Eastern states bias

[stejwill]

Has anyone wondered why, given the Force is currently the best performing Australian S14 team, the coverage given to the team by "The Australian" is so woeful? I'm sick of reading solely about the Reds, Tahs and Brumbies. Its 2007 guys not 2005. There's another team on the scene now!

[travelling_gerry]

an oldie but a goodie Stejwill...........and when they do commentate about the Force its mostly negative.

Thats cool...."the Fortress Syndrome"

[prop53]

But we are still from the West and no matter what code the Eastern States just do not like us.

You have seen the rest now see the the best
GO THE FORCE

[pruc]

pffft because they are scarred of us taking over 'their' game

[Egan]

an oldie but a goodie Stejwill...........and when they do commentate about the Force its mostly negative.

Thats cool...."the Fortress Syndrome"

The view of the Force is highly negative

Why - Because we are revolutionising Rugby and the powerbases on the eastern coast of Australia are threatened by our bigger crowds, our loyalty etc etc

Win a few more games and they will have to support us more then what we are at the moment, cos the rest of the Super 14 teams will be stuggling towards the bottom

[JediKnight]

Research on the Innrs tour shows that most Eastern States rugby fans seem to have the as their 2nd team, afterh their home team.

It's not just WA rugby that the Eastern States media doesn't like but all WA sports. There was a very scathing article on the Eagles in today's Daily Telegraph (a few fair points raised though).

[frontrow]

Rebbecca Wilson wrote an article regarding the Eagles, accurate i thought too...I think the Eastern states just like talking about themselves all the time, thats all. Over here it is the opposite, with the media trying not to talk about ourselves in case we upset the AFL loving readers...I think this will change once we have a home win, hopefully sooner rather than later...

[shasta]

You're dead right there about the local press. Remember how full the Glory bandwagon was when they were trashing everyone in the old NSL.? Well there's plenty of seats on it now. Hopefully with their new set-up the can get back up there.

They'll all want a piece of The Force once the combinations gel. But there's one thing for sure. When the go thru bad runs in the future they'll give 'em a shellacking every time.

[Use The Force]

To be fair, there are so many sporting teams in Sydney the papers don't have room to cover everyone.

The cricket and league always take priority, and the union is broadly covered WHEN the Tahs are winning, which isn't happening atm. The AFL not many give a sh*t about in Sydney, but since a friendly rivalry has formed between the Swans and Eagles over the past 2 years, the Eagles are sometimes a talking point for people here.

It also depends which paper you pick up. The Daily Telegraph used to have 1 or 2 double page spreads on the S12/14 and now it's getting half a page right at the back of the sports section. The problem also lies with NSW Rugby. They don't do enough to promote Rugby broadly across Sydney. Rugby is confined to the city and Eastern Suburbs. Do the do much to promote to a wider community? Just curious because I've never seen the Tahs out here in the west of Sydney.

[Burgs]

Sounds like they do a pretty good job in Perth UTF (although others are more qualified to answer) in that there are Clubs in most areas of the Metro area and I believe they hold frequent clinics in the schools throughout the outer suburbs.

[jazza93]

i agree with UTF with the league season comming so they only cover league and the tahs and talk about why the force are not better than them. they only write what the sydney public want to hear. i like the rugby lift out today it was very good in the west australian.

in the last week force have moved for front page to 8 pages in.

[Use The Force]

When the Tahs are hot, the papers love them and they get fair coverage. But when they're not doing so well people don't feel inclined to deal with them. They obviously have sh*t PR.

[Burgs]

I miss the Monday Liftouts as the mine doesn't have a plane that day to bring them up on

[stejwill]

The following picture is from the SMH's 'Rugby Heaven' site with the caption "Beale and lumbering Force forward" (or something like that).



Question. Was this about a second before Beale got flattened by that same forward?

[Fozzy]

I wouldn't get concerned about Eastern State bias in Eastern State papers. What's good to see is Rugby coverage in the West Australian.

If the Force keep performing well the results will speak for themselves.