There is no seemingly about it..despite the propaganda from AFL HQ re: Aussie Rules in WS A sane person could not possibly believe that Aussie Rules football is anything other than stone motherless last in the WS code-preference ranking. League.....football..a big distance....Rugby...an Astronomical Unit....AFL. Simple fact is, when so many people were laughing at the GWS crowds, lots of Victards responded with, "wait until Collingwood visits - it will probably sell out"(on the back of the Swans data) well Collingwood came to WS and it looks like nobody cared much.

Edited by vanbasten88: 30/1/2013 07:17:25 AM

As a comparison i looked up memberships for League and although the only figures i could find were from 2011 (in an article which memberships weren't yet finalised), the GWS if you can believe their hyped membership numbers (8,125) are equal and greater than League clubs who are from the dominant sport in that state.

2011 so far club by club
Broncos 14,638
Raiders 9,009
Bulldogs 13,584
Sharks 6,515
Titans 8,025
Sea Eagles 9,065
Storm 8,775
Knights 9,220
Cowboys 7,620
Eels 11,110
Panthers 6,132
Bunnies 19,845
Dragons 19,055
Roosters 9,582
Warriors 8,578
Tigers 8,712

How can you treat anything the AFL and this club give you as stats? It makes you question the Swans memberships as well imo.

Why would it create a story?

8,123 is a tiny number of memberships - it's a non-story. I'm not even sure why people on here are questioning such a tiny number.

Yes, but the key point is that the onus was on the soccer authorities to organise it - got nothing to do with the AFL.

And they weren't able to organise it. They didn't have the wherewithal.

Despite all of that, the seemingly least liked football code in Sydney, probably got the biggest crowd for a home and away match for the year - and by a good margin too.

Correct (although the number will inlcude a few thousand from the ACT).

Why would anyone be surprised by that?

By the way, throughout this thread, I have been the very first to nominate WSW as a great success, and further proof here:

http://m.dailytelegraph.com.au/sport/football/wanderers-success-story-continues-off-the-pitch/story-fndb5nmd-1226564554705

Well done to the Wanderers, they are taking all before them and will soon outpace SFC.

Edited by Mister Football: 30/1/2013 08:53:51 AM

Because the average crowd figures were a little over 10,000 people according to Wikipedia, with the derby removed the home average looks to be below 8,000, that means more people hold memberships than attend the game, something doesn't seem right there.

As I said, around a few thousand are Canberra based members, attending the 3 games at Manuka. Obviously those 3,000 aren't attending games in Sydney, and do not form part of the 8,000 or so average in Sydney, and vice versa for games in Canberra.

You're aware that WSW sell 4 game memberships as well, aren't you??

Actually the largest home and away crowd for the NRL was Parramatta versus St George with over 45,000 so it wasn't as you said a "good margin too." and I believe Parramatta may have come last or at the very least near the bottom of the table, whilst the Swans if I am not mistaken won the thing? so if you ask me the 46k you claim for Western Sydney is not with the Western Sydney based team it was with the Sydney based team who won the premiership, only beating by a few 100 people a regular season game between last placed Parramatta and St George.

Should Sydney FC's match against Perth at Homebush be counted in WSW figures after all, that was played in "Western Sydney" well according to your thinking it should be.

Yep 700 of them I think Mr Gorman is quoted in today's article, so hardly the bulk actually about 10.6% what was the % of ACT short term membership for GWS?

Clearly that attendance comparison was not about GWS, but making the point that the weakest football code in Sydney can still pull some pretty big numbers, actually, the biggest numbers, which is a little odd don't you think?

Maybe the AFL is stronger in Sydney than people believe?

The evidence on crowd figures would indicate that no it is not too healthy. That has been shown to you time and again on here but like most fundamentalists you can't seem to accept evidence contra to your beliefs.

As well is has been shown that the Junior AFL game in Sydney is so far behind everything else that my guess is Women's Football has more participants, and that is disparaging to Women, so I apologise.

First we hear of the ALF being a law in their own right by contracting with the Vic police to investigate it's own crimes without the police and now we hear the already suspect 3 strikes your out self regulated drug rules has a loop-hole being taken advantage of by ALF players. As soon as they find out there's drug testing they call the club and admit of the use and there are no ramifications.

