Why the AFL’s Great Western Sydney Adventure Will Fail
The AFL has long held the arrogant view that it is Australia’s indigenous code, that it deserves a greater standing than the other winter games, that all Australia will follow it if only given the opportunity. It is that line of thinking that has led the AFL to Western Sydney and its doomed Greater Western Sydney Franchise, a franchise that may not end only in the death of the new team but also the Sydney Swans.
Sydney is rugby league heartland. Always has been, ever since Dally Messenger captured the imagination of the Sydney sporting public way back in 1908. And it always will be. It certainly is at the moment with the game flying high as arguably the most popular sport in Australia. Last year more people across Australia watched NRL matches than AFL on television. It consistently is the highest rated show on pay television. More than 75,000 attended the preliminary final between western Sydney teams Canterbury and Parramatta at ANZ Stadium last year. Despite what the marketing machine of the AFL would have you believe, over 50% of Australia’s population lives in the rugby league states of New South Wales and Queensland.