Travel Increase for Vic Clubs

[Dudley Leopard]

http://www.sportsnewsfirst.com.au/articles/2011/10/19/afl-impose-more-travel-on-victorian-clubs/

According to this article all vic clubs will travel interstate 5 times during the 2012 home and away season.

We shall wait with baited breath

 

[Shade]

 

[Squida25]

I thought most clubs travel 5 times anyway? 4 at a minimum.

 

[SirJimi05]

Interstate have a gauranteed 8-10 wins a year if they are any good due to having a true home ground advantage.

Melbourne clubs have a home ground advantage 2-3 times a year max.

The draw already heavily favours interstate teams.

 

[JonoNash]

You're really only travelling 3 times given GC & GWS are byes at this stage.

 

[SM]

Hmmmm, no. Check out the reverse. Interstate teams travel 10/11 times a year (all will have 10 from next year). Vic teams travel 4-6 times a year (all will have 5 from next year). You still have only half the travel the rest of the competition has - which is now almost half-half - and also have more games at your 'home' ground, even if it's an away game, your home supporters can still get along much easier than, say, Freo in Melbourne.

So from next year in a 22 round season, Melbourne clubs will play 17 games within their home state, to which it's A LOT easier for their fans to get along to, make noise, and support their club. Unless the game is sold out, there's no excuse to say that it was an away game. Swans fans will only have one away game where we get that option.

 

[Yabba]

Hardly a surprise since there is another non-Victorian side coming into the competition.

 

[Parasite]

Interstate have a gauranteed 8-10 wins a year if they are any good due to having a true home ground advantage.

Melbourne clubs have a home ground advantage 2-3 times a year max.

The draw already heavily favours interstate teams.

Um yeah nah, if what you are saying were true, then Melbourne clubs also don't have a home ground disadvantage for a large portion of the year. You can't have it both ways. Draw favours the Melbourne clubs.

 

[HyperAgressiveDonk]

I thought most clubs travel 5 times anyway? 4 at a minimum.

We travelled 5 times away last year anyway.

 

[Cousin Jed]

http://www.sportsnewsfirst.com.au/articles/2011/10/19/afl-impose-more-travel-on-victorian-clubs/

According to this article all vic clubs will travel interstate 5 times during the 2012 home and away season.

We shall wait with baited breath

AFL had already come out and confirmed this

Link

As 18-team competition now has 10 Vic-based and 8 non-Vic clubs, that means that ALL clubs will now travel interstate a minimum of 5 times.

 

[Rob]

Ignoring home games that have been sold interstate, each Vic club will travel an average of 5.18 times a year. If the AFL mandate each club travels at least 5 times a year, it should be able to limit the maximum to 6.

 

[The_Reaper]

Interstate have a gauranteed 8-10 wins a year if they are any good due to having a true home ground advantage.

Melbourne clubs have a home ground advantage 2-3 times a year max.

The draw already heavily favours interstate teams.

Melbourne clubs have a home disadvantage 4-5 times a year max.

And some of these 'disadvantages' are against teams of the calibre of Gold Coast, Port Adelaide and Brisbane (and until this year West Coast) and from next year GWS.

 

[telsor]

Hmmmm, no. Check out the reverse. Interstate teams travel 10/11 times a year (all will have 10 from next year). Vic teams travel 4-6 times a year (all will have 5 from next year). You still have only half the travel the rest of the competition has - which is now almost half-half - and also have more games at your 'home' ground, even if it's an away game, your home supporters can still get along much easier than, say, Freo in Melbourne.

So from next year in a 22 round season, Melbourne clubs will play 17 games within their home state, to which it's A LOT easier for their fans to get along to, make noise, and support their club. Unless the game is sold out, there's no excuse to say that it was an away game. Swans fans will only have one away game where we get that option.

It's a debate that wll never get a satisfactory concusion.

There are home games, neutral games and away games.

Vic teams get lots of neutral games.
Non-Vic teams get lots of home/away games.

Supporters of (almost) all descriptions claim their situation is worse, but there is no way of saying with any certainty, so the 'debate' goes on...and on...and on.

 

[Pessimistic]

5 games by 10 clubs is 50 therefore non vic teams will have at least 6 of their 11 home games against Vic clubs. take another against the local rival each year leaves 5 against non vic clubs.

Nice to see the 24 game season is completely forgotten

 

[Simon_Nesbit]

Well Pies are going to be playing GWS and GC at home of course. This just gives the AFL a chance to validate it. Also their Brisbane rivalry and Swans "showpiece" will be 4 of their five games. I predict their 5th game will be Port Adelaide, and they really will be propping up the AFL attendence myths.

 

[SirJimi05]

Interstae clubs are pretty much gifted a finals berth if they are anywhere near half decent.

 

[Cousin Jed]

Stop trolling jimi

 

[Topper Harley]

Does this include home games voluntarily sold interstate?

Also, we travelled 6 times this year. No great change.

 

[gurncentral]

I read an interesting book recently. It's called 'Scorecasting', and it explains a lot of the influences on winning and losing in sport. It didn't touch on AFL but most of its conclusions were valid across numerous other team sports (NFL, basketball, baseball, soccer, hockey) so it's not such a stretch to apply them to AFL.

Home ground advantage is primarily a result of unconscious bias on the part of umpires. Umpires are affected by the crowd. If the crowd is larger or closer to the pitch, the bias is increased. Travel and scheduling are also relevant, but exercise a much smaller influence.

In AFL, the biggest question isn't whether each team has to travel an equal number of times. The question is whether, because of the way the teams are distributed across Australia, some teams get a better run with the umpires, on average, than others.

As others have pointed out, matches between Victorian teams are more likely to be 'neutral', whereas interstate teams have a genuine home ground advantage. But interstate teams also have a genuine away ground disadvantage. It'd be an interesting exercise to see which teams come out ahead.

 

[le dominateur]

Well for the VIC clubs there is interstate games and then there is tough interstate games.

Here's a prediction.
Coll - GC, GWS, SYD, PORT, BRIS
Carl - SYD, BRIS, WC, FREO, ADEL

 

[MarkT2]

'Bout time they stopped the rort keeping us away from the winning interstate trips. Now we might be able to finish higher on the ladder.

 

[SM]

Interesting notion, but I know at least personally, Hull City my team in the English Championship had a huge unbeaten streak away from home last season and were shakey at home. It can always work both ways.

 

[gurncentral]

Interesting notion, but I know at least personally, Hull City my team in the English Championship had a huge unbeaten streak away from home last season and were shakey at home. It can always work both ways.

It can. But, on average, it doesn't.

 

[The_Reaper]

Interstae clubs are pretty much gifted a finals berth if they are anywhere near half decent.

Every club is gifted a finals berth if they are half decent.
That is what happens when there a 8 finals places instead of 4.

 

[Yabba]

Ignoring home games that have been sold interstate, each Vic club will travel an average of 5.18 times a year. If the AFL mandate each club travels at least 5 times a year, it should be able to limit the maximum to 6.

the way the 'fixture' it is not unreasonable to suggest that over a 3-5 year period each Vic side should play the same number of interstate games is it?

It strange that WCE & Sydney didn't have many problems away from home in 2005 - 2006 or Collingwood, Geelong & St Kilda over the past few years. If your are good enough you can win anywhere.