If ALF will stoop so low with these matters (considered by many illegal and that have civil rights groups up in arms)imagine the crooked deals and figures it would employ for their own propaganda in Western Sydney.

I'm not sure what you mean - even with its home ground as a construction zone the whole footy season, the Swans still had the best attendance in 2012 of any football club of any description.

Bit of a long bow mate.

Here is the story as reported in the SMH:

http://www.smh.com.au/afl/afl-news/summit-to-tweak-drugs-policy-20130129-2dizt.html

Averages for the two Sydney AFL teams for 2012

Sydney Swans 24,981
GWS approx 8,000 ( taking away the ACT Games)

Now one team came first and thee other dead last, so the combined average is around the 32,000 mark.

Remember this is supposed to be the biggest sport in Australia, 100 odd years old, with the Swans being in this city for 30 years and this is in Australia's largest city.

The average for the two Sydney A league clubs (so far)

Sydney FC 19,300
WS Wanderers 11,677

With a total of around 31,000. Remember one team has been towards the top of the ladder much of the season and the other team has been towards the bottom yet has 19,300 people average, 500 people less that the eventualy premiers in the AFL. Remember this is supposed to be Australia's youngest professional "football" competition, Sydney FC is only 9 years old and the Wanderers didn't exist 9 months ago.

Those figures alone show that the AFL is in a heap of trouble in the West of Sydney and maybe the City as a whole.

edited to make clear that SFC are the ones with the 19,300 despite being towards the bottom

Edited by Post_hoc: 30/1/2013 09:45:32 AM

When SFC or the Wanderers overtake the Swans - then I'll be impressed.

Why? WS Wanderers have already overtaken the GWS, one two or three years old the other 9 months, you now want a 9 year old club to overtake a club 30 years old in this city and 100 odd years old heritage, before you are impressed?

well a few things,

1) Impressing you is not really a concern for me, anyone else on here or Football in general
2) Your a fundamentalist so your never going to change your opinion
3) When we reach that goal you will just move the post and think of a new one.

The simple fact is the title of this thread that you seem incapable of grasping (what with Collingwood and now the Swans) is this is a battle in Sydney's west, and the statistics indicate that AFL are being flogged by the NRL and it appears also the A League. But once again you don't or can't accept that, clearly the traits of a Fundamentalist

No long bow, mate. After nany years the loop-hole gets reported and ALF in their usual PR fashion say they will do something about it for then to be found out something else is crooked. Taking drugs is illegal and like contracting with the VIC police to act as deputy sherif and investigate its own crimes it should be treated with contempt.

ALF are a law into their right and the ALF friendly state with the police will do anything to help cover up the codes wrotten element.

wrotten element?

writ large

ALF = A LAW IN THEIR RIGHT AND CORRUPT

The A-League's two newest teams played each other last weekend, WSW vs Heart, and predictably they attracted the relatively low ratings of 56k.

This got me thinking, what did GWS vs the Suns get as ratings the last time they met.

we would expect that to be on the low side as well, being two young teams from non-heartland areas, and it was on the low side: 167k.

Still, it's an interesting comparison.

It's worth noting that both ratings are approximately 15% to 20% below the averages of the respective leagues.

http://www.tvtonight.com.au/2012/08/saturday-11-august-2012.html

I really look forward to the day when people can be proud of their city suburb and region as the motivating factor to supporting a club regardless whether this is A-League, AFL, NRL etc

Pride in the region >>>>>>>>>>>>>> which sporting team you support the most.

A law in their right?

You need to improve your grammar if you want people to understand what you're trying to say.

:lol: Hard to defend hey Mr ALF

You know that the vast majority of those 167k were from Victoria wanting to see which one stunk the most, so curiosity value at best.

Watch those figures plummet next time.

Please also note that AFL is the the best competition in the world, there is none better then in Australia, while the lowly A-League is not even in the top 20 leagues in the world & yet it competes with AFL in Sydney. Imagine if the best clubs or best players in the world played here.
Best example Man U sellout 80K in 3 mins in meaningless friendly, why AFL struggle with 8132 in the best competition in the world, with their most famous team playing.

Although it was the second time they had met in that season, so curiosity factor would be lower.

That is a dream that Australian soccer fans can cling to.