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

[Scotland]

Record TV rights deal
Record aggregate crowd for an AFL season last year

Someone must be into footy.

 

[Draft Pick]

As a financial enterprise, women's AFL cannot, and will not, compete with men's AFL. It's not women's football in itself that poses a danger to the sport - it's the lefties who control the mainstream media and public policy, who are just waiting for their opportunity to start frothing at the mouth because female AFL players aren't paid the same as male players. The inevitable media saga that will arise shall have nothing to do with reality - it will simply be conceived by the leftist media as part of the "gender pay gap" and "women don't get paid as much because sexism". And once again, "equality" will have to be legislated into practice, by artificially propping up the women's game by taking away from the men's.

Lol.

 

[Gysberts2Bate]

 

[JackFlash]

It's a silly thread, the past two seasons have been a boom for the AFL. They are simply having a "bad" year. The fixture for Friday and Saturday night games is a complete botch up, the standard is ordinary this year and they definitely must address some on field changes. It's all fixable. Melbourne are playing the best footy, Richmond are still the best team, but we have a lot of problems, such as the MRO isn't working, the score review system is a dud and the game looks ugly on TV. Time for a Gil presser on the state of the game IMO.

 

[joy division]

I've attended 10+ Essendon games a year every year since 1995. The previous couple of years I've been to more neutral "blockbuster" games than anything else. This year I've been to one game (Rd.1) and totally lost interest in it.

The games overloaded with crap and it's a total bore to watch. I've spent most this year Friday or Satuday nights listening to Triple M footy whilst doing something else and I enjoy it more because I don't need to watch it. The Hawthorn 3peat, Dogs and Richmond GF wins and the hype it all brought I think has overshadowed the facts about where the game is at.

 

[Jivlain]

Life these days is alienating. It's perhaps even more explicit in other codes - in the Premier League, for example, they went through a period of raising the prices for the explicit reason of keeping the sorts of working class scum that they were blaming Hillsborough on out of the grounds*. In the NFL teams play in brand new taxpayer-funded stadiums that are pretty much empty, having just upped and moved a popular franchise to somewhere with better demographics.

The good news for the AFL is that there's essentially no alternative. Everything else is also alienating. All your other options for sports-related entertainment products are also alienating, often even moreso. Your local coffee shop is a Starbucks. The old local pub is owned by either Woolworths or Coles. The bakery selling you overly-dry and flaky sausage rolls is a megachain that makes all the sausage rolls in a big factory God-only-knows-where but then ships out premix so they can claim it's "baked" "fresh" in store. The post-apocalyptic suburban wasteland you grew up in has been bulldozed for medium-density flats you could never afford.



Starbucks is a massively successful company. In many many cases the individual stores are more successful by whatever measure than whatever independent stores they may have displaced. Doesn't mean we didn't lose something in the process. And there's no harm in recognising that.

*: they've now started reversing this a little but currently it's put as a sort of heroic gesture that, out of their boundless and infinite generosity, they'd permit the heart and soul of the clubs to maybe enter the grounds sometimes

 

[Lavender Bushranger]

When you take into account

1. Smaller venues
2. Less games less teams
3. Lower population

More people went to games in 1980, than in 2017.

In 1980, the VFL was played in the states of Victoria and NSW.
The population of NSW and Victoria in 1980 was about 8.4 million people
The total crowds for the 1980 season 3.8 million people.
On Average, 4.5 out of every ten people went to a vfl game in 1980

In 2017, the AFL was a true national competition
The population of Australia in 2017 was 24.8 million
Total crowds for the 2017 season about 7.3 million ( best ever )
On Average 3 out of every ten people went to an AFL game in 2017

So even though there were less teams, and smaller venues on average, You were 50% more likely to go to the footy in 1980, when compared to 2017. More or less.

Also, 6 games were usually played simultaneously.

They didn't 'maximise' the fixture like they do now.

 

[inbetween]

Agree and disagree. It's not just the AFL on the 'decline' (more of a stagnation, really), but rather sports as a whole.
Whether it's domestic leagues or ones from aboard you hear the same comments. NBA is on the decline, NFL, NRL blah blah.

