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Thread: Support for Swans in West Sydney

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    bloodstainedangels Emerald Hill's Avatar
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    Support for Swans in West Sydney

    I'm a Melbourne Swans member and would like some opinions on this.

    Collingwood coach Mick Malthouse has been on Melbourne radio today saying that when the Magpies have done PR work in West Sydney, there has been no noticeable support for the SWANS. He deduced that West Sydney people don't relate to the SWANS and, therefore, an AFL team based in West Sydney would be very well supported. My take on it was that there may be thousands of SWANS supporters in West Sydney but they wouldn't be seen dead at functions/clinics run by Collingwood.

    Views from Sydneysiders please!
    Last edited by Emerald Hill; 2nd May 2008 at 09:11 PM.

  2. #2
    Veterans List swantastic's Avatar
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    Mick Malthouse is a tool ....and i wouldnt be caught dead at a pies clinic either.
    Now this is a thread that i would expect on the ego -centric, wank session that is redandwhiteonline.com...
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    Quote Originally Posted by swantastic View Post
    Mick Malthouse is a tool ....and i wouldnt be caught dead at a pies clinic either.
    Would any sane person would be?

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    On the Rookie List ash3's Avatar
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    Yep herd the same thing on SEN too, found it pretty hard to believe.

  5. #5
    Bandicoots ears satchmopugdog's Avatar
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    It could turn into the situation in WA where the Eagles were so disliked by part of the population due to their uppity ways that these people were falling over themselves to barrack for the new team.
    An ex-pat Tasmanian friend of mine in WA was in this situation. He was/is a Richmond supporter and couldn't bear to follow the Eagles, so he gladly hopped on board the Freo bandwagon(that is going nowhere but that is a different matter). The same may be happening in Sydney and the brand may be linked to the eastern suburbs. I don't know enough about the socio-economic profiles but I could guess that would have a bit to do with it. Collingwood have always prided themselves on the working class background though a lot of their supporters have moved a long way away from that.
    "The Dog days are over, The Dog days are gone" Florence and the Machine

  6. #6
    One Man Out ShockOfHair's Avatar
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    The point is that there's not much support for AFL at all in the western subs. It's not as if Blacktown is a hothouse of Essendon fans.

    The only AFL player instantly recognised in all parts of Sydney is our well-rested centre half-forward. If only the league could be so effective.

  7. #7
    Quote Originally Posted by Emerald Hill View Post
    I'm a Melbourne Swans member and would like some opinions on this.

    Collingwood coach Mick Malthouse has been on Melbourne radio today saying that when the Magpies have done PR work in West Sydney, there has been no noticeable support for the SWANS. He deduced that West Sydney people don't relate to the SWANS and, therefore, an AFL team based in Sydney would be very well supported. My take on it was that there may be thousands of SWANS supporters in West Sydney but they wouldn't be seen dead at functions/clinics run by Collingwood.

    Views from Sydneysiders please!
    How much support is there for the AFL in western Sydney? That is the $64,000 question, isn't it? In the past few years, the Swans have been selling 3-match super-passes to the so-called "blockbuster" games at Homebush, and these have sold reasonably well (I think the club sold about 7,000 last year). I understand that most of them are being purchased by people living in western Sydney, and you would expect most of these people like the Swans. So as well as our 22,000 full club members in Sydney, most of whom live in the eastern suburbs and inner west, there are about 7,000 "westies" providing some form of financial support to the team. What these people will do if the AFL pushes ahead with a second team in western Sydney is anyone's guess. It depends on how much they identify with the Swans, and like our brand.

  8. #8
    What a year 2005 SSFC/CFC
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    Having followed the Swans from 1983 in Sydney, been heavily involved with junior football for 5 years in Sydney and now resident in Melbne I will say this. I would be staggered if the Western Sydney Moneyhole doesn't simply gobble millions from the AFL coffers in a vain hope of manufacturing a crosstown rivalry. The fact of really wanting a western Sydney presence and making it work are very different. There has never been a crosstown divide regarding the swans because the west is surely the soccer and the NRLs strongest areas. The Swans draw from all over NSW western sydney Wagga the Gong Newcastle Canberra etc.The demographic may not favour the west but guess what maybe they don't want it in any great numbers. Perth and Adelaide wanted alternatives the Banana benders are more parochial generally and anyway the QAFL is far stronger and more buoyant than the SFL unfortunately.

    Sydney is the largest market but the marketing pot does not double by adding a team. Tasmania is discounted as being too small but can you honestly imagine the Western Sydney Moneyhole drawing more crowds than a Tassie Terriers team if they are not simply handing tickets out with Macdonalds at Wentworthville for decades?

    Bear in mind that Demetriou counts Auskickers picking up showbags as participants for his bonus arrangements but if he was paid on the basis of participants in AFL over the age of 16 in NSW he would not be pulling $1.3 million!!!
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  9. #9
    Out of Bounds on the Full Goal Sneak's Avatar
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    I live close to Penrith, which is as westie as you can get in Sydney. I have been a swans supporter since 1995. I pretty much loathe all other clubs, especially Collingwood. The idea that the Swans could be too aristocratic for the west is somewhat insulting, not to mention complete crap. The swans play a brand of football which shows more toughness than any Western Sydney NRL club going around. There is a stigma in the West, AFL is associated with being soft, but given the chance, I'm sure that stigma could be changed with time. I will never support any other team, but there are a lot of people out here who have yet to give AFL a chance. This is what the AFL wants to change. If they are willing to stick by a Western Sydney team for years to come, I say go for it.

  10. #10
    On the Rookie List sWAns63's Avatar
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    It's been years since I lived in Bankstown I was brought up being told that AFL was a real soft game I only started watching it after I moved over here and after the Western Reds rugby league team failed, then I knew I wouldn't see any more live rugby league here.
    The only way I can see a West Sydney team work is if they are successful on the field, can West Sydney support a team that may be near the bottom for a decade
    The only reason the Dockers survive with no success is that WA is a very strong aussie rules state.
    Would 20,000(if they can find that many) West Sydney supporters be so loyal I don't think so.
    This may be the AFL's first major mistake

  11. #11
    Leadership Group goswannie14's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Emerald Hill View Post
    I'm a Melbourne Swans member and would like some opinions on this.

    Collingwood coach Mick Malthouse has been on Melbourne radio today saying that when the Magpies have done PR work in West Sydney, there has been no noticeable support for the SWANS. He deduced that West Sydney people don't relate to the SWANS and, therefore, an AFL team based in West Sydney would be very well supported. My take on it was that there may be thousands of SWANS supporters in West Sydney but they wouldn't be seen dead at functions/clinics run by Collingwood.

    Views from Sydneysiders please!
    This shows what a dill Malthouse is. As others have said there is no way that a Swans supporting kid would go to a footy clinic run by Collingwood, or any one else if they had the similar opportunity to go to a Swans run clinic.

    I reckon he's just after brownie points with the Fat Controller.
    Does God believe in Atheists?

  12. #12
    ROLLLLLL TIDE!!!!!!!!!!!! Glenn's Avatar
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    What would Malthouse know about AFL in Sydney.
    Premiers 09,18,33,05

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