Football Leagues
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"When
I was at school we played a sort of rugby. It was a mixture of soccer and rugby,
and was called the Australian game" (Dally Messenger
in 1908)A Union's dominance was soon under threat when in 1877, the powerful 'Waratah' Rugby Club, invited Carlton to play two matches, one each under union and Australian Rules. For many Sydney football fans, union was slow and unattractive and the Waratah club hoped to make the point in a direct comparison with the Australian game. On Saturday 23 June 3,000 spectators watched Waratah beat Carlton at the Albert Cricket Ground in Redfern- played under union rules. On the return leg, Carlton defeated Waratah under Australian rules. The match achieved the desired effect and in June 1880, Australian Rules supporters met at Woollahra to discuss a new league. The Sydney Mail's football writer said "that there are scores of footballers ... who play the Rugby game under protest as it were, and who would gladly welcome a radical change in the present method of playing football." A week later over 100 footballers formed the New South Wales Football Association (NSWFA) to play the Australian game. In the beginning of 1881 there were only two Australian Rules clubs in Sydney (Sydney and East Sydney). However the "freedom of space and a freedom of petty restriction" made the game particularly strong in the mining communities of the Newcastle region. In these early years, Australian Football reined supreme and was unchallenged by union. One club from the region, Maitland, frequently competed against the two clubs from Sydney. Late in 1881, a fourth club was formed at Petersham and in May 1882, Waratah formally switched its allegiance from union to Australian Football. The working classes viewed Australian Rules as a fast, free flowing game invented by Australians for Australians. However such positive sentiments were not shared by the upper classes. These people "saw rugby as more than just a game; it was a symbol and reminder of their Englishness." They subsequently used their political contacts to have the NSWFA banned from Sydney's enclosed grounds. Without gate money to spend on promotional purposes or to pay players, the NSWFA collapsed in 1893. Although football was down, it was not out. In February 1903, the code picked itself up and formed the New South Wales Football League (NSWFL). Clubs were initially established in Sydney, Paddington and the North Shore, and by the beginning of April there were eight more - Alexandria, Ashfield, Balmain, East Sydney, Newtown, Redfern, West Sydney and YMCA. With eyes firmly set on the future, the new administration targeted kids and soon the NSWFL and the rugby union were having "a great struggle" for the allegiance of schoolboys. Union held sway amongst the private schools however the state schools were receptive to the Australian game. A product of the Australian code's development program was Dally Messenger. Unfortunately, like the NSWFA before it, the NSWFL was denied access to enclosed grounds thus was unable to offer Messenger incentives to stick with the Australian code. Messenger was lost from Australian football when persuaded to play for the Eastern Suburbs union club in 1905. Messenger's Australian Rules background gave him "profound physical fitness, toughness and extremely quick reflexes". He was able to kick "equally well with either foot", and was "an innovator and prepared to try the unorthodox." Such multi-skilling was unheard of in union and as a consequence, legions of fans poured through the turnstiles to watch him play. In 1909 the NSWFL succeeded in renting the enclosed Erskineville Oval thus managing to raise badly needed funds. However by his stage, Rugby League had been established by Australian Test cricketer Victor Trumper. As an English game administered by a ex-cricketer, Rugby League had more success in accessing Sydney's enclosed games. With greater potential to raise revenue, it soon converted many of the Australian Rules players who had hoped for a professional football league. Although Rugby League became more popular than Austtralian Football, working class players continued to swap between the two with a South Sydney rover by the name of Jim Stiff being the most famous example. Jim was voted best player at the 1933 National Australian Football Carnival. Four years later, he was chosen to tour with the Australian Rugby League. As for Sydney sports fans, although most were adamant that Rugby League was the superior game, there was little hostility to Australian Football. As late as 1930, there was still high-level discussions about unifying Australia's two professional