What's Your Footy Bugbear?

[Scraggers]

I'm interested to know what really gets under your skin with our great game ...

One of mine is the term 'possessions' ... Possessions are how many kicks and handballs you have in a game. It is the stat that we look at first.

But it is so grammatically wrong.
You can take possession of the ball, have eight bounces as you run up the wing, get de-possessed in a tackle/bump etc and you don't get a 'possession' stat even though you 'possessed' the ball ??

It has to be called a disposal ... Sometimes you get a commentator who will use the term disposal, but it is embedded in our footy vernacular that we call it a possession.

This is my footy Bugbear ... What is yours ??

[divvydan]

I'm interested to know what really gets under your skin with our great game ...

One of mine is the term 'possessions' ... Possessions are how many kicks and handballs you have in a game. It is the stat that we look at first.

But it is so grammatically wrong.
You can take possession of the ball, have eight bounces as you run up the wing, get de-possessed in a tackle/bump etc and you don't get a 'possession' stat even though you 'possessed' the ball ??

It has to be called a disposal ... Sometimes you get a commentator who will use the term disposal, but it is embedded in our footy vernacular that we call it a possession.

This is my footy Bugbear ... What is yours ??

It's certainly something that's used incorrectly by commentators but most of the proper stats sites (Champion Data, Prostats, etc) have possessions and disposals listed correctly. Problem is that I suspect most of the commentators either don't really understand the difference between possession and disposal or perhaps choose to only say possession because they want to keep it consistent for the average viewer.

[The Coon Dog]

I hate the view from behind the goals when someone's having a shot for goal when I'm watching TV, particularly when the camera cuts away from the shot which is directly behind the kicker. It might be just me, but I lose perspective, particularly if its anywhere near the goal post.

[Jasper]

Mine is the morons in the media who complain about the inconsistency in the "holding the ball" rule, however have clearly never actually read the rule.

If only the could grasp the difference between a "prior opportunity" and being given a "reasonable opportunity" to dispose of the ball, they would save all of our ear drums some pain

[bornadog]

Deliberate out of bounds.

There are so many grey areas with this rule and the way umpires interpret it really gets up my nerves.

Examples:

* Ball kicked high in the air, pack goes up and defender punches the ball out of bounce - deliberate yes, paid no.

* Ball kicked low along the ground, defender slides along the ground, punches it out of bounds - Deliberate paid. Why can he punch it out when the ball is in the air, yet in the second situation its deliberate?

* Player kicks the ball 40, 50 metres up the ground, ball bounces and goes out of bounds - Free kick paid.

* Player handballs along the boundary to try and run on to the ball, but ball bounces wrong way - Free kick paid.

There are so many situations that can go either way, yet the umpire seems to think they know what the player was thinking.

[Sockeye Salmon]

OMG.


Where do I start?


Inequality - Andrew Dimwitiou, your bloody job is to run a fair and equitable competition, not make as much cash as you can. I appreciate 18 teams into 22 rounds doesn't go but make it as fair as you can and stop the prefferential treatment for some clubs. Play all games between 2 Vic sides at the MCG and all games v non-Vic sides at Etihad.

Loyalty - players should be encouraged to stay at the one club (career prospects notwithstanding). We have a unique feature of our game; the fans passion borne of loyalty. We watch them get drafted, debut, develop. Their ours, not some mercenary we are paying for the next 8 months, and we treat them like they are our children. We know who had that snap from the opposite pocket not because we saw his number but because of the way he held the ball before he kicked it. When players change clubs we are diluting this personal connection and it's why we will always love Luke Dahlhaus a bit more than Justin Sherman.

...which leads us to...

Greed - give the players more by all means, but raise the minimum pay, not the maximum pay.

Rules - I don't even know what they are any more. Illogical, inconsistant, tokenism and stupid. I have noticed no-one argues in the crowd any more, these days when you cop a shocking decision most people just laugh.

[bornadog]

OMG.


Where do I start?


Inequality - Andrew Dimwitiou, your bloody job is to run a fair and equitable competition, not make as much cash as you can. I appreciate 18 teams into 22 rounds doesn't go but make it as fair as you can and stop the prefferential treatment for some clubs. Play all games between 2 Vic sides at the MCG and all games v non-Vic sides at Etihad.

Loyalty - players should be encouraged to stay at the one club (career prospects notwithstanding). We have a unique feature of our game; the fans passion borne of loyalty. We watch them get drafted, debut, develop. Their ours, not some mercenary we are paying for the next 8 months, and we treat them like they are our children. We know who had that snap from the opposite pocket not because we saw his number but because of the way he held the ball before he kicked it. When players change clubs we are diluting this personal connection and it's why we will always love Luke Dahlhaus a bit more than Justin Sherman.

