Losing passion for the AFL

[knuckles]

Game is over exposed e.g. footy show. Also, football competes with many other things "to do" on a weekend now for most people, so its hard to share your passion with a dozen things. I follow Collingwood b/c I grew up near Vic Park. Unless there are 60K+ at the "G", just doesn't do it for me. Plus as you age, its not hard to lose passion over things which seemed the only thing that mattered when you were younger.
Back to the Footy Show etc. Some of my heros were Magro, Worthington, Banks, Kink, Daicos, Barham, Cooper and a few others. Growing up, their persona grew /c I never heard from them. Mystery men. Warriors. (well Kink's persona was shattered when I saw him working as a hairdresser in Nth Melb ).
Anyhoo. Less talk, more action, simplifying the rules, remove the centre line etc. A Grand Final with no pre-game entertainment....just the two teams racing on the ground for combat ( I notice now they make 'em sit down and take a happy snap after being revved up by the coach,atmosphere and with 3 mins to go before game time ). This shoud get the blood pumping again.

 

[Lockyer24]

Originally posted by DonFan
Let me just grab my violin.

Ahhh Friday can't come any sooner

 

[pazza]

I have said for a number of years now that footy and the path it has taken, is a sad thing and not like when I grew up. Won't stop me going hard every match I attend though.

The game lost it's way when the competition, short of funds, decided that expansion was the way to go. Players since then have asked for way too much money, causing many clubs to be up against the wall in terms of their finances.

The corporate dollar is now seen to be so important to the game, that the lifeblood, us proud fans and club supporters, are treated as second-class citizens.

Television wields too much power in the game - but, that kind of thing can happen I guess.

Suburban grounds were the heart of the game and the way it was played. Home ground advantages were more pronounced (apart from St. Kilda at Moorabbin)

Players now have probably gone too professional..how many top-line players do we know that have jobs they do during the week now..would be a small amount I reckon.

 

[Stealth bomber]

I think one of the things that first struck me about Aussie Rules was the proliferation of corporate sponsors.

I come from the US where the dollar has pretty much ruined professional sports for years now, and where most of the same problems exist, only tenfold worse. Think $600,000 a year is too much for a footballer - how about $6 million?

But one thing we have never done, mercifully, is allow the uniform to be whored out to corporate sponsors, apart from the manufacturer of the garment.

For the most part, the field of play hasn't been littered with corporate sponsors either. Ice hockey seems to be the one exception.

So I certainly was surprised to find out that this practice was commonplace here, and even more surprised to find out that guernsey sponsors have been around since the mid-70s.

My Essendon guernsey is unofficial - I bought it at the Vic Market for about $50. There's nothing on it except a sash and a number. I like it much better.

 

[pazza]

Originally posted by Stealth bomber
I think one of the things that first struck me about Aussie Rules was the proliferation of corporate sponsors.

I come from the US where the dollar has pretty much ruined professional sports for years now, and where most of the same problems exist, only tenfold worse. Think $600,000 a year is too much for a footballer - how about $6 million?

But one thing we have never done, mercifully, is allow the uniform to be whored out to corporate sponsors, apart from the manufacturer of the garment.

For the most part, the field of play hasn't been littered with corporate sponsors either. Ice hockey seems to be the one exception.

So I certainly was surprised to find out that this practice was commonplace here, and even more surprised to find out that guernsey sponsors have been around since the mid-70s.

My Essendon guernsey is unofficial - I bought it at the Vic Market for about $50. There's nothing on it except a sash and a number. I like it much better.

Join the club stealthy. It was something I wanted when I got the guernsey I have now (purchased a few years back).

 

[jont2020]

I miss a lot of the spontaneity in the game - the biggest one is players now centre the ball rather than go for goal. So many times I want that player to pull off an amazing shot only to see it go to a pack of players in the centre square.

 

[footyman]

i know what you mean L-Nizzy. I'm starting to enjoy a day at the VFL more than an AFL game.

