fans like pulling figures out of their arses but at least try to be realistic.

paul says:

11:11am | 29/04/11

Tim , are you tipping the Swans or Souths to draw the biggest crowd tonight?

Tim says:

11:21am | 29/04/11

Paul,
did you read my comment?
Swans average about 30000 and I have no doubt they’ll get that and probably a few more playing Carlton tonight.
Souths will probably get around 22000 tonight.

So What?
All this means is that in Australia’s biggest city that has one AFL team and 10 League teams it is possible for the AFL team to draw a bigger crowd.
I think the real test is when GWS start. Will they draw fans away from the Swans or will they be able to attract new fans to the game?
I personally think they will hurt the Swans crowds slightly and will struggle to gain any sort of foothold. The AFL is going to have to spend a lot of money on them.

John says:

12:10pm | 29/04/11

Tim, the problem the NRL has is that when most new people turn up and watch an AFL game they like it because it is a great spectacle, I took 5 work mates to a Swans game 2 years ago, a couple of which had never even watched a full AFL game on TV, This season 2 of them (plus families)  are swans members while another 2 have tickets for tonight’s game against Carlton. Just by taking those 5 workmates to an AFL game 2 years ago the code has 2 more members and 2 more casual attenders only 1 has never been again and is still passionate about League.

I have no doubt the same will happen with GWS and they will avg 20000 to games which will make them viable and it is not as though the AFL will be struggling for a quid so they will be able to prop them up for as long as they want.

Tim says:

12:46pm | 29/04/11

John,
what you say is simply plain wrong.
Have a look at the swans crowds and members on their wiki page:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sydney_Swans
For the last ten to fifteen years the swans crowds and members have been fairly static. And all this while they were playing in GF’s and finals games consistently.
If they were losing, you can guarantee that those figures will drop as the band wagoners fall off.
Anyone who thinks that GWS will not struggle for crowds is deluded.

Davo from St Kilda says:

02:18pm | 29/04/11

@ Tim – We’ve put up with your pathetic, ignorant anti-AFL bashing for too long. Now I’m going to take you to school. Let’s look at the FACTS, mate:

2010 Total attendance: AFL – 6.5 million. NRL – 3.1 million.
2010 Average attendance: AFL – 36,908. NRL – 16,406.
2010 total club membership: AFL – 614,000. NRL – 144,000.
2009 Average weekly TV audience: AFL – 3.0 million. NRL – 1.5 million.
2009 Total cumulative TV hours watched: AFL – 195 million. NRL – 80 million.
TV rights: AFL - $780 million last time negotiated, ($1.25 billion this time). NRL - $500 million.

You can whinge all you like, timmy, but the fact remains that AFL beats rugby in EVERY category you care to look at. WE dominate the Australian winter sporting landscape. WE are this country’s national football code.

If you are going to make the tired, boring claim that “at least rugby is an international sport” – so what. Who cares?  Chess is an international sport. So is synchronised swimming. Doesn’t mean that it’s interesting.  I doubt that Americans care that gridiron is not an international sport.

Face it, mate. Rugby is on its knees and is waiting for the knockout punch that GWS will deliver.  Oh, and don’t bother replying to my post with the usual homophobic ravings typical of thugby supporters.

Tim says:

02:55pm | 29/04/11

Wow,
that’s quite some strawman you’ve blown up there Davo.
I’m trying to find where i’ve stated “facts” that were arguing with anything you’ve said?????
Or anywhere where I was whinging
Oh wait that’s right I didn’t.
Do you have trouble reading?

Anyway, now that you’ve brought it up, maybe you should look at this:
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/media/nrl-disputes-afl-audience-claim/story-e6frg996-1226025045416

I don’t actually have a problem with AFL.
I watch probably half the games every weekend.

What I do have a problem with, is stupid AFL mad supporters who think that AFL is going to be the biggest and best sport in the world, when at least half of Australia don’t even care about it.
They make ridiculous statements about how the AFL is taking over in Rugby League heartland when by every metric it’s not. This is usually followed by some mad ranting about Thugby or some such.

Ringing any bells Davo????

AFL is the biggest sport in this country and I’ve never said any different. Reports on the demise of Rugby Leagye in NSW and QLD are however more than fanciful.
And anyone that thinks GWS are going to be that nail in Rugby League’s coffin are kidding themselves.

Ben81 says:

03:04pm | 29/04/11

“What I do have a problem with, is stupid AFL mad supporters who think that AFL is going to be the biggest and best sport in the world, “

Talk about a strawman

Tim says:

03:41pm | 29/04/11

Ben81,
did you read this whole thread?
How about you start with Woogawooga’s comment below.