So what exactly is the source? It's very simple. It's the information age. It's just muuuuch easier (and probably more fun) for youth to just play a videogame or hang about on facebook all day then play in a organised game of footy. And it's definitely more engaging for them to do that than watch a game.

It's not the AFL's fault either, it's just reality. AFL cannot innovate fast enough to keep up. They have neither the money nor the product to do so.

 

[Lavender Bushranger]

Record TV rights deal
Record aggregate crowd for an AFL season last year

Someone must be into footy.

Is there a sport anywhere that hasn't just had a record TV rights deal?

Even the lacrosse is live on TV now FFS!


Record TV rights deals say more about the TV industry than they do about the sports themselves.

Married at First Sight broke ratings records, but I think it's inaccurate to point to it as evidence that the quality of TV has never been better.

 

[Lavender Bushranger]

American sports - yawn

I used to yawn at them too, to be honest.

But once the AFL lost its soul (for want of a better term) and I stopped barracking emotionally for a club - I just started 'watching it' instead.

And although I still follow it closely, it's purely entertainment.

The problem is that when it comes to entertainment alone - I find that American sports win hands down.

So I'm far more drawn to them than the AFL these days.

 

[Lavender Bushranger]

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

Aren't country footy clubs closing down all the time?

 

[threesixpio]

To be fair we have endless content readily available such as the internet, video games, streaming services etc to diversify interests.

The only other thing you old mother******s had back in the day was probably a ball and a cup so of course you spent all your time focussed on footy lol

I miss those ball and cups

 

[Gavin Excell]

Life these days is alienating. It's perhaps even more explicit in other codes - in the Premier League, for example, they went through a period of raising the prices for the explicit reason of keeping the sorts of working class scum that they were blaming Hillsborough on out of the grounds*. In the NFL teams play in brand new taxpayer-funded stadiums that are pretty much empty, having just upped and moved a popular franchise to somewhere with better demographics.

The good news for the AFL is that there's essentially no alternative. Everything else is also alienating. All your other options for sports-related entertainment products are also alienating, often even moreso. Your local coffee shop is a Starbucks. The old local pub is owned by either Woolworths or Coles. The bakery selling you overly-dry and flaky sausage rolls is a megachain that makes all the sausage rolls in a big factory God-only-knows-where but then ships out premix so they can claim it's "baked" "fresh" in store. The post-apocalyptic suburban wasteland you grew up in has been bulldozed for medium-density flats you could never afford.



Starbucks is a massively successful company. In many many cases the individual stores are more successful by whatever measure than whatever independent stores they may have displaced. Doesn't mean we didn't lose something in the process. And there's no harm in recognising that.

*: they've now started reversing this a little but currently it's put as a sort of heroic gesture that, out of their boundless and infinite generosity, they'd permit the heart and soul of the clubs to maybe enter the grounds sometimes

Starbucks has famously been unsuccessful in this country compared to other western markets.

 

[Gavin Excell]

I miss those ball and cups

And fanta yo yos that occupied most of my idle moments

 

[threesixpio]

And fanta yo yos that occupied most of my idle moments

Rubik’s cube in one hand and Sunnyboy in the other clumsily falling over a speak and spell and landing in my big sister’s record collection breaking the ‘Dream Police’ single with my mullet haircut

Slightly embellished

 

[Snake_Baker]

The organic fundamentals of the game have definitely been diluted.

If you want an example of how much peripheral issues have subconsciously entered the lexicon and diluted the game, then look no further than the litany of "predict the result and attendance" threads, or the prevalence of discussions that solely discuss attendance/membership numbers etc.

 

[Ant85]

The AFL is also eroding their own supporter base at the top end too.

There's a growing cynicism among the footy diehards: the rules get bent for whoever the AFL loves at any given moment in time, they prop up some clubs at the expense of others, the on-field rules are interpreted to meet an agenda, they alternatively hit clubs/players with a hammer and then wet lettuce, clear incompetence is protected and basic game integrity issues like the MRP and goal-line technology are a joke.

All to protect Gilligan's end-of-year bonus, and those of his mates.

