[GaryBulguihb]

Now we have Garry Lyon (another Victorian) sticking his nose in WA football matters by verballing his support for the West Coast & Fremantle WAFL bid....

Once again the WAFL will be seen soley as a support network for these AFL clubs and nothing else. And in a competition with a level playing feild, there will be no level playing feild once AFL clubs are included. This does not seem to be a question raised to the supporters of the WCE / FREO bid ?? Why not... probably because they cannot give an answer that is positive. Its easier to avoid it all together.

Something baffles me in the whole scheme of things relating to the overall structure of Australian Rules Football in Western Australia... What positives for WA Football comes out of having a WAFL competition that is not given its rightly fair go ? How brilliant would it be for the good and power of football in this state, if the WAFL competition was the premier state league outside the AFL in this country. To be able to have 2 strong and healthy AFL clubs based out of WA and have our senior WAFL competition more powerful than anywhere in this country, would create an amazing feel for the general football fan here. The authorities have looked at this structure in entirely the wrong way. Imagine being a fly by supporter who loved the AFL, but was able to recognise the strength of the domestic league and follow it accordingly. You would have the best of both worlds and attract the best players outside of the AFL. There would be nothing better for the whole football system in WA... Players would want to come here and play in the WAFL, it would lift the overall standing of football in this state, and the Eagles and Dockers would be based in an invironment of success that would outshine the state of Victoria. We are in the most resourceful state in the country if not the world. We have access to sponsorship monies that no other state can access as purely as we can. We are dictated by the Eastern States on a mental level only because we just expect it to be that way. It actually doesnt need to be... The VFL in Victoria is damaged beyond belief. Is that a good thing for football in Victoria ? Absolutely not. Lucky for them they have the AFL based there. In WA we have an opportunity to jack up our overall profile by lifting the WAFL to serious heights, and have 2 AFL clubs who are hugely financially vialble. What a perfect world for football in this state. This structure keeps Australian Rules football in WA streaks ahead of all the other codes at a junior and amature level. That is a health check the code can and should be able to pass if the powers to be understood the big picture.

Having one level of football so overbearingly dominant is not as healthy as people imagine. This state would be the only one in the country capable of drawing up a plan that can place our code streaks ahead of both Victoria and South Australia. And that is good for West Coast and Fremantle who are based here. They will be in an environment surrounded by a real prominent domestic competition. Trying to deminish it even more than it already has been is totally ludicrous, when the alternative is to make WA football overall a superpower across the board. Nobody is expecting the WAFL to reach the heights of its heyday. But propping it up financially to a level WA football can actually afford will put us way ahead of the Eastern States. It can be done and the Eagles and Fremantle are a direct result of the WAFL. They are a part of the AFL, but they survive on being Western Australian. The structure here with a WAFL comp does not need more teams. Condensing it will enable quality footballers outside the AFL to congregate here, and lift the level of expectations on colts and reserves too. It will make stronger footballers here and give the WA football community the pride knowing we have power AFL clubs and a serious power base in the WAFL.

The idea of continually knocking down the WAFL to where it is seen as a bit of a joke, is as moronic in a business sense as you could imagine. What have the WAFC been thinking all these years? We have missed an opportunity to get it right from the ground up. We are in a mining and resources state that even a minnow like Swan Districts can tap into. The WAFC, West Coast and Fremantle have approached this all wrong. Imagine Swans small scale approach to the mining sector, being applied across the board to football in WA. And that doesnt even include the multi-millions attracted by our AFL clubs reaping incredible profits.... Football in this state still has a chance to get it right. We can make ourselves the envy of all the football states, without AFL interferance.

West Coast & Freo attacking the WAFL is totally the wrong way to approach it. The alternative gives the whole footballing state the profile it deserves. And secures our foundations for 1000 years. Isnt that smarter than placing all our eggs in one basket ?

[Teomaderm]

First the AFL then the AFL players association now past Victorian footballers...............................Does anyone else have an opinion about how WA football should be run?

[Lenny Hensley]

Don't worry about them too much.

The Eagles are calling in their old mates for favours. One big name personality to make comment per week I reckon.

Who have they got lined up for The West Australian this week I wonder.

[Seasmillets]

First the AFL then the AFL players association now past Victorian footballers...............................Does anyone else have an opinion about how WA football should be run?

Forgive me for being selfish but I have absolutely NO interest in either West Coast or Fremantle and I would not shed a tear if both were to disband tomorrow.

My interest lies solely with the WAFL.

As lucifer says "past Victorian footballers." Add other Victorians to that, eg. Eddie McGuire.

Why is it that we have not been given the opinions of former WAFL footballers and personalities? Those that have never had any connection at all with the VFL/AFL. Surely they must have their thoughts.

Are the dorkers and bush turkeys afraid the ex-WAFL opinions might vastly overwhelm their own selfish wants.

Another example of VFL/AFL disregard of other competitions:

When the AFL came into being, players from the VFL had their game played in the VFL carried forward into the AFL. Not so players from the WANFL and SANFL.

[allemnendup]

great article GM agree totally with your sentiments; both AFL teams need to understand that football here in WA belongs to all Western Australians & is not just an instrument for them to be used for their own financial benefit/gain to be changed at a moments notice to suit their current whims. Football here belongs to all those volunteers who rock up every sunday morning to help develop our future AFL stars; it belongs to all those individuals who play or volunteer on a regular basis in any of the amatuer & country league assocaition that dot this great state & it belongs to the players & supporters of WAFL clubs past present and future.

