Gotta listen to the pod cast at the end of the article as well talk about Smell the Fear... interesting bit a little bit about union between the 3:00 and 3:15 ..
http://www.sen.com.au/news/gws-growth-under-soccer...
The overall success of the GWS Giants is under serious threat by the ever-growing support being built by the Western Sydney Wanderers and the A-League, says Patrick Smith.
The A-League derby between Sydney and Western Sydney on the weekend drew a crowd of 41,213 at Allianz Stadium, a figure which was not matched by any rugby league match at the venue last season.
“That’s pretty significant, and it’s pretty significant that while we pour money into Western Sydney (GWS) and have no real impact the Wanderers are just growing from strength to strength.
“Outside Victoria, South Australia and Western Australia soccer is always going to be the fastest growing sport,” said Smith on SEN’s Hungry for Sport.
The Giants are consistently losing millions of dollars a season and that trend is going to be harder to reverse now that the Wanderers are experiencing international success as well.
“It’s going to cost an awful amount of money, a lot more than they ever budgeted for, I’m sure of that.
“We just know by all the figures that people are flocking to soccer.”
Although the two sports are not in direct competition in terms of scheduling during the calendar year Smith believes both the A-League and the AFL will be doing all they can to win Australia’s football arms race.
“If these Socceroos can really start making inroads then a wonderful sport like soccer will push all the sports – rugby league and AFL.
“They will fight tooth and nail to gain the upper hand.”