As far as I am aware, Penrith were the first ever senior ladies' side from the GWS area to make a grand final.
You would think that an AFL club which is allegedly representing western Sydney would take the time to acknowledge the fact. And maybe even wish them the best?
This isn't rocket science of course. The Giants are looking for support and they are supposed to be a western Sydney club. So why on earth wouldn't you build up goodwill with the stakeholders in the area instead of either ignoring them or (even worse) alienating them?
Let's be honest here, they are a bunch of muppets who just have not had a clue since day 1 about engaging with the community.
And whilst Mr Wills doesn't think that is important I think it was critical they made a good start but they have taken an arrogant approach. Pekay's post says it all. They let Sheeds come up here and insult people thinking the good people of western Sydney would feel honoured to be poked fun at by such a raconteur. They helped destroy a proud junior club and they've poured their small amount of grassroots support into a team that won't go west of the Spit Bridge.
You seriously couldn't make it up.
They think all they need to do is win games and we'll all come along because all Sydney cares about is winners and we're just so shallow up here. Well, I'm not sure about that, there weren't many people there against the Gold Coast. It will be interesting to see how many they get this weekend as that really is Match of the Round, any less than 12,000 and they're in trouble
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Let's agree to disagree, BTW all the best with your work with Auburn, I'm sure they are a fine bunch of ladies.
Shame the men's team couldn't show the same degree of class but that's old news now luckilly
I think we agree 100%, probably just me articulating poorly.
Tell you what I'd like to see them do: Have 1 FT and a couple casual staff available to assist clubs with admin, fundraising, recruiting volunteers (especially casual ones). I think having something like that would help lift the burdens of running clubs and allow for more focus on the actual football side of things.
I'm interested in knowing what other clubs want from them.
I'm a bit disappointed in myself for falling for the propaganda. They said they were going to be a western Sydney club, it was unequivocal. And I believed them. Silly me.
That's the crux of my criticism, that they have failed to live up to what was promised. They are only a "sort of" western Sydney club at best. They are so desperate for success, the grand vision they outlined has long fallen by the wayside.
Put bluntly - they will do whatever it takes, in the process just putting to one side what was promised.
Games in Canberra, ignoring stakeholders in the GWS area, sponsoring Manly, holding major functions in the CBD instead of the GWS area - that's not a club serious about the west of Sydney, sorry.
I think I still have the Team GWS brochure here somewhere, it's an interesting read in light of what has transpired. At best it is misleading, at worst.....well, I won't say.
You are right in what you say, the attitude seems to be "win and they will come". I am not sure if that is the case. They seem to have forgotten that they have a population of around 2 million to work with. Why not do that then?
I am in the same boat as Pekay, except that I still have my membership - at this stage. I doubt if I will keep it much longer. GWS took a giant dump (pardon the pun) on western Sydney when it sponsored Manly, and it is really hard to support them in return because of that.
That Manly decision is one of the most absurd things I have ever seen in football. Amongst other things it showed a complete and utter misunderstanding and misreading of what was supposed to be their very own demographic.
Put bluntly, they **** on their own back yard.
As for the girls, well it is just basic common sense with marketing. If you are trying to win support across an area, you don't play favourites. You take an even handed approach. Posters who think it is about which side was here first, or who think it is about who has the Giants' branding, don't seem to understand this.
I think part of the problem is that it is an AFL appointed management. So they aren't answerable at all to their members. I have emailed them several times with my concerns about some of the issues mentioned here and they are just too arrogant to even reply (bearing in mind that I am a member). That's hardly a smart approach.
At some stage, the Giants need to decide what they want to be. As they currently are, I would prefer they drop the pretence of being a western Sydney club and just call themselves the Sydney Giants. That would at least bring a bit of honesty back to the table.
Last edited by mountainsofpain; 17th May 2016 at 12:32 AM.
Further to this, I'd like to see Development officers INDEPENDENT of any club affiliations that can get into the schools and recruit the boys and girls to our game. Not feathering the nest of their home club.
