THE AFL has taken a significant step towards a proposed 18th team by registering an official name for a second Sydney-based side under the corporations act.
The Western Sydney Football Club Ltd is the legal name that has been formally registered, with the club set to be introduced after the 2010 season.
AFL boss Andrew Demetriou told Tuesday's Herald Sun the registration of the name does not automatically mean the 18th club will keep this name.
"It is more of a pre-emptive thing," Demetriou said.
"It is in case someone else ended up having the name, to take a bit of control of what we are doing there.
"Basically, it is to protect the name, and to give the group that is successful with the licence the option of using it."
The AFL has already registered a potential name for the 17th licence, with the Gold Coast Football Club Ltd title officially reserved on Christmas Eve last year.
"As we did with the Gold Coast, it is just us being very prudent, so that we don't get caught out in setting up the club," Demetriou said.
"That name may be the one decided on . . . what if we didn't find out until after the event that it was taken?
"It is similar to domain names with websites. We wanted to make sure we were on the front foot rather than catching up later."
