Article in teh Hun on GWS

[Hurricane]

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/afl/t ... 6208602677

Not much here from a Saints point of view but have a look at the jumper Izzy Failou is wearing.

BANG BANG

[crippa2sipa]

I feel personally threatened by that photo. He looks too strong.

[kosifantutti23]

At least we can expect them to have a proper clash jumper unlike the pies or bombers.

[Armoooo]

Collingwood have a fine clash jumper. Their home top is predominately black while their away one is predominately white, perfect.

[HSVKing]

Collingwood have a fine clash jumper.

When they wear it.

Essendon on the other hand...

[meher baba]

"The risk is you don't take a risk," Sheedy said.

Absolutely. Without that attitude there wouldn't have been the Titanic, the Edsel, the second Iraq war, Lehman Brothers' aggressive expansion strategy in the mid-2000s, etc, etc.

"We have two million people here and in 20 years it will be nearly 3.5 million just in our whole zone.

Well, there are around 2 billion people in China and India combined, and we don't even have one footy team there yet. So why are we bothering with Western Sydney?

"OK, let's go back to the VFL then. That's what I say to those (critics). Let them go back to the VFL and stuff the game," he said.

What a ridiculous comment. Clearly the Eagles, Crows and, to some extent, the Dockers and the Lions are successful operations and have added to the value of the competition as a whole. Port Adelaide is a proud and successful club but is clearly struggling with the financial side of operating in the AFL.

But the Swans have generally been a sinkhole into which the AFL has continually poured funds. Even now, after many years operating in Sydney and with a premiership, I think they are pretty vulnerable and few objective observers would consider a good prospect to grow much further in terms of membership or profile. Face facts: their games do not outrate SBS on Sydney TV on a Saturday night.

And now we are adding a second club in the same city: a brand new club with no tradition and, unlike the Suns, no obvious fan base (I'm pretty suspicious of the "12,500 members": I wonder how many of them actually paid for their own memberships and could actually be found on the electoral rolls of western Sydney).

I reckon it's a venture which is likely to be a significant drain on AFL resources forever. We can call it what it is and say that it helps add to the value of the TV rights because 7 and Foxtel can charge advertisers rates for national coverage. I haven't seen the sums, but perhaps it's worth the outlay purely on that basis.

But it isn't going to conquer Western Sydney for AFL. Not in 100 years.

[plugger66]

"The risk is you don't take a risk," Sheedy said.

Absolutely. Without that attitude there wouldn't have been the Titanic, the Edsel, the second Iraq war, Lehman Brothers' aggressive expansion strategy in the mid-2000s, etc, etc.

"We have two million people here and in 20 years it will be nearly 3.5 million just in our whole zone.

Well, there are around 2 billion people in China and India combined, and we don't even have one footy team there yet. So why are we bothering with Western Sydney?

"OK, let's go back to the VFL then. That's what I say to those (critics). Let them go back to the VFL and stuff the game," he said.

What a ridiculous comment. Clearly the Eagles, Crows and, to some extent, the Dockers and the Lions are successful operations and have added to the value of the competition as a whole. Port Adelaide is a proud and successful club but is clearly struggling with the financial side of operating in the AFL.

But the Swans have generally been a sinkhole into which the AFL has continually poured funds. Even now, after many years operating in Sydney and with a premiership, I think they are pretty vulnerable and few objective observers would consider a good prospect to grow much further in terms of membership or profile. Face facts: their games do not outrate SBS on Sydney TV on a Saturday night.

And now we are adding a second club in the same city: a brand new club with no tradition and, unlike the Suns, no obvious fan base (I'm pretty suspicious of the "12,500 members": I wonder how many of them actually paid for their own memberships and could actually be found on the electoral rolls of western Sydney).

I reckon it's a venture which is likely to be a significant drain on AFL resources forever. We can call it what it is and say that it helps add to the value of the TV rights because 7 and Foxtel can charge advertisers rates for national coverage. I haven't seen the sums, but perhaps it's worth the outlay purely on that basis.

But it isn't going to conquer Western Sydney for AFL. Not in 100 years.

Well i think you better hope they do because unless there is a change in how the AFL think they are going to stick with this club for many years and probably eventually at the expence of Vic sides. Hopefully we arent one of those.

[SaintSimmo]

And now we are adding a second club in the same city: a brand new club with no tradition and, unlike the Suns, no obvious fan base (I'm pretty suspicious of the "12,500 members": I wonder how many of them actually paid for their own memberships and could actually be found on the electoral rolls of western Sydney).

Did a bit of research
in 2011 GWS had 12,235 FOUNDATION members
in 2012 GWS currently has 456 members

http://www.gwsgiants.com.au/

[desertsaint]

who in the world would buy a grey and orange guernsey?
their marketing or designing guru has stuffed up with that.
and personally think they will be an abject failure in terms of crowds and dinkum memberships.

western sydney - do we even want reminding that it exists?
like the nrl putting a team in werribee - greater western melbourne.
as for the 'giants' name - why? 'elephants' would be more apt.

[PaytonPlace]

And now we are adding a second club in the same city: a brand new club with no tradition and, unlike the Suns, no obvious fan base (I'm pretty suspicious of the "12,500 members": I wonder how many of them actually paid for their own memberships and could actually be found on the electoral rolls of western Sydney).

Did a bit of research
in 2011 GWS had 12,235 FOUNDATION members
in 2012 GWS currently has 456 members

http://www.gwsgiants.com.au/

They also have 6445 Twitter followers, one fifth of popular entertainer Scott "Dools" Dooley and about 1600 short of Stevie Baker...

[Dr Spaceman]

who in the world would buy a grey and orange guernsey?

People who wear orange hats maybe

[PaytonPlace]

who in the world would buy a grey and orange guernsey?

People who wear orange hats maybe

What Devo?



There was a band called Orange Hat too, but not my cup of tea...like Pavement without the tunes...

Anyway, on topic, the problem with GWS is they are classless. They can't put the genie back in the bottle. All last year everyone had to cop a tedious lecture about how wonderful they were for the game and how somehow losing, say, Goddard was a wonderful thing for the comp and as a St Kilda fan I should cop it because Sheedy gave up Greg Anderson or some nonsense (not to mention all the Gubby Allan is stealing your players drivel)...

To be honest, I don't care about growing the game, only St Kilda, so the idea that I should have a big smile on my face when they steal our players is nonsense. That's why I hate them, they portray themselves as saviours of the competition...