Ben81 says:

06:01pm | 29/04/11

Yeah I read it Tim.  Seems like an excitable guy who loves his AFL and thinks because it’s a good game to play and fun to watch it will be more popular internationally than rugby (league/union, all the same crap to me) and could even gain some ground on soccer in 100 years time, good for him.  He could be right.
Why does that annoy you?

KJ says:

11:32am | 29/04/11

Where do you think PAFC are going to get the money from to buy a licence? they’re broke! You should be kissing the SANFLs bums for propping them up. Actually we all should cos we all need easy beats to build cinfidence.

Paul says:

06:04pm | 28/04/11

Could not agree more. Lets get a new Umpires Boss and intruct umpires to pay obvious frees and not feel obliged to pay a free at every contest.

The players these days are sensational but the games are often let down by the umpires who believe the crowd is there to see them pick out hundreds of frees a game.

Ben81 says:

07:20pm | 28/04/11

That’s right, ‘the world game’ is huge and there’s a ridiculous amount of money involved in it.
Meanwhile, in Australia, a lot of people within our tiny population enjoy AFL too.

Is there a point somewhere within your childish gloating?

Ricardo Jones says:

07:53pm | 28/04/11

C’mon mate, read the comments above (by AFL fans) for childish gloating. I’m just bringing them back down to Earth (reality).

Darragh Scully says:

10:49pm | 28/04/11

Well I guees the World Game, which I love dearly, were talking about soccer right, doesnt care to much about Australia, despite Tim Cahill being a legend. They dont have even 1 decent Stadium and have to import talent to keep the game interesting as all the best players leave for overseas, not all of them obviously. Kind of like the Vatican to Limey or like the Monarchy to Australia, FIFA is not really relvant here in Australia.

Aussie Rules on the other hand is the real deal here. Its the NFL or the GAA of Australia, the National Game and geez it a buzz. Its more than a game, heard that before have ya! I noticed that Ireland won the European AFL championship last year beating, England, Denmark and Sweeden etc. Must be that GAA connection. Have you ever taken a close look at a AFL team? I recon our Tom Scully for example would give Messi a run for his money. They are by far the Finest athletes in the world. I would go as far to saying if Soccer Australia were able to poach more talent from the AFL pool they would Easy Beat Spain, Brazil, England and just about any other first class world cup team. Do the maths, these guys are Awesome Warriors and the Game itself is Unique. Some have gone as far as to say that its the toughest game in the world (even if the AFL is poofing with the rules).

Dont forget though that Before FIFA and 3D TV’s Soccer supposidly emerged out of a barbarian time when Spanish Armadas were kicking around the heads of their enemies for fun. Where as Australia is a relatively new world with a hugh land mass and a relatively small population yet we win gold medals in so many sports in the Olympics and all the other sports we do. Rome wasnt built in a day is what I am trying to say, but check yourself your way out of line.
I luv Australia.

Ben81 says:

11:33pm | 28/04/11

That’s the way it goes Ricardo, the other posts didn’t annoy me so I picked on yours.

Seems like your idea of reality sets an impossible goal for AFL to meet though, I think the only way it could live up to your high standards (your measure being the almighty $) is if we at the very least double our countries population and pull off a miracle by successfully marketing AFL in other countries where other sports dominate, even though we have no interest in spreading the game there in the first place.
I’d rather keep it the way it is really.

Daniel says:

02:20am | 29/04/11

@Ricardo Jones- Yes Soccer is the most popular code of Football in the world, and it does make the most money.
I understand that it must kill you that Soccer isn’t relevent in this country, but if you’d care to throw a dart at a map of the world I’m sure that you could find a country that you could move to and gives a rats arse about Soccer.

Ricardo Jones says:

11:11am | 29/04/11

Ben81 says:” by successfully marketing AFL in other countries where other sports dominate, even though we have no interest in spreading the game there in the first place.”

So making tax payers fund AFL teams (via Ausaid) in South Africa and Nauru isn’t trying to expand overseas. What about them considering a New Zealand team, is NZ now not overseas? What about the American reality show, trying to convince young Americans to play Aussie Rules, is America not overseas? Don’t forget they brought 2 Argentine’s over to sell the game there, is Argentina not overseas. What about Ireland, is that not overseas? They even fund ‘development’ programs in London and Hamburg, check your atlas there both overseas. How about the fact they bought Hunt and Folau to sell the game to islanders.

