Here's your 'Survey' AFL - Why dont you go anymore?

[Demonic Ascent]

I went along yesterday for the first time since the pandemic (chose a good game!)

Some observations:

Food while not cheap has improved a lot.

I'd forgotten how interesting it is watching the set ups in the forward line and the player movements (things you don't see on tv).

The noise never really translates across on the TV for some reason that adds to the atmosphere.

I was surprised how many young people were there. Packed with kids.

$27 for General Admission which was reasonable.

Enjoyable day

When you get a game like yesterday the live experience cannot be beat. The problem is far too many dud games make people question why they are there. Maybe things will pick up in the second half of the season, finals are still an outstanding experience live. Perhaps the season is too long?

 

[NYRB]

When you get a game like yesterday the live experience cannot be beat. The problem is far too many dud games make people question why they are there. Maybe things will pick up in the second half of the season, finals are still an outstanding experience live. Perhaps the season is too long?

I didnt watch the Richmond v Geelong yesterday but did watch the Adelaide v Roos game this arvo and it was a pretty decent game for two teams considered to be at the battle of the ladder.

Did hear from social media that the Cats v Tigers game was potentially the best game of the season so far.

It really depends on the luck of the draw on what you get. Sydney had 31 k last night and I reckon that was partly because there was no NRL games on this weekend but on a normal Saturday night that would generate around mid to low 20k.

 

[andon]

Essendon leaving the MCG to go to Docklands, I refuse to drag small kids off a train onto trams with confusing and overpriced Myky cards, so we went once to Dockland and then stopped.

Went to the G only for a while but the cost, the rule changes, lop sided free kick counts on Anzac day games we decided to watch on TV.

Then came the supplements scandal what a mess.

Then the Rampe post climbing incident and flaunting of the rules by the umpires supported by the boss of the AFL spirit of the game comment, nope not watching this cheating anymore.

Gambling, a blight on decent society, and raucous bafoon TV odds advertising is offensive and moronic.

So now I dont watch it much anymore, my family dont watch, no one bothers going anymore, and the blogs here are the last connection to the game.

 

[Demonic Ascent]

Essendon leaving the MCG to go to Docklands, I refuse to drag small kids off a train onto trams with confusing and overpriced Myky cards, so we went once to Dockland and then stopped.

Why would you get on a tram? Just jump off at Southern Cross station on the doorstep of Docklands.

 

[NYRB]

Essendon leaving the MCG to go to Docklands, I refuse to drag small kids off a train onto trams with confusing and overpriced Myky cards, so we went once to Dockland and then stopped.

Went to the G only for a while but the cost, the rule changes, lop sided free kick counts on Anzac day games we decided to watch on TV.

Then came the supplements scandal what a mess.

Then the Rampe post climbing incident and flaunting of the rules by the umpires supported by the boss of the AFL spirit of the game comment, nope not watching this cheating anymore.

Gambling, a blight on decent society, and raucous bafoon TV odds advertising is offensive and moronic.

So now I dont watch it much anymore, my family dont watch, no one bothers going anymore, and the blogs here are the last connection to the game.

Nathan Brown who does the preview of the AFL Same Game Multis is a bad punter as well. He is spruiking bad bets and losing bets. I dont mind the bet, but if you have an ambassador that has 12.14% winning record with his previews, its going very bad endorsement and bad look for the AFL and Sportsbet. I posted this on another the Punting thread of BigFooty of his Win and Losses for 2022:



Detailed are the bets on Pdf attachment.

 

[Red Black and Blue]

The Game day experience and over umpired games.

Richmond Geelong was the first truly great game I can remember this year. Just too rare an experience these days.

The star talent is spread too thinly across the comp. Curnow looks to be the first superstar since Martin. Just a pitiful level of freakish talent compared to what we saw a decade ago with prime Franklin, Hodge, Judd. Ablett, Stevie J, Betts, Fyfe, Brown, Riewoldt. These guys just radiated football magic and the stars of this era have been reduced to team men and work horses rather than those who transcend the team.