 

[Mr Ripper]

I still have an enormous passion for my club, but my love of the game itself has gone into freefall in recent times.

Lack of diligence amongst the umpiring fraternity has been the catalyst.

What used to be a free flowing sport is now stop-start, stop-start with ball-ups and other stoppages eating away at the spectacle.

The speckie and even the plain and simple pack mark have almost gone the way of the dodo. Marking and ruck contests now resemble wrestlemania whereas once upon a time players could go for the grab on their merits.

The the best aspects of the game I fell in love with have now virtually departed the scene and what's left, quite frankly, bores me...and it's the umpiring that I find singularly responsible.

 

[Voice of Reason]

Originally posted by Mr Ripper
Lack of diligence amongst the umpiring fraternity has been the catalyst.

What used to be a free flowing sport is now stop-start, stop-start with ball-ups and other stoppages eating away at the spectacle.

I thought that statistically there were fewer free kicks nowadays than in the past? The umpires just whistle to their (limited) ability to interpret the rules.

I actually blame the coaches for the change in the spectacle. People like Wallace and Eade particularly - even Malthouse (great man though he is), who coached the early 90s Eagles to their strength, which was small running players, no CHF, few kicking to packs and defence, defence, defence - kick it to the fat FF. I loved it at the time, but ....

I do agree on your points about speccies and pack marks though - it's supposed to be the game where the big men fly. But now if they do that they are "indisciplined". I like Russell Robertson.

 

[X_box_X]

Even though I, 16, haven’t lived to see how Football was in the ‘70’s, I can see where you are all coming from. I have stressed this on numerous occasions – The game is becoming more and more like basketball, a non-contact type of game. It sucks really. AFL is renowned for the “shirtfronts”, rough play and stick-to-your-man Football. Nowadays, a shirtfront will cost you 10 weeks (Tony Lockett in ’94 comes to mind). The “Terry Wallace” backline flood has stopped the man-to-man Football, enabling opposition players to roam free on the wing, have a couple of bounces and have an inside 50 entry. It sucks. There would have been fewer open players 20 years ago than what there are now.

From my perspective, AFL Footballers are fitter than the Footballers in the ‘70’s and ‘80’s. The pre-season training is much more grueling, excruciating and really iron-man like. The modern day Footballers are shown to be “Gladiators”. But, really, they’re just normal people. I have no proof of this, but 20 or 30 years ago Footballers would have been publicised as normal human beings, every day-to-day people.

But, I pose the question – Why all this grueling pre-season training if the game is stop-start, stop-start? Why all the gym work and bulking your body up if you are not allowed to have that much contact with your opponent? Body-on-body contests are fine, and 90% of the time the mark will be taken, if any, by the stronger man, but surely you are allowed to have a tad more contact, like guarding your arm infront of your opponents stomach region, holding them back.

Umpires are the main culperates, as already mentioned. Being suspended for “accidentally” making contact with an umpire is absolutely insane. The players’ eyes are on the ball that is high in the sky, so how are the players to know if they’re going to make an indiscretion with an umpire? It is absurd.

Not to mention that ground surface at some grounds. The ground surface should be Football-friendly, as already we’ve seen four serious season-ending injuries. Even though they were meant to do with marking contests and tackles, the surface is still a disgrace. How many times have you seen a player lose his footing, slipping over?

Something has to be done. The way Football is going, we’re going to have bibs with positions on them soon, with one female umpire, err, referee.

 

[understudy]

Originally posted by Mr Ripper
I still have an enormous passion for my club, but my love of the game itself has gone into freefall in recent times.

Lack of diligence amongst the umpiring fraternity has been the catalyst.

What used to be a free flowing sport is now stop-start, stop-start with ball-ups and other stoppages eating away at the spectacle.

The speckie and even the plain and simple pack mark have almost gone the way of the dodo. Marking and ruck contests now resemble wrestlemania whereas once upon a time players could go for the grab on their merits.

The the best aspects of the game I fell in love with have now virtually departed the scene and what's left, quite frankly, bores me...and it's the umpiring that I find singularly responsible.

