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

[HTT]

Gonna have to call this one incorrect

 

[whatis]

I think you can ignore the teen demographic to a certain extent. Parents bring kids to games, kids are into it and then maybe get into other things when they reach their teenage years. But then they get even older still, and all it can take is for their club to make finals in a year that they happen to be paying attention to awaken old loyalties etc.

The biggest thing that AFL has going for it is that it's played at the highest level right here in Oz. Basically every other live sport that you can attend here is of an inferior quality to what might be being played somewhere else. The best AFL players play here every week.

 

[Lavender Bushranger]

When I was a kid in the 80’s and playing jnr footy at Aberfeldie we had 1 team for each age group, now there’s about 3 each and they aren’t alone with this sort of participation.

Basketball stadiums are also packed out with non-stop junior games all day Saturday and Sunday. Netball courts all over Melbourne are chockas too.

Junior soccer clubs are thriving.

 

[Lavender Bushranger]

Bigfooty, supercoach, AFL fantasy, foxfooty, 6 fta footy shows, dominant conversation piece in 90% of my social circles, 18 clubs, games in China, pubs overseas showing games, afl teams spending offseasons with NBA, NFL, MLB and EPL teams

A dying code indeed

We even finally got to Switzerland a couple of years ago

Making money doesn't make it good code though does it?

 

[Ron The Bear]

I feel like the glory days of the AFL are over.

Footy's glory days ended in the 1980's. There are many more people now who simply have no interest. If you didn't talk footy in the schoolyard back then you were practically an outcast; these days, passionate footy fans are sometimes perceived as having a quirky interest.

Footy still has a massive reach; it just doesn't dominate the winter landscape like it used to.

 

[HavUEvaSeenTheRain]

I don't think that's the case.

Sport used to be tribal - then it became an industry.

It's an entertainment product. Nothing more.


Sport will always prosper, as long as it is actually entertaining.
And therein lies the problem for the AFL.

It's not tribal anymore. There's still a few loser tragics that are conned by the marketing that they're part of some army or something - but they're a dying breed.

So sport has to be entertaining, or its stuffed.

When it's tribal, no one cares what it looks like. It just doesn't matter.

But when it's not, it's got to be entertaining enough to pay to watch, ahead of other entertainment products.

This is why I fear for the AFL. They have killed off the key forward, or at least been asleep at the wheel whilst it was happening. They've removed the characters from the game.
They've allowed coaches to hijack it into a clogged up defensive mess.

It's an ugly sport to watch, with no reason to sit through a whole game. No players to watch.

I watch the NRL on Friday nights more than the AFL. I certainly watch the NBA ahead of the footy.

If you rip the tribalism out of the game, you'd better be sure that your product is entertaining.

Try and tell an American that the NBA now is better than in the 90's early 00's. I seriously doubt any sport in developed countries aren't having the same problem the AFL is. People just seem to get bored so much more easily. I remember when AAMI park was being built that Victory were flying and had a lot of excitement around them. Their supporters were claiming they had already out grown it and couldn't believe the government would build it under 50,000 because that's what they would fill. As expected the excitement faded and than they stagnated and now have gone backwards. Now they only about half fill AAMI.
People are theatre goers and unless professional sports around the world somehow manage to get the old tribalism back people will continue to have more and more different interests that will take away from those sports

 

[Cincinnatus]

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.

Fake news, old timer. The code is the #1 in Aus and has never been so rich.

Its like people who think back to childhood and wish they could go back. Yeah it was easy and fun but you had no money, alcohol or credit cards.

People always tell me how kids shows these days have gone to the dogs and they need to go back to how they were in the 90s. Well thats cool until you actually go and watch a 90s kids show and realise its actually shit.

People reckon 80s footy was the golden era but the skill of the modern game is far superior.

Nostalgia is a wonderful thing but it is entirely selective and leaves out all the shit.

If you are done with AFL, goodbye.

 

[Dez!]

“Everything was better when I wasn’t a washed up old fart”
- A washed up old fart

This couldn't be more accurate, it's just one hundred percent correct.

 

[Lavender Bushranger]

Try and tell an American that the NBA now is better than in the 90's early 00's. I seriously doubt any sport in developed countries aren't having the same problem the AFL is. People just seem to get bored so much more easily. I remember when AAMI park was being built that Victory were flying and had a lot of excitement around them. Their supporters were claiming they had already out grown it and couldn't believe the government would build it under 50,000 because that's what they would fill. As expected the excitement faded and than they stagnated and now have gone backwards. Now they only about half fill AAMI.
People are theatre goers and unless professional sports around the world somehow manage to get the old tribalism back people will continue to have more and more different interests that will take away from those sports

I preferred the NBA back in the 'glory days', no doubt.

