Cairns v Townsville – Which will be the home of an AFL team by 2030?

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Cairns v Townsville – Which will be the home of an AFL team by 2030?

Authored by: Tobietta Rhyman
on Friday, February 22 2013 @ 09:32 am ACDT

Everyone's talking as if it's only the population of those towns which support the club. There's probably more Geelong supporters outside of Victoria than people living in Geelong. The same goes for the teams outside of Melbourne. If the only supporters were the ones living in those cities the teams would surely faily, simply because of the majority of matches being in Melbourne and the huge travelling distances involved for fans. It's not a stretch of the imagination to say that most Lions or Swans fans attending "away" games in Melbourne probably live there.

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AFL England Women's Football Co-ordinator; WFN Female Football Writer

Cairns v Townsville – Which will be the home of an AFL team by 2030?

Authored by: Wesley Hull
on Friday, February 22 2013 @ 11:43 am ACDT

Tobietta, you are quite right. The support of clubs is way byond the boundaries of that city, suburd or locality and I know for a fact that there are Essendon supporter in all corners of the globe. But the thinking of the AFL will still be governed by a population base which will fill the seats in stadium. As soon as Sydney's figures dropped in the mid 90's and they couldn't beat an egg, all sorts of deals were done to get people to ste SCG...special offers, promotions and so on. The AFL still places a heavy emphasis on the tribalism that goes with a club. The best evidence of this is probably the argument about Essendon v Collingwood on Anzac Day. They believe that those two clubs will pack the MCG (so would others, but it's a perception that the Bomber and Magpie tribes will be a guarantee). This thinking will be part of the North Quensland decision. As long as seats and memberships and local sponsorships can be guaranteed from the local population, the AFL would be happy. If not they will look elsewhere. Clubs like Essendon, Carlton, Collingwood, Richmond have always had a very strong heartland...the fouundation on which all other support and sponsorship is built. Any new club will need that, but if a club gets relocted there it helps that process. It was Mick Conlan the CEO of AFL Queensland who stated the 4.5 million figure for the north. It is actually well below that...lucky to be half a million...and most support rugby league...so it will be a tough gig to get a solid heartland following.

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AFL England Women's Football Co-ordinator; WFN Female Football Writer

Cairns v Townsville – Which will be the home of an AFL team by 2030?

Authored by: Harley Vague
on Friday, February 22 2013 @ 01:12 pm ACDT

Tobietta whilst you are right about the spread of supporters it's the home crowd drawing power that determines a club's viability. It's about a centres's population, it's hinterland, it's market share, it's facilities and overall attractiveness. The good news is that the more regional a centre, the more per head of population a regional centre tends to attract. This probably due to the lack alternative entertainments. A place like Darwin produces crowds that are sometimes a huge percentage of it's city. It'd be a big ask to do that on a regular basis. Townsville I believe draws on it's hinterland a lot. People can easily drive in and watch a game. A few more people will attend if the ground and facilities are up to scratch and located conveniently. .A good number will attend if the team is attractive because they are successful, or play attractively or are engaged in some "tribal" battle. Some people do travel distances to attend games like Swans in Canberra. The GWS concept is interesting. The Giants share two cities. I'd say not too many of their fans travel atm. There'd be a much greater connection with Cairns/Townsville or Hobart/Launceston. Even the NZ game is expected to draw some Aussie tourists but that would be hard to duplicate on a regular basis.

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AFL England Women's Football Co-ordinator; WFN Female Football Writer

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