World Footy News

The jockeying for position across Australia continues, with Australian Football, soccer, Rugby League and Rugby Union continuing to seek opportunities to expand. The AFL has confirmed the Gold Coast for 2011 and maintains 2012 as the preferred date for Western Sydney, though there are some concessions that it could be pushed out depending on circumstances. Tasmania is also being publically discussed more favourably as a future option, although no real timetable or mechanism has been set.

The A League (soccer) has a free kick to establish itself in Tassie if it wishes. Currently the state government is investigating whether to bid for a licence. The league already has 8 clubs across Australia and New Zealand, and has been focussing along the heavily populated stretch from Sydney to Brisbane. The coming season will see Gold Coast and North Queensland teams, and Gold Coast United's billionaire owner Clive Palmer has predicted that the AFL's Gold Coast club will fold within three years. "The biggest loser's going to be GC17 and Australian rules itself. I give them three years they'll be gone (by 2014)".

From the National Rugby League, the AFL's Gold Coast side also received little warmth. NRL board director Roy Miller said, "I'm upset that another national team is on the Gold Coast because I don't believe the population on the Gold Coast can support four national teams".

NRL boss David Gallop recently canvassed the idea of expansion, and likely targets appear to be Gosford (NSW Central Coast) and western Brisbane. Other cities mentioned in various media are Perth, Wellington (NZ) and Adelaide (where a recent regular season NRL game was played). Papua New Guinea also remains keen for entry, something which would be great for that developing country but probably be a blow to growth in our sport in arguably the world's second best Aussie Rules nation.

An interesting footnote to the ongoing rush for new clubs is the sorry state of basketball in Australia. There was a time in the 1980s and 90s that it was live on free to air TV, rating well, getting relatively big crowds (given smaller stadia), and there were justifiable fears in Australian Football that quality tall players were becoming hard to find. Somewhere along the way the boom faded. Factors may include the simple passing of a fad, the post Magic Johnson and Michael Jordan peak, the move away from free to air TV, and the strengthening of the other national sporting leagues. In 2009 we are witnessing a major overhaul of the NBL, with some of the historically successful clubs folding and a revamped league to be launched. And of those quality tall sportsmen who do persist with basketball, increasingly they are being poached back to the AFL anyway.

With the global financial crisis showing no real signs of abating, there could be some big losers in the footballing race to expand - but for those that are successful, they will be well positioned to dominate the sporting landscape. And if the current situation can be called a battle of the football codes, it seems the biggest loser so far has been the sport that is not football at all.