However American sports still have such enormous appeal for the following reasons:

Their sports cater for the superstar players. The very nature of NFL, NBA and the MLB is that the superstars get their chance to do their thing. The slugger stands at the plate, and gets a chance.
There's no tackling in basketball, so the superstar gets his hands on the ball, and can do his thing.
The quarterback gets the ball. If he's good enough, he can do his thing.

People legitimately pay to the watch the stars play over there. I pay to watch them play! I won't necessarily care about a Yankees result, but I'd sit and watch Aaron Judge play. You should have seen the crowd at Angels stadium the other month when Ohtani pitched! It was nuts. It was all about the big superstar.

I'm a mad NBA fan, so I'd watch Steph Curry play all day long - but I'd also sit there and watch a 'neutral' game if LeBron, Russ, Harden or any of these are playing.

I couldn't care less about the result of the SuperBowl (because my team is shit and is never in it), but the big name QB is always worth watching.

American sports are still entertaining. It's certainly different to what it was back in the 80s, but they have ensured that there are still reasons for people to watch that aren't emotionally invested in the result.


And that's my fundamental issue with the AFL. It's boring. I'm still interested in the results, but I'll usually only watch the start, then flick around and if it's close in the last quarter, I'll tune back in.

 

[Chubberson]

Well said. 36 y.o. here. Andy and Gil have politicized and cheapened the game. It started when they let Fitzroy die, for what? Two plastic franchises to leverage better T.V. deals. Now they've screwed Tassie footy too. The league headquarters are a shit stain on the game and a disgrace. The sliding rule, **** off. It's too far gone to fix now unfortunately.

 

[Adelaide Hawk]

Footy's glory days ended in the 1980's. There are many more people now who simply have no interest. If you didn't talk footy in the schoolyard back then you were practically an outcast; these days, passionate footy fans are sometimes perceived as having a quirky interest.

Footy still has a massive reach; it just doesn't dominate the winter landscape like it used to.

Yes, it's a whole different landscape these days. I've noticed the change through my working life. Come Monday morning in the 70s and 80s, the talk was all football, bosses had to tell you to stop talking footy and get back to work. As the years progressed, less and less talk took place in the workforce. The young guys in the office still talk sport, but now they talk NBA. You're not hearing about Buddy these days, you're hearing about LeBron, Steph, KD, etc.

Not sure AFL is on the decline. As a game I think it is, but it is still staggeringly popular for some reason. It's just a whole new world and younger supporters get different things out of the game than we used to.

 

[Adelaide Hawk]

And that's my fundamental issue with the AFL. It's boring. I'm still interested in the results, but I'll usually only watch the start, then flick around and if it's close in the last quarter, I'll tune back in.

My thoughts precisely. Not enough action in AFL these days.

 

[Upgrayedd]

Bigfooty, supercoach, AFL fantasy, foxfooty, 6 fta footy shows, dominant conversation piece in 90% of my social circles, 18 clubs, games in China, pubs overseas showing games, afl teams spending offseasons with NBA, NFL, MLB and EPL teams

A dying code indeed

We even finally got to Switzerland a couple of years ago

Yeah but i cant get in for 5 bucks and hang out with the same 40 supporters i see anymore so the game must be dying

 

[Ron The Bear]

Yes, it's a whole different landscape these days. I've noticed the change through my working life. Come Monday morning in the 70s and 80s, the talk was all football, bosses had to tell you to stop talking footy and get back to work. As the years progressed, less and less talk took place in the workforce.

These days your work colleagues are just as likely to be Chao-xing and Mohammed, who aren't likely to be rusted-ons.

There's a whole range of factors for its dilution, probably very few of which could be shunted back to the AFL itself.

 

[The Swert]

There's just more activities accessible now. Decades ago there were less options to do /watch on a weekend. Now everything is easily accessible, so some people choose to put their attention elsewhere.

Would 130,000 people have gone to watch football in the 1960s if they could've streamed a live Beatles concert from the other side of the world? Or watched an international soccer match, or played video games, or flown up to Bali for the weekend?

 

[blaisee]

Yeah totally disagree with the OP.

It will thrive forever, its a good product, country kids will always play it, and the introduction of the AFLW will make sure women will be more interested and pass it on to their kids.

