Talking Footy

Interesting article on the past 30 years of expansion of Australian rules football at the elite level. From broke and out to the number 1 sporting code in Australia.

https://www.google.com.au/amp/s/amp.the ... f-stopping

Fred wrote: ↑Sun Dec 10, 2017 9:55 am

Interesting article on the past 30 years of expansion of Australian rules football at the elite level. From broke and out to the number 1 sporting code in Australia.

https://www.google.com.au/amp/s/amp.the ... f-stopping

Sounds like a very Comical book, judging from that excerpt.

Rugby league has been under the control of Rupert Murdoch for near on 20 years. Now that League controls its own destiny its not going to be 30 years until the AFL find themselves broke once again.

Though I bet David sells a lot of books to the head in the sand Melbourne faithful.

What’s incorrect or comical in the exert ?

Maybe I should post this on the fight club as well ? Wookie... 1 here for serious discussion and one on fight club for insecurities and dick measuring ?

Don't the afl fans just thrive on the propaganda .
His bullshit & I'll call it bullshit about how low the female fan base is in RL tells me all I need to know about this book .
His "SURVEY" results are laughable & are far different to the ones published by another AFL fan .

Did Murdoch call it the National R&%$#(s League?

No, so stop blaming him for the facts of the matter: people don't trust rugby league or its players or its fans. That is why it has the crowds it has!!

The fans don't want to be around each because they know they are all dodge central....

Buzz wrote: ↑Mon Dec 25, 2017 7:27 pm

Did Murdoch call it the National R&%$#(s League?

No, so stop blaming him for the facts of the matter: people don't trust rugby league or its players or its fans. That is why it has the crowds it has!!

The fans don't want to be around each because they know they are all dodge central....

Murdoch did come up with that name actually!

Buzz wrote: ↑Mon Dec 25, 2017 7:27 pm

Did Murdoch call it the National R&%$#(s League?

No, so stop blaming him for the facts of the matter: people don't trust rugby league or its players or its fans. That is why it has the crowds it has!!

The fans don't want to be around each because they know they are all dodge central....

Back on topic. The article does highlight a journey afl and along with it, Australian Rules Football, has taken over the 30 years. From broke to Australia’s biggest sporting organisation, to massive expansion, particularly in nsw and Sydney, to a national footprint of grassroots football. It is quite the successful journey yet one still being completed. Brisbane and Gold Coast are interesting, whilst grassroots is robust and thriving, the afl team struggle. Yet in western Sydney, we see a successful afl team yet grassroots is only starting to see growth with that being the area of focus.

I think a reduction in Victorian teams is necessary with a club relocating to Tassie is the next step. This will happen I believe. I think another club in nsw will also happen. Newcastle area is large and Australian rules, whilst present, still small... so an obvious area to expand.

I don't know what the article says about AFL expansion, and to be honest I don't really care. There expansion happened because it had to. According to the document they had commissioned they needed to expand or die. It wasn't some holier than thou ,trumpet blazing celebration. They were told they needed to expand or else. With the NRL now free of News Ltd , they've been going ahead in leaps and bounds for the last 6 or 7 years combined with facts that the AFL's recent expansion attempts are costing them 10's of millions each year they should soon be broke again. For good with any luck.


I live in the Newcastle Fred. You get more derogatory comments like Gay FL etc. here than anywhere else in Australia. 99% of novocastrians hate the sport (tag team event) with a passion. In fact the local government has placed a bounty on the heads of any AFL player not taken alive.

Yes, that’s the very reason to expand and grow the game in Newcastle. That’s the point ?!

Re why they expanded ...regardless of why- they did and have reaped the rewards. I think any sport that looks to expand nationally, such as Rl, can look to the afl re: successes and mistakes.

But it has been a rocky albeit journey for the afl indeed and one to reflect upon.

Fred wrote: ↑Tue Dec 26, 2017 1:43 pm

Yes, that’s the very reason to expand and grow the game in Newcastle. That’s the point ?!

Re why they expanded ...regardless of why- they did and have reaped the rewards. I think any sport that looks to expand nationally, such as Rl, can look to the afl re: successes and mistakes.

But it has been a rocky albeit journey for the afl indeed and one to reflect upon.

They might tell you there reaping rewards and other fairy tales, but the leaking money badly.

Im sure the RL Commission will be looking at the AFL, and what they have done and learning from there mistakes

You would hope so. The thing is the afl had to expand to gc and more importantly western Sydney given the population base of the two and the lack of real presence in Ws. Costs a lot but would have cost more to do nothing. And yep mistakes were made for sure particularly in ws but you can’t argue with the growth in clubs and registered players in ws. Although you could argue a large percentage of this is due to female growth and maybe not so much the Giants men’s presence perse

pussycat wrote: ↑Tue Dec 26, 2017 1:30 pm

I live in the Newcastle Fred. You get more derogatory comments like Gay FL etc. here than anywhere else in Australia. 99% of novocastrians hate the sport (tag team event) with a passion. In fact the local government has placed a bounty on the heads of any AFL player not taken alive.

By making comments like that are they hoping some AFL players come out like they have in the NRlilL?

They have an Australian rules league I believe and juniors are present so I think it is a natural place to grow the game.