football codes. The standard of Sydney footy was quite a high standard right until the 70s. In 1972, the NSW team, which contained predominantly of players from the Sydney league, beat the VFL seconds by 77 points. There was also a deal of spectator popularity. Games were played on enclosed grounds with gates, turnstiles and brick grandstands. Home and away games weren't huge but grand finals were played in front of 12,000-strong crowds. However, this goodwill all changed in 1982 when the South Melbourne Swans relocated to Sydney and became known as the Sydney Swans. As the public face of Australian Rules in Sydney, the club redefined the code's image. Instead of being seen as working class, Football became associated with chardonnay, ballet and yuppies. 105 years of Australian Rules in Sydney was wiped clean and instead League fans viewed the game as a recent Melbourne import. Local clubs folded or amalgamated, grounds were rationalised or demonlised. As for the Swans, they were also rejected and were headed for extinction until sold to medical entrepreneur, "Dr Geoffrey Edelsten" in 1985. Edelstein instigated a marketing campaign intended to gloss over the Swan's liabilities. The campaign was based on razzmatazz, excitement and a carnival atmosphere. The doctor flew a pink helicopter, American style cheer girls waved their goodies at the crowd whilst a long haired pretty blond full forward named "Warrick Capper" became the face of the promotion thrust. The campaign struck a chord with the inner city professionals who were endeared by the circus atmosphere. Of course, once the razzmatazz became old hat, the support dwindled and the club once more tittered on the edge of extinction. Although Edelstein had given the club a profile, he had also damaged its image by making the fans appear fairweather yuppies. The club was saved by the AFL and a new promotional direction undertaken. In a significant diversion from the Edelstein era, the face of the campaign was not a pretty boy, rather it was a rogue in the form of Tony Lockett; one of the toughest and dirtiest players of the modern era. His roguish demeanour helped the Swans partially erode their ballet and chardonnay image and in the process, they gained some serious football fans. But despite making some inroads in the affluent market, the Swans were still unable to penetrate Sydney's working-class psyche. The was a problem as the working-classes are the engine room of all football discussion. On building sites, they discuss the weekend's past matches and give their ideas about the forthcoming weeks. They take the young apprentices under their arm and tell them what they need to know about sport. When they knock off, they head to the pub and discuss footy with whoever else likes a beer. They defuse their ideas throughout the community via their contacts with other tradesmen, architects, home-owners, estate agents and project managers. Without such working-class support, the AFL knew that its castle was built on sand. Perhaps realising that stoic working classes would never embrace a club with an effeminate name like "Swans", in 1998 the AFL decided it needed a second Sydney team to strengthen the code's bricks and mortar. The timing could not have been better. The Swans were playing to sell out crowds and the AFL was receiving positive coverage in the papers. Meanwhile, the working-class Rugby League had been dealt an almost fatal blow as a result of the " Super League" war. Clubs with almost 100 years of tradition were being forced to merg or relocate simply because an American billionaire wanted to make more money. Chief executives were referring to Rugby League as a "product" whilst players were selling themselves to the highest bidder. The AFL tried to exploit the opening by sending the North Melbourne Kangaroos to play 5 home games in Sydney from 1998 onwards. In the eyes of the AFL, the Kangaroos had a lot going for them. They were a tough working-class team composed of some of the hardest and most skilful players in the AFL. They had appeared in six of the previous seven preliminary finals and two of the previous three Grand Finals. Unfortunately, while the disillusionment with the corporatisation of Rugby League made it a perfect time to establish a second AFL team, it made it a terrible time for a corporate team like the Kangaroos. Disillusioned Rugby League fans wanted to support a team that stood for something other than making a profit for shareholders. Instead they got the Kangaroos, a privately owned club from Melbourne looking to expand its market in Sydney after a failed merger attempt. Rather than land the knock out blow, the Kangaroos were a god send for the NRL. League