...which leads us to...

Greed - give the players more by all means, but raise the minimum pay, not the maximum pay.

Rules - I don't even know what they are any more. Illogical, inconsistant, tokenism and stupid. I have noticed no-one argues in the crowd any more, these days when you cop a shocking decision most people just laugh.

Great post SS. I bet if the above was put to a vote by fans most would agree with you.

[westdog54]

For me, and I've well and truly covered my views in another thread, its the way the advantage rule has been implemented in our game. Its so easy to fix and yet its made to seem all too hard.

[LostDoggy]

1. Commentators. "XXX really came to play today." As opposed to the opposition who are laying back and thinking of England? "They're just such a superior team, aren't they?" Um, is that a question or a statement? Never followed by any facts or stats to back it up.
2. Having to sit as close to the fence as I can because other supporters complain about the volume of my voice in their eardrums. Sick of telling them to go watch it at home.
3. People bagging Gia.
4. Collingwood and West Coast supporters. No specific aspect, just their general existence.
5. Supporters who rip on us all day long, then meekly sneak out when the tables turn. In fact, anybody who leaves early for no better reason than "I want to beat the traffic"

[OLD SCRAGGer]

1. Commentators. "XXX really came to play today." As opposed to the opposition who are laying back and thinking of England? "They're just such a superior team, aren't they?" Um, is that a question or a statement? Never followed by any facts or stats to back it up.
2. Having to sit as close to the fence as I can because other supporters complain about the volume of my voice in their eardrums. Sick of telling them to go watch it at home.
3. People bagging Gia.
4. Collingwood and West Coast supporters. No specific aspect, just their general existence.
5. Supporters who rip on us all day long, then meekly sneak out when the tables turn. In fact, anybody who leaves early for no better reason than "I want to beat the traffic"

Agree

[LostDoggy]

I just dont like the crows.

After that the benefits to the richer clubs.

[Daughter of the West]

When Essendon supporters claim they're going to take out the Grand Final after winning one game. I couldn't believe that the Ch7 news on Sunday night was interviewing people in Napier Street Essendon in the MAIN SECTION OF THE NEWS (not sport) about how fantastic their team was after beating Geelong.

Get a grip people!

[LostDoggy]

When did a "mark" become a "catch"? I hate it when commentators say ...'great catch'!

When did our supporters stop yelling encouragement at the team? Only seem to do it when we are 6 goals up, not when we are 10 points down? Agree with BornAScragger on this one, many people seem to think they are watching the footy at home on the couch and don't seem to get involved! I'm pretty old school when it comes to barracking for my team

[Hotdog60]

OMG.


Where do I start?


Inequality - Andrew Dimwitiou, your bloody job is to run a fair and equitable competition, not make as much cash as you can. I appreciate 18 teams into 22 rounds doesn't go but make it as fair as you can and stop the prefferential treatment for some clubs. Play all games between 2 Vic sides at the MCG and all games v non-Vic sides at Etihad.

Loyalty - players should be encouraged to stay at the one club (career prospects notwithstanding). We have a unique feature of our game; the fans passion borne of loyalty. We watch them get drafted, debut, develop. Their ours, not some mercenary we are paying for the next 8 months, and we treat them like they are our children. We know who had that snap from the opposite pocket not because we saw his number but because of the way he held the ball before he kicked it. When players change clubs we are diluting this personal connection and it's why we will always love Luke Dahlhaus a bit more than Justin Sherman.

...which leads us to...

Greed - give the players more by all means, but raise the minimum pay, not the maximum pay.

Rules - I don't even know what they are any more. Illogical, inconsistant, tokenism and stupid. I have noticed no-one argues in the crowd any more, these days when you cop a shocking decision most people just laugh.

I'll have to run with SS on this, also if the players want a pay rise put it in the salary cap so if your worth it, you'll get it.

[westdog54]

I'm interested to know what really gets under your skin with our great game ...

One of mine is the term 'possessions' ... Possessions are how many kicks and handballs you have in a game. It is the stat that we look at first.

But it is so grammatically wrong.
You can take possession of the ball, have eight bounces as you run up the wing, get de-possessed in a tackle/bump etc and you don't get a 'possession' stat even though you 'possessed' the ball ??

It has to be called a disposal ... Sometimes you get a commentator who will use the term disposal, but it is embedded in our footy vernacular that we call it a possession.

This is my footy Bugbear ... What is yours ??

The other one I neglected to mention is referring to players as plurals of themselves. "You've got your Chris Judd's and your Gary Ablett's" etc