Talking Footy

There is a lovely little truth bomb article in the SMH today. It chronicles something you will never hear from fumblehouse - GWS are an abject failure in western Sydney.

Several fumble club administrators in the area were contacted for comment but such is the power of fumblehouse they would only speak on a condition of annonymity so as to 'protect' themselves. Wow!! If they talk out they will be excommunicated????? Off with their heads????? Sent to solitary confinement??? What a game to be involved in.

Short story is the junior participation in the area coming from a very low base has actually decreased over the last 8 years. Many clubs have folded. Many have had to combine to try and limp on. After millions of dollars ploughed into the place this is the state of the game. The authors of the story requested official numbers from the AFL but were denied access lolololol!!!!

Think about that!! The sport that typically lies, obfuscates and bullshits about player numbers is so embarrassed about the progress in west Sydney they can lie no longer. They've just worked out that talking to the savvy folk in western Sydney is not like talking to the captive bubble dwellers in the fumble states lololol!!! They just don't believe the BS. Hilarious.

In further hilarity it's revealed the so called western Sydney Ginats womens team play ALL their 'home' games at Manuka in Canberra or Henson Park in Newtown. What the f__k!!!!! What a way to ingratiate yourself to your supposed geographical area. Yep, never play in it loolololol!!!!

Here's the article. Read and laugh out loud folks.

https://edition.smh.com.au/shortcode/SY ... 3a39d97988

ssssssshhhhhhhhh Tez

you'll have their bottom lips quivering ... their arms folded & they'll be stamping their feet

awwwwwww
no fair
they were just tapping an untapped market



The Grants will come good .... honestly ...... its a 10 year project

ahhhh
20 years

ummmmmmm
look , lets just say before the next ice age

story is behind a paywall

here it is for our fumblers to read .............. you okay guys ?





It’s been widely lauded as the peak moment in NSW’s Australian rules history: the instant classic between the Swans and the Giants last weekend, when the game’s newest face Isaac Heeney seized the moment in front of a rumbling capacity crowd at the SCG to put them one win away from another grand final.

Australian rules is booming in Swans territory, by which we mean the eastern suburbs, north shore and inner-city areas where their fans tend to come from. And yes, the Giants are flying the flag brilliantly for Sydney, too, having made the finals seven times in their 13 seasons to date. On Saturday night, their campaign goes on the line in a mouthwatering semi-final against the Brisbane Lions at Engie Stadium.

But a quick peek under the hood suggests that the AFL – and the Giants – have a long, long way to go if they are to replicate the efforts of their crosstown rivals and win the hearts and minds of fans in the western suburbs.

In fact, by some measures, it could be argued that the code has actually gone backwards.

Grassroots numbers in decline This masthead sought assessments on the health of the game from representatives of several grassroots clubs in western Sydney, some of whom requested anonymity in exchange for frankness, in order to protect relationships.

The consensus was clear: it’s more of a struggle than ever, if not at crisis point. According to one source, there has been an overall decline in participation across western Sydney during the past eight years. Requests for official numbers from the AFL were not forthcoming. Another source speaks of misalignment between the AFL, its state-based subsidiary AFL NSW/ACT, the two clubs, the school system, and everything beneath, which is limiting potential.

Some junior clubs have found sourcing players so difficult that they have closed their doors, like in the case of the Emu Plains/Glenmore Park Lions, who were unable to continue this year due to a lack of numbers. The Blacktown City Suns are also no longer able to field teams in junior football, only offering an Auskick program this season, after previously running boys and girls teams up to under-17s.

Other clubs have banded together and formed ‘alliances’ between clubs in the same region. As an example, the Penrith Giants, Hawkesbury Saints and the Mountain Lions of Faulconbridge will field separate teams up to the age of 13, but beyond that, those clubs will funnel their players into a single team; as the number of players on the field increases in accord with the age groups, they have little choice.

In the 13-18 age group, all across western Sydney and some other areas of Sydney, a lot of clubs like ours are forming alliances with other clubs,” Penrith Giants coaching coordinator Mick Pearson told the Western Weekender earlier this year. “This is new for us due to the decline in this area.”

