We Are Not Scared Of Them !
They are the words of NRL Boss David Gallop. The battle lines have officially been drawn.The NRL are about to tackle the AFL head on in the race in competition expansion. It seems everyone is going to be in on the game including the Hyundai A-League. “Frankly, it’s time to take the AFL’s threats with a grain of salt”, Gallop said and the NRL not only will battle the AFL on the Gold Coast, they are planning to infiltrate Perth. Here are the other areas where they are planning to expand: Central Coast, Queensland’s Sunshine Coast, Wellington and an area West of Brisbane.
The NRL are certainly trying to match fire with fire describing the AFL’s push into New South Wales as “ARROGANT” and attacking the AFL’s Commission chairman Mike Fitzpatrick’s comments when he said the NRL have been “lucky” with the success of the Gold Coast Titans. With the A-League set to introduce a team as early as next year the AFL will then be the third of the footballing codes up there behind the A-League and the NRL. As Dave from Dave’s Football Blog correctly pointed out in a comment on another post, the A-League play in different seasons but I just wonder about the Sponsorship and Membership opportunities which may cause some issues. I have heard on many occations on talk back radio that people and families that buy AFL Club memberships just can’t afford to fork out the cash for membership for Melbourne Victory as well. And if the A-League and NRL have teams there before the AFL, which looks like happening the people of South East Queensland may have already jumped on board with these teams meaning the AFL team that is located there may have more of an uphill battle than would already be the case.
For me, and for many other people, Australian Rules Football is the best game in the world but the public in different parts of Australia have different views and that will be an issue for the AFL.
The battle to be the Best and Biggest footballing code in Australia continues but who will raise their hands in triumph? Will the heavy weights in the AFL with more money and resources than the others win the battle? Time will tell.
