AFL needs to take surface issues seriously

 
Michael DiFabrizio Columnist

By , 8 Jun 2010 Michael DiFabrizio is a Roar Expert

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    Shaun Higgins is helped from the ground during the AFL Round 11 match between the Collingwood Magpies and the Western Bulldogs at Etihad Stadium, Melbourne. Slattery Images

    Shaun Higgins is helped from the ground during the AFL Round 11 match between the Collingwood Magpies and the Western Bulldogs at Etihad Stadium, Melbourne. Slattery Images

    The ankle injury to Bulldog Shaun Higgins on Sunday has placed extra attention on the quality of the Etihad Stadium surface, and for good reason too. Footage of the incident shows a large chunk of turf coming loose as Higgins’ ankle rolls.

    The Western Bulldogs have contacted the AFL with their concerns and will follow it up further today.

    Worryingly, this is not the first incident at Etihad this season to be put under the spotlight, with St Kilda previously keen to investigate whether the surface played a role in Nick Riewoldt’s hamstring injury and Hawthorn president Jeff Kennett also livid at the ground following defender Josh Gibson’s hamstring injury.

    Kennett was yet again out in the media yesterday after the AFL continued to maintain its stance that the surface is within its guidelines.

    “Maybe the AFL and management at Etihad Stadium were looking at the video with their eyes closed, I don’t know,” Kennett said. “But they can’t just keep refuting the number of injuries occurring on that ground … there is evidence.”

    Collingwood star Dale Thomas, who played in Sunday’s game, rated the quality of the surface overall “not too bad” – but didn’t shy away from its deficiencies, either.

    “It was a little bit tacky and a little bit shifty in spots … it was different in certain spots,” he said.

    As far as the Riewoldt and Gibson injuries are concerned, the footage doesn’t lend itself to the argument that the turf was to blame. But on Sunday, there was the Higgins footage – which looked pretty damning in its own right – and also the footage of Magpie Leigh Brown scrambling after the ball as the turf chopped up beneath him.

    Channel Seven even got a camera out to the part of the ground where the Higgins incident took place, and the size of the missing chunks were simply astounding.

    There’s no denying that the surface at Etihad Stadium is inconsistent and has its “shifty” spots. And with the list of injuries at the ground building, it has to be of serious concern to the AFL.

    However their stance yesterday, and Andrew Demetriou’s comments earlier in the year, suggests it isn’t.

    The data, apparently, says there isn’t an issue.

    “I can only go on years and years of data that we collect, not some gut feel about ‘Hammy Park’ and nonsense that gets peddled from time to time,” Demetriou said last month. “There’s injuries at every ground that we play on. Not every ground is exactly the same.”

    A number of the league’s top coaches, including Mark Thompson, Rodney Eade, Mick Malthouse and Mark Williams, had raised concerns over the state of Etihad and the Gabba – a venue which has had its own share of surface issues this season – and some even suggested that the grounds were more responsible for injuries than increasing interchanges.

    All were rejected outright by Demetriou. He described the complaints as “complete baloney” and “nonsense”.

    This mentality reeks of a league with its head in the sand. Or the turf, as the case may be.

    The Brisbane Lions injury list provides another piece of compelling evidence. Even Brendan Fevola has admitted as much.

    “It is hard when the ground’s hard,” Fevola said last month. “We’ve had some unfortunate incidents where blokes have been injured, we’ve had calves and knees and shoulders …”

    Players are being injured and it’s becoming increasingly hard to suggest these injuries aren’t related to surface issues. It’s time for the AFL to get serious.

    Michael DiFabrizio is completing his journalism degree. As an AFL writer, he has been an expert columnist at The Roar since 2009, and appeared in The Age and on ABC television and radio. Follow Michael on twitter @mdifabrizio