The Idiotic Administration of the AFL

[soupman]

What a terribly uninspiring and out of touch two days this has been for the AFL.

In the past 48 hours they have:
-launched the exciting new AFLX competition, using a confusing combination of circus performers, parachuting balls, empty stadiums, fire and Shaun Atley, as if people weren't already overly sceptical about the new version just being a cheap gimmick.
-Declared Tasmanian football is going strong despite another long running and formerly strong club in Burnie withdrawing from the league
-Revealed just how many millions of dollars Gold Coast is costing them
-Awarded the "pride" match to the one club that actually went out of it's way to declare that it wasn't taking a stance in favour of gay marriage

Now they have been busted sending a memo to the AFLW clubs telling them the new rules for the AFLW competition, as can be read HERE in this
ARTICLE. Except they're not rules, they're just guidelines, but if you don't follow them like rules, then they will become rules.

Has there ever been a governing body more involved in meddling with the product? They already made many and major changes in the offseason, the boundary rule in particular. Now they are demanding clubs play a more entertaining way or else.

Do they realise how out of touch they are with the footballing public they are so trying to impress? And is anyone going to tell them that the quality of the AFLW matches next year will get worse, not better, when they needlessly introduce more AFL clubs to the mix dilute the thin talent pool even further?

[Twodogs]

In a word, "no"

[Testekill]

They're already meddling with the AFLW by telling them what tactics that should use.

[bornadog]

They're already meddling with the AFLW by telling them what tactics that should use.

Last touch rule is a farce and does not set out to do what they thought it would, just like every other rule change where an attempt was made to make the game look like the 80s

[Twodogs]

Last touch rule is a farce and does not set out to do what they thought it would, just like every other rule change where an attempt was made to make the game look like the 80s

I can remember people moaning in the 80s that football wasn't as good as it used to be.

So they are trying to hark back to a period that people were whinging about at the time.

[Sedat]

Gilligan is on something like $2.75m a year. Then there are about a dozen executives underneath him who are all on close to $1m a year. A tiny portion of those hideous salaries might have saved Burnie or Devenport or even a foundation women's footy club like Diamond Creek here in Melbourne. But they really don't give a fark about the game or the fans, just the optics.

[bornadog]

Gilligan is on something like $2.75m a year. Then there are about a dozen executives underneath him who are all on close to $1m a year. A tiny portion of those hideous salaries might have saved Burnie or Devenport or even a foundation women's footy club like Diamond Creek here in Melbourne. But they really don't give a fark about the game or the fans, just the optics.

Don't forget the empire, over 500 people work in AFL house

[craigsahibee]

I can remember people moaning in the 80s that football wasn't as good as it used to be.

So they are trying to hark back to a period that people were whinging about at the time.

Just on that. Foxtel have been promoting their "History Month" all throughout January, and a lot of 80's footy has been aired. To be honest, it was rubbish. Today's product is so much more appealing than what was served up over 30 years ago. That St Kilda vs Essendon game where Phil Carman headbutted the boundary umpire was aired at least 3 times during the month and the standard of that game was filthy.

[Twodogs]

Just on that. Foxtel have been promoting their "History Month" all throughout January, and a lot of 80's footy has been aired. To be honest, it was rubbish. Today's product is so much more appealing than what was served up over 30 years ago. That St Kilda vs Essendon game where Phil Carman headbutted the boundary umpire was aired at least 3 times during the month and the standard of that game was filthy.

Yep. Nostalgia is always better in hindsight. I still have tapes of the Coodabeens from back then and the nostalgia for the 60s and 70s is palpable.

[bornadog]

Just on that. Foxtel have been promoting their "History Month" all throughout January, and a lot of 80's footy has been aired. To be honest, it was rubbish. Today's product is so much more appealing than what was served up over 30 years ago. That St Kilda vs Essendon game where Phil Carman headbutted the boundary umpire was aired at least 3 times during the month and the standard of that game was filthy.

I have lot's of games on DVD(converted tapes) from the 80's and agree I can barely watch them. The skills of the players today are incredible.

Also talk about congestion, watch a game when it was raining in the 1980s.

[Twodogs]

I have lot's of games on DVD(converted tapes) from the 80's and agree I can barely watch them. The skills of the players today are incredible.

Also talk about congestion, watch a game when it was raining in the 1980s.

Yep. I was there in the 80s and I won't have that the football was better.

[hujsh]

As I understand it if it was close in the last quarter of the game you'd just all dive on top of the ball until time ran out. Doesn't exactly sound scintillating.

[Twodogs]

As I understand it if it was close in the last quarter of the game you'd just all dive on top of the ball until time ran out. Doesn't exactly sound scintillating.

Yeah, or keep the ball near the boundary as close to the wing that the wind tended to favour and just keep pushing it over the boundary and waste as much time as possible. Or kick the ball along the ground on a wet day to get the ball heavier and make it harder to score (so went the theory. I don't know how much extra moisture a ball actually absorbs just because it's kicked along the ground)


There were bigger individual highlights and he game was played nore intuitively. But to say it was perfect or a better product is gilding the lily a bit too much. It was a different way the game was played, that's all.

[bornadog]

As I understand it if it was close in the last quarter of the game you'd just all dive on top of the ball until time ran out. Doesn't exactly sound scintillating.

so what, that is football. We currently have many ways now that happens, eg, winding down the clock by kicking it to each other.

Why should the women's footy be different to the mens? I believe they are already playing 16 a side - well guess what that might contribute to low scoring.

The only concession I would make is to make the grounds smaller, and that is only because physically, the women can't kick as far as the men. Then perhaps 16 might work.

[Twodogs]

so what, that is football. We currently have many ways now that happens, eg, winding down the clock by kicking it to each other.

Why should the women's footy be different to the mens? I believe they are already playing 16 a side - well guess what that might contribute to low scoring.

The only concession I would make is to make the grounds smaller, and that is only because physically, the women can't kick as far as the men. Then perhaps 16 might work.

Do the AFLW play shorter quarters as well? The games seem to go by quicker.