NRL, AFL or Soccer - Canberra's leading sport in the future.

Primal said :

Handball. I can’t be the only one who wants to see more of this after the Olympics.

I think you might be 😉

It doesn’t? Well that’s a relief. For a moment there I thought it was wonderful to be able to attend games contested by a long-term local team in a national competition.

I think the whole point of liking a sport is being missed here. From my point of view, when you play any sport your decision should be based solely on how much enjoyment you are getting out of it (including hanging out/participating with team/club mates). If you like it you play, if you dont, you dont.

As for watching or supporting it, the same applies. If it puts a smile on your dial whack that puppy to your hearts content.

Whether you are in a town doesn’t mean diddly squat.

“Raiders fans” to me means families, kids who have grown up following the green machine. Posters on walls, stickers on lunchboxes, going to the stadium all decked out in green scarves and beanies, following their heroes.

If/When I have kids, I’ll want that for them too.

Handball. I can’t be the only one who wants to see more of this after the Olympics.

I’m excited at the prospect of an A-League Team (although I haven’t forked over my 200 for a foundation membership…yet).

When I first moved in Canberra in the late 80’s, League and Basketball were the biggest sports in town. Unfortunately with the fickleness of the Canberra public (and rising AIS fees) we lost the Cannons, along with Cosmos, Comets and baseball team (what were they called again).

I went to the pre-season AFL match at Manuka and was less than impressed. The Brumbies fans seem to think they own this town, and although I’ve been to a number of games, the sport just doesn’t excite me like League.

Prejudices aside, I think League is still the top sport in Canberra….but only when the Raiders are doing well. I like the cross-section of the community that supports League as opposed to the AFL, Union and Football crowds.

Bogans? Probably. But hey, Canberra’s full of ’em 🙂

Why does one code need to dominate. Just go and see what you’re into. Canberra was stuck in the middle of nowhere so it could be nuetral after all…

I reckon an A-league team has potential to become well supported in Canberra. But it will be a very tough gig.

The future of the Raiders and Brumbies rest largely with their own success and, bigger picture, in the long term prospects of their codes. If the NRL keeps losing players overseas, to either code, then they’ll find themselves in all sorts of bother.

The AFL may be insular in that it is a national game only, but the sponsorship and TV rights dollars don’t lie. If the NRL can survive long term with piss poor crowds, bugger all FTA television and low club memberships I’ll be amazed.

Ggreg said :

Wide Boy Jake said :

AFL will not become popular because rugby is a far better game all round. The aerial ping-pong brigade have missed the bus totally and are now a fringe sport like curling and farnarkeling.

OK, I’ll feed the troll.

Fringe sports? Who can ever forget that wonderful match at Manuka back in ’77 between Ulladulla and Wagga, when Roberts arkled the gonad at the west end of the grommet – despite having broken his flukem on the leiderkrantz?

That’s what I call a spectacle!

Now that’s what this town really needs: a world class Farnakling team! So long as we can compete and give 110% through all four chuckers!

Wide Boy Jake said :

AFL will not become popular because rugby is a far better game all round. The aerial ping-pong brigade have missed the bus totally and are now a fringe sport like curling and farnarkeling.

OK, I’ll feed the troll.

Fringe sports? Who can ever forget that wonderful match at Manuka back in ’77 between Ulladulla and Wagga, when Roberts arkled the gonad at the west end of the grommet – despite having broken his flukem on the leiderkrantz?

That’s what I call a spectacle!

Aurelius said :

The current push to get a team in the A League might be gaining some momentum for now. But the reality is the last time we had a team in the national competition, they could not raise the funds required to maintain their presence.
The latest hoohar is nothing but pi55ing in the wind if the support’s not there. And it wasn’t the last time Canberra had the chance to show its wares.

I’d like to say I think an A-League team will prosper, but I can’t seem to shake off the morbid pessimism (sp?) that it might start with a grand fanfare but then lapse into something of an apathetic slide.

I’d personally like to see all codes of football (Australian Rules, league, union and soccer) have a presence and prosper; I’d patronise them all. (Well, maybe not patronise them as that might tend to offend, but definitely give them my patronage.) I just believe we have a few things going against us, including weather and (ALERT: rare Canberra generalisation approaching) we’re a fickle town when it comes to showing up to stuff in person.

Whatsup, I went to see the Knights on the weekend, and they’re no danger of being national champs. Even when the Western Sydney Ice Dogs had 2 guys sent off, Canberra could barely get a single shot on goal in two minutes. Woeful.
It makes a good change though to go see the ice hockey, but is brass-monkey’s weather in the stands.

Ice Hockey. We’ve got some real talented players here and it goes with our reputation for being a cold place. At the top levels its fast, full of action and strategy.

We shouldn’t work so hard to try and be like Melbourne or Sydney with other codes…. lets be bold and lead the way.

Spitfire, crowd numbers fluctuate in this city. Mainly to do with how successful a team is being. I reckon if we had a softball team that looked like being national champs, their crowd numbers would rocket as well.

