Western Sydney's AFL vow: 'This is a 25-year generational investment'
Sydney Morning Herald
Wednesday October 21, 2009
BASIL FAWLTY may not work at the AFL, but someone in the organisation must be running around whispering to employees: "Whatever you do, don't mention the war."A war, a battle, a fracas or fight, whatever it is, it's going to be a long one and AFL NSW/ACT general manager Dale Holmes believes it will take at least 25 years for the new western Sydney franchise to establish itself."We recognise and respect the challenge we've got ahead of us. This is a 25-year generational investment. We don't expect overnight people are going to flock to the new team. It will take time," Holmes said yesterday as the Team Greater Western Sydney club announced former Manly chief executive Grant Mayer would take a key administration role with the new franchise."I think we're dealing with a community that has a great love for rugby league, and what we sometimes hope is people will follow rugby league and follow AFL. If they are a Parramatta supporter they might follow this club as their AFL club. It may mean they might come less regularly to AFL but they still follow the local club."Asked if there was a code war, Mayer said: "Not at all. I've lived here for 15 years and I can tell you people need a choice. By having a viable option for people to come and watch I think it's going to work. Ultimately this will work, the AFL is behind it, and I think the community will get behind it."People want to be emotionally involved with the team. And by being a part of the community it gives them that emotional involvement. If we can do that, we'll succeed."Despite being involved in league for a decade, Mayer said he "loved and watched every type of sport". As a "typical Australian male", Mayer (who was appointed as "Team GWS general manager, corporate partnerships") didn't consider himself to be a turncoat and believed the community has a desire to have an AFL team.Holmes said one of the factors that helped sway the job in Mayer's direction was not that he had been in the enemy camp, but because he knows and lives in the region."I couldn't stress enough how important it is for us to think local," Holmes said. "We want people who understand the region and the challenges we are faced with, the opportunities that are available to us and how we take advantage of those."I think when you've got people who live in the region, have families in the region, are involved in local sport, they bring with them a wealth of knowledge we can tap into."I've been pretty strong about the need to build this with local people ... I think you do need to find the right mix between locals and people who come from outside the region."
© 2009 Sydney Morning Herald
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