Bankstown: Swans or GWS?

[Offal]

Dear members and life members,

In accordance with the constitution of the Bankstown Sports Junior Australian Rules football club you are cordially invited to a Special General Meeting at the Bankstown Sports Club on Tuesday 12 February at 7.30pm Garrison Room. There will be an information session run by the GWS at 6.30pm at the Sports Club prior to the constituted meeting of the Bankstown Sports Junior Australian Rules football club.

Please be aware the current committee and Sponsor The Bankstown Sports Club wants the Bankstown Sports Junior Australian Rules football club to continue to provide opportunity for young boys and girls to develop and enjoy the culture provided at the Club. The AFL has deemed the Bankstown Sports Junior Australian Rules football club a Greater Western Sydney aligned Club with competition and development provided by the Greater Western Sydney area of the AFL.

The meeting is to obtain votes from members as to whether they wish the Bankstown Sports Junior Australian Rules football club to be aligned with the Sydney Swans playing in the Sydney South Competition then transitioned to the Harbour competition with the other Swans aligned Sydney South Clubs such as Penshurst Bangor or GWS playing in the Western Sydney competition with other GWS clubs such as Camden, Penrith.

The current Executive Committee and our Sponsors want the Club to continue to provide opportunities for young boys and girls to develop their character, fitness and football skills and believe the Bankstown Sports Junior Australian Rules football club is a good vehicle to provide this.

The proposed agenda for the meeting is below:

1. Welcome

2. Information on the where the Club is positioned

3. Q and A with current committee members

4. Vote on club alignment GWS or Swans

5. Next steps in accordance with the Bankstown Sports Junior Australian Rules football club constitution.

Please be assured the current executive committee will remain and guide the club during this process.

We look forward to seeing members with an interest in the future of the Club on Tuesday 12 February at 7.30pm.

[ShortHalfHead]

Haha

Nicely worded.

"Do you want to play 15 minutes away or an hour away?"

"Vote now and see in 15 minutes time at the AGM if we still have a club"

[tara]

Dont know that they Swans are confident seeing as someone at the acadamey told a kid training with us he had to join Ramsgate not us

[muddybulldog]

my understanding is the acadamey is based on where you live not where you play.

[unconfuseme]

Dear members and life members,

In accordance with the constitution of the Bankstown Sports Junior Australian Rules football club you are cordially invited to a Special General Meeting at the Bankstown Sports Club on Tuesday 12 February at 7.30pm Garrison Room. There will be an information session run by the GWS at 6.30pm at the Sports Club prior to the constituted meeting of the Bankstown Sports Junior Australian Rules football club.

Please be aware the current committee and Sponsor The Bankstown Sports Club wants the Bankstown Sports Junior Australian Rules football club to continue to provide opportunity for young boys and girls to develop and enjoy the culture provided at the Club. The AFL has deemed the Bankstown Sports Junior Australian Rules football club a Greater Western Sydney aligned Club with competition and development provided by the Greater Western Sydney area of the AFL.

The meeting is to obtain votes from members as to whether they wish the Bankstown Sports Junior Australian Rules football club to be aligned with the Sydney Swans playing in the Sydney South Competition then transitioned to the Harbour competition with the other Swans aligned Sydney South Clubs such as Penshurst Bangor or GWS playing in the Western Sydney competition with other GWS clubs such as Camden, Penrith.

The current Executive Committee and our Sponsors want the Club to continue to provide opportunities for young boys and girls to develop their character, fitness and football skills and believe the Bankstown Sports Junior Australian Rules football club is a good vehicle to provide this.

The proposed agenda for the meeting is below:

1. Welcome

2. Information on the where the Club is positioned

3. Q and A with current committee members

4. Vote on club alignment GWS or Swans

5. Next steps in accordance with the Bankstown Sports Junior Australian Rules football club constitution.

Please be assured the current executive committee will remain and guide the club during this process.

We look forward to seeing members with an interest in the future of the Club on Tuesday 12 February at 7.30pm.

^That is from the Bankstown Sports AFL website. Bankstown Sports AFL Home Bankstown Sports AFL. Play AFL in Bankstown


Interestingly, it is a very different message to the one that the AFL's "Participation and Engagement Manager" (now there's an oxymoron!), had dispatched to the registered players of the club, inviting them to attend at the same venue, an hour before the club's Special General Meeting, which basically says;

"Staff from AFL NSW/ACT will be holding a crisis meeting"

That "the 2012 Committee had exhausted all efforts in trying to establish a new committee for the upcoming season"

... and that if new parents don't step up and volunteer "the club is likely to disappear and your child will not have anywhere to play football locally".

Those comments are not factual.

1. For the vast majority of the current Bankstown players, Olds Park and Penshurst Panthers AFL Club is just as convenient for them as Kelso "to play AFL locally", just as a number of other Sydney South and even Sydney Harbour based clubs would be.

2. The 2012 Committee are still appointed and working and still trying to get transparency from the AFL, as they have been for months, so that they can fully inform their members and parents, and they can then make their own "informed" decisions regarding next season and beyond.

In fact, the AFL letter still makes no reference to the fact, that in spite of assurances for the past 3 years that it would never happen, the club is now being railroaded into the GWS competition ... .