I disagree with what you say except the country kid stuff. This is true because they have nothing else to do

 

[Wacko23Jacko]

It’s not going to die or experience serious decline, but I don’t think it’s grown with the population in parallel measures - which is fair enough.

It does give the illusion that it’s suffering though. Because you’re spot on that most people have a passing interest or couldn’t give a damn (from my own social circles as a 24yr old). When my old man misses a game I have trouble palming off his membership to mates or acquaintances.

Definitely means more out in the country too. There’s less distractions out there.

I reckon a lot more kids these days would sooner align themselves with an EPL, NFL or NBA team. Think it could be a bit of the old “Australian is uncool” thing too.

Couldn’t give you the figures though - all passing opinion

 

[legend166]

I don't really agree with the premise kids are losing interest. But if you're losing interest, it's called getting old. I joined this site in 2007 when I was 19. Basically all through my teenage years and early 20s I loved the Swans and the AFL. Probably went to 95% of Swans home games for a decade from 2002 - 2013. On top of that I'd watch at least four other games on the weekend, probably more. A few times I showed up early at the SCG to watch the reserves.

Now I'm 29. In the last six years I got a girlfriend, got married, had a baby. Footy has moved so far down the priority list. I haven't been to a Swans game in years. There's weekends that go by when the only game I'll watch is the Swans. Sure, part of that apathy comes from how I think the game is administered, but most of it is because when you become an adult with responsibilities and real things you realise that the actual importance of football is practically nil. It can still be incredibly enjoyable and I love to talk about it (I'm all on here) but if the emotional investment you put into it doesn't wane as you grow up there's probably some arrested development going on.

 

[Billy ray]

Hasn’t been the same since supporters stopped wearing onions on their belts - which was the fashion at the time

 

[Maylandsman]

Footy isn't as big in primary schools as it used to be

You hardly ever see the kids playing kick to kick anymore.

 

[Mootsy]

Complexities of so much more things to do and everything becoming easy these days. It's still doing pretty well, but it has lost certain elements that made the game unique from other sports in the past.

- The big grab is gone
- Full forwards kicking bags is gone
- Open running football has turned into a congested rugby style contest.
- It has become somewhat sterile to watch.
- The standards of skills are all over the place in certain teams.
- Players no longer mark overhead, they fend off the ball defensively.

It's evolved to an athletic spectacle as opposed to the more casual style of the VFL.

At the same time, we haven't had a more even competition in a long time and there is a lot of potential.

- more variety in premiership winners
- more struggling teams of the past doing well
- an AFL video game that looks to be progressive
- still quality A grade players around
- a more defensive and athletic game to watch
- more precision/tactical style of football.
- aligning charities and community days with more teams
- more cup derby's.
- new uniform ideas every year, like, Richmond inverted jumper.
- more players being media trained and being more open to interviews
- the food kiosks having more affordable food and wider options.

 

[gangsta deluxe]

If there were some type of empirical analysis supporting this, then it would lend it weight. Yet, not a scrap of data.

Here-say and conjecture, a bullshit thread.

This isn't to say the view is wrong, just the way in which it has been argued and put forward lends no good reason to believe its veracity. To make a claim about popular opinion, evidence is required about the state of popular opinion that goes beyond the narrow feelings of the person making the claim, which are subject to misrepresent the actual state of affairs for a number of reasons (i.e. what is needed is a combination of data, including a survey, some evidence about attendance, some evidence about older Australians having stronger views on the issue, lower purchases of merchandise, etc. etc.).

 

[Chubberson]

I can understand pulling out the old fart line and its merits. But, it comes from the same generation that want A1 working conditions at work and have probably never paid a union due in their life. Its the type asking for air conditioned workshops, "unions? Whats a union?". Piss off.

 

[SAweagle]

If there were some type of empirical analysis supporting this, then it would lend it weight. Yet, not a scrap of data.

Here-say and conjecture, a bullshit thread.

This isn't to say the view is wrong, just the way in which it has been argued and put forward lends no good reason to assert its veracity. To make a claim about popular opinion, evidence is required about the state of popular opinion that goes beyond the narrow feelings of the person making the claim, which are subject to misrepresent the actual state of affairs for a number of reasons (i.e. what is needed is a combination of data, including a survey, some evidence about attendance, some evidence about older Australians having stronger views on the issue, lower purchases of merchandise, etc. etc.).

Are you aware you are reading BigFooty?

 

[gangsta deluxe]

Are you aware you are reading BigFooty?

I am an enduring optimist!