Sydney writer rips into AFL

[Copernicus]

Pointless article, really. I smell fear.

Always amusing to see some of the Sydney folks come out and say they don't care what the rest of the country thinks, too. Like clockwork

 

[sportznut]

The biggest attendance at the MCG was in 1959, when Jimmy Swaggart took a flying mark in goalsquare to defeat Satan by 3 points in front of over 150,000 people.

One quarter of the Australian population turned out to see Swaggart on tour that year. How times have changed.

Wasn't it Billy Graham?

 

[bresker]

Yes, of course!

I was thinking of the last minute torp by Jimmy Swaggart to defeat the Demons at Waverly in 1979.

 

[Pantsless]

Wasn't it Billy Graham?

Yep. Still a good comment though.

 

[Chemical]

Damn! Didn't know that the MCG ever had that high a capacity.

Nice one

 

[music_2000]

Mishmash that missed the mark
Opinion by Mike Gibson
September 28, 2005

IF anything was proven last weekend, it was which is the better game.

Rugby league v Aussie rules, and league won hands down.

Sure, it was a thrilling AFL grand final. The closeness of the scores and the raw courage of the Swans made it a match to remember.

But that's where it ends.

As far as skills were concerned, as far as showcasing the game, Saturday afternoon at the MCG was a mishmash of missed goals, muffed marks and football that was scrappy at best.

It was an arm wrestle with scratches. It was like two guys chewing on each other's ears.

It was like watching a couple of blue heelers fighting over a bone.

Had it not gone down to the wire, the fans could have been excused for setting fire to the MCG.

While I could never get used to AFL players constantly fumbling the ball, supporters of the code have always proclaimed the two superior skills in the game are the spectacular high marks and the magnificent kicking.

Last Saturday we had to wait until those last seconds for a decent high mark.
No doubt about it, Leo Barry's was a gem.

As for the kicking, check the scoreline.

Some of those goals that were missed, Andrew Johns could have booted them with his eyes shut.

While Michael O'Loughlin did a good job in general play, watching him try to kick a goal was like watching a man bleed to death on national television.

Rugby league wingers - and fullbacks - are more accomplished at taking high marks than AFL players.

With halfbacks kicking the ball with pinpoint accuracy, wingers fly high.

Hey, some of them even take the ball over the back of their head.

AFL has become such a spoiling affair that there is more accent on punching the ball away than a bloke getting the chance to take a mark.

Compare the dazzling speed and freakish ball skills of the Wests Tigers to the non-stop dropsy on Saturday afternoon at the MCG.

You've got to be kidding.

No contest.

The same can be said for the North Queensland Cowboys, whose demolition of Parramatta on Sunday again demonstrated the skills and excitement they bring to the game.

Coaches play to their strengths.

In AFL this year, it's not only the Swans who were accused of playing ugly.

For much of the season, critics hammered the negative tactics that have become part and parcel of AFL.

With Wests Tigers leading the way, rugby league on the other hand has become a whole new ball game.

Suddenly, it's a game where little blokes are king, where hand speed, fancy footwork and the ability to get rid of the ball are the dominant factors.

Rugby league in 2005 has become the quick and the dead.

Next Sunday night at Telstra Stadium, you can expect more footballing skills in five minutes than we saw in two hours last Saturday at the MCG.

I realise it's case of what you grew up on, and the game that you know.

But, seriously.

On what we saw last weekend, comparing AFL to rugby league is no comparison.

It's like comparing Edna Everage to Elle Macpherson.

Or frankfurts to filet mignon.

Mike gibson has always been biased. he doesn't understand that the swans were carrying injuries. for example cheekbone fractures. this was stated in the tabloids a few days later. it was a gutsy win by a gutsy group of boys. the reason AFL is superior to NRL is becuase of the offiside rule. and look at the ratings. the swans vs west coast game beat the tigpies vs dragonsteelers game

 

[meekaboy]

This bloke knows about as much of Aussie rules as I know of Rugby League,
and that is very little.
He belongs to a group who are paranoid about Aussie rules taking over
from RL. I cannot recall anything he has written that has pro Aussie
Rules or the Sydney Swans content.

IMHO he has zero credibility and should stick to something he may have
knowledge of.

 

[littleduck]

This bloke knows about as much of Aussie rules as I know of Rugby League,
and that is very little.
He belongs to a group who are paranoid about Aussie rules taking over
from RL. I cannot recall anything he has written that has pro Aussie
Rules or the Sydney Swans content.

IMHO he has zero credibility and should stick to something he may have
knowledge of.

i bet he reads well to his sydney readership!

 

[Vulcan]

i bet he reads well to his sydney readership!

Absolutely true littleduck but again proves the silly old arguement about who's paranoid about everything being anything approaching reasonable outside Sydney.
But you suffer the same rubbish from them as well in RL.But we don't care, finding it rather pathetic.

Trouble is they are the corporate capital and continue to produce idiots like him or if they don't, import them from elsewhere and indoctrinate them with the same childish nonsense.

It's a major worry.

 

[littleduck]

Absolutely true littleduck but again proves the silly old arguement about who's paranoid about everything being anything approaching reasonable outside Sydney.
But you suffer the same rubbish from them as well in RL.But we don't care, finding it rather pathetic.

