AFL rules out ‘Sydney Celtics’ idea

THE AFL has poured cold water on a new Australian Rules team for Sydney which would be Irish-oriented, with one of its officials describing the idea as “extremely dumb”.

Last week it was reported that the Australian Football League was considering a proposal to create an Irish-aligned club, to be known as the Celtics, but that idea has been effectively abandoned.

During the week AFL New South Wales general manager Dale Holmes said the new franchise would be broad-based and would attempt to win new supporters currently unaligned to rival codes.

The western Sydney area is traditionally a hotbed of rugby league and motor racing supporters, and the AFL would be seeking to target supporters of its new club through “partnerships“, including alignment with the local university, which has almost 40,000 students in the area.

Holmes said the identity of the new team would be driven by market research currently being carried out rather than committing it to an ethnic identity.

“There is an opportunity for us to work closely with some multicultural communities and we’ll be doing that,” Holmes said.

He added that the Celtics idea was “extremely dumb”.

News of the proposed new team broke as concerns are being raised in Ireland about the possible establishment of an AFL academy by Australian sports agent Ricky Nixon and the ongoing controversy of young Gaelic footballers being targeted by the AFL.