- Video
-
Club Roar
Captured a great grassroots sporting moment? We want to see it!Content Collections
The Roar Community
- Join
- Login
Michael Johnson of Fremantle looks for options during the AFL Round 04 match between St Kilda Saints and the Fremantle Dockers at Etihad Stadium, Melbourne. Slattery Images
If you love the AFL unconditionally, please do not read on. However, if you, like myself, are thoroughly disgusted by the goings-on of the 2010 season, then read on and be prepared to grimace.
I can sum it up perfectly with the following: the 2010 AFL season is quickly becoming a farce.
I think back to seasons of yesteryear with fond memories. Whether my team won the premiership or not, those painful close losses, the controversies and the classic finals are all etched in the depths of my mind. But this year, the AFL has turned into the ugly sister that you are forced to be with because there is no alternative. Where do I begin?
1. Rule changes upon rule changes upon rule changes year after year after year. And mostly terrible ones that don’t enhance the game.
2. The tribunal. Oh the painfully inept tribunal! Forget about integrity, its members act like a teenager’s popularity magazine. Some of the findings may as well have read something like this: This year, we just love that David Hille’s form and nothing he does will change that. And come on down Buddy Franklin, you are back but not for long.
3. The whole Australia bidding for future soccer World Cups fiasco and the AFL’s pigheaded behaviour towards it. Hey, Mr AFL, how about supporting the idea that Australia could possibly host such an event rather that putting dibs on Etihad Stadium already? Chances are we wouldn’t get it anyway, but such short-sighted selfishness is abominable!
4. The media part I: Ben Cousins and Jason Akermanis. The media is always there and supposedly just doing its job, but I disagree. Yes, sports writers and commentators have their opinions, but too many times this season the line has been crossed. Just leave these guys alone. Sure they’re controversial and getting on, but they’ll retire when they choose and their clubs will sack them if they deem that is necessary. Stop writing article after article about your stupid selfish reasons about how they should be handled. They are just two players in a national competition and they cannot bring the game down. Get over yourselves and leave them be.
5. Umpires. Or more to the point, putrid umpiring. This affects all sports, but the AFL usually gets away with them not changing the results of games directly. Not anymore my friends. These days, goal umpires are calling blatant goals as behinds, boundary umpires are trying to make decisions yet can’t throw the ball back in properly and central umpires, well their skill level has sunk to a new low.
6. The media part II: Gary Ablett and Mark Thompson. Just like some viewers of The Sopranos finale chastised it for being inconclusive and need to be spoon-fed the “truth”, here I am to tell you that Gazza is going to the Gold Coast. We knew it two months ago and we know it now. I agree that Bomber has not handled the situation with any great aplomb, but if you can’t read between the lines, then you should have your head examined.
7. The interchange bench. Cap it, extra players for serious injuries, where does it end? Sure the game is faster, but it’s also getting way too technical. I guess the AFL and people forget the rule that simple is usually best.
8. The media part III: Drug and sex scandals. Mathew Stokes was treated like a hero and even given a newspaper front page. Now Michael Johnson. Will he also be given such graced attention in coming weeks? And finally, the St Kilda scandal last week that wasn’t. I, too, wasted hours of my life searching the internet trying to determine the identities of the players and how this would impact my dream team. Thankfully, it amounted to nothing. Good work media, oh how you sicken me.
So before all of you clever folk out there start quoting exact rules, regulations and club happenings, remember that this is just an opinion article. I write from my heart and quite simply, my love for the AFL competition has dwindled down to a tiny morsel.
The game is being ruined by inadequate higher-ups, poor organisation and planning, and incompetent behaviour, so all that is left is a soulless field with empty footy fans watching. And that is just not acceptable.
Who’s in your ultimate team? Pick the best team and compete with other fans for daily prizes on Draftstars. For the best odds on the game try out Aussie bookmaker PlayUp. Think. Is this a bet you really want to place? Set a deposit limit.