GIANTS coach Adam Kingsley is keen to continue the GIANTS’ charge into breaking ground in the non-traditional football market of NSW and the ACT, stating Western Sydney is the greatest growth opportunity within the AFL.
In what is traditionally NRL-heartland, the GIANTS continue to make impressions across NSW and the ACT, with community and AusKick participation more than doubling in Western Sydney specifically since the GIANTS’ inaugural season in 2012.
The GIANTS have created several initiatives aimed at increasing awareness and participation of Aussie Rules football in Western Sydney, with the Stephen Coniglio and Amanda Farrugia Cups exposing thousands of multicultural youths throughout Wester Sydney to the joys and benefits of the game.
Named after current GIANTS vice-captain Stephen Coniglio and the club’s inaugural AFLW captain Amanda Farrugia, the program has provided opportunities for more than 3500 multicultural students from more than 50 schools in the Western Sydney community.
Despite the large amount of progress achieved to date, Kingsley believes the GIANTS and the AFL are just scratching the surface in the region and wants to help lead the club’s charge in Western Sydney.
“My ambition and my drive it to play a brand of football that attracts people to come to our games and to support the GIANTS and to grow the game so we have participation in what is the biggest opportunity we have in Australia,” Kingsley told 3AW’s Wide World of Sports.
“We talk about multiculturalism, and we talk about Indigenous population and understanding the area, well it’s the largest multicultural population in Australia, and it’s also the largest Indigenous population in Australia.
“There are more Indigenous people in the western part of Sydney than there are in the Northern Territory and South Australia combined.
“So how we are tapping into those communities and encouraging participation so that we can grow the game so that all of the game befits as a result,” Kingsley pondered.
While the GIANTS have been a leader in their field in community engagement since their inception in 2011, particularly in Western Sydney, Kingsley said the region is still a vast resource for growth for the AFL and the game in general.
“One of the biggest things I’ve come to realise sitting through various presentations, is that if we can get Western Sydney TV sets turned on to AFL, the game automatically grows significantly.
“That’s really the last area we can really tap into and so that’s the challenge for our club and the Swans in growing the game and it’s an even bigger challenge for the AFL.
“It’s a matter of us sitting down and working out exactly how we are going to do that because there’s a great possibility there but there needs to be greater investment to get it done.”
