TOPIC:

anchorman wrote: Remembering that in 1986, the WAFL and most clubs were broke.No money, the VFL was bleeding the local competition dry of players.
I was not in favour of the joining the VFL, but how would the supporters of the WAFL clubs have felt had your club gone broke and had to dissolve.South and East becoming Fremantle!!!!!!!Heaven forbid.Swans and Perth becoming Perth Swans!!!!!East Perth West Perth becoming Garlic Royals!!!!Claremont Subi becoming Hand bag Browns and yellas.
Yep the WAFL is destroyed, but would have been anyway.

VFL clubs like Coll, Foots, Fitz, Rich, St Kilda, North etc were broke too, we got conned into bailing them out, shouldv'e waited and done it on equal terms as the lone voice in Bill Walker said!

swan42 wrote:

anchorman wrote: Remembering that in 1986, the WAFL and most clubs were broke.No money, the VFL was bleeding the local competition dry of players.
I was not in favour of the joining the VFL, but how would the supporters of the WAFL clubs have felt had your club gone broke and had to dissolve.South and East becoming Fremantle!!!!!!!Heaven forbid.Swans and Perth becoming Perth Swans!!!!!East Perth West Perth becoming Garlic Royals!!!!Claremont Subi becoming Hand bag Browns and yellas.
Yep the WAFL is destroyed, but would have been anyway.

Seriously A/man? Surely you are not suggesting that there were more WALF players playing in the VFL then than the number of WAFL players playing in the AFL now?

The VFL were parasites then and the AFL are parasites now. What is the track record of the VFL/AFL in destroying other Aussie Rules competitions? The VFL and VFA in Victoria; virtually the decimation of the Tasmanian Aussie Rules competitons and the virtually bastardisation of the WAFL and SANFL competitions. What a magnificent record for such an august body that purports to want to develop Aussie Rules.

As for their track record in Sydney, what have they achieved? Speaking to a couple from the 'Gong that are Canberra-based GWS members at the tennis last week the answer is very little. In terms of exposure in the Sydney papers, it is very limited and one needs to go many pages into the papers to find any articles and they are virtually limited to articles about Sydney and GWS in the main.

Don't forget the decimation of other great comps like the Sunday League and many country teams which is also a result of all this AFLcentric expansion

swan42 wrote:

anchorman wrote: Remembering that in 1986, the WAFL and most clubs were broke.No money, the VFL was bleeding the local competition dry of players.
I was not in favour of the joining the VFL, but how would the supporters of the WAFL clubs have felt had your club gone broke and had to dissolve.South and East becoming Fremantle!!!!!!!Heaven forbid.Swans and Perth becoming Perth Swans!!!!!East Perth West Perth becoming Garlic Royals!!!!Claremont Subi becoming Hand bag Browns and yellas.
Yep the WAFL is destroyed, but would have been anyway.

Seriously A/man? Surely you are not suggesting that there were more WALF players playing in the VFL then than the number of WAFL players playing in the AFL now?

The VFL were parasites then and the AFL are parasites now. What is the track record of the VFL/AFL in destroying other Aussie Rules competitions? The VFL and VFA in Victoria; virtually the decimation of the Tasmanian Aussie Rules competitons and the virtually bastardisation of the WAFL and SANFL competitions. What a magnificent record for such an august body that purports to want to develop Aussie Rules.

As for their track record in Sydney, what have they achieved? Speaking to a couple from the 'Gong that are Canberra-based GWS members at the tennis last week the answer is very little. In terms of exposure in the Sydney papers, it is very limited and one needs to go many pages into the papers to find any articles and they are virtually limited to articles about Sydney and GWS in the main.

Your a legend in my book Swan 42. Your comments and posts hit the nail on the head.
I can remember when the Footy Budget had a page showing the performance of WA Players in the AFL. It was a full page giving clubs and stats etc etc. Not sure how many WA Players were in AFL clubs but it was a lot and one club from memory had up to 10 WA players in their side. Grassy can check this out or I will find a old budget.
Look at the Key players in most AFL clubs and at least 2 or more are WAFL recruits.

As one poster mentioned the WAFL is a great feeder to the WAFL and the WA players drafted are a huge crowd puller. He went on to say the AFL should be putting more money into the WAFL as they are MILKING the WAFL for their own greedy ends.

The AFL is dysfunctional and a few renown commentators have said the same. The Essendon overkill and Goodes racial bullshit where they went overboard are just a couple of examples.