I agree.

this prior opportunity crap is the reason. blokes just grab the ball and hang onto the ball on the basis on no prior opportunity.

This is the reason there are some many packs. Once upon a time maybe 5 to 10 years ago you move the ball on or are pinged for holding the ball.

That is the way to go imo.

There are way too many over the shoulder and in the back free kicks paid in comparison to holding the ball free kicks imo.

 

[MoffOnTou]

Originally posted by sandeano
The over-analysing of the game irks me no end.

It seems that with each daily paper (in Melbourne anyway) allowing three or four experts PER DAY to voice their opinion on what is, after all, a pretty simple sport, each 'expert' wants to try and out-do each other in how much waffle they can spout about bewildering bulldust that I am sure they pull out of their arses and hope that the general public falls for it.

(Allow me to take a breather and find a space for my award for Big Footy's longest sentence of the day).

Anyway, this habit in prevalent in all forms of the media, from TV telecasts and panel shows to radio discussion programs. The basic problem is that the media cottoned onto the idea that the public could not get enough of footy...so though they'd give them what they wanted. Now we get far too much space devoted to drab tales of corporate dealings, 'experts' pontificating on the intricacies of play and reams of meaningless statistics.

Perhaps they are trying to define the 'magic' of football, to discover the secret of what makes the game tick and why it is such a joy to watch and play.

However in doing so they have forgotten that the very brilliance of the game speaks for itself. For 70-odd years we got by with a decent old media coverage, restricted to a few pages over a few days and a panel discussion on World of Sport. I was happy with that , but lately you cannot turn on the TV, open the paper or flick on the radio without some long-winded bit of flatulence from some moric tosser crapping on and on about the kicking style of Jo Blow.

Just give it a bloody rest, it is turning me and a whole lot of other people off.

Mate, you couldn't have hit the nail squarer on the head if you tried. I feel exactly the same about rugby league

The beauty of all games is the mystique surrounding it. Being able to watch a game, draw your own conclusions and wonder what the next week will bring. But with 10,000 media 'experts' analysing every minute of every game, its taking all the fun away. Personally, i dont read the news reports on footy anymore. I form my opinion, i like to keep things interesting. Reading to much into anything just takes all the excitement out of it

And thats what has happened. From an outsiders perspective, i see how saturated the media is in the southern states in relation to AFL. Every second show has AFL content in it, ffs, you have 2 channels on the game now. Do people really want to see that much? The word over-exposure springs to mind.

The stark reality of it is that there are 8 games a week. Is it worthy of 288 hours of TV (minimum), 100's of articles in the papers and many radio shows per week? I think the answer is no. Familiarity breeds contempt, oh so true in this situation.

Cheers,
Moffo

 

[ScouseCat]

With the AFL relying more and more on television rights as a way to generate income, it is understandable that the game is becoming more and more a tv sport.

Instead of going to a suburban ground and supporting your team each week, people can now follow their team from the comfort of their own lounge room if they have Fox Footy channel. There are also more "footy shows" to keep the supporter entertained during the week then there used to be, and that's not necessarilly a bad thing.

The game has changed... some will say it's for the better, others will say it is for the worse. Regardless of that, I still have the same level of passion for the Geelong Football Club that I always have and always will, despite more changes to the game no doubt as we move forward with the times.

 

[OldLion]

Losing your club whilst the other 'friends of footy' are stealing your players whilst uttering words of comfort and fluffing up the pillows on your death bed doesn't do much for your passion. And you wonder why I'm cynical about the AFL Commission and the club presidents ( ambitious and self-serving - no surprises there ).

 

[Slax]

After going to footy matches for over 20 years I am really losing interest, and not just in the game overall but also in my club. The standard of AFL football today is at the lowest it has been in over 30 years. The current crop of players may be able to run harder and faster than their predecessors but they can't kick, can't handball and don't know how to read the game.