 

[gadj1976]

Agree with most comments here.
Worst of all for me is at the gabba they have a girl literally screaming into a microphone non-stop during every break in play with helpful comments like MAKE SOME NOOOISE!!
Just unbearable.

That sounds like going to a T20 game! Horrendous.

For me, living in Adelaide, I will only go to Carlton games here, so very rarely. Most years I'll venture to Melbourne for Rd 1 as it doesn't clash with kids sport.

The reason I don't go to games - the expense and scheduling. I've got Foxtel and would rather park myself in front of the TV with a $2 can of beer and if it's rubbish, I can turn it off and go and do something else.

I used to watch 8 (when it was 16 teams) games a week but now I rarely watch more than 1. When you have to hear the umpire to understand why a free kick was paid, then you may as well watch it from home. At least you have some possible understanding of what's going on, even if it is unintelligible to the mug punter.

It sounds counter intuitive but I'd take the mic's away from the umpires. Lower their profile, take the numbers off their backs and critique them thoroughly so they are accountable for haphazard decisions. I also think the 50 is too much of a punishment for these minor infringements. I prefer the old 15m penalty for these indiscretions.

I also can't stand the 'interpretations'. They are either rules or not rules.... not interpretations. That adds grey areas to the umpiring when it needs black and white.

 

[RedV3x]

People dont have the time span to last 5 days - especially this generation.

It's not just that.
Test cricket never rationalised the game. They never computed a conservative number of overs for four days,
divided it by two and gave that as a combined maximum to complete two innings.
The fifth day held as spare in case of delays.

 

[BIRDBRAIN]

Anyone who says they enjoy football as much as they did in the 90's to early 2000s is either too young or too senile to remember just how good it was. It is not even remotely the same game anymore. It's not just the umpiring and the rules either, the coaches have coached most individual elements out of the game. It's not football anymore, it's Team Defence Ball. And the young players are drafted according to their ability to jog around all day playing team defence. There's no fat players anymore, there's no characters anymore, there's no villains anymore, there's no drama anymore. It's just a boring slog up and down the field resetting for the stoppages and kicking goals from free kicks and 50m penalties.

 

[JennyTaylor]

I still have my 11 game membership for the Eagles. I do feel slightly less invested now that ive had the privilege of watching us win a granny live at the MCG.

Would never go along as a neutral now though. The game is like soccer where all players move from defense to offense, and vice versa. The backline players pass around in defense and switch sides the same way soccer defenders do. When the ball is fnally kicked to a contest its hard to see whats going on because of the swarm of players around the footy.

Much easier to see whats happening on an 83" TV with commentary.

 

[gadj1976]

Anyone who says they enjoy football as much as they did in the 90's to early 2000s is either too young or too senile to remember just how good it was. It is not even remotely the same game anymore. It's not just the umpiring and the rules either, the coaches have coached most individual elements out of the game. It's not football anymore, it's Team Defence Ball. And the young players are drafted according to their ability to jog around all day playing team defence. There's no fat players anymore, there's no characters anymore, there's no villains anymore, there's no drama anymore. It's just a boring slog up and down the field resetting for the stoppages and kicking goals from free kicks and 50m penalties.

Good point. The game has been analysed to death. If it wasn't for the ball being oval shaped it'd be VERY boring to watch.

Remove the laptops from the coaches box and get them coaching more on instinct!

 

[Howard Littlejohn]

It's not just that.
Test cricket never rationalised the game. They never computed a conservative number of overs for four days,
divided it by two and gave that as a combined maximum to complete two innings.
The fifth day held as spare in case of delays.

Not really for this thread, but as soon as you add over limits to Test cricket it stops being Test cricket but just a third limited over format.

 

[RedV3x]

Not really for this thread, but as soon as you add over limits to Test cricket it stops being Test cricket but just a third limited over format.

The only drastic change is that there is a guaranteed result, but even if these changes were made right now
test cricket would still be considered too slow.
Traditional games are tried and tested but are very difficult to upgrade.

