AFL is on the decline - the younger generation is just not that into you

[Maylandsman]

Maybe you need a dictionary.
I said I dont worry about peasants. Not that I wont converse with them.

can't stop. worried enough to keep replying.
peasants are rising.

 

[DangerSloane]

can't stop. worried enough to keep replying.
peasants are rising.

I wasnt worried, but now I'm worried you've had a stroke.

 

[mr bagcroft]

Hasnt the AFL themselves said viewership is down 14% this year to date? Which is a loss of around 6 million. Thats on top of a drop off from last year as well.

Thats serious.
Which means the game is going to change significantly.
Unfortunately.

 

[Maylandsman]

I wasnt worried, but now I'm worried you've had a stroke.

this is getting out of hand! is worry wart contagious?
don't worry about us peasants we're made of sterner stuff than that.

 

[Maylandsman]

Hasnt the AFL themselves said viewership is done 14% this year to date? Which is a loss of around 6 million. Thats on top of a drop off from last year as well.

Thats serious.
Which means the game is going to change significantly.
Unfortunately.

hopefully they scrap the goal review system. that would be significant.

 

[WCE1987]

Crows have an e-sport team
http://www.afc.com.au/news/2018-03-23/crows-launch-high-school-esports-league
I got my into AFL through playing fantasy AFL as I was never that sporting inclined in my youth.

 

[Billy ray]

And to improve the viewing pleasure, enforce a rule where commentators cannot call players (or fellow commentators) by their nickname

 

[mr bagcroft]

And to improve the viewing pleasure, enforce a rule where commentators cannot call players (or fellow commentators) by their nickname

Extend that to umpires. Call your decision and shut the **** up !!

 

[HPKS]

hopefully they scrap the goal review system. that would be significant.

There’s bigger problems than the goal review system. It just comes across as a big thing to you because your a big fan of AFL. The issues lie with the casual viewer n what they like n don’t like.


On the goal review system they will not scrap it, they’ll try n improve it. It’s here to stay just like every review system in other sports. I agree partly with you though in that it needs fixing, the bits of games I’ve seen it comes across as very very amateurish.

 

[StonesThrow]

'Skills are terrible these days. Players can't kick for goal anymore. The game has gone soft'

All clichés when you haven't got anything useful to say. People love complaining, overacting and remembering so called good times.

 

[Lavender Bushranger]

'Skills are terrible these days. Players can't kick for goal anymore. The game has gone soft'

All clichés when you haven't got anything useful to say. People love complaining, overacting and remembering so called good times.

To be fair, I actually haven't read much of that.

I've read some pretty reasonable and logical reasons as to why the game is on the nose these days.

 

[Maylandsman]

There’s bigger problems than the goal review system. It just comes across as a big thing to you because your a big fan of AFL. The issues lie with the casual viewer n what they like n don’t like.


On the goal review system they will not scrap it, they’ll try n improve it. It’s here to stay just like every review system in other sports. I agree partly with you though in that it needs fixing, the bits of games I’ve seen it comes across as very very amateurish.

And this turns people off with frustration. Hope it goes the way of the do-do but agree it won’t.

 

[Jack Bradley]

Hasnt the AFL themselves said viewership is down 14% this year to date? Which is a loss of around 6 million. Thats on top of a drop off from last year as well.

Thats serious.
Which means the game is going to change significantly.
Unfortunately.

Doesnt help that they keep scheduling shit friday night games

 

[mr bagcroft]

Doesnt help that they keep scheduling shit friday night games

No it dosent.
But, you dont drop 6 million cause of a few shit prime time games. Do you ?

 

[peppy la pew]

Biggest problem in the game at the moment is the amount of congestion

In some games it's like watching little league where everyone is around the ball and they move like a swarm of bees

The rolling maul is a blight on the game

 

[The Gong]

Hasnt the AFL themselves said viewership is down 14% this year to date? Which is a loss of around 6 million. Thats on top of a drop off from last year as well.