fans realised that whatever the NRL was guilty of the AFL was even worse. Journalists seized on the Kangaroo's corporate liabilities, writing articles suggesting that the AFL saw Sydney wallets as a way to bankroll reducing the number of clubs in Melbourne without sacrificing Melbournian heritage. They wrote that North Melbourne was coming off a failed merger attempt, that they were a club owned by shareholders and that they were forsaking their tradition. Furthermore, they made the Kangaroos seem like a phoney for believing that dropping the "North Melbourne" from their name somehow made them a "Sydney" team. After two seasons in empty stadiums the Kangaroos realised they were not welcome and hopped back to Melbourne. As for the Swans, their castle also crashed as the half empty stadiums re-emerged. Meanwhile, disillusioned League fans jumped on the bandwagon of the South Sydney Rabbitohs, a history laden team excluded from the NRL for refusing to sell its identity. Rugby League reasserted itself as the Harbour City's premier code and the AFL's window of opportunity had again closed. The Collingwood Magpies are the latest team to have a crack at the Sydney market. The thrust north centres around a "blockbuster" clash on the AFL's bye weekend. To promote their brand, Collingwood has used a generous dose of hilarity. The clash has been sold under the bannner "remember the Alamo" with pictures of club president Eddie McGuire in a sombero. (Victoria is south of the NSW border just as Mexico is south of the American border.) Humour aside, Collingwood's other strategy has been to use the same Super hype that Dr Geoffrey Edelsten used so effectively in the 1980s. Before the second blockbuster, Eddie McGuire confidently declared that: "the game will rival the Grand Final." Players such as Scott Burns were asked their opinion and said: "we could lose the next eight games and still get 85,000 people there, don't worry about that." But it seems that the Sydney public doesn't rate Collingwood as highly as they rate themselves. Although the clash was a sell out in its first year when the build up was low key, in its second year a massive increase in promotion inspired 32,000 less people decided to attend. On television, the game rated in single figures. In its third year, 10,000 less people attended and the game was outrated by SBS. Even with Collingwood's "help", the future does not look good for Australian Football in Sydney. A clinic in 2005 held by AFL golden boy James Hird only drew one kid. In response, AFL chief executive, Andrew Demetriou, said: "That was unfortunate but I don't believe it is a regular occurrence" But the one kid was understandable considering the amount of children who are exposed to the code, but choose not to play it. In 2004, 13,000 Sydney boys and girls were given a taste of AFL Auskick, but most decided other sports were more in their interest. In the whole of NSW and ACT, there were only 64 primary school teams and 99 secondary school teams that play Aussie rules.
Typical comments of Rugby League fans in regards to Australian Football "the same bloke was featured in your newspaper a few weeks ago pulling the jersey (or leotard) off an opposing player. I have had the misfortune to see (while flicking through the channels) what the AFL calls a melee - it is the sickening sight of 30-40 "men" getting stuck into each other with fingernails flailing, gouging and slapping each other's faces."(P Gannon) "it is going to take a lot more than shrewd marketing, appealing to the Chardonnay set or to women (who make up over half of the Swans membership and following)" (Jeff Cook) The aerial ballet followers get four to five games on free to air a week… when the Swans were given a prime time slot against St Kilda they got smashed in the ratings, as is the case with most AFL games shown in Sydney" (Scott Brooks) "My blood began to boil last week when I heard the AFL/VFL (really the VFL in disguise) crowing about how they need a second AFL team (Victorian implant) in Sydney." (Brian Brougham) "If Mr Mitchell finds the amount of coverage his fumble-a-thon of a code receives is lacking, then may I suggest he head for Melbourne where he can enjoy the most blanket coverage of any sport anywhere in Australia." (Scott Brooks)
* South Sydney 1927 Football Club. From top left: R.Harper; F.Cawsey; J.Carrol; H.Greene; G.Shennan; R.Carrol; C.Standford; J.Murphy; C.Meyer; F.Borchers; J.Richardson; A.Curtis; J.Hayes; A.Phillips; H.Stiff; G.Meyers; A.Shennan; K.Holder; J.Smith; A.Ferguson.
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Invention of Australian sports Cricket
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The
missing links