 

[BIRDBRAIN]

The only drastic change is that there is a guaranteed result, but even if these changes were made right now
test cricket would still be considered too slow.
Traditional games are tried and tested but are very difficult to upgrade.

Yet Test cricket is the only remotely memorable form of the game. All these one off one-day or T20 international 'series' are completely meaningless. A few months later you'd struggle to find anyone who can remember who won or lost, because it doesn't matter anyway.

 

[NYRB]

I still have my 11 game membership for the Eagles. I do feel slightly less invested now that ive had the privilege of watching us win a granny live at the MCG.

Would never go along as a neutral now though. The game is like soccer where all players move from defense to offense, and vice versa. The backline players pass around in defense and switch sides the same way soccer defenders do. When the ball ia ginally kicked to a contest its hard to see whats going on because of the swarm of players around the footy.

Much easier to see whats happening on an 83" TV with commentary.

The only 2 rules where i think it could change things ( and I doubt it would be introduced), is to:

1) have a countdown clock on each play (eg like NFL and NBA)

Or

2) “play on” if you kick the ball backwards.


Either one wouldn’t solve the whole problem but it would help in “progressing” play rather then teams switching or kicking backwards.

 

[RedV3x]

have a countdown clock on each play (eg like NFL and NBA)

And HTF would that work ?

“play on” if you kick the ball backwards.

It's virtually that at.t.m. Players kick the ball backwards because nobody is manning up.
You want to introduce yet another significant law change when everybody is saying "stop".
First you have to acknowledge is that kicking the ball backwards has nothing to do with AFL umpiring
but is yet another coaching introduced strategy.
So you now want the AFL to react to coaching strategies - make your mind up.

 

[10571z]

Where’s the “MCG car park closed” option.

So annoying.

 

[NYRB]

And HTF would that work ?



It's virtually that at.t.m. Players kick the ball backwards because nobody is manning up.
You want to introduce yet another significant law change when everybody is saying "stop".
First you have to acknowledge is that kicking the ball backwards has nothing to do with AFL umpiring
but is yet another coaching introduced strategy.
So you now want the AFL to react to coaching strategies - make your mind up.

Maybe a 35 second shot clock once you have possession of the ball, to get the ball moving down field as much as possible.

None of this chip, slow, conservative stuff

 

[Demonic Ascent]

Where’s the “MCG car park closed” option.

So annoying.

And when it is open you're stuck for half an hour after the game before the gates open! Makes it hard taking younger kids to night games.

 

[Kanga Commando]

 

[Cosmic Energy]

Game day experience could be more specific, something like ‘other people’. Feels like in recent times you’re always in earshot of absolute cretins who whinge & scream about every little thing not going their way, including my own team’s supporters at times. Never a free kick that is there, just a general lack of understanding of the game & the rules. Heckling players with the most boring, unoriginal attempts at humour. At least at home I can turn Brian Taylor off.

 

[gadj1976]

Maybe a 35 second shot clock once you have possession of the ball, to get the ball moving down field as much as possible.

None of this chip, slow, conservative stuff

They have a 30 second shot clock on teams having a set shot for goal and it's friggen infuriating. Adding ANOTHER element like this further reduces the credibility of the game.

 

[SBD Gonzalez]

Game day experience for me. Just so sick of not being able to talk with my mates during the breaks about the quarter of footy we've just watched, because some unqualified idiot has possession of a mic and a PA system.

 

[SBD Gonzalez]

Anyone who says they enjoy football as much as they did in the 90's to early 2000s is either too young or too senile to remember just how good it was. It is not even remotely the same game anymore. It's not just the umpiring and the rules either, the coaches have coached most individual elements out of the game. It's not football anymore, it's Team Defence Ball. And the young players are drafted according to their ability to jog around all day playing team defence. There's no fat players anymore, there's no characters anymore, there's no villains anymore, there's no drama anymore. It's just a boring slog up and down the field resetting for the stoppages and kicking goals from free kicks and 50m penalties.

I still like it.

 

[Arr0w]

Umpiring inconsistency / Rule changes, the number 1 reason why people don't go to the game?

I call bullshit