Thats serious.
Which means the game is going to change significantly.
Unfortunately.

https://www.smh.com.au/sport/nrl/nrl-on-course-for-tv-ratings-victory-over-afl-20180527-p4zhsd.html

TV markets are down 8.9% as a general trend because streaming services are eating into their market....plus the free-to-air product is generally terrible. Let's be honest. That corroborates your 14% drop in AFL viewership though.

Roy Masters loves laying the boot into AFL though so I don't know if he's done any creative accountancy.

 

[Roovolution]

Gill could turn an oven off just by opening his mouth. He’s the barbie doll of football administration. A complete and utter idiot.

 

[Skeptic]

IMO the AFL has shown little for the large portion of it's hardcore but not willing to sell the farm for a sport fans, for numerous years and it's simply resulted in diminishing interest in the product.

I used to be a 12-15 game a year fan and despite the fact that I live as close to the city as I ever have (as in best accessibility), I have struggled to have the interest to go to many games (haven't been to more than 3 in a season for nearly a decade)... even this year I made a vow to get at least 10... have been to one.

Here are some simple irritants...
I used to like sitting on level 3 at Ethiad, front row... that is all reserved seating now and I'm simply not interested in paying for a reserve seat. It's ridiculous going to a game, looking at the best seats (on the level) being vacant and having to pay some $50-100 bucks extra for the privilege.

The match day experience... ho%$ crap what I wanted give just to have some silence at the game... instead the AFL experience is having commercials pumped into you at all times, frequent gambling adds, loud music and these stupid family events at the breaks. Hard to even be at a game without getting a migraine.

The cost... not much to add to this that isn't already documented... it's not that I can't afford it, I just refused to pay $20.00 for chicken, chips, a drink and a candy-bar

AFL on TV... again, I used to comfortably just flick the TV on in the background on Saturdays and Sundays and tune in and out of various games that often didn't include my own club... it kept interest up. Got a sense of other teams.
Now my options are to log into the Telsta app to watch on my ipad or limit coverage to Fri/Sat nights where there's a gambling commercial on every 90s or so

The rules...
F%$#K just put the whistle away. All these frequent changes to he rules, rule of the week, frees paid for incidental contact it just makes the product so unwatchable.
Essentially, any evenly matched AFL teams that have a game... the outcome is decided by which club gets the opportune frees at the right time and makes the most of them.

Inorganic feel...
Simple fact is that the AFL portrays itself like a business and it affords particular privileges to the clubs that it is either promoting, or that make it the most money. Whilst this is understandable, the fact is that this makes the overall product significantly less enjoyable.
Why watch a game if the fixturing, the tribunal results, umpires etc... they're not so much against me but they're incentivised to provide favor elsewhere. In what universe to people want to participate in games that have them at a disadvantage.


Put it simply... AFL is a very unattractive package.
It used to be great because the stories, characters, drama etc all happened and were really... now it's just manufactured garbage that they want you to pay extra for.

2 years ago I took my wife to a VFL final... we sat by the fence, went up to the huddles during the breaks, watched a free flowing game where the better team won because they played better as opposed to the umpires trying to keep things even... it didn't cost an arm and a leg and neither of us left with migraines caused from the ads

 

[Pessimistic]

I was born in the 70s and I lived for footy.

I played as often as I could, and I listened to games on the radio, watched highlights and was generally engaged with my club, obsessed even. I was in the majority as well, most kids my age, most people I knew, even older where the same.

Nowadays, with kids, even adults under say 25, that level of commitment and engagement is the exception, not the rule.

Most people take it or leave it as far as the AFL goes, some have a passing interest, I would put it to you that most people do not really care.

I feel like the glory days of the AFL are over. Crowds when you compare apples with apples over time will decline, and ratings will continue to go down as well. This is especially true with these two things when you adjust for population growth.