It is easy for posters to say the WAFL are not doing enough and must be responsible for their Decisions but I ASSURE YOU that the WAFL clubs are busting their guts to increase crowds, Sponsors and many other promotions to increase their income but they are struggling because of the WAFC and the AFL Big brother and self interest Decisions and lack of support.

Will it change? No it will get worse with the WAFC not getting the money spinner at the new stadium so they will lose a lot of revenue as will the WAFL clubs.

Me well I have given up and will not paying any membership at WPFC this year.
Why because the competition is no longer a competition and is not being played on a Level playing field. Clubs will bust their GUTS all season but the end result is a AFL alignment club will get the Premiership or Subiaco who have been given a open cheque by the WAFC with the "compensation" of retaining a bar at all AFL games plus the 500 Seats and the function centre that in a couple of games brings in more than major promotions by other clubs. It will be interesting to see what happens at that club when the new stadium opens? But then again they have a lot more in the bank than any other club.

As a supporter I became sick of FLOGGING A DEAD HORSE... No not just the WPFC but the 6 clubs who are struggling and it will not get any better and it BLOODY HURTS.

Swandog wrote:

anchorman wrote: Remembering that in 1986, the WAFL and most clubs were broke.No money, the VFL was bleeding the local competition dry of players.
I was not in favour of the joining the VFL, but how would the supporters of the WAFL clubs have felt had your club gone broke and had to dissolve.South and East becoming Fremantle!!!!!!!Heaven forbid.Swans and Perth becoming Perth Swans!!!!!East Perth West Perth becoming Garlic Royals!!!!Claremont Subi becoming Hand bag Browns and yellas.
Yep the WAFL is destroyed, but would have been anyway.

VFL clubs like Coll, Foots, Fitz, Rich, St Kilda, North etc were broke too, we got conned into bailing them out, shouldv'e waited and done it on equal terms as the lone voice in Bill Walker said!

Dead right mate.
I have noted there is always a couple of stooges who try and rewrite history with bullshit about the WAFL being dead back in 86 whilst entirely forgetting the only reason the VFL was keen to get the likes of WA, SA, NSW & QLD involved in "their comp" was because they were skint and more than half of their clubs technically broke!
Swans are still waiting for the full transfer fees agreed from StK, Foots, Fitz for the likes of Narkle, Beasley, Sidebottom et al from some 35 years ago!

VFL was broke, and needed the licence money.

But the WAFL was struggling as the player movement became a tidal wave to Vic, crowds dropped and debts went through the roof...its hard to see who was more desperate, but the mob here got sucked into paying a mint for sfa to join the VFL, and a few years later the entire thing went belly up requiring Burke to use taxpayers money to bail out the WAFL. The VFL took the cash and went from strength to strength the rest is history.

RedLegs wrote: A WA based team in a national competition was always going to exist and so was a second, just look at how much time and money has been invested by the AFL to get 2 teams up in the non-traditional football states.

I've never suggested that the WAFL clubs shouldn't receive funding from the WA based AFL clubs through the WAFC but it concerns me that there is an expectation that WAFL clubs are owed the money. We need to address the big issue of why the WAFL clubs are so heavily dependant on this funding for their survival and how to remedy it. The changing face of WA footy means that this funding may not always be available and the WAFL clubs need to change their business model.

Ideas that need to be considered:
- implementation of an effective player points system, the current system is too easily manipulated by the wealthier clubs.
- reduce the salary cap to a level which is sustainable
- look at the viability of the Reserves competition. I'm not sure the benefit outweighs the costs associated with it.
- better use of social media to engage new members and supporters. Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat etc have little to no cost associated with them and often have a better draw than mainstream media. none of the clubs do it well and the WAFL is terrible.
- increase non-matchday usage of the clubs by other groups.
- reduce entry costs/free entry to matches to increase attendance and look to make the lost gate revenue back through increased bar, canteen and merchandise sales.

If the WAFL can become a sustainable competition independent of WAFC funding then not only will it survive, it will become strong again. The current model doesn't work so some short term pain will need to be endured.

Spot on, if the WAFL loses income streams from the Eagles and Dockers, its cactus in its current shape, as you say its not impossible that this could happen, the WAFL needs to move to a more sustainable model if it has any hope of survival.

