The AFL has been good at promoting themselves as the saviour of the game but what game? They say AFL football is theirs, they promote it, run it and finance it. But what do they finance? AFL Football? There is no such thing as AFL football. The Australian Football league is the body that runs all professional and semi professional Australian Rules football in Australia. Yes, Australian Rules Football, that is actually the name of the game.
I am against AFL, media or any other body calling the game AFL Football. Not just because the true name of the game is Australian Rules Football, or Aussie Rules for for short, but because it insinuates we are playing a game of their invention and that they can stop people playing the game unofficially if they want. In other words if a competition is not registered with the AFL that competition has to cease. Another scenario is that game every kid plays with their mates at the local park can be stopped by the AFL if they don't adhere to AFL rules, far fetched I know. Most of the independent competitions have indeed been either closed down or subsumed by the AFL who got them by stealth. The scenario is of the greedy corporate pig gobbling up all in it's path.
I just wish the game could be known by it's original name or just Aussie Rules. I grew up playing this game. It is the game I love, not the AFL. I couldn't give jack @@@@ for the corporate pirates that run the game, I only care deeply about the game itself. I fell in love with the game at about three years of age. Ever since Aussie rules has had a deep attachment from within my soul. My passion for the game is undying. But I would love the people running the professional game to have some respect for the game itself. I feel they don't respect the game, the supporters or the culture that has been built around the game since the first associations, the South Australian football Association and the Victorian Football Association, were formed in 1877.
Australian Rules where I come from, Broken Hill, is indented on every boy's soul. The game is a part of the culture of the bush. The kids play on the roads and sidings strewn with mica, bromide, silver, lead, zinc and many other metals and rocks mostly barefoot. Some of the ovals and park lands are similar. But our official ovals are pristine, lush if not green, playing surfaces. I'm not just talking about the surfaces played on by the seniors, this happens right down to juniors. This is because we love, protect and honour culture and the great Aussie game.
Some of the recent changes to the rules have made the game worse not better. Today the AFL have a chance to create the best game in the world by planning, preservation and fore-thinking. But the problem with the corporate pirates is they are more reactionary than visionary. Sure you can say AFLX was a visionary exercise. But how well thought out was it? Just look at the way it was formulated, most likely after a big dinner with lots of red at Gil's place. The first we hear of this is late last year. Then it is suddenly in the mix for this pre-season. It took the television stations by surprise, shock more like, and the AFL was desperately negotiating with 7, FOX etc for the televising of the product. After all 7 was in the midst of the Winter Olympics. Not really good planning AFL. Then there was the format. Having only seven players on the field at one time was a huge mistake. If they had looked at other games on this size surface they would have known that. There were few highlights because the most exciting parts of the game, the high mark, the run down tackle, the impossible goal just weren't there, because there were too few players on the field. Most of the goals were so called Zoopers, a 40 metre kick that any AFL player should easily make and if he can't he would not be playing AFL. Basically AFLX was badly thought out tripe.
Yes the format of AFLX might work overseas BUT there has to be far more work than this last minute tripe the AFL served up. If the AFL had looked closely at similar versions that are already being played elsewhere, Asia has a lightning carnival comp on short grounds which would have been a good example, they might just have had a winner. But of course the corporate pirates knew better and this ill feted version got the nod. Other problems with the game have been ongoing. Umpire interpretation is one. I now examine the most troublesome;
1. Holding the Ball; This is a real problem and a troublesome area for any umpire. But the interpretation in the AFL is just staggeringly bad. The umpires coach, not the Umpires director, is truly negligent in not pointing out that the current interpretation actually breaks the rules. If a player is caught with the ball and the tackling player holds the ball in on the player who was tackled then according to the rules the tackling player is actually in possession not the tackled player. How then could the tackled player be deemed to be holding the ball when he is no loner in possession of the ball. What if a teammate of the tackled player now tackles the tackling player and asks for holding the ball? He would actually be in the right because the player with control of the ball is the original tackling player. that means the tackler is in possession. The current interpretation is breaks the rules of the game.
2. Incorrect Disposal; This is the most contentious of all rules simply because the umpires DO NOT pay it as often as they should. They allow players to throw the ball, drop the ball, hand the ball off to a teammate. If the umpire paid every throw then the throws would stop. But the AFL for some reason is hell bent of the throws staying. This is against all the culture, history and the game itself. This is a mortal sin that is ruining Australian Rules football and turning it into a faster version of Rugby.
3. The designated ruckman rule. This is the crappiest rule ever invented. A stupid knee jerk rule. If there is a scrimmage then the umpires should whistle play up immediately a scrimmage starts not 3 minutes after it starts. Then he/she should ball up if the players are ready or not. No designated ruckman, no bull@@@@ waiting for players to be ready, just get on with it. This would mean less stoppages as the players would be less inclined to pull the ball into a scrimmage. It would also mean the play flows more.
4. Head high; Again the AFL astounds me. More knee jerking. Some head highs are head highs and some aren't. Sorry but every head high, whether a player draws it or not, are head high. If they really want to protect player's heads like they say they do then ALL head high are head high, not just some. This seems to me to be a rule invented on the Animal Farm principle, all animals are equal except pigs who are more equal.
On that not I hope you enjoy my pigs.
Greedy Pig too.jpgcorporate Pig.jpg
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