And many, many people I talk to who've followed footy for decades are jaded because of it.

Posts exactly like this were written a decade ago when I signed onto BF (aging needs to slow down), except it was about Vlad.

BF peeps can be a bit melodramatic - the AFL has flaws, sure, and there's always room for improvement, but it's not dying.

Every code and competition has its tough runs. Just look at the NFL right now - centre of highly politically charged debates, drawing boycott campaigns from every angle. Or FIFA, can't escape a year without some corruption scandal. I think the AFL has it alright in comparison.

A lot of folks from the 70s and 80s are nostalgic of the "old brand" of footy. But watch a game from 30 years ago - players were slower and nowhere near as fit, skills weren't as prolific, the grounds were poorly kept and muddy, the stadiums were uncomfortable and crumbling, coverage was almost always on replay.

If you want to compare now and 30 years ago, look at the whole picture, and you'll see the AFL has improved dramatically.

The AFL can do a lot more, but it's not doomsday - nowhere near it.

 

[threesixpio]

I've attended 10+ Essendon games a year every year since 1995. The previous couple of years I've been to more neutral "blockbuster" games than anything else. This year I've been to one game (Rd.1) and totally lost interest in it.

The games overloaded with crap and it's a total bore to watch. I've spent most this year Friday or Satuday nights listening to Triple M footy whilst doing something else and I enjoy it more because I don't need to watch it. The Hawthorn 3peat, Dogs and Richmond GF wins and the hype it all brought I think has overshadowed the facts about where the game is at.

By ignoring the Hawthorn threepeat you have missed Unknown Pleasures

This would be Closer to the truth

Still I get your point

 

[Jivlain]

Starbucks has famously been unsuccessful in this country compared to other western markets.

I picked on Starbucks because of the film but do please feel free to sub in McCafe, Coffee Club, Michel's Patisserie (oh god please no) or Gloria Jeans as required.

 

[Snake_Baker]

A lot of folks from the 70s and 80s are nostalgic of the "old brand" of footy. But watch a game from 30 years ago - players were slower and nowhere near as fit, skills weren't as prolific, the grounds were poorly kept and muddy, the stadiums were uncomfortable and crumbling, coverage was almost always on replay.

The problem is folks like you claim leg speed and curating skills as if those things actually matter.

If I wanted to see someone running fast, I would go to an athletics carnival. If I wanted to see fine displays of grass curation, I would go to a lawn bowls club. If I wanted to sit in air-conditioned comfort eating sushi, I would go to the Sydney Opera House.

You don't actually have a rebuttal.

I want to see football in it's pristine state. We live in a time when icons like Alex Jesaulenko won't go to an AFL game anymore because of the games convoluted contemporary nature, preferring to go and watch football in the suburbs where the game remains closer to its intrinsic roots.

 

[Snake_Baker]

By ignoring the Hawthorn threepeat you have missed Unknown Pleasures

This would be Closer to the truth

Still I get your point

Hawthorn won 3 premierships by effectively playing "keepings off" football.

In the big scheme of things, there's nothing "great" about this, or that teams particular era. They aren't in the same league as Brisbane 2001-2003

 

[threesixpio]

Hawthorn won 3 premierships by effectively playing "keepings off" football.

In the big scheme of things, there's nothing "great" about this, or that teams particular era. They aren't in the same league as Brisbane 2001-2003

You’re right. I’ve lost control again. You can see it in my eyes.

When their games were on 774 I did dance, dance, dance, dance, dance to the radio

But I love the game and won’t walk away in silence

 

[Snake_Baker]

You’re right. I’ve lost control again. You can see it in my eyes.

When their games were on 774 I did dance, dance, dance, dance, dance to the radio

My guess is that you were still getting about in your old man's scrote back then, and like so many 20-30something internet historians, you are commenting about things you know nothing about.

 

[threesixpio]

Starbucks has famously been unsuccessful in this country compared to other western markets.

I’m drinking a latte at a little known rural establishment right now to celebrate this post

 

[SickQwon]

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

Only read as far as this

Nail. Head.

Shit thread.