Swans4ever wrote:214Four wrote:NRLCrap1 wrote:You're wrong. AFL in New South Wales and Queensland is substantial. Sure it's not the most popular code there, but you only have to look at club numbers in the Sydney competition and how strong the game is in the Riverina! Not just Albury and Wagga - the whole fricking region! There's a league in Newcastle. There's a league in Wollongong. There's a league in Tamworth, Bathurst, Coffs Harbour.....do I need to go on? Queensland? There's a league in Toowoomba (suck on that, MP!), Cairns, Mackay, Townsville.....getting it yet?
I wouldnt be putting the word substantial and AFL in NSW and QLD in the same sentence.
what sydney numbers do you want me to look at?.. participation numbers?.. they are the only numbers for sydney that could MAYBE conjugate using the word substantial, you cant be refering to actual registered players where theres about 7000 in all of sydney metro (4.6 million). here is a look at the 'strength' of AFL in Sydney and the substantial growth.
In 2007, 19 clubs fielded 62 teams. The Sydney AFL now boasts 22 clubs fielding 78 teams. This is a far cry from the lows of 1998 when 38 teams took the field. OMG stop the press! in 2012 there were 78 AFL teams in Sydney! Now before you get excited NRLcrapper were arnt talking about some tiny backward victorian town, or a south australian or WA regional city of 20,000 (lol thats a massive population for them), we are talking about Sydney with 4.6 million people or 0.000000000017% of the population lol! Definatly SUBSTANTIAL, the amount of zeros i mean
I cant talk about the so called leagues you have bought up from around QLD cos i dont really care enough to look into it but those leagues you mentioned from newcastle and the illawarra and the north coast lol would be classed as a national competition if they were in europe. they all cover distances of more than 150km, the north coast one covers a distance of about 350kms, thats similar to the height of Victoria from melbourne to Albury. Mind you these international sized leagues are 5 or 6 teams and thats it, 5 or 6 teams in an area larger than the UK with a population of 500 to 700 thousand. Again defineatly SUBSTANTIAL, the fuel costs during the season i mean
The trouble with your argument is two fold
1st it assumes that everyone in each state has drawn a line and only follows one code
2nd it makes no account of other sports and the people that follow them
You are trying to argue that as NSW is bigger it has a greater following nationally - it doesn't in the Sth states it has very little interest - in NSW loyalties are divided between 4 codes with gray in between. There those that follow one code, 2 codes and maybe all four. There is also that follow none. Saying we have the biggest state so we are the biggest is to ignor local attractions and indifference.
swans every arguement can be two fold. Each point you made above i could turn it around and say the same for Victoria or any traditional AFL state. every state and territory would have people like the ones you described, the AFL is not somehow exempt.
large migrant communities new to australia will have little to no interest in the two codes for many years, and unfortunately the premier market (for both codes) NSW and Victoria take in the vast majority of foreign migrants. Both cities with similar cultural diversity and population size would have similar percentages of its citizens who follow multiple codes, thos with a small following of the main code or other and those with no interest at all.
I would say that the AFL is in a worse of situation compared to the NRL when it comes to attracting new migrants to the game. unlike the AFL, Rugby league does have some international presense and a decent one in some countries with the highest migrant intake (such as the UK and NZ), whereas AFL would be alien to them and history tells us that humanbeings usually go to whats familiar. alot of britts and kiwis would already have some type of interest in either or both rugby codes giving Rugby league the heads up over AFL in the new migrant stakes.
With all the inner state migration WA has had of recent years of which the majority from QLD and NSW, this massive intake from the eastern RL states will no doubt alter the sporting culture and landscape in the west. already RL is popping up in the northern towns and cities in WA and the state is noticably less AFL bias and fixated then it was just 10 years ago.
There are heaps and heaps of examples where the comments can be two fold, i did try above to show 'both folds' lol. i am sure i will get a reply from you with some area i missed or didnt mention that can turn back against my comments...
BTW im enjoying the thoughtful opposing views swans, good to read. I have always believed in the saying that you should always look at things from different perspective
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GOOSE....