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The AFL is the gorilla in the room of Australian football. Not an elephant no one will talk about or look at, but a gorilla no one else wants to mess with if they are honest about it.
For all the NRL’s complaining that AFL gets more than it should in TV revenues, in comparing ratings and who should get the most money and blaming it on News Ltd being involved in the NRL, the AFL will shortly sign the biggest TV deal in Australian industry and it will be bigger than whatever the NRL signs shortly after.
Independent commission or not.
The gorilla will get the biggest bunch of bananas, and get bigger again.
Problem is, that gorilla has shown signs of tetchiness in recent years. I seem to remember the good old days when each code just cracked on with doing its own thing.
The whole “run your own race” mantra.
Each code just got on with it, and tried not to step on each others toes (too much).
Oh sure, league and union had their bitter rivalry going, with league stealing players from the amateur code. But in many ways, that was the cost of rugby keeping its “morals” and staying amateur.
Professionalism came and the league raids stopped.
In recent years, the gloves seem to be coming off. The AFL seems to have adopted an aggressiveness that comes with being the biggest kid in the school yard. And with it comes a snarl.
With football bidding for the World Cup, the AFL marked its territory with a big stream of hot liquid on the rival code’s foot, basically making clear it wasn’t backing down for anyone and would be extracting its pound of flesh.
Similarly, with the AFL Grand Final looking at being a week later, and “clashing” with the start of cricket season, the suggestion that Victorian cricket might make use of its option on the MCG (however unlikely) was greeted with the AFL tantrum that it would take its toys and go somewhere else.
In previous years, there would usually be a diplomatic media release or press sound-bite to the effect of “We’re looking at having discussions with our fellow sports administrators, and we are sure we can work this out in a way …” yadda yadda yadda. And the arm twisting would go on behind closed doors, with the same result.
No more.
Who needs to be diplomatic when you have more money than Daddy Warbucks to grease (or smash) your way through?
Buying Hunt and Folau from league is almost a sideline. I am sure if you got Andrew Demetriou in a private chat after a few sponsor tongue looseners, he’d admit: “Yeah, sure it’s a marketing gimmick. They could flop and go back to league at the end of it. But who cares, the marketing yardage has been HUGE!!!! We’re the big swinging appendages of the Australian sporting scene, and we’re showing it!!”
And it may work. Indeed, it probably will.
Still, the other codes, and sports in general, are going to be less likely to work with a code that is so aggressive in its approach to carving out a “space” (or rather an even bigger space) in the sports “market”.
Welcome to the modern business of sport people. It’s a marketplace, and it’s rough.
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The Crowd Says (18) | Page 1 of Comments
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- AFL, Rugby League, Rugby Union
August 31st 2010 @ 6:02am
mds1970 said | August 31st 2010 @ 6:02am | Report comment
“With football bidding for the World Cup, the AFL marked its territory with a big stream of hot liquid on the rival code’s foot, basically making clear it wasn’t backing down for anyone and would be extracting its pound of flesh.”
What actually happened was that when the idea of the FFA bidding for the World Cup was first thought of, the AFL made an agreement that they would retain access to Docklands and would be locked out of the MCG for no more than 10 weeks.
Had the FFA not investigated an option to rectangularise the MCG, and had they not shown the FIFA people around Docklands and told them it was a potential World Cup venue, the World Cup bid would probably have barely created a headline. But it was only when those two swifties by the FFA were revealed within a couple of days of each other that the AFL spoke out.
But what happened? The bottom line is that, within the confines of the original agreement, the FFA have got everything they wanted for their World Cup bid. If the bid fails, it won’t be the AFL’s fault.
August 31st 2010 @ 8:43am
Bay35Pablo said | August 31st 2010 @ 8:43am | Report comment
FIFA prefers square grounds. I found it interesting the FFA cut a deal with the government that will see some oval grounds upgraded, which the AFL will be able to make use of, as part of the pay off to the AFL for playing ball.