The real point is that 'aussie rules' is in decline under the supposed watch of the AFL. We are fortunate in WA because we still have our competition with all our clubs. If anyone was honest on here, particularlly those whom support Victorian clubs, could you say that the AFL has saved football in Victoria? The Victorian clubs can barelly win a game; they have lost a club; other clubs have been re-named and then re-nammed back, the crowds are down, most clubs are in debt, they have clubs whom have not won a flag since the beginning of football time despite the draft, they have one Victorian club which has dominatted the competition despite the draft, and, through the draft and other Socialist policies they have introduced a policy of'newsouthwalesisation', which, in truth, is deeply anti-Victorian and also has has grave implications for the other clubs, such as, Fremantle and the WEC.

Footscary I hear people say. Well they more illustrate my point than the other way: they have taken 90 years to win a flag, they have only marginal support, they have no money, they have changed their name and back again, worn different jumpers over the years. Having said this, the 'aussie rules' league owes the bulldogs are big debt, because, the club's great effort in winning its second flag, hid, for one more year, the extent to which Victorian football has been destroyed.

Ps: I missed one -- the demise of the VFA, which, of course pre-datted and was the parent even to the 'aussie rules league'.

Comparred to all that, as a supporter of the WAFL and WA football, I actually feel contentted.

apologies to all the Footscray fans, it is not 90 years.

ArkRoyal wrote: The real point is that 'aussie rules' is in decline under the supposed watch of the AFL. We are fortunate in WA because we still have our competition with all our clubs. If anyone was honest on here, particularlly those whom support Victorian clubs, could you say that the AFL has saved football in Victoria? The Victorian clubs can barelly win a game; they have lost a club; other clubs have been re-named and then re-nammed back, the crowds are down, most clubs are in debt, they have clubs whom have not won a flag since the beginning of football time despite the draft, they have one Victorian club which has dominatted the competition despite the draft, and, through the draft and other Socialist policies they have introduced a policy of'newsouthwalesisation', which, in truth, is deeply anti-Victorian and also has has grave implications for the other clubs, such as, Fremantle and the WEC.

Footscary I hear people say. Well they more illustrate my point than the other way: they have taken 90 years to win a flag, they have only marginal support, they have no money, they have changed their name and back again, worn different jumpers over the years. Having said this, the 'aussie rules' league owes the bulldogs are big debt, because, the club's great effort in winning its second flag, hid, for one more year, the extent to which Victorian football has been destroyed.

Ps: I missed one -- the demise of the VFA, which, of course pre-datted and was the parent even to the 'aussie rules league'.

Comparred to all that, as a supporter of the WAFL and WA football, I actually feel contentted.

You make some very good points above AR but really how on earth can clubs like Footscray, St Kilda, North Melbourne etc have a right to be involved in a supposed "elite national competition"? Ahead of the likes of EF, WP, Norwood et al.
As Swandog posted above that Billy Walker proposed back in 86 WA should have held out until a proper elite national football competition was introduced not the VFL + a few clubs that we have now.
At the end of the day we have 18 clubs of which 10 are STILL based out of Victoria, 2 of the other traditional Vic clubs in SM & Fitzroy were "relocated" (and whenever they make a GF the biased Vic media always push that fact) and no team from a football heartland in TAS!

The Sunday Football League didn't fail due to the AFL, the major reason it ceased to exist was that more and more teams wanted to play on Saturdays and moved across to the WAAFL over a number of years to the point that the SFL didn't have enough teams to create a viable competition which then saw the rest of the clubs move to the WAAFL.

I was a kid when the VFL went national but from what has been posted...

In 1986 the WAFL was nearly broke, the VFL was nearly broke then the VFL remodelled themselves to become a very successful AFL competition whilst the WAFL continued to plug away under the same model and now lives off funding generated from the Perth based AFL teams. Now the AFL should continue to fund the WAFL with more cash to allow WAFL clubs to continue to live beyond their means?

That business model will never be sustainable.

The WAFL faces more threats than just running a financially sustainable competition. The WAAFL are currently discussing the introduction of player payments for the 2018 season. If introduced, there will be 70 WAAFL clubs openly and willingly competing with WAFL clubs for talent. The WAAFL continues to grow in terms of club, teams and supporter numbers and the standard of footy is steadily catching up with the WAFL. The WAAFL already boasts a number of ex- AFL and quality WAFL league players. Inject a largely increased number of paid players from the WAFL into the WAAFL and the difference in standard will be minimal. The only advantage the WAFL will have in retaining its young talent is that to be drafted from WA you need to have played at state league level.