Swans, Giants Biggest Show in Town

[Beaussie]

Huge game today in Sydney. As the Daily Telegraph is reporting, the biggest show in town.

Sydney and GWS to square off in a true September showdown
Richard Hinds, The Daily Telegraph
September 9, 2016 8:01pm

THERE will be two potentially compelling football finals in Sydney this weekend. But only one will boast the crowd and atmosphere generally associated with epic September showdowns.

That it is the AFL, not the NRL that hosts the biggest game in town is a matter of circumstance, venue availability, promotion and perhaps also rugby league’s incomparable ability to find trouble.

The Sydney Swans versus Greater Western Sydney Giants qualifying final will be played before at least 65,000 at ANZ Stadium – the venue that would have hosted the Penrith Panthers-Canterbury Bulldogs elimination final if the AFL did not have one last contractual hold on the soon-to-be renovated arena.

So only about 21,000 are expected to head east to Allianz Stadium to see the resurgent Panthers play the finals-hardened Bulldogs in a game that promises to be both tough and tactically intriguing.

But if the respective venues partly account for the disparity in the size of the crowds, it does not tell the whole story of a weekend when the AFL can boast it has smashed the NRL at the box office.

Swans fans were disappointed when their ‘’home’’ final was scheduled for ANZ Stadium, not the SCG. Yet they are still willing to travel west in huge numbers to back the premiership favourites against the rising Giants.

The AFL’s promotional muscle has been fully flexed. Once Lance ‘Buddy’ Franklin and Stevie Johnson were the stars of the storied Melbourne rivalry between Hawthorn and Geelong. Their charisma and brilliance has now been harnessed as part of the building Sydney spat.

Meanwhile, on the eve of the finals, rugby league wrestles with allegations of match-fixing. Not the feel-good September story an increasingly athletic and still wonderfully brutal sport wants to project.

No doubt the TV ratings will again emphasise Sydney’s enduring love affair with the NRL. History has proven rugby league is the game no amount of scandal and disgrace can kill.

But in the grandstands Sydney belongs to the AFL this weekend. At a packed ANZ Stadium the first dividends from their $220 million investment in the west will be returned.

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/sport/ ... 83a08f95a2

[Beaussie]

Even old Fitzsimons acknowledges the massive growth in footy in Sydney. Good news about the old rugby schools embracing "Australia's Game" too.

From sneers to cheers: Sydney Swans and GWS Giants cap AFL invasion
Peter Fitzsimons
September 9 2016 - 7:12PM

Bloody hell. Aussie rules. Who would have thunk it? When the Swans first ventured north from Melbourne to take root in Sydney in the early '80s, this columnist was one of the more sneering voices, saying an "artificial graft" will never work. I was, demonstrably, wrong and it has never been plainer than this weekend.

On Saturday – hold the phone and stop the presses – the Swans and the second successful Sydney team, the Greater Western Sydney Giants, do battle in the first qualifying final, before a crowd of 50,000-plus and a national audience reckoned to be in the millions. At the same time, Aussie rules goalposts are sprouting all over Sydney, including on such once-sacred rugby grounds as Shore's ovals at Northbridge and I am told that my own alma mater, Knox, is on its way to having more Aussie rules teams than rugby teams. They have done very, very well.

http://www.smh.com.au/sport/the-fitz-fi ... rcgds.html

[AFLcrap1]

Lol quoting Fitzy
He hates Rl with a passion .
So what does he do when his sport is irrelevant in Aust
Jump on the opposition .

[ParraEelsNRL]

Good one spitzy.

Haha he hasn't mentioned mungo in any article since I ripped it into him, they wouldn't post my reply to him so I gave them my address phone number and all that demanding they post my reply. They did and that bald cunnnt hasn't called us Mungo's since. Up yours you piece of shit. I hope AFL decimates your shit sport of union cause it will never be good enough to do it to league.

Nazi scum supporting *****. Heil Vichy.

[Swans4ever]

How will this affect RU long term will it continue to fall to the bottom internationally as less and less kids pick up a ball? Or will it always have a strong core of support - AFL unlike RL, RU and soccer is not aligned to a certain demographic in Melb (traditional associations like e.g. Top end playing Rugby silver tails, Blue collar playing RL Fibros and the new Australians playing soccer). In Melb we never had that distinction unlike Sydney which was OK at the time but now will it impact on RU? Not slagging just a question?

[leagueiscrap]

Lol quoting Fitzy
He hates Rl with a passion .
So what does he do when his sport is irrelevant in Aust
Jump on the opposition .