August 31st 2010 @ 9:19am
Mister Football said | August 31st 2010 @ 9:19am | Report comment
Very early in the WC bid process, I said that the senior Ministers involved from the Commonwealth, and the state Governments of WA and SA (and to a lesser extent, the ACT), weren’t intereted in spending billions of dollars building large rectangular stadiums.
Using grounds that can be used by the AFL (to pay for them) actually makes the WC bid a more solid business case than it would otherwise be (even then, it’s still going to cost the taxpayer billions of dollars).
September 10th 2010 @ 1:08pm
Anthony said | September 10th 2010 @ 1:08pm | Report comment
I think the only oval grounds mentioned by FFA were MCG, Geelong & Carrara. All 3 will not be needed much for soccer after the WC, but will be filled regularly by the AFL. The latter 2 need upgrading for the current & future AFL crowds, which is the only way you could justify improvements anyway. After the WC has come & gone it is the AFL that needs big grounds, not soccer. So stop complaining that AFL will get some benefit from the WC – it’s the only way to justify taxes being spent on the grounds.
Now if soccer was going to fund all these improvements it would be a different matter. But methinks Lowry’s millions are needed to prop up the A-league.
August 31st 2010 @ 8:42am
Bay35Pablo said | August 31st 2010 @ 8:42am | Report comment
My original article as submitted had more to it.
My main point was this article came out of the recent rejection by the NRL to the AFL wanting to get involved in an indigenous festival piggy backing the All Stars game on the Gold Coast.
http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-league/league-news/arls-johnstone-rejects-attempt-to-add-afl-to-all-stars-initiative-20100810-11y50.html
My point was and is that other sports are going to be more likely to behave like the NRL in the face of a very aggressive and cashed up AFL, which is a bit sad if otherwise worthwhile projects get canned.
Again, welcome to the big bad world of modern sport.
August 31st 2010 @ 5:28pm
JamesP said | August 31st 2010 @ 5:28pm | Report comment
And who better than Roy Masters to deliver the news!
Seriously though, the Aboroginal All stars have played AFL teams before in Darwin – why not promote the game there?
Is there another capital city with a higher percentage of Indigenous Australians?
August 31st 2010 @ 8:54am
Paul J said | August 31st 2010 @ 8:54am | Report comment
The AFL has by far a much better leadership than the rugby codes and FFA. Their aggressive approach is to ensure the survival of their code in the long term in Australia’s super competitive market place. Good offence is the best form of defence.
When the NRL finally gets it’s independent commission i imagine you’ll see it acting in a similar way. The ARU and FFA may look to get commissions for themselves in the future.
The gloves will stay off but i don’t think it’s too personal. It’s just good business sense to grow what you have and get the biggest slice of the pie that you can.
August 31st 2010 @ 9:42am
Bay35Pablo said | August 31st 2010 @ 9:42am | Report comment
No argument here Paul. I have ben saying for a while rugby needs an AFL style commission more than league does!
The FFA seems to be doing a decent job at the moment, and their structure came out of a government review that got rid of the old scheme that was holding football back. Rugby needs much the same, but it won’t happen unfortunately.
August 31st 2010 @ 9:02am
Redb said | August 31st 2010 @ 9:02am | Report comment
The soccer WC squaring up was much as the FFA as the AFL. The submission of Etihad stadium,etc Ths issue has been done to death. Some thought the AFL would cop a backlash from dual fans of AFL/soccer, if crowds are a litmus test this does not appear to be the case.
Whilst I think the NRL has long been paranoid and jealous of the AFL due to it achieving a national footprint before the NRL, jealousy of the AFL’s TV deal,etc. The recruitment of Hunt and Folau was definitely a polarising decision on the AFL’s behalf and I dont blame the NRL for reacting to it. I will say though that the reaction to the GC and Western Sydney new teams which was announced at least a year before Hunt and Folau was viewed as an act of war anyway by the NRL, treading on its heartland. So the gloves were off regardless, its just the NRL did not expect to cop the first slap across the face.
