The definition of DELUSIONAL ...

[Coastal Boy]

Ali is a player with the club and a multi cultural officer from the club from my understanding - I have never had anyone from the AFL contact me to organise a trial match so I stand to be corrected but I think Ali is well and truly entrentched at the club - By the way our council supplied us a long term shipping container for storage and met us half way on the new goal posts at Rosedale that cost 7k, which the juniors enjoy as did a huge amount of master tonight at Rosedale from all over Sydney - I could see shorts from the Dogs, UTS, ourselves, Power, Camden etc there - Surely the clubs themselves also have some responsibility.

That being the case I hope no offence to Ali was taken.....but the article should have quoted him as a club rep not the GWS spokesperson. Thats sad that even he could not muster some financial support for the tigers. Surely they could have waived the club fees for the first couple of years.

[Pace To Burn]

Obviously things have to take priority in terms of getting on the piss. You same blokes need to promote yourself and not just rely on him

[Mug Punter]

In the article Ali Faraj states the new clubs are an initiative of gws. My mail tells me the local council and the Kassem boys did the lot.....the whole lot.....the kassem boys even had to hire their own cherry picker to put the posts in themselves which the council helped pay for. So I would love to know what anyone who works in an afl dept did to help. I even hear there is no discount on the fees in the first year....what a joke. Sounds like a croc to me

Likewise my understanding is that GWS had nothing to do with these teams getting off the ground. Pathetic really that the AFL and that mob at Blacktown in their portakabin are so desperate to get press

[unconfuseme]

The point of this thread was not to bag the new clubs coming in (including GWS), but to point out, that other than the Uni clubs, and the ones who are prepared to sell their souls, the rest of the senior clubs in Sydney are actually struggling.

... but never let the truth get in the way of a good story!

I would have hoped that the money that GWS is now bringing into the local market is not just sucked up by washed up footballers trying to make careers for themselves, but instead is used to create a sustainable infrastructure for the game.

Ideally it is distributed to the senior clubs who can demonstrate that they have a workable plan to support junior development, and establish support and pathways for those junior clubs ... just like they are at Fantasy ... sorry, I mean Docker Land .

[tara]

In the article Ali Faraj states the new clubs are an initiative of gws. My mail tells me the local council and the Kassem boys did the lot.....the whole lot.....the kassem boys even had to hire their own cherry picker to put the posts in themselves which the council helped pay for. So I would love to know what anyone who works in an afl dept did to help. I even hear there is no discount on the fees in the first year....what a joke. Sounds like a croc to me

Ali is a player with the club and a multi cultural officer from the club from my understanding - I have never had anyone from the AFL contact me to organise a trial match so I stand to be corrected but I think Ali is well and truly entrentched at the club - By the way our council supplied us a long term shipping container for storage and met us half way on the new goal posts at Rosedale that cost 7k, which the juniors enjoy as did a huge amount of master tonight at Rosedale from all over Sydney - I could see shorts from the Dogs, UTS, ourselves, Power, Camden etc there - Surely the clubs themselves also have some responsibility.

Anyway how did the Tiggers get Mona park ahead of the round ball game?

[Hard Times]

Get the Swans supporters on talking down GWS.
One team towns are great for growth, every loud supporter generates 2 people prepared to support the new side. Sydney is big enough even if all the people are not.

[Coastal Boy]

In the article Ali Faraj states the new clubs are an initiative of gws. My mail tells me the local council and the Kassem boys did the lot.....the whole lot.....the kassem boys even had to hire their own cherry picker to put the posts in themselves which the council helped pay for. So I would love to know what anyone who works in an afl dept did to help. I even hear there is no discount on the fees in the first year....what a joke. Sounds like a croc to me

[ShortHalfHead]

IF the AFL were supporting the local comp, I wouldn't have a problem with it. My nephews play in local comps.

The problem as I see it, is the AFL are going to throw a lot of money at GWS ... GWS could very well take the BEST players out of the local comp, and the local comp will get nothing in return.

As far as I can tell, there's nothing in the AFL's GWS deal that supports the local comp.

I can't see many Sydney players in the comp now playing for GWS. And if they did, it would certainly be an encouragement for local players anyhow and would increase them, not diminish them

[tara]

Annie if the local kids were up to it they'd already be on AFL lists or will be shortly.

As for the AFL putting money into the local comp its not going to happen anytime soon. They dont care about the local competitions at grass roots levels - its all about numbers for their tv ratings and sponsorship dollars.