WAFL history goes back some 125+ years, long before the birth of the Eagles and will continue long afterwards. Both AFL teams need to understand that the funds that purchased their AFL licences and existence came from the investement made by the 8 founding WAFL clubs who agreed to enter into the national competition & not the other way round. This invitation was provided to WAFL to create a new national competition that encompassed all mainland states (except SA who canned the idea) by the VFL as a number of Victoria Clubs had significant financial troubles at the time and their competition needed a large cash injection to prop up a number of poorly run & broke Victoria teams. Something that has not changed to this day the number of unvaible Victoria Clubs with the exception of Fitzroy. The investment made by the WAFL clubs into the national competition (VFL) was made with the knowledge that it would be to the benefit of the sport here in WA across the board and would probably hurt the WAFL brand at the time nevertheless we chose to jump in boots and all. This investment also provided both the Eagles & Dockers the legitimacy to truly be called Western Australian teams and not defacto Victorian teams transplanted from Victoria which probably would not have received the public support needed for either team to survive in the long-term.

I follow the AFL however i feel those in charge of both the national competition/local teams are idiots full-stop. The expansion from 16 to 18 teams is stupidity of the highest level especially given the number of clubs that remain not financially viable in both Victoria & South Australia. Any proposal for the Eagles & Dockers to have reserve teams in the WAFL is ludicrous as is the cheif idiot Andrew F*****T wanting to control of the 2 AFL licences in WA.

If football is to remain strong in WA for the forseeable future; control of all levels must remain here in WA.

[PheliarearY]

The Victorians treat us with contempt. I've watched a few AFL shows lately on Nine and Ten and the shows are dominated by the talk about he Victorian teams and they whiz over our teams here in about 30 seconds. It's a fken disgrace. The only Victorian who has anytime for our teams over here is Gerard Healy. I don't have Fox sports anymore but he always gave the Eagles and Dockers a good run on On the Couch.

[nakeseireo]

Our AFL clubs here make obscene profits. Even the Eagles who have had a horror few years still rake in memberships, sponsorship and merchandise on a huge scale. Likewise Fremantle.

Yet the WAFL are mere seagulls who fight for every crumb that falls from the mouths of these two, so it seems. This is the wrong way to go about things for Western Australian football. Even our beloved State of Origin football pride was eliminated for eternity by a Victorian (Malthouse) back in the early 1990's.

The WAFC should be demanding changes in the financial stakes in regard to our AFL powerhouses, and collecting extra revenue from them to build the WAFL into a serious 2nd tier competition. And a few million from each club is not too much to ask, yet it can go a huge way to lifting salary caps for WAFL clubs and getting the most elite players based here outside the AFL.

I have no doubt there would be a huge culture change in the overall structure of football in this state. That is a boon for our AFL clubs based here, and will make the WAFL ultra strong compared to the VFL & SANFL. There needs to be a mental change from the authorities who run football in this state. Being buffeted around by the Vics and Croweaters gives off a stigma of negativity. Seeing substancial numbers of top line footballers relocating to the WAFL will send a message and it can be done if the cashcows (WCE & Freo) put back into the WAFL like they should. It wont hurt them as they still make clear healthy profits.

Sometimes you get the feeling our AFL clubs are threatend by every other outside comp or sport. And giving anyone an inch could hurt their brand. They need not worry at all.... None of these theories will probably ever eventuate. But treating the WAFL with contempt will wreck football here from the ground up. Every young footballer in WA must aspire to the WAFL before they think about the AFL. How many kids lose hope early and walk away from the code because the AFL appears to unrealistic and out of reach. If they can aspire to the WAFL (as an attractive first step) then football is in a far healthier state. And if the WAFL is at such an intense and superior level, kids in WA will kill to get there and make something of any chance they have at AFL, no matter how faint it may be... Its more positive injecting the WAFL and propping its standards, than giving it the lip service it does today.... Its a stupid approach.

Having WCE & Freo in the WAFL keeps the competition in a unbalanced state. And will see the WAFL as a training ground for our AFL clubs & nothing else. It will resemble the VFL and die on the vine ever so slowly... The opposite approach will put WA football in a new sphere. This state would be the envy of the nation if its done correctly.

[Chooriwrocaxz]

By the way, read Ken Judge's article on this subject in todays West.

Brilliant.

[amimabremiBit]

By the way, read Ken Judge's article on this subject in todays West.

Brilliant.

And even better it was brave of him to go against the policy of the West Australian Newspaper. Good stuff.

[beethyday]

If possible could one of you guys post a link to Judges column?
Cheers

[derty]

It doesn't seem to be on The West website

[Storwaytozy]

Thanks Bensti I'll have to see if I can get a copy of the West

[fruttomma]

By the way, read Ken Judge's article on this subject in todays West.

Brilliant.

Agree, on ya Judgey. WAFL legend! I love his passion for the game, it comes across every time I hear him talk.

[Gasfghj]

[QUOTE=DemonsDen;30143]The Victorians treat us with contempt. I've watched a few AFL shows lately on Nine and Ten and the shows are dominated by the talk about he Victorian teams and they whiz over our teams here in about 30 seconds. It's a fken disgrace. The only Victorian who has anytime for our teams over here is Gerard Healy. I don't have Fox sports anymore but he always gave the Eagles and Dockers a good run on On the Couch.[/QUOTE]

and he still does. One of the unbiased genuine footy personalities IMHO.