Why does the media constantly have a suttle dig at us

[Tazzmania]

I am getting a little bit fustrated, the media again seem to having little digs at us.

At the moment there is a lot of player movement and in every article they list who is involved in the current move they are talking about, and then only and only for the Force, every bloody article just about goes on to string the list of who has indicated they are leaving us at the bottom of the article. As other teams are also have players leaving why not have their lists below.

Come on journos where is your sense of fair play if you have any

[Flamethrower]

The Force is more important to them than they realise

[BDAVEY]

mate the west is a hick paper with no competition, the jornos no little about rugby and they like kicking someone when they are down......they even do this to AFL players and coaches. I would love to see some of the contributors on this site write a constructive col. for the paper...... even muddy from QLD could right something more positive about the Force

[The Lone Hydrangea]

Tazzmania......Eastern states press , ie SMH basically hate us and all that sail in it. ES bias. The only journo from over there that isnt anal retentive is Wayne Smith, the rugby editor from the Oz who does push our barrow normally but can every now and then drop back to tripe. They wont shut up till we put the runs on the board and then the bastards can choke.
The one thing that shits me is when Fox rugby refer to Shep......the ex Waratahs player. The Tahs thought he was shite for christs sake!
Locally the press fight above their weight in a AFL state and dont do a bad job getting our brand name up there which they should be commended for, even when they get it wrong.

[laura]

Jealousy? In WA AFL is the be all and end all for the most part. Rugby is played at an International level with International exposure and AFL just doesn't have that appeal. Why promote something when its already made it at the International level? Also there are a lot more local boys in the AFL and other sports, Rugby in WA doesn't have many local boys making the big time so I guess they are trying to appeal to what they perceive the local audience want and hanging crap on rugby makes their game look superior (to them).

The fans of rugby are pro-active, bloody hell we walked the streets of Subi petitioning for a stadium last year! AFL fans don't do things like that so they use the media to get their message across. Add to that the fact that most of the journos are probably AFL fans, eg. Tim Gossage who is heavily involved with the AFL, he pushes his own agendas reporting on what he wants to hear. Thats not addressing your question regarding the dig but maybe explains why you hear next to nothing about rugby.

The only way rugby is going to get mroe coverage in the media is by getting someone who cares about and in WA media circles those people are seemingly few and far between.

Always having a suttle dig I put down to jealousy as well. Force have a lot of movers and shakers in the current squad, with the likes of Brown and Pocock making it from relatively unknown players to now fringe Wallabies players in such a short period, there's probably a bit of resentment that their success came while playing in WA. They have/are effectively changing a Wallabies line-up that has remained pretty constant for a while. They're the next generation of Wallabies and they both came from playing at the Force. In recent times other clubs haven't been able to do that but a few years at the newly included Force and look whats happened. In such a short period the Force have acheieved quite a lot. While we haven't won the trophy we have made progress and each year the team is getting better, other Aussie teams seems to either be stuck in a rut or fading a little. We are making profits while the Tahs are making a loss, we 'stole' the whole Reds team and we took Gits away from the motherland. Jealousy is a bitch of a thing and I really do think that is the sole reason behind all the snide comments and digs at the team.

[beige]

I can barely watch Offsiders on ABC anymore and I used to watch it religiously. Putting a team in Perth instead of Melbourne was a "limp-wristed" decision apparently.

Other teams have to put up with being criticised but how many others have to put up with having their very right to exist questioned repeatedly?

[Darren]

Insiders and Offsiders used to be must view shows - but they've lost a viewer of both shows here with the crap they peddle on Offsiders ...

[BDAVEY]

Jealousy? In WA AFL is the be all and end all for the most part. Rugby is played at an International level with International exposure and AFL just doesn't have that appeal. Why promote something when its already made it at the International level? Also there are a lot more local boys in the AFL and other sports, Rugby in WA doesn't have many local boys making the big time so I guess they are trying to appeal to what they perceive the local audience want and hanging crap on rugby makes their game look superior (to them).

The fans of rugby are pro-active, bloody hell we walked the streets of Subi petitioning for a stadium last year! AFL fans don't do things like that so they use the media to get their message across. Add to that the fact that most of the journos are probably AFL fans, eg. Tim Gossage who is heavily involved with the AFL, he pushes his own agendas reporting on what he wants to hear. Thats not addressing your question regarding the dig but maybe explains why you hear next to nothing about rugby.

The only way rugby is going to get mroe coverage in the media is by getting someone who cares about and in WA media circles those people are seemingly few and far between.

Always having a suttle dig I put down to jealousy as well. Force have a lot of movers and shakers in the current squad, with the likes of Brown and Pocock making it from relatively unknown players to now fringe Wallabies players in such a short period, there's probably a bit of resentment that their success came while playing in WA. They have/are effectively changing a Wallabies line-up that has remained pretty constant for a while. They're the next generation of Wallabies and they both came from playing at the Force. In recent times other clubs haven't been able to do that but a few years at the newly included Force and look whats happened. In such a short period the Force have acheieved quite a lot. While we haven't won the trophy we have made progress and each year the team is getting better, other Aussie teams seems to either be stuck in a rut or fading a little. We are making profits while the Tahs are making a loss, we 'stole' the whole Reds team and we took Gits away from the motherland. Jealousy is a bitch of a thing and I really do think that is the sole reason behind all the snide comments and digs at the team.

u have address all the main points well done

---------- Post added at 21:25 ---------- Previous post was at 21:22 ----------

The pollies have also realised the need not to lose the Force hence the injection of capital next week at the budget........... now that will piss the AFL w--kers off big time. Catch is the stadium will be called the Barnett Stadium........ I dont care what they call it .......just do it

[travelling_gerry]

Interesting to see the Australian had on same page -

Valentine joins exodus from Force

Sheehan extends with ARU to 2011

[tragic]

They're crafty ones, these journos, Gerry.
So subtle ... who'd notice?

Offsiders was mostly NRL and horse-racing, anyway. No big loss.

[Swee_82]

Insiders and Offsiders used to be must view shows - but they've lost a viewer of both shows here with the crap they peddle on Offsiders ...

I had to stop watching that once it became Magnay's "Firepower- RAH!" soapbox... poor televisions never worked quite the same since.

[joblot]

mate the west is a hick paper with no competition, the jornos no little about rugby and they like kicking someone when they are down......they even do this to AFL players and coaches. I would love to see some of the contributors on this site write a constructive col. for the paper...... even muddy from QLD could right something more positive about the Force

It is not only the West, the commentary team on Fox seem to relish the negative news and rarely lead with the good stuff.

[The EnForcer]

The West has responded to the "negativity" allegations by printing a "good news" story on the front page today. "Top Perth Lawyer Buys $20 Million House". Doesn't that just give you a nice and warm fussy feel!

[Swee_82]

Should say, if you want a bit of cheering up, read The Mayor's article in the Super Rugby Liftout today. No earth-shattering news in there, but a positive look at what the Force have done this year and where they're going for the future.

[mudskipper]

I am getting a little bit fustrated, the media again seem to having little digs at us.

At the moment there is a lot of player movement and in every article they list who is involved in the current move they are talking about, and then only and only for the Force, every bloody article just about goes on to string the list of who has indicated they are leaving us at the bottom of the article. As other teams are also have players leaving why not have their lists below.

Come on journos where is your sense of fair play if you have any

Read the Firepower book... The Western Force have set themselves up as media punching bags.... unfortunately... it will pass and they'll pick on Melbourne in 2011...