[DLH]

IF the AFL were supporting the local comp, I wouldn't have a problem with it. My nephews play in local comps.

The problem as I see it, is the AFL are going to throw a lot of money at GWS ... GWS could very well take the BEST players out of the local comp, and the local comp will get nothing in return.

As far as I can tell, there's nothing in the AFL's GWS deal that supports the local comp.

Well for a start there's going to be 50 extra elite players plus extra development staff out there every day working to build the game at the grassroots.

For the life of me I'm just baffled by the continued attitude of most Swans people who think the sport in this city begins and ends with them. Honestly, you'd think given the hostility we face all around us that they would put the growth of the GAME first, but no, despite the fact you've had 30 years to yourselves to get your house in order you still whinge.

Australian Football has had more publicity in this city in the last 12 months since the announcement of GWS than it's ever had before, I don't care that a lot of it's been negative, any publicity is good publicity for us.

I'm a North Melbourne member and supporter and I always will be, but I tell you what, I'll be buying a GWS membership and doing everything I can to ensure that it works. I've put too much skin into our great game over the past 30 years in the outer west of Sydney not to, and thank God the AFL have had the foresight to do this with the long term in mind now that they have the financial resources to support it.

I've always been of the same mind as Tara in relation to the Swans, I always want them to win unless they play my team for the reasons he's outlined, but I tell you what, it's becoming harder and harder each day with their small minded attitude.

[AnnieH]

What percentage of ayes would you see as being acceptable Annie?

I don't know CTS ... the lower the level of interest, the harder it's going to be for them to set up from scratch.
If they got 10%, it's a start.
I doubt they'd get 10%.

[AnnieH]

IF the AFL were supporting the local comp, I wouldn't have a problem with it. My nephews play in local comps.

The problem as I see it, is the AFL are going to throw a lot of money at GWS ... GWS could very well take the BEST players out of the local comp, and the local comp will get nothing in return.

As far as I can tell, there's nothing in the AFL's GWS deal that supports the local comp.

[Midfield]

I don't understand comments like this.

I have my concerns about expansion into NSW, but in the end I'm just a bloke behind a computer who supports the Swans.

The AFL aren't going to thrust themselves further into the Sydney market unless they have done their homework.
That's it in a nutshell.

They are more aware than anyone of the dangers and issues which this push faces, and they are full steam ahead.
Maybe, there is a real need for a second team.

we could look back through these forum pages and find loads of posts from years ago re: a truely national competition.

regardless of what happend to the push into NSW, and how that all turns out, I don't see any major downside for the Swans
Or at least, the potential positives far outweigh the negatives.

I say let's go for it and steal some more marketplace from the other forms of football.

I dont know about homework other than to say that they looked over the last census and found that there are a heap of people in Sydney, therefore we need a second team. I am not afraid to say that everyone on the NSWAFL forum supports the introduction of the second team, as we support AFL in Sydney NSW first and the Swans etc second. What unconfuseme is trying to point out (I think), is that the AFL have not done enough regarding the local competition. A couple of million injected into the local clubs would be very nice, i'm sure if they did this we wouldn't have teams folding and we wouldnt have to have the players umpire the games.

[CureTheSane]

Obviously not a big enough Westie.

Has the announcement of GWS bought a HUGE influx of people from the west into the local clubs?

I want you to take an excursion to Westfield Mt Druitt with a pen and paper and ask 100 people whether or not they would support GWS. I bet you get more nays than ayes.

What percentage of ayes would you see as being acceptable Annie?

[tara]

Obviously not a big enough Westie.

Has the announcement of GWS bought a HUGE influx of people from the west into the local clubs?

I want you to take an excursion to Westfield Mt Druitt with a pen and paper and ask 100 people whether or not they would support GWS. I bet you get more nays than ayes.

Why, what would that prove? Nothing - did you know that the local competition is Sydney was stronger prior to the Swans arrival - in the 90s it really dropped off - surely using your logic the Swans should have had the effect of imrproving the game at the grass roots level.

For what its worth though four years my club counted 13 senior players on the training track as a good night - fast forward 2010 and that number is more than 50, we have two senior sides and an under 18's and expect three senior teams in 2011 as we continue to rebuild - in additon 16 of my senior team are aged between 18 and 22 and only 3 over thirty but more importantly for a club that has historically (over 60 years) had a close relationship with the defense force more that 75% playing in the seniors are local lads and most were born in the area. Penrith and Norwest (based at Richmond) another two clubs who have struggled for years are also showing good signs on sustainable growth - Penrith in particular a building very well.