Increased travel, due to these shifts in community football, have added to the strain, to the point where some talented players as young as 14 have decided to move interstate in pursuit of better week-in, week-out exposure. Cost of living is another pressure, not to mention the pandemic, which had an impact on participation across all sports, but perhaps Aussie Rules more than any other in the west.

Rob Auld, the AFL’s executive general manager of game development, acknowledges that the community game in western Sydney is lagging and wants to help get it back on track. The AFL is expected to shortly install eight more game development officers in Sydney, with half of them to be dedicated to the west, to help lighten the load on an otherwise largely volunteer-based workforce.

I would say at a community level, we’re starting to put some activities in place that the market is responding to, but we’re not where we want to be,” Auld said.

“Leading into the period of 2021 we had good momentum, and then we were out of the market for two years [with COVID-19] and then in 2022 it was one of the wettest years on record in Sydney, I think that set us back in the sense of the game was growing, but it wasn’t foundational in its roots, and so those headwinds did create pressure on our club network, no question.

“But what it hasn’t done is it hasn’t deterred or it hasn’t diminished the AFL’s commitment to wanting to be a truly national game, and it certainly hasn’t deterred or diminished our commitment to growing the game in western Sydney.”

Tackling the ‘nuances’ of the west Grassroots figures are also dissatisfied with some symbolic decisions by the Giants, which they say raise questions over their commitment to western Sydney. For the current AFLW season, the Giants’ six home games will be split between Canberra’s Manuka Oval (two) and Henson Park in Newtown. None will be played at the purpose-built facility in Blacktown; some years ago, the Giants’ men’s program also shifted from there to Olympic Park.

It remains an uphill battle attracting fans through the turnstiles at Engie Stadium to see the Giants. The club benefited from the AFL’s decision to start the 2024 season with Opening Round, enjoying a rare sell-out against Collingwood. But GWS still have the lowest attendance in the AFL, with an average of 12,275 for home games this season, which is down from their 2017 peak of 13,196 but still competitive with many NRL teams in Sydney.

To help combat these challenges, the AFL has this year invested in a ‘fan hub’ to help spark interest in the code across the western suburbs. Asked how he would describe the initiative to someone from the area, James Ellender, the head of the ‘fan hub’, said: “A bespoke marketing, data and sales team who are working hand in glove with the code to grow the game, and we move from week to month to place to place to put the best version of ourselves forward in the most competitive market in the country.”

As part of their remit, the hub partners with local schools and teachers in western Sydney and buses up 200 kids and their families from Parramatta and Hurstville to Giants and Swans games. There are multilingual cheat sheets for the rules and rehearsals of the club’s song en route to the game.

soooooo

they hire a 40 seater bus , go around Blacktown , Mt Druitt & St Marys picking up ... errrr. ... ethnic types .... get 4 of them on said bus , the rest run for their lives

The poor buggers have no idea why they're on this bus or what the hell is going on
then someone who can speak a few languages there trys to teach them to scream bbbbbbbaaawwwwllllllll .... as loud as they can ...
for what reason they don't know

then learn a song about ... fumbling bumbling & missing on their bus ride into homebush



this is the biggest shit show in Australian sport & there is nothing that comes close to it

Off the back of the ridiculous advantages that only the other shit show in Australian sport ( the Thuns ) receive
resulting in finals 7 of the last 9 years , including 1 GF ... 2 other prelims

How is it possible that the metrics that matter .... support , participation & TV ratings for the Grants & the fumbling game in Western Sydney
have gone
backwards







fumblers ?
anything ?

azif wrote: Sat Sep 14, 2024 11:29 am

Off the back of the ridiculous advantages that only the other shit show in Australian sport ( the Thuns ) receive
resulting in finals 7 of the last 9 years , including 1 GF ... 2 other prelims

How is it possible that the metrics that matter .... support , participation & TV ratings for the Grants & the fumbling game in Western Sydney
have gone
backwards







fumblers ?
anything ?

It's amazing what a $200M investment will get ya! In the case of the Ginats........nothing, nought and nil lolololol!!!!!! Biggest waste of money since federation. Fumblehouse should close the rabble down and donate the money to charity. Its the only thing to do.