Aurelius > Yeah, you were right. And then of course idiots like me post a knee-jerk response and it all goes downhill from there.

justbands > I know the Brumbies games get higher attendances, and that’s a powerful measure (especially as I believe the tickets are much more expensive than for Raiders games, correct me if I’m wrong). But if you were to read Wide Boy Jake’s reply you could be forgiven for thinking that NRL, AFL and soccer hardly even exist in this town. That annoys me.

The current push to get a team in the A League might be gaining some momentum for now. But the reality is the last time we had a team in the national competition, they could not raise the funds required to maintain their presence.
The latest hoohar is nothing but pi55ing in the wind if the support’s not there. And it wasn’t the last time Canberra had the chance to show its wares.

> That’s a crock. I hate to be rude about it. Provide some evidence that union dominates this town, because I can’t see ANY.

They get the biggest crowds of any sporting team in Canberra & have done so for many years running. They do have a shorter season though, so you could argue that Raiders support is spread over more games.

Like you don’t hate Rugby, I don’t hate league. In fact, I’ve watched quite a lot of it this season & last. I still find it too structured & predictable, but it is entertaining. I don’t mind AFL either, although I haven’t been to one of the Manuka games yet.

Spitfire – Jake’s comment is the sort of thing I meant – when the cheer squads for each code come in and throw unsubstantiated assertions that are based more on their prejudices than reality.

Sorry, I should be more specific there. Your history is largely correct, but your assertion that the situation now is that rugby union has blown all others away is merely wishful thinking. As is your statement that AFL couldn’t become popular here.

In any case, I don’t hate rugby union. I enjoy watching the occasional game, but I just find the way that it’s played ends up frustrating me.

“a rugby town well and truly”

That’s a crock. I hate to be rude about it. Provide some evidence that union dominates this town, because I can’t see ANY.

There is little doubt that the number one sport in the ACT is rugby (union), specifically the Brumbies. The Raiders never really recovered from Super League and that disastrous period when the club was run by News Ltd and coached by Mal Meninga. AFL (or Aussie Rules) was the number one code in the district until 1977 when Canberra gained a team in the National Soccer League. That team stopped winning and the crowds fell away. The Raiders began in 1982 and became the number one team until Super League when the Brumbies and rugby took over. The Canberra Cannons basketball team had bursts of popularity in the 1980s but our town is now a rugby town well and truly. Even if Canberra gains a team in the AFL (and the Melburnians have said that will *never* happen) AFL will not become popular because rugby is a far better game all round. The aerial ping-pong brigade have missed the bus totally and are now a fringe sport like curling and farnarkeling.

I hope it doesn’t.

There are plenty of tactics in league. Allow me to point out a few of them, specifically around the percieved five-tackles-then-kick thing.

The first few tackles in a set are usually called hit-ups. That means that the point of them is not to avoid being tackled, but just to quickly gain 10 metres. This is only done early in the tackle count, as doing it later would be a waste. Usually, hitups are the job of the forwards. (One thing I love about watching the Raiders play is that ALL of the players get involved in this. It seems to make things harder for the opposition because they don’t know whether the back who’s running the ball is just doing a hitup or attempting to make a break.)

Later tackles are often spent spreading the ball out to the centres and wings. Often, those players start back further in order to get more of a run up before reaching the defense, because this gives a greater chance of outmaneuvering them.

In the last 10 years, the 40-20 kick has been added to the rules. (The rule is that if a player kicks from behind their own 40 metre line and the ball goes out on the bounce beyond the opposition’s 20 metre line, the kicking team retains possession.) The wingers have to drop back late in the tackle count to protect against this. The fullback can’t do it because they must stay back in the centre of the field to protect against an attempt to score a try by kicking ahead. This all means that late in the tackle count the defensive line is much weaker, especially on the wings. Therefore often teams will run the ball on the last tackle, even though they risk losing possession on the spot if they get tackled.

I could go on more, just ask. The six tackle limitation results in a lot of attacking tactics being developed all the time.

How long before this thread devolves into slagging the codes we don’t like?

> I find rugby union to be much less tactical than league. It’s main claim to fame (as far as I can see) is that there’s a lot more broken play, so it seems very free-flowing. But on the other hand, I find it frustrating to watch because you never really get into the meat of the tactical plays you find in league.

Wow. I actually find it the other way around. ie. Rugby is very tactical & League is crash & barge for 5 tackles & then kick (obviously it’s not as simple as that, just making my point).

Anyway…out of NRL, AFL & Soccer…I’d pick Rugby Union.

I grew up watching league mostly. Even now, watching a game of soccer, union or aussie rules is a bit of a novelty to me. I’m sure they’re all good games, but rugby league is the only one that I genuinely truly find exciting to watch.

I find rugby union to be much less tactical than league. It’s main claim to fame (as far as I can see) is that there’s a lot more broken play, so it seems very free-flowing. But on the other hand, I find it frustrating to watch because you never really get into the meat of the tactical plays you find in league.

Aussie Rules seems like a very scrappy game, in that a lot of the time is spent fumbling the ball around on the ground. I’m interested in trying to follow aussie rules a bit more though (I played in Saints colours when I was little).

As for soccer – I just don’t understand where the excitement comes from in that game. I’ve tried watching it, but the only time it seems interesting is when the ball is right near the goals.

Yeah if the Tasmanians can’t get into the AFL, then we have Buckley’s.

There can be only one…..

….. Union