Talking Footy

AFL raid on the cradle of league
June 21, 2012


Steeped in league history ... Birchgrove Oval. Photo: Dallas Kilponen

AFL has invaded western Sydney and pinched two of the NRL's best players. Now, the unthinkable; Aussie rules is set to be played on sacred rugby league soil, Birchgrove Oval.

If it wasn't bad enough that Australian football posts are being erected more and more across western Sydney, the ARL Commission will now only be able to watch as the rival code is played at the birthplace of rugby league in Australia.

The proposal by Leichhardt Council to allow Australian football to be played at the historic oval was attacked by Wests Tigers chairman David Trodden, who said: ''Nothing that Leichhardt Council does would surprise me any more.''

While rugby league will remain at Birchgrove Oval, coexisting with the rival code during winter, league officials fear one day, with the money local AFL officials could offer for maintenance of the ground, they might eventually be forced out for good.

''It's the first ground used for rugby league,'' said Tony Bignold, head coach of the Balmain PCYC league club, which trains and plays on the oval. ''I'm sure there are plenty of other ovals they could use. I don't know why they've got to come here.''

Birchgrove Oval was the first ground to host a premiership rugby league match in Australia, in 1908. In 2008, the NRL launched its centenary season from the venue.
While top-level league has not been played at the ground for decades, many will find the sight of Australian football posts at the birthplace of rugby league offensive, especially at a time when the AFL is muscling in on rugby league elsewhere. NRL clubs in western Sydney are locked in a battle with the AFL's latest franchise, GWS Giants.

The Herald has obtained a copy of a report into sporting grounds in the Leichhardt district, which recommends that council ''relocate Balmain & District FC current (soccer) activities from Birchgrove Oval at the conclusion of the 2012 winter sporting season and permit NSW/ACT AFL and the Balmain Dockers to promote a new sporting activity (within the local government area) at Birchgrove Oval which will facilitate junior AFL competition within the LGA''.

Leichhardt Council, which will discuss the proposal on Tuesday, acknowledged the ground's affinity with rugby league but also maintained Australian football had links
to the oval. ''Leichhardt Council recognises the important historical and cultural ties that rugby league has to Birchgrove Oval and the significance of Birchgrove Park as the birthplace of rugby league in Australia,'' a council spokesman said.

''AFL also has historical links to Birchgrove Park, and played there from 1903 to 1926.''

Trodden described that claim as ''absolutely comical''.

''They must be reading different history books,'' Trodden said. ''Birchgrove Oval, more than any other oval in Sydney, is inextricably linked to rugby league.
''It's nothing to do with AFL. Nobody that's still living can remember AFL being played there. To use that as a basis of a decision is absolutely comical.''
The council spokesman, though, maintained that league would remain at the ground, where Balmain District Junior Rugby League plays it matches on Sundays.
''There are no plans to relocate rugby league from or decrease their presence at Birchgrove Oval,'' the spokesman said.

Former Balmain great Ben Elias said he found the plan ''offensive''.

''I've been playing there since I was seven years of age [with Holy Cross] and I've never seen an AFL game in my life [at the ground],'' he said.

http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-league/leag ... z1yLNolQ7B

piesman2011 wrote:

More us V them mentality. I wish this would stop.

Grim Reaper wrote:

Sydney is on Gadigal land that is part of the Eora Nation. As Marngrook is an Aboriginal game then these comments by these NRL clowns saying this is sacred NRL ground is arrogant and stupid. Since when was the NRL part of Aboriginal culture? NRL is a English import that came here with the convict refuse of England and has never been part of the Eora Nation. Marngrook on the other hand has always been part of the culture of this country.

Grim Reaper wrote:

Sydney is on Gadigal land that is part of the Eora Nation. As Marngrook is an Aboriginal game then these comments by these NRL clowns saying this is sacred NRL ground is arrogant and stupid. Since when was the NRL part of Aboriginal culture? NRL is a English import that came here with the convict refuse of England and has never been part of the Eora Nation. Marngrook on the other hand has always been part of the culture of this country.

eelofwest wrote:

piesman2011 wrote:

More us V them mentality. I wish this would stop.

Tell me about it Pies, its bordering on childish and you guest it from the Sites administrator. =D>
You want to know why western sydney will never warm to AFL?
Because smug people like yourself Beassie who think posting insults like this actually make us want to convert to Australia's game...
The sentiment in Western toward AFL is granted, to often we see these smug Types from the AFL trying to convince us that Australia's game is the only way much like keven sheedy in all his wisdom
But good job Beassie keep it coming, Western Sydney will be the AFL's Vietnam countless money and life's will be lost.

piesman2011 wrote:

eelofwest wrote:

piesman2011 wrote:

More us V them mentality. I wish this would stop.

Tell me about it Pies, its bordering on childish and you guest it from the Sites administrator. =D>
You want to know why western sydney will never warm to AFL?
Because smug people like yourself Beassie who think posting insults like this actually make us want to convert to Australia's game...
The sentiment in Western toward AFL is granted, to often we see these smug Types from the AFL trying to convince us that Australia's game is the only way much like keven sheedy in all his wisdom
But good job Beassie keep it coming, Western Sydney will be the AFL's Vietnam countless money and life's will be lost.

I was thinking more about the Us V Them mentality of the Sydney media.

eelofwest wrote:

piesman2011 wrote:

eelofwest wrote:

Tell me about it Pies, its bordering on childish and you guest it from the Sites administrator. =D>
You want to know why western sydney will never warm to AFL?
Because smug people like yourself Beassie who think posting insults like this actually make us want to convert to Australia's game...
The sentiment in Western toward AFL is granted, to often we see these smug Types from the AFL trying to convince us that Australia's game is the only way much like keven sheedy in all his wisdom
But good job Beassie keep it coming, Western Sydney will be the AFL's Vietnam countless money and life's will be lost.

I was thinking more about the Us V Them mentality of the Sydney media.

Yeah i know i am just sturing the pot to see what our resident looneys, IE xman TPLG have to say.....

And btw this us vs them mentality does not happen in Melbourne media Pies? i really doubt its just the Sydney media.

piesman2011 wrote:

It is quite rare in the Melbourne media, in my opinion. But I guess that may be different if NRL had stolen two AFL players and introduced a second team to Melbourne.