FRUSTRATION with North Melbourne’s rejection of a new life on the Gold Coast has been replaced by community support for a home-grown team in Australia’s largest regional centre, with the AFL confirming its plans for a second club in southeast Queensland by 2011.
Speaking at a season launch on the Gold Coast, AFL commercial operations manager Gillon McLachlan declared the league wanted a Gold Coast team "as soon as possible" and that the AFL commission, at a meeting later this month, would consider a proposal to issue a 17th licence.
While the notion of a 17th team on the Gold Coast is not new, local AFL figures Richard Griffiths and Graeme Downie said it was significant the league had reaffirmed its intentions after last year’s decision by the Kangaroos to remain at Arden Street.
Downie, a prominent Gold Coast businessman and former chairman of the Brisbane Lions, predicted that the local community would more easily embrace a home-grown team than a transplanted club still clinging to its Melbourne roots.
"The fact that the Roos rejected the approach to go to the Gold Coast is seen by locals as a rejection of the Gold Coast," Downie said.
"I don’t think there is any doubt that locals would prefer to start afresh with a brand new franchise."
The AFL’s plans to colonise the Gold Coast have been fast-tracked, in part, by the success of the Gold Coast Titans in the NRL.
Downie said the Titans, a start-up team named and embraced by local rugby league supporters, was a "terrific model" to follow.
"The Titans have done a great job in winning the hearts of locals and we shouldn’t be ashamed in taking the positives out of the way they went about establishing their franchise," Downie said.
"With a relocated team from Melbourne, a lot of that community involvement and sense of local ownership wouldn’t be there."
Griffiths, the AFL Queensland chief executive, said it was important for supporters living on the Gold Coast to know the league was serious about issuing a 17th licence.
When the idea was first raised by AFL chief executive Andrew Demetriou, it was seen by some as little more than bluff tactics to influence a divided North Melbourne board.
"The community was obviously disappointed that the Kangaroos made a decision that relocation to the Gold Coast wasn’t in their best interests but, to be honest, the prospect of a unique, Gold Coast-owned football club has helped them move on," Griffiths said.
"There was a feeling that if the Kangaroos came here, it would be a divided board and less than 100 per cent commitment by the club. The perception might have been that we were receiving a reluctant footy club. Now we have got the opportunity of having our very own, home-grown team and I think the community will really embrace it."
McLachlan agreed this was "absolutely the upside" of the decision by Kangaroos president James Brayshaw and his board to stay in Melbourne. While the AFL would remain open to a change of heart by the Kangaroos if Brayshaw’s financial rescue plans failed, McLachlan said it was important to "deliver certainty" to North Melbourne members and Gold Coast AFL supporters alike.
"We have to move on," McLachlan said from the Gold Coast. "The door is always open but James Brayshaw and his board are moving strongly down a different path and so are we.
"In 30 years’ time there will be 1.5 million people living on the Gold Coast and we need to have a team here."
The AFL has honoured a contractual obligation for the Kangaroos to play three "home games" on the Gold Coast this season, against St Kilda, West Coast and Brisbane. Griffiths said it was unlikely crowd numbers would suffer as a result of the club’s decision, given the appeal of the opposition sides.
Collingwood president Eddie McGuire last year raised concerns about plans for a 17th team. The AFL clubs can block the move to issue a 17th licence if 12 or more vote against the proposal. "We need to take the clubs with us," McLachlan said.
