Re: Womens Footy - Will It Really Last ??
Reply #23 –
God posts like these are utterly ridiculous.
if you have a different opinion you sre short sighted, but the oracles can see it better.
Eveyone knows that the skills will improve, that doesn't mean they will (and doesn't mean they won't) ever get to a level where the brand is strong enough for a professional full time league or that enough people will pay good money to watch it.
Australian's have a lot of choices on what sports to spend their money on and only a few of them attract really big crowds. To support a 10 player (at a guess) netball roster requires a lot less cash than a full time football league.
I think most people will be happy for the women if it takes off, but it is far from sure that this this brand will be a brand that people maintain interest in and importantly people and organisations want to put enough money into so as to allow the women to turn professional.
The debate is a reasonable one for people to have on both sides and certainly isn't a foregone conclusion it will be successful.
No apostrophe in “Australians” MIO, but that’s neither here nor there
Of course the debate is reasonable, but there is the fact that it seems to be largely conducted by folk of the male persuasion.
It seems to me that the AFLW has really taken off with folk of the female persuasion, and particularly with females who haven’t previously followed AFL. As females represent more than 50% of the population, AFLW has the potential to become more popular than AFLM. Whether that happens is largely dependent on the AFL’s ability to understand the phenomenon and allow it to run its course.
I have missed more games than I watched this season but I enjoyed our game against Freo (for 3 quarters). It was hard, there was a bit of niggle, and there was more than a hint of how the women’s game could develop, if wise heads prevail. The marking clash that knocked the stuffing out of Tayla Harris and two Freo players was one of the classic footy moments.
I reckon there’s a bright future for the AFLW, provided the AFL doesn’t stuff it up.