Richard Hinds doesn't seem too positive about the AFL's plan to win the west (of Sydney) by establishing a new team in 2012. As a Swans fan since the years when the only thing rarer than a Swans fan was a Swans win, I don't really like the idea, but it makes a lot of sense.
Of course a new team in Sydney's west will struggle at first. With no support base to start with, it won't find things any easier than Sydney did from the early 80s, or the Bears a few years later. Whether they are the West Sydney Emus or the Blacktown Bogans is hardly relevant (what's the obsession with alliteration, anwyay?) - the difficulties have nothing to do with that sort of detail.
It's hard to imagine the team really taking off without serious success, which can't be guaranteed. But no matter what happens, the difficulties facing a second Sydney team in 2025 will be much greater if they haven't slogged it out on the big grounds and local parks for thirteen years already. It will be easier to start now than later, and settling for Sydney remaining a one-team city forever isn't an option if anyone is serious about growing the game.
3 comments:
yeah, but there are no plans at all for making a tassie team which would make more sense than a new sydney one or a new queensland team, as tassie is already aussie rules territory and they want a team
And has a population of less than half a million - about a quarter of Western Sydney. If the people running the show are serious about increasing popularity or money, they'll be more interested in Sydney than Tas. Whether that's a good thing is another matter.
Ben is too lazy to leave a comment, but he told me he'd consider becoming a member of a new westie club to help get them going, despite really following the Swans. Interesting thought.
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