O'Neill foreshadows casualties in code wars

[laura]

O'Neill foreshadows casualties in code wars
ABC - June 15, 2008, 9:02 pm


Chief executive of the Australian Rugby Union, John O'Neill, believes Australia may only be able to support three football codes in the long term.

Mr O'Neill says rugby union and rugby league are more vulnerable than AFL and soccer.

He told ABC 1's Offsiders program that there is a risk that one of the codes may not survive in its current form.

"I'm not talking about the reunification of the two games, but in this battle for hearts and minds there is a risk that one of us may slip off the list," he said.

"I don't intend for it to be rugby union, I'm not suggesting it will be rugby league.

"But I think we know there's a gorilla in the room called AFL and we know, I know, that football is the big mover and shaker."

ONeill foreshadows casualties in code wars Australian Sport - Yahoo!7 Sport

[TOCC]

id say there is two gorillas in the room, one is AFL and the other is Football..

[BLR]

id say there is two gorillas in the room, one is AFL and the other is Football..

AFL is in a position and has the will to crush all other codes, Football is a sleeping giant, increasing in popularity but no where near strong enough to take on any other codes. Plus football has always seemed to be able to co-exist with other codes while AFL wants to be the only code in Australia...

[force addict]

Chief executive of the Australian Rugby Union, John O'Neill, believes Australia may only be able to support three football codes in the long term.

Ok so we have a choice of AFL, soccer, union and league. Does soccer have a big support base in Australia?
1 AFL
2 League/Union
3 Soccer
would that be the final choice or could it be
1 AFL
2 league
3 union
?

[BLR]

Ok so we have a choice of AFL, soccer, union and league. Does soccer have a big support base in Australia?
1 AFL
2 League/Union
3 Soccer
would that be the final choice or could it be
1 AFL
2 league
3 union
?

1 AFL
2 Soccer (for now)
3 Union/League

It's between Union and league, no doubt about it.

Union is closer to the brink but had a high international presence and if the Wallabies have some good results interest will be rekindled. League has falling attendences and are facing an onslaught from AFL so will have to hope the changes to Union don't make it more attractive, as it will draw people away from League.

AFL will try to crush all the other sports but Soccer is looking over the shoulder, a successful Socceroos will grow the sport exponentially and with the A League opening up to Asia it is becoming much more interesting. Immigration will also bring many Soccer fans into the country. Soccer is attempting to start A League teams in League strongholds as well.

AFL is trying the keep the status quo, Soccer is the giant that is starting to stir while League and Union is basically a batle between simple and domestic or complicated and international...

[beige]

Good summation I think

[force addict]

i would guess that Union would dominate over League. maybe because we don't have a team that plays against Roosters and .. rabbitohs??? or have i got that wrong..! eep

[Swee_82]

Pretty good summation there BLT, but I don't reckon the AFL is maintaining the status quo (unless you just mean maintaining their No1 spot on the ticket).
Best as I can see the AFL are declaring all-out war on all the other football codes- bout the only sport they seem to be interested in dealing with is the Netball (I don't know the new teams names, but the Sydney and Melbourne teams are partnered with AFL clubs).
J'ON is on the money I reckon, and it's hard to see who will win (of course my heart says Union). The Wallabies do have far and away the better opportunity to instill 'national pride' for want of a better expression, and IMHO that (and the big end of town behind the S14 franchises) will see union win out. There's no way in hell Mungo will go down without a fight- Imagine everything that went on when Souths were kicked out and multiply it by 16, and throw in some class warfare for good measure.

FA, the Roosters and Rabbitohs might sound like silly names for a footy team, but they inspire the same kind of one-eyed rabid support as the WCE (and have an awful lot more history, that people are VERY passionate about, to boot)

[force addict]

sydney swifts or are you talking about the ANZ championships with West Coast Fever etc. as much as i love netball i doubt it'll get chosen over rugby. athough it is widely supported

[Swee_82]

sydney swifts or are you talking about the ANZ championships with West Coast Fever etc. as much as i love netball i doubt it'll get chosen over rugby. athough it is widely supported

Whatever the Swifts are called in the new comp, they're teamed up with the Swans, and the new Melbourne team are with Essendon I think. My point isn't that it'll raise netball's profile above rugby, just that it's profile is sufficiently low (and will stay there, lets face it) that it's the only thing AFL will co-operate with.

[chook]

Soccer will win, in the end. Once all the bleeding hearts and soft mums convince everyone to send their child to a milder contact sport. All other codes are basically dinosaurs that don't know they are extinct and us fans will be forever marginalised as weirdos. Well, you guys will anyway cos you all take it too seriously.

[BLR]

Soccer will win, in the end. Once all the bleeding hearts and soft mums convince everyone to send their child to a milder contact sport. All other codes are basically dinosaurs that don't know they are extinct and us fans will be forever marginalised as weirdos. Well, you guys will anyway cos you all take it too seriously.

I hope Soccer wins, Soccer= co-existance, plus thier summer A League season fits in nicely while AFL = continual destuction of Rugby...

[GIGS20]

I hope Soccer wins, Soccer= co-existance, plus thier summer A League season fits in nicely while AFL = continual destuction of Rugby...

And soccer has an obvious point of difference with Rugby...If you want to play non-contact football, you play soccer...If you want to tackle, you play rugby....If you want something in-between, with no international competition and a drug problem............

[TOCC]

i actually belive that the Union, AFL and Soccer could all live comfortably together.

I cant see NRL and AFL ever working well together, and i dont see Union dying because even when local demand is down there is always plenty of money in the game internationally.

[tdevil]

I think those codes will always be there
One thing AFL and League will never be able to do is...
Play for your country in a world cup...I think that should be every sport star's dream and in AFL you can't do that...so what's the point in playing

On a different note..Did you know that Swimming was the sport in Aus with the most interest for the past 17 years. This is according to Sweeney sports report (They do surveys twice a year)

The last survey I got looks like this:
2007/2008
Sport, Interest, %+/-since'06/'07
Tennis 57% +1%
Swimming 55% -2%
Cricket 53% -6%
AFL 52% -4%
Soccer 46% -5%
Rugby league 42% 0%
Rugby union 38% -2%
Motor racing 35% 0%
Cycling 31% -3%
Gym workout 30% -3%