On Saturday night I went with a friend to the Essendon v Bulldogs game at sh*tlands and saw a debacle and insult to the game. Players consistently miss targets when passing a ball more than 25 metres, and I don't mean by 1-2 metres I mean by 5 metres. You have to wonder is it the clubs recruiting the wrong players believing that an athletic player can be made skillful or do they just not exist.

I believe that if you entered the Hawthorna nd Geelong teams of 1989 (the best I saw), they would comfortably finish 1-2 on the ladder and by a fair way. The game is killing itself with coaches like Sheedy, Schwab, Daniher and co. believing that athleticism is the way to go. i player who knows how to read the game and is naturally talented will find the ball and use it wisely, and athletic player will look good trying to get the ball but stuff up when using it.

 

[sbagman]

Never been the same since Fitzroy died for me.

Now it seems like the clubs themselves don't differ much from each other... where once upon a time in Melbourne who you barracked for reflected your identity, the clubs now seem to be different variations of the same thing. North Melbourne becoming the Kangaroos... Footscray becoming the Western Bulldogs... the loss of the suburban grounds... what are these corporate creations? And how do they relate to me?

 

[ok.crows]

Originally posted by Dr.Grouse

My days as a footy fan are very nearly over. I just hope we can win the flag this year to give myself some closure. I don't still want to be doing this when I'm 50 ... no way in the friggen world.

http://alf.magpies.net
Read all about it !

The link you posted here points to a page bearing the name "Dr Alf Andrews".

I am presuming you are the same person who posted on Nicks board after the Wizard Cup, saying that including Wizard Cup your Pies had won about 19 games out of the last 29, and at least it was better to be following Pies than a loser club like Adelaide.

I'm here to tell you that you can't count.

Adelaide have won more games than Pies this year, and also last year, and the year before that, and before that and each & every year all the way back to 1997.

If you are thinking that Pies are a "winner" club compared to Adelaide, then no wonder you are losing passion!

I have no such problem BTW, I remain quite passionate to see my club win.

Even though by rights I should be more satiated than you.

 

[grayham]

Originally posted by Dr.Grouse


The day is coming when clubs will be named after their sponsor. "The Emirates Magpies ... flying high forever".

That actually happens in this country already. I had the misfortune to go to a Super 12 rugby game the other day between NSW and Canterbury (NZ).

The NSW Warratahs were continually called the "HSBC" Warratahs throughout the night by the ground announcer. Not once did he say NSW.

Now that is a sport that has sold itself to corporate blandness.

 

[Spidergirl~RiCkChiCk]

Definately losing passion for it. This coming from a person who once held 4 different club memberships at one time and would attend 3 games most weekends. Now i'd be lucky to go once every weekend. Maybe i have gotten older now and once u r out of school there is not as much time for running around the footy clubs but I think it's more of a case of just not the same old feeling as when i used to go. Waverley meant everything to me. I used to walk up every week no matter who was on there or even if it was just a training session. To drive past and see the state of it or whats left of it now angers me and i certainly wont be giving much of my $$$ to the AFL anymore.

I dont think it has anything to do with how your team is going either as i sat through 2-3 years of Collingwood and Stkilda losses and still could not find the same passion as i had then even when the Pies made the big one last year.

Surely the way the game is played now must have something to do with it as well. Silly umpiring decisions and general boringness especially with some of the worst flooding games we saw last year.

Silly rules that stadiums have these days is probably another reason crowd figures are down...having to book seats, lack of standing room, smoking and drinking rules, ridiculous guarding of the aisles to ensure you have a ticket etc etc

Then theres tv rights, was a big argument to get Darky along to the Hawks game Saturday night because it was on tv. The majority of people who stayed home probably figured the same thing.

 

[Destructive]

Originally posted by L-Nizzy

My question is - are you also losing passion for the game, and if so, what the reasons are?