Anyway, looking forward to being a "fly on the wall"

[justabaraker]

^That is from the Bankstown Sports AFL website. Bankstown Sports AFL Home Bankstown Sports AFL. Play AFL in Bankstown


Interestingly, it is a very different message to the one that the AFL's "Participation and Engagement Manager" (now there's an oxymoron!), had dispatched to the registered players of the club, inviting them to attend at the same venue, an hour before the club's Special General Meeting, which basically says;

"Staff from AFL NSW/ACT will be holding a crisis meeting"

That "the 2012 Committee had exhausted all efforts in trying to establish a new committee for the upcoming season"

... and that if new parents don't step up and volunteer "the club is likely to disappear and your child will not have anywhere to play football locally".

Those comments are not factual.

1. For the vast majority of the current Bankstown players, Olds Park and Penshurst Panthers AFL Club is just as convenient for them as Kelso "to play AFL locally", just as a number of other Sydney South and even Sydney Harbour based clubs would be.

2. The 2012 Committee are still appointed and working and still trying to get transparency from the AFL, as they have been for months, so that they can fully inform their members and parents, and they can then make their own "informed" decisions regarding next season and beyond.

In fact, the AFL letter still makes no reference to the fact, that in spite of assurances for the past 3 years that it would never happen, the club is now being railroaded into the GWS competition ... .

Anyway, looking forward to being a "fly on the wall"

A fly on the wall indeed !!
The AFL/GWS will put their most persuasive case then the members have their vote...
If the case is persuasive enough then the vote will be to go overwhelmingly with the GWS option. Problem solved.
But if the vote is to stay with the Southern Sydney option, then the AFL/GWS would have to walk away with a loss, and come up with a new strategy.
If the vote is close then my hunch is that the AFL would gain oxygen for their plan, and somehow or another, the nucleus of the Bankstown club go west, either in name or else under a new identity.

This will be an interesting show of strength as to how much the AFL respects the footy community of Sydney.

[tara]

Unfortunately I suspect the afl is happy for kids to find new homes and then start afresh with their backing resources and toeing the company line.

Having played senior footy for bankstown sports it is very sad to see the juniors no go especially after the hard work of a few people I know and like well to build it into a strong club.

Which western Sydney club will be next.

[Offal]

Unfortunately I suspect the afl is happy for kids to find new homes and then start afresh with their backing resources and toeing the company line.

Having played senior footy for bankstown sports it is very sad to see the juniors no go especially after the hard work of a few people I know and like well to build it into a strong club.

Which western Sydney club will be next.

I am genuinely sorry to hear thisTara. As a fellow AFL club man coming up to 20 years in Sydney AFL, to have a potental junior pathway put into confusion with the Bankstown dillema and Mac Giants, really gets on the nerves.

We toil to make this great game top of mind for people in our communities.

I hope the viability of SWS is no affected by this debacle.

[The Student]

I understand that Bangor's committee are meeting in the coming days to work out how to approach the impending demise of Bankstown - their fear is that a lot of the kids will go ten mins down Henry Lawson Drive to Penshurst which will put the other clubs in the comp at a disadvantage. Either way it would be sad to see the Bombers go, I'd be showing my age here but I remember a few of their sides playing in merged teams with Croydon Park for a season or two and they managed to survive that. Shame the AFL isn't helping them out in this case.

[unconfuseme]

A fly on the wall indeed !!
The AFL/GWS will put their most persuasive case then the members have their vote...
If the case is persuasive enough then the vote will be to go overwhelmingly with the GWS option. Problem solved.
But if the vote is to stay with the Southern Sydney option, then the AFL/GWS would have to walk away with a loss, and come up with a new strategy.
If the vote is close then my hunch is that the AFL would gain oxygen for their plan, and somehow or another, the nucleus of the Bankstown club go west, either in name or else under a new identity.

This will be an interesting show of strength as to how much the AFL respects the footy community of Sydney.

The subject has been addressed by the club, and voted on, and polled, ad nauseum for the past 25 years, and the results have never changed ... the last family that was in favour of the move west left the club years ago ... they live at Campbelltown by the way!

[unconfuseme]

I understand that Bangor's committee are meeting in the coming days to work out how to approach the impending demise of Bankstown - their fear is that a lot of the kids will go ten mins down Henry Lawson Drive to Penshurst which will put the other clubs in the comp at a disadvantage. Either way it would be sad to see the Bombers go, I'd be showing my age here but I remember a few of their sides playing in merged teams with Croydon Park for a season or two and they managed to survive that. Shame the AFL isn't helping them out in this case.

... and therein lies the biggest problem in Junior sport across all codes!!! ... those pathetic idiots are not concerned about developing the code, being inclusive, seeing kids participate, seeing them develop and have fun ... they are just worried about winning another u/10's comp!!!

Wake up and have a good look at yourselves, you are supposed to be the adults! ... don't you realise that's why you no longer have control over your own region???!!!

[muddybulldog]

I understand that Bangor's committee are meeting in the coming days to work out how to approach the impending demise of Bankstown - their fear is that a lot of the kids will go ten mins down Henry Lawson Drive to Penshurst which will put the other clubs in the comp at a disadvantage. Either way it would be sad to see the Bombers go, I'd be showing my age here but I remember a few of their sides playing in merged teams with Croydon Park for a season or two and they managed to survive that. Shame the AFL isn't helping them out in this case.

I am told that each of the clubs in the South Comp have been told by the AFL not to register any player from Bansktown. Untill the situation is sorted out. They are permitted ot take expressions of interest but not register or take registration fees. I have been told one club have not done so and did register players last weekend.