I have been doing the look around at the various plans for expansion teams in the AFL, and come up with four jerseys and four teams that I think should be installed by 2012. If I was grand high poo-bah then this would be the plan of attack:
Gold Coast 17
http://www.gc17.com.au
GC 17, the Gold Coast’s bid for the 17th licence in the Australian Football League, tonight officially launched its name, logo, colours and mascot. Unveiled at a Gala function on the Gold Coast the club will be known and marketed as the GOLD COAST FOOTBALL CLUB or GCFC. Club colours will be red, gold and blue and the club mascot will be an iconic Gold Coast surf identity know as "GC ".
GC 17 will deliver its formal submission to the Australian Football League on October 13 for the 17th AFL licence. The group must satisfy the AFL it has met a set of key criteria including community and business engagement and the development of a football department.
This is the most serious proposal I have seen. There is a decent website, and from what I've seen is fairly sound. The QAFL is starting to gather momentum, what with the Brisbane Lions winning a couple of flags and what not.
If I were going to set up a team on the Gold Coast, I think I would call it Gold Coast 17. Hey? 17 was for many years the number of Queensland's favourite son, Dick Johnson; actually calling the club this would be a nice little quirk.
West Sydney Celtics
http://www.realfooty.com.au/news/news/afl-eyes-ireland-for-celtic-team/2008/07/11/1215658137146.html?page=fullpage
THE AFL is considering a radical proposal to launch an Irish-dominated team in Sydney's western suburbs, which would perform before an international audience under the Celtic brand name. Commission chairman Mike Fitzpatrick confirmed last night that the Irish option was being explored as a possible basis for the competition's 18th team, to debut as early as 2012.
The "Sydney Celtics" plan was first put to AFL chief executive Andrew Demetriou 18 months ago by Gaelic Players Association executive Donal O'Neill. It has gained momentum in recent weeks following player agent Ricky Nixon's talent-spotting tour of Ireland. Nixon has contacted Demetriou and Fitzpatrick in recent days and put forward a revised template for the AFL's 18th licence.
Whilst the idea of deliberately placing a club with "Irish" heritage is seen to be possibly counter-racist, I don't necessarily see this as a problem because it would probably be conveniently ignored like the Celtics of Boston.
As far as expansion teams go then in Australia, Sydney itself is the ur-example. The Swans shifted from South Melbourne to Sydney in 1982 and for a while were the darling child before fading into the doldrums, regaining fame with the Premiership in 1996 and again going on the slide of late.
The inherant problem is that although Sydney is Rugby League territory, there isn't a natural rival for them. West Coast has Freo, the Crows have Port but Sydney and Brisbane don't really have anyone. The Gold Coast and the Celtics provide those rivals albeit artificially and given three or four years this will flourish ala Adelaide and Perth. Green is also a natural opposite to red.
Tasmanian Devils
http://www.sportingpulse.com/assoc_page.cgi?client=1-3385-0-0-0
http://www.news.com.au/mercury/story/0,22884,24111247-5016971,00.html
Tasmania dream of entering the AFL big league is nearing reality with the announcement yesterday of multi-million-dollar backing for a future state team. The State Government has clinched a $4 million sponsorship deal with confectionery giant Mars.
In an unprecedented move in Australia, Mars is going to rebrand its main line of confectionery from Mars bars to "Believe" bars to help garner nationwide support for the Tasmanian push.
The following two are really me dreaming a little, though not without cause because it would appear that far richer people are also dreaming about this. Tasmania actually already exists in the VFL... ok so they finished dead last but you know fair suck of the sav. If Tasmania were to play in the AFL proper, then the money would in theory exist to at least bring the standard up. Tasmania already play out of Aurora and Bellrive Oval which means that their venues are decent.
Darwin
http://www.sportingpulse.com/assoc_page.cgi?client=1-4169-0-0-0
This is such a pipe dream, it aint funny. I would personally like to see the AFL run a team in the Northern Territory. The reasons are twofold:
1. The Northern Territory currently has no teams in any national sporting competition.
2. Since the Territory has provided so many top-class players over the years, it is only fitting that the AFL reward the state, even if it never makes a profit. Since AFL is really the only sport that's actually played up the top end save for a few paltry One Day cricket matches and the V8 Supercars at Hidden Valley, the state would actually have something to get behind.
As for the number of weeks to play out four extra teams - if they abandoned this whole NAB Cup rubbish, then that would give another few weeks at least. Playing through one and a half times like they do now brings the regular season to 29 weeks, which means if you had a four week finals series like they do now, means staring the comp in the last few weeks in February, which is currently about when the NAB Cup starts anyway aint it?
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