Personally, there are a few reasons I think. The dominance of the Lions

If anything, I think I'm getting even more into it Having known Bomber Spirit for 15 years has had a lot to do with it

Teams having streaks can be boring but the interest is for me in when the streak or the run will be broken. It was like that for me with Essendon in 2000

 

[Mr Ripper]

Originally posted by Voice of Reason quote:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Originally posted by Mr Ripper
Lack of diligence amongst the umpiring fraternity has been the catalyst.

What used to be a free flowing sport is now stop-start, stop-start with ball-ups and other stoppages eating away at the spectacle.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I thought that statistically there were fewer free kicks nowadays than in the past?

Exactly. The umpires are holding back on the whistle too much which allows the dreaded rugby scrums to form and play slows to a standstill. Pay the frees (they are there) and get the play moving.

 

[Dr.Grouse]

Originally posted by ok.crows
The link you posted here points to a page bearing the name "Dr Alf Andrews".

I am presuming you are the same person who posted on Nicks board after the Wizard Cup, saying that including Wizard Cup your Pies had won about 19 games out of the last 29, and at least it was better to be following Pies than a loser club like Adelaide.

I'm here to tell you that you can't count.

Adelaide have won more games than Pies this year, and also last year, and the year before that, and before that and each & every year all the way back to 1997.

... I remain quite passionate to see my club win.

Well ... I'm glad you're a happy customer. Good for you.

Yes. I'm Alf Andrews ... and I can assure you that I'm reasonably numerate.

It's pretty obvious that the subtleties of my use of the term "loser" was lost on a non-Collingwood reader. I won't bother trying to explain ... as a supporter of the Camry Crows, the team for all Sour Stains (the K.G. pronunciation of "South Australians") you'd never understand.

Frankly, I don't give a stuff how many games your mob has won ... It's completely irrelevant.

Did I really call Adelaide a "loser" club?

Sloppy piece of writing on my part. I'm sorry. It must have been one of my off days.

Let me rephrase it then.

I'd rather barrack for The Club than a club ... no matter how many games we've won or haven't won.

 

[Rob]

Originally posted by Slax
After going to footy matches for over 20 years I am really losing interest, and not just in the game overall but also in my club. The standard of AFL football today is at the lowest it has been in over 30 years. The current crop of players may be able to run harder and faster than their predecessors but they can't kick, can't handball and don't know how to read the game.

That is the dumbest thing i've ever read. You only have to look at footage from the games in the 70's and early 80's to realise just how much more skilful the players of today are. Tactics from 20 or 30 years ago were simply to get the thing and bomb it long to a contest! There was nowhere near as much running, the games were much more scrappy and the ball was constantly turned over.

 

[Adrian Shelton]

Yeah watch the VFL from the 80's and you get that, watch SA and WA footy from the same era and you see a few more examples of the pure skills of the game( remember the 'crow throw' trust me, not throws!) and old fashioned position play. Even up to the last year 'B.C' (Before Crows) we had centremen playing out of the pivot, resting ruckmen in the forward pocket etc(although we did have Mick Nunans answer to Pagans Paddock in Darren Jarman having the forward 50 to himself) and WA you had an even further removed from Vic style with mozzie sized rovers, other little guys flying for grabs(see David Bain,Michael Mitchell, Kevin Taylor) medium small full forwards(John Scott,Todd Breman,Brent Hutton) Anyway the old run and gun style from the 80's in these states is nearly extinct, replaced by the floods, tagging, deliberate behinds and lead protecting kick to kick tactics of today. Some of it is about as watchable as a cow being slaughtered(especially when bad teams try to do it)

 

[iceman21]

If you all hate the game so much why watch it?

I love the Footy ,Have a look at all the good points in the game- Rocca from 60, McLeod dashing from the centre with trademark speed, Voss kicking the captains goal, Buckley kicking the ball 30 times in a game, Hird taking a courageous mark, White flying over the pack for a mark ......I could just go on and on!
so what there's a sponsor logo on your teams jumper....who cares! does it change the club, without the sponsor there would be no footy so who cares let them have sponsorship signs all over them as long as the game goes on!

Just enjoy the game for what it is.......... the greatest game of all