PAUL ROOS ON AFL’S RUBBERY FIGURES
THE AFL’S claim that pumping millions of dollars into expansion states equals massive returns in growth may not stack up, says Swans premiership coach Paul Roos. While traditional football areas such as Tasmania and country Victoria struggle to survive, the league has long justified its sinking of funds into NSW and Queensland compared to heartland states as an investment in the future. Last year, the AFL said participation in competitions and programs in NSW and the ACT grew 7.3 per cent to over 250,000. But Roos, who played and coached in Sydney from 1995 to 2013, said AFL participation figures in NSW were very rubbery in the past. “One of my frustrations was at the time some people in the AFL were saying, ‘ how great footy was going in NSW, how many kids were playing’ and all that sort of stuff and it couldn’t have been further from the truth,” Roos said. “Numbers can be deceiving. “I’m not suggesting that’s the case now, but my experience then was very much that and certainly was in Sydney.
“There is a difference in an AFL player going out to a school and marking them down as a participant to actually players loving the game and playing the game.”
Now a Fox Footy commentator and On The Couch panellist, Roos shares the pain of Tasmanians when it is revealed $25.5 million of AFL money was spent propping up the Gold Coast Suns last year alone.
“You can see the Tasmanian people’s frustration because you can see the money going into it,” he said.
“I don’t think any of us can really answer at the moment whether it is sustainable. All we can say is the AFL will keep pumping money into it because they believe in it.
“The history of the AFL with the Swans and the Lions is they can make it work. I would love to see a Tassie team.
“Having played at Fitzroy we had a lot of Tasmanians — Robert Shaw was coach, ‘Butchy’ (Michael) Gale, Graeme Hinchen, Scott Clayton, Alastair Lynch.
“We were very much part of that Tassie flow.
“I’ve seen the talent that comes out of there that perhaps doesn’t come out of there anymore.
“Personally I would love to see a team out there.”
AFL chief executive Gillon McLachlan will travel to Tasmania before the start of the AFL season on March 22 to meet AFL Tasmania chief executive Trisha Squires and Tasmanian Premier Will Hodgman.
Top of the agenda will be to address the latest crisis hitting the code following the withdrawal of Burnie and Devonport from the Tasmanian State League, a severe shortfall in funding and the drying up of talent in recent years.
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