The AFL is in trouble, maybe not now, but in the future this comp will be battling, and the reason is that rusted on supporters are a dying breed. Plastic corporates like Gil running the show do not help either just quietly.

interest waxes and wanes at different stages in your life too

 

[Johnny_Dogg4]

-tv coverage is as bad as i can remember in my time
-commentators are poor
-foxtels coverage has regressed so much in 10 years
-it seems the crowd levels arnt as high, also live crowd seem dull

the whole coverage of afl seems dull

in terms of the afl product, its boring and not as exciting as it was 10 years ago

 

[Chief]

Is it that surprising. I’m one of those older ones that has walked away from the top level.

Absolutely love my local footy now but have to keep an eye on what goes on in the AFL as it effects the lower leagues.

As for the younger generation, just like how they see politicians, they see through all the manipulation, lies & not looking toward the future.

And just like politicians the AFL take forever to adjust, for example the congestion issue. It’s been a problem for easily over 10 years n now they decide to act due to falling numbers. Just like a politician!!

Then there’s the FIXture, then the draft, then the MCG GF then the AFL management using the game as a money making scheme for their mates.

The thing is, is anybody really that surprised the younger generation have given the top level the middle finger.

I took a friend from Mexico to a game and he was surprised at how fixed it was.

In Mexico, he said (dunno if he's right) investors will buy a team, load it up with good players, then sell it off when it makes it to the top table.

But the fixture is even. Correct me if I'm wrong, in Liga MX it's 18 teams, 17 games? Used to be 3 tables of 6 and play each other team twice?

So the league makes its money in other ways, and the fixture is not fiddled with. With relegation your "traditional rivals" might not be in the top table that year anyway.

The AFL I think is trying to maximise revenue at the expense of the perceived fairness of the comp. They believe, like all good little corporate empty suits, that money is all that matters - sell off anything not nailed to the floor.

 

[HPKS]

I took a friend from Mexico to a game and he was surprised at how fixed it was.

In Mexico, he said (dunno if he's right) investors will buy a team, load it up with good players, then sell it off when it makes it to the top table.

But the fixture is even. Correct me if I'm wrong, in Liga MX it's 18 teams, 17 games? Used to be 3 tables of 6 and play each other team twice?

So the league makes its money in other ways, and the fixture is not fiddled with. With relegation your "traditional rivals" might not be in the top table that year anyway.

The AFL I think is trying to maximise revenue at the expense of the perceived fairness of the comp. They believe, like all good little corporate empty suits, that money is all that matters - sell off anything not nailed to the floor.

Most people don’t mind a bit of fiddling around the edges against fairness but the AFL has gone so far away from fairness it’s not even debated. FFS commentators even talk openly about an uneven draw or you have to win a GF at another sides ground without even batting an eyelid.

The younger generation see through this so instead look to other forms of enjoyment.

It’s why I’ve walked away from being a hard core viewer n have way way more interest in a local league that gives me a fair draw, players from the local area & a finals system that is neutral as it can be.

 

[Lavender Bushranger]

Gill could turn an oven off just by opening his mouth. He’s the barbie doll of football administration. A complete and utter idiot.

To be fair, the rot was set in by Demetriou.


That is when the ship took this course.

 

[mxett]

No it dosent.
But, you dont drop 6 million cause of a few shit prime time games. Do you ?

there have only been 10 rounds, 3 Friday nights were on 7 mate due to the c games and royal wedding, and we've seen Carlton and stkilda in 3 games. Thats 60% of Friday games compromised by poor circumstances. Having said that, ratings are also down on Saturday quite substantially

 

[blaisee]

Did Plugger and Jason Dunstall run 5 lengths of the ground at full speed before having their shots on goal?
Lets get real here. The reason for goal kicking being bad is fatigue.
In the 'good old days' the forward stood in the goal square for 5 minutes at a time while the ball was at the other end.

True