Well when your own code spazza is next to giving away tickets at $95 for 10 of them in their own heart land with teams that are several decades old & against so called tiditional rivals up against the afls swans and the so called "bunnings team" as you commenly refer to them as with the afls inflated ticket prices



Bahahahahahahaahahahah
What a pathetic joke the nrlol continues to be

[Terry]

Fitzsimons is one of the biggest tools in the country. If he's backing fumbleball it's a victory for every other code - they can have the buffoon.

Also: it's a known fact the western Sydney fumble team was set up because fumble house could see the Swines weren't making a dent outside their affluent eastern suburbs base. There is no doubt RU has suffered because of this. I think it's poetic justice that Fitzsimons old school is now playing fumbleball - I hope he gives all the players a red bandana to wear so they can all look like tools together.lolololololololol

[leagueiscrap]

Fitzsimons is one of the biggest tools in the country. If he's backing fumbleball it's a victory for every other code - they can have the buffoon.

Also: it's a known fact the western Sydney fumble team was set up because fumble house could see the Swines weren't making a dent outside their affluent eastern suburbs base. There is no doubt RU has suffered because of this. I think it's poetic justice that Fitzsimons old school is now playing fumbleball - I hope he gives all the players a red bandana to wear so they can all look like tools together.lolololololololol

images.jpg (11.88 KiB) Viewed 1855 times

[AFLcrap1]

Lol quoting Fitzy
He hates Rl with a passion .
So what does he do when his sport is irrelevant in Aust
Jump on the opposition .

Well when your own code spazza is next to giving away tickets at $95 for 10 of them in their own heart land with teams that are several decades old & against so called tiditional rivals up against the afls swans and the so called "bunnings team" as you commenly refer to them as with the afls inflated ticket prices



Bahahahahahahaahahahah
What a pathetic joke the nrlol continues to be

What drugs are you on .

What Bunnings team
Where have I ever called an AFL team a Bunnings team .

You are seriously fucked in the head .

Come on
Time to post something to back up your spazzy rants & lies

[leagueiscrap]

Lol quoting Fitzy
He hates Rl with a passion .
So what does he do when his sport is irrelevant in Aust
Jump on the opposition .

Well when your own code spazza is next to giving away tickets at $95 for 10 of them in their own heart land with teams that are several decades old & against so called tiditional rivals up against the afls swans and the so called "bunnings team" as you commenly refer to them as with the afls inflated ticket prices



Bahahahahahahaahahahah
What a pathetic joke the nrlol continues to be

What drugs are you on .

What Bunnings team
Where have I ever called an AFL team a Bunnings team .

You are seriously fucked in the head .

Come on
Time to post something to back up your spazzy rants & lies

ages ago refering gws and gcs as like bunning stores.

none of you dweebs want to even comment about the $95 for 10 tickets. you loons just keep ignoring it and keep ranting on

[Swans4ever]

Read at Bigfooty that someone got ticket pax 62480 yesterday which means 62480 tickets sold apparently but does not include ANZ members so could be a big crowd today!!!

[AFLcrap1]

Lol quoting Fitzy
He hates Rl with a passion .
So what does he do when his sport is irrelevant in Aust
Jump on the opposition .

Well when your own code spazza is next to giving away tickets at $95 for 10 of them in their own heart land with teams that are several decades old & against so called tiditional rivals up against the afls swans and the so called "bunnings team" as you commenly refer to them as with the afls inflated ticket prices



Bahahahahahahaahahahah
What a pathetic joke the nrlol continues to be

What drugs are you on .

What Bunnings team
Where have I ever called an AFL team a Bunnings team .

You are seriously fucked in the head .

Come on
Time to post something to back up your spazzy rants & lies

ages ago refering gws and gcs as like bunning stores.

none of you dweebs want to even comment about the $95 for 10 tickets. you loons just keep ignoring it and keep ranting on

So in other words
You lied again
With nothing to back up what you posted .

Lol you're retaarded


I'll educate you seeing as the Vicderpian SPECIAL EDUCATION system failed you so badly .

GF day in AFLOL is referred to as BUNNINGS flag day on LU
Why?
Posters on BF a few yrs ago were making excuses for either not a full house or lowere ratings
It was a classic
Apparently Bunnings being open & having a sausage sizzle were factors in the lower crowds .
Also apparently baked beans on special had people strolling the isles in Coles instead of watching the fumble final .
There endeth your education .
I have never called a fumble team a Bunnings team .
As usual you are wrong or straight out lying .

You have heaps of form in both areas

[Swans4ever]

EASY OVER 60,000 it's the BIGGEST show in Sydney come finals!!!!!!

[Fred]

Looks a big crowd. 1st quarter was average but second was a cracker.

[AFLcrap1]

EASY OVER 60,000 it's the BIGGEST show in Sydney come finals!!!!!!

Lol no
Wanna bet who has the bigger finals crowd in Syd