The fact that the Giants are setting the footy world on fire and are 5 on the trot, and get 8k-ish to a favourable time slot suggests that they've probably hit their peak here. I give it 3 years and they'll be the Canberra Giants. They always had that redundancy built into their club.
Penrith sent off a few emails to the Giants prior to the girls grand final. they were ignored. even went to a higher source asking if the liason person was still working there. got a reply, "yes" and the email was passed on to her. She apologised "been having email problems for a few weeks, didn't see yours". Asked to send some details and she would publicise. Did that, still no reply to this day.
Just asked if they could mention it being the first Western Sydney team to make a grand final in senior women's footy. Wasn't expecting firework display from the Giants or a cheer squad of dancing girls led by Katie Page and a parachute entrance by Melissa Doyle.
Was good to see the Auburn girls at the Grand Final though, cheering madly for the Central Coast side.
Going to games at Spotless, which my family and I do five or six times a year is an interesting experience, and getting
there by train even more illuminating, culturally speaking. The GWS crowd is almost 100% of Anglo descent (not unlike the
Swans crowd), but sitting on the train for a dozen stops from the inner west to Lidcombe on Saturday we did not see a single person
of Anglo origin either on the train or on any of the platforms the train passed through. Not one. I think it just says everything about
the nature of large chunks of Western Sydney these days and so I'm not convinced about the build it (the winning dynasty) and they
will come strategy. Unless AFL (by that I mean the AFL and the Giants) can somehow engage with these folk from different countries
and cultures and get them "into" the game long term then the only people who will turn up to Spotless are the same ones that are
already there plus a few thousand "theatre goers" when GWS are on a winning streak.
I know it's thirty years ago, but that was the Swans crowd when they were winning every home game
in 1986 & 1987. Once we started losing only the hard core fans remained. Maybe footy can learn from what happened thirty years ago.
It will take a vast amount of money, and a vast amount of willpower.
They play 8 homes games a year at Spotless, and 3 in Canberra.
I guess it's like North playing games in Hobart, and Hawthorn in Launceston.
It's called money. And no footy club can ever have enough.
The Swans up until last year played three home games at ANZ stadium, and that may as well as been
Canberra judging by the amount of whingeing that went on about it. You'd think the world was about to end.
I never got all the bleating about ANZ. There was an oval, goalposts, grass, a bar, what else do you want?
This is not current (@ 29/3/16) but nonetheless tells an interesting story;
Club 2016 Members 2015 Members
Adelaide 60,383 52,920
Brisbane Lions 20,660 25,408
Carlton 45,194 47,305
Collingwood 55,000 75,037
Essendon 50,442 60,818
Fremantle 46,283 51,433
Geelong 46,764 44,312
Gold Coast 10,946 13,643
GWS Giants 10,247 13,480
Hawthorn 69,006 72,924
Melbourne 34,023 35,953
North Melb 37,635 41,012
Port Adelaide 57,195 54,057
Richmond 70,021 70,809
St Kilda 34,246 32,746
Sydney 42,646 48,836
West Coast 59,363 60,221
Western Bulldogs 30,027 35,222
In 2014 GWS membership was a tick over 13,000, up from 11,000 in 2013.
In 2013, they were the only AFL Club in the country who made a net loss on membership
They had a stated gross revenue of $800k (so the average member paid $72 for the privilege, so most of those would have been the $50 subsidised options, and mostly Canberrans), and costs of $1.2 million which included "fan development and community engagement" at a cost of about $900k ... so clearly they were out and about, banging the drums and engaging with the community that year, and the 2,000 extra members they gained came at the miniscule cost of $20k per head!!!
Would be interested to see what it is now, but who would buy a membership (other than an ACT or Riverina "local") when they give away 20,000 tickets for every game.
PS: I liked ANZ as a venue.
Agreed. The Canberra minister who signed off on it should be lynched by the public. From memory was 27 million over 10 years. Works out at like over half a mil a game. Pretty sure state of origin matches have been bought for that by victoria.
No way was that needed to get them there. Surely GWS will struggle when they lose 2.7 mil a year.
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