Originally Posted by
liz
I am losing faith in the AFL's vision of a truly national competition. The Vic centred bias seems to have strengthened in recent years, particular under Gillon's watch, not diminished.
The Academies in the Northern States were a great (though long overdue) initiative to increase the quality of coaching in the 10-18 year old age group right across those two states, with an increased contribution of elite talent being just one desired outcome. Greater participation at all levels (as the lift in quality filtered down to the sub-AFL tiers and beyond) was just as important, as was giving these clubs as way of connecting with young players and their families regardless of whether these young players went on to become AFL quality players.
Yet we saw the benefits watered down within a few short years, with the Giants' zone in southern NSW diluted and restrictions on how many players could be drafted. At the time the Giants' zone was cut, Gillon commented that he didn't understand why players who fell into the TAC Cup zone were ever eligible. I don't totally disagree with that, but the AFL then proceeded to give Victorian clubs priority access to indigenous and multi-cultural players who all fall into the TAC Cup and private Melbourne school zones. I don't think there has been much real impact of these concessions (yet) but just their introduction smacks of concessions to the Victorian clubs based on no actual contribution to the growth of the game and development of talent.
And over the last few years, two new stand-alone, potential "marquee" fixtures have been introduced into the calendar - ANZAC Eve and Good Friday. There was lots of discussion over many years about Good Friday football and, aside from the "religious considerations", one of the reasons for not having football on that day was that the C7 Children's Hospital Appeal was an integral part of the day in Victoria and they didn't want to detract from that. Fine, but there are four other major population centres in Australia with AFL teams for whom the C7 appeal is not relevant, so why not play football in another state on that day. But just as soon as they got over the religious considerations, they go and establish yet another stand alone game on that day featuring two Victorian teams.
I have no idea how the fixed ANZAC Eve fixture crept onto the calendar. But now it too seems set to stay and again, it's between two Victorian sides. What was wrong with giving Freo, say, the chance to feature in such a fixture. I think they were lobbying the AFL for many years for a second ANZAC day game, something the AFL resisted. So why not give them (or Port) the chance to host the ANZAC Eve fixture every year if any club is going to get a mortgage on certain fixtures?
The news of contract to extend the MCG's stranglehold on the GF really comes as no surprise. To me, it's not purely about where the GF is played (and clearly the size of the MCG provides lots of reasons to play the GF there). It's more that a back room deal has been brokered by the Melbourne clubs, establishment, government and AFL without any open discussion about whether it's in the best interests of the broader competition.
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