Look After the 16 Teams We Have Already
Is this a matter of big ego’s or what? An 18 team AFL Football Competition by 2012! This has all the triggers to open up a mine field for the AFL. Listening to some talk back radio yesterday and not one caller had anything positive to say about the decision. AFL fans are outraged at the thought of their clubs struggling financially and maybe even having to merge or fold. AFL Club Presidents had no idea the the AFL were going to announce this. They knew they had plans for the Gold Coast and there was talk about another team in Western Sydney but by 2012? and at what expense to the existing clubs, especially the ones here in Melbourne, some of whom are already struggling financially. Club Presidents are outraged over the plans and rightly so. What are the AFL up too?
Why is it that they are in a race to overtake all other sports at the fastest pace possible? Greedy, Money Hungry, there are a few other that come to mind as well. Once again, like the rule changes in the NAB Cup that has caused the AFL to alienate themselves from the Clubs and the general footballing public even more, the clubs seem to have been left in the dark and the AFL have made the decision on their own when you would have thought their position as the sports governing body was to consult with the clubs they represent.
The Sydney Swans have previously expressed concerns that they didn’t think that there is enough room for a second team in Sydney, OK that may be them protecting their own interest and fair enough, but why put a team like the Swans in that position? All the hard work they have done in the Sydney market is in jeopardy when the new team is put in place. And you can bank on the NRL getting their gloves off now and will come back with a strategy to try and stop the AFL invasion. In Queensland the Lions are working their butt off to reach their target of 28,000 members for this year and the introduction of another side would mean even more competition for member numbers. Can Queensland support another team? That is the question.
The TV broadcasting: The AFL’s current $780 million TV deal will be renegotiated in 2011, with all of the code’s broadcast partners hungry for the content that increasing the competition to 18 teams would bring. Is this the reason for the rush? So they AFL can have
some more leverage when negotiating this deal, I certainly hope this is not their motive.
From a different angle, will this drop the standard of the competition? Think about it, there would have to be 80 more players? Is there enough talent around to accomadate this? I don’t think there is which would mean the standard of football may well deteriorate, which is not what football fans want to see. I wonder if Ricky Nixon got wind of this when he announced his recruiting network in Ireland?
Well there is no doubt there will be some heated and ugly discussion on this issue during the rest of the 2008 season and the AFL are not making themselves look any good at all, that’s for sure!
If this is going to be detrimental to the standard of AFL Football and the 16 clubs that are already in the competition then jam it!
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3 Responses to “Look After the 16 Teams We Have Already”
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[...] The Australian Football League season’s just around the corner, with the pre-season competition having already kicked off – The AFL FootyBlog discusses keeping the status quo… [...]
Agree 100%. Let’s see the report the AFL have been promising for so long before we add another two teams to the mix. As a Queenslander, I don’t see enough support (fan base + financial) for another team up here. Let’s get the Lions roaring again before we dilute the work they’ve put in the last few years to get out of their form slump.
Penrith? Meh. That’s NRL country. Why bother? The Panthers suck up every spare footy dollar west of P’matta. No place for an AFL team.
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