Trouble is they are the corporate capital and continue to produce idiots like him or if they don't, import them from elsewhere and indoctrinate them with the same childish nonsense.

It's a major worry.

its no different to the silliness amongst melbourne journos about rugby league. it goes both ways. be fair.

 

[Vulcan]

its no different to the silliness amongst melbourne journos about rugby league. it goes both ways. be fair.

Brought this up before.

Please quote,when, where and who apart from dear old Patrick Smith.

 

[Hornet]

Please quote,when, where and who apart from dear old Patrick Smith.

Fatpryck is a bad example for our league friends to use...He writes for himself and rips into anyone and anything.

Not even the AFL is exempt...

 

[Vulcan]

Fatpryck is a bad example for our league friends to use...He writes for himself and rips into anyone and anything.

Not even the AFL is exempt...

True, but still waiting for evidence from a couple of days ago.Non forthcoming it seems.

Even when the Storm won there was nothing but positive articles here.

The sun still fries brains it seems.

 

[Qsaint]

Gibson = Telegraph = News = ownership of the NRL

Just trying to prop up their fading business interests

 

[Fred Nerk]

Brought this up before.

Please quote,when, where and who apart from dear old Patrick Smith.

Cameron Stewart

Crikey gave it to the tosser for his lies http://www.crikey.com.au/articles/2005/03/29-0845-4989.html

 

[plugger47]

i bet he reads well to his sydney readership!

Yes but how many of his "readership" actually read?

 

[Vulcan]

Gibson = Telegraph = News = ownership of the NRL

Just trying to prop up their fading business interests

That's another worry. News are the group that assembled the last AFL media deal.
Talk about conflicts of interest.They're eveywhere.

But in the meantime no media person here of any any influence has bashed any other sport,let alone a code of footy that I can recall in years.They are all encouraged.

That is what makes Gibbo's article so childish.And the the Sydney media and News Ltd. gutless for even publishing it.

But they are all big kids anyway.Just playing with more zeros before the decimal point on their bank statement than the rest of us.

 

[littleduck]

Yes but how many of his "readership" actually read?

very few.. theyre leaguies

 

[Vulcan]

Cameron Stewart

Crikey gave it to the tosser for his lies http://www.crikey.com.au/articles/2005/03/29-0845-4989.html

Crikey!
You have to be joking.It's an irrellivence.And who the hell is Cameron Stewart.Never heard of him.Someone trying to make a name for himself perhaps,get himself noticed.

Please.

They're about as reliable as some of littleduck's statistics.

 

[FB&W]

Gibson just pander to the populists, i've been writing to him for years about better coverage rather than the patronist feel good stories they serve up as real footy news.

Radio is no better with hadley and his rugby coverage and offers no real choice for fans but his drive for ratings. I'm setting up internet radio next season to offer real radio for afl fans in Sydney as we don't get any.

This is why the Victorian media is so much more respected than Sydney, they give the fans what they need.

I intend to say much more on this subject.

 

[goalpie]

Rugby guy feeling a bit threatened.

 

[FB&W]

Rugby guy feeling a bit threatened.

He is not even a rugby guy, he is a failed commentator and NEWS lackey. He toes all the lines on rugby and Howard etc. Whatever Ackerman says he follows which is what Howard says.

 

[littleduck]

Radio is no better with hadley and his rugby coverage and offers no real choice for fans but his drive for ratings. ... This is why the Victorian media is so much more respected than Sydney, they give the fans what they need.

The RL programs on weekend radio achieve massive ratings so how can you argue Sydney doesnt provide what the fans want??

Anyway, AFL gets excellent coverage on ABCRadioNational.

What more do you want??

 

[finders]

It must hurt a lot that the interest in the Swans has died a quick death.

Mate you are just typical of the "frog in the boiling water" attitude of the sydney thugby urgers

 

[Star]

Mike Gibson has always been a bias fool.

Just once again a hack who makes a living out of rl trying to justify why it is a better game than AFL.

Well i was brought up on rl, I played it at school (and Union on the weekends), I went to watch my team (the Bulldogs) most weekends, and loved the game.

I then moved to Melbourne, found AFL and its culture and realised i had been sold a pup with rl. It is so inferior in every way to AFl that it is not funny.

The running, the marking, the high excitement, the huge crowds, the crowd involvement, the absolute devotion of the supporters to the game is something rl cant have and will never have.

Gibson reckons fullbacks and wingers can mark better. The ignorant fool doesn't even understand that unlike in rl the opposition can contest the mark and can spoil. If you touch a rl while he is in the air taking a mark it is a penalty.

Anyway, Gibson just enforces the critisism of the Sydney style of play. Funnily enough we dont hear a peep out of Gibson last year Port v Lions.

So Gibbo, go and enjoy your poor mans "superbowl" this Sunday night (like NFL) with your ring for the winner (just like NFL) with your offence (used to be attack), with your over time for draws (just like the NFL) and your cliched tipping of the bucket of Gaterade over the winning coach (just like NFL).

Mabye the dreaded Gibbo feels a bit insecure about a truly Australian game being so popular while his imported English game that has morphed into a poor version of American Football with its imitation traditions, poor crowds, and poorly skilled no neck meatheads.

Quality post