TOPIC:

its all good guys. a Wet Coast guy is stepping up - Deane Pieters

Tiger of old wrote:
You clearly have a lot of disdain for all things WAFL, even us “waflsomniacs.” But how could you possibly think the WAFL is no longer relevant? It’s a second tier of the game in this country.

Yes the WAFL is a second tier competition but it is struggling and has been for at least 20 years to find its position in the WA football market.

The WAFL has an ageing supporter base and has failed to engage the interest of younger supporters for a number of reasons. One of the big reasons is people want to watch the best so prefer to go to live AFL games or watch it on TV. The other reason is that people want to participate and the Perth FL has catered for this and grown exponentially over the same time to 69 clubs, 260+ teams and 11k+ registered players.

And for those two reasons alone the WAFL has lost its relevance to people outside of its traditional supporter base and needs to redefine itself to survive.

The one thing that has maintained the WAFL’s relevance is that any WA based player who aspires to play AFL is required to play a minimum of 1 WAFL game to be eligible to nominate for the Draft. Except for WA and SA, players from all other states and territories can be drafted directly from any recognised school or club competition. Remove that and the WAFL has no relevance for the 1000s of junior and senior players aspiring to make the AFL in WA.

TT; the game figure should be made 50 -- the old unwritten rule, as you know was 110 games -- not sure why it is only one game when the original bunch shelled out 4 million to join. They certainly did not get much out of the Victorians for their money, did they? Change, in this regard should be worked on together with the SANFL

AR you’d make a better case trying to raise the draft age to 20 or 21 rather than a minimum games requirement of 50. Players aren’t required to play any state league games in other states to get drafted

And I hope people don't forget a parliamentary inquiry brings out an opinion/ s on whatever subject is being discussed. And as such is not a lawful ruling from the chair or members conducting the inquiry. The recommendations put forward by the parliaments committee may or not be implemented.

Time For a Flag wrote: its all good guys. a Wet Coast guy is stepping up - Deane Pieters

Oh deary me!

Tiger Tales - you have no idea what you are talking about.
AFL clubs see the wafl and 2nd tier clubs as relevant, that you don’t isn’t relevant to Richmond.
You know why ?
3 players drafted from the wafl as senior footballers played in their flag last year - Broad, Baker, Pickett.
They also have players like Lambert Castagna and Aarts from the vfl
Add in Tim Kelly as you might have heard of him.
Menegola getting another chance, Banfield, Guelfi, tobe Watson, Hughes
Numerous players like Mihocek and Riccardi is doing well at Gws and heard of Luke Ryan at Freo or Bewley and Schulz
All players who are playing AFL due to 2nd tier football
Give your complaining a rest

Remove the WAFL and have players drafted from school, amateurs or country footy, how ridiculous. You can’t have players going from an amateur level straight into AFL clubs, how could anybody think that is good for the game. You “amateursomniacs” may hate the WAFL but it is an important part of football in this country, along with all levels of the game. The real villain is the AFL which has way too many teams and consumes way too much of the finances.

Tiger Tales wrote:

Tiger of old wrote:
You clearly have a lot of disdain for all things WAFL, even us “waflsomniacs.” But how could you possibly think the WAFL is no longer relevant? It’s a second tier of the game in this country.

Yes the WAFL is a second tier competition but it is struggling and has been for at least 20 years to find its position in the WA football market.

The WAFL has an ageing supporter base and has failed to engage the interest of younger supporters for a number of reasons. One of the big reasons is people want to watch the best so prefer to go to live AFL games or watch it on TV. The other reason is that people want to participate and the Perth FL has catered for this and grown exponentially over the same time to 69 clubs, 260+ teams and 11k+ registered players.

And for those two reasons alone the WAFL has lost its relevance to people outside of its traditional supporter base and needs to redefine itself to survive.

The one thing that has maintained the WAFL’s relevance is that any WA based player who aspires to play AFL is required to play a minimum of 1 WAFL game to be eligible to nominate for the Draft. Except for WA and SA, players from all other states and territories can be drafted directly from any recognised school or club competition. Remove that and the WAFL has no relevance for the 1000s of junior and senior players aspiring to make the AFL in WA.

Thats it in a nutshell - in 20 years time the last of the "Big Years" WAFL people will be dead or in nursing homes, the youngest will be in their 70s. You can see the rapid decline in attendances which will accelerate now along demographic lines. I would really like to see a demogrphic survey done of the 5000 or so WAFL people who go along each to all four games.

The big problem is the younger gen are are gone for good, and when I say younger these dudes are now approaching 40 with no knowledge of what the WAFL was like in the 70s and 80s, anything younger than them is gone.

Footy relies a lot on generational passing on as well, you go along to the club your dad and grand dad went to - that is what you idendity with, and thats all AFL now.

I dont know how much longer it can really hang onto the second tier mantle, it is becoming less and less relevant to the top tier. Its wholly and soley reliant on AFL funds for day to day financial survival, SANFL and Crows and Port decoupled a few years about with a 18 Mill deal. It wont be long before the same happens here.

Tiger of old wrote: Remove the WAFL and have players drafted from school, amateurs or country footy, how ridiculous. You can’t have players going from an amateur level straight into AFL clubs, how could anybody think that is good for the game. You “amateursomniacs” may hate the WAFL but it is an important part of football in this country, along with all levels of the game. The real villain is the AFL which has way too many teams and consumes way too much of the finances.

Why not- every other State has been doing that for years.