And as for comparing AFL to NFL you have to be joking. First NFL is not played in a few US states its played in all of them. Secondly it’s TV deals were worth more than $250 million a season in the 80s. But importantly just like AFL it has tried for years to expand overseas and has failed.

$250 million isn’t enough for the grand plans the AFL hierarchy have set out. It will still stay a regional game. There is nothing wrong with it being played only in Australia, but by some of the comments you’d assume they are going to set up teams on the Moon. Be happy with the deal sure, but don’t claim it will bankrupt NRL or that it will soon overtake soccer as the most popular game, be realistic.

AFL fans are clearly passionate about the game, but they are passionate to the point of delusion.

Ben81 says:

01:43pm | 29/04/11

Ah, yes, some exhibition matches are played overseas and there are some local fanbases and even leagues Ricardo.  Good on the AFL for promoting them and good luck to those interested overseas.  The comment about having no interest in spreading the game is my personal opinion that i’d suggest is shared by a fair few AFL fans, and I was specifically talking about the top level of the game.
I just posted in response to your completely ridiculous comparison of two sports by how much money they are worth.  What delusion could you possibly be talking about?

fairsfair says:

07:04pm | 28/04/11

In a word - trapezius.

The function of the trapezius is to allow you to keep your spine still, while you move your shoulder blade. It allows you to run forward and pass to the side ensuring that the travels backwards and remains onside. One of the basic movements of the game(s) of league. Clearly, if you spend time in a gym building these muscles and then actually using them in daily activity, they are going to get bigger - in doing so widening the appearance of the neck.

That question is up there with asking why AFL players get chafe on their inner thies. I know its the pants - everyone does.

No necks says:

07:32pm | 28/04/11

Finally someone answered my question

I take back that comment about the size ten in the glory box fairsfair,
Consider it never said.

fairsfair says:

08:44pm | 28/04/11

Well I’m glad that nut has been cracked for you badger. No wonder you have been so irritable lately.

I’ll keep striving for the 10, I appreciate the reminder. It can’t hurt to dream.

Ando says:

09:57am | 29/04/11

I think Fox should only concentate on Sports . All the other Fox stations are just a bonus and can be sourced elswhere. I would imagine it is becoming fairly rare for anyone to sign without the sports package.

richo says:

10:25am | 29/04/11

Thanks for getting back to me Anthony. It is true what you say about Foxtel having more money compared to Setanta. As you say the take up rate is still fairly low, which is what concerns me.

Ando makes a good point too. Everyone I know who has Foxtel has it for sport. Maybe they should lose a few of those other channels, at least that’s a money saving option for Foxtel if things don’t plan out the way they are hoping.

Tony of Poorakistan says:

02:37pm | 29/04/11

I got rid of it when they started putting ads on. Seems unfair to pay plus have to get ads. 
 
And it is impossible to just buy the bits you want without a lot of crap that you don’t want and will never watch.

Rodger Ramjet says:

11:41pm | 28/04/11

Woogawooga you must be smoking the herb, AFL going international is just a dream. I love my AFL but im a realist, soccer is always going to be the number 1 game on the planet. Its much more of a peoples game you can be any size and the games about skill not how fast you can run.

Tim says:

10:23am | 29/04/11

Now I’ve seen some pie in the sky dreaming before but this comment takes the cake.
AFL as a world product?

Bahahahahahahaha.

No seriously,

BAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!

Woogawooga says:

12:48pm | 29/04/11

It’s amazing people can’t read, you should probably read the part where I said think 100 years from now.

If you can’t see AFL gaining traction worldwide after 100 years then you are pretty clueless.

I also didn’t say it will be bigger than Soccer in 100 years, I can see it beating league and union internationally in 100 years if it is managed well.

I just signed my kids up to play Auskick today and she said that numbers have been going through the roof for the last few years.

AFL is dominating quite simply because it’s the most fun to play, the most fun to watch and importantly for the sport, better to watch live than on the TV.

I’ve played all 4 codes, I used to love rugby league, I was put onto union and preferred it and then I played one game of AFL and swore that I would never play another code again, it simply was that much better. Go and find someone who has played AFL and see if they could then go back and like league or union. The only thing that keeps league in the game is the domination it has in Sydney and Brisbane.

Now that is disappearing, it’s only a matter of time before league is considered to be dead.

Daniel says:

08:41pm | 05/05/11

Woogawooga

In the last 100 years AFL has dominated a handful of states in Australia. What makes you think its going to “take over the world” in the next 100 years?  If you can not dominate in NSW and Queensland how do you expect to defeat the Rugby League world wide, let along Rugby Union, American Football, or Football.