However, all expansion is by its very nature polarising. Swans and Bears in the AFL. Superleague expansion. The set up of the entire A League which placed teams in various markets dominated by the AFL/NRL. The expansion of the AFL into GC and WS. Expansion of the NRL into Melbourne and noise about Perth, the expansion of super rugby to Perth and Melbourne. These are all moves that could incite retribution from rival sporting codes. These are moves designed to steal fans, take sponsorship out of the market, etc.
Codes are stepping on each others toes in Australia and have been for at least two decades.
August 31st 2010 @ 9:22am
sheek said | August 31st 2010 @ 9:22am | Report comment
Despite what the AFL itself & fans might say about the internationalisation of their game, the reality is that the Australian domestic market is all it has. Consequently, the AFL has successfully ensured they are the major footy code in the country.
It is a position they dare not ever let slip. Football (soccer) is on the rise. It will one day challenge AF for top billing in the country. But for the immediate future AF is king.
I agree with those who suggest Australia can’t accommodate 4 footy codes into perpetuity. Four professional footy codes vying for sponsorship, not to mention cricket, netball, basketball, hockey, cycling, swimming, athletics, motor sports, other Olympic sports, etc, is a strain on resources our economy can’t accommodate.
This means, in the hierarchy of things, the two rugby codes are on fragile ground, especially union. The rusted on diehards tell us all is well with union, but scratch beneath the surface, & the game is bleeding on most fronts. Above all, it just doesn’t rate with the majority of the population.
League has this remarkable opposed ability to enlist fanatical tribalism among its already converted faithful, but struggles to develop the game into new areas. I find this ‘dual opposites’ fascinating.
Only one of the rugby codes will survive long-term, & I wouldn’t want to venture a guess as to which will survive, & which will fall by the wayside.
Fifty years from now, maybe even just 20 years from now, we will have Australian football, association (world) football & rugby. But just what kind of rugby remains to be seen…..
August 31st 2010 @ 12:52pm
Danny_Mac said | August 31st 2010 @ 12:52pm | Report comment
Lets not forget that Rugby League is really just an industrial dispute dating back to 1895. I think eventually, a hybrid of the two will exist as a single entity. “New Rugby” would benefit both domestically (NRL is a very powerful competition, and would rival NPC, Curry Cup, European leagues if they were playing the same game) and Internationally (where lets face it, Rugby League is a joke)
August 31st 2010 @ 3:16pm
beaver fever said | August 31st 2010 @ 3:16pm | Report comment
But thats thinking along the lines that to survive RL must be more international, but must it !!.
August 31st 2010 @ 2:23pm
macavity said | August 31st 2010 @ 2:23pm | Report comment
NRL is far and away the best domestic rugby comp in the world, DM.
International RL is only slightly more of a joke than international RU.
It is going to take some revalations at RU headquarters for a hybrid to occur – RL would be all for it, but to make a splash in the world we would have to adopt the more entertaining rules (ie RL)
August 31st 2010 @ 3:24pm
Paul J said | August 31st 2010 @ 3:24pm | Report comment
Bay35Pablo
I probably gave the FFA a disservice by suggesting their leadership is on par with the rugby codes. The A-League is light years ahead of what the NSL was and the Socceroos have taken the Wallabies place on the Weet Bix packet.
I think the AFL & NRL will be fine due to their long running tribal domestic comps. If the NRL get an independent commission then they will get stronger domestically and internationally.
It’s rugby i worry about. I agree they need a commission even more than the NRL.
August 31st 2010 @ 3:36pm
Neutral Fan said | August 31st 2010 @ 3:36pm | Report comment
Personally, I think league and union will still be around in years to come. I’m confident league would make up for lost ground from super-league/salary cap scandals with the independent commission up and running. Hopefully forward thinking to making league national will be the first priority with teams in Perth, and Adelaide within 5-15 year period. If only league had an administration that the AFL had in the 90′s NRL would be a legit national competition.
Since the AFL had to bail out the Swans & Lions (Bears) in the 90′s they now become successful niches in QLD & NSW. If the admin back in the 90′s gave the Western Reds & Adelaide Rams financial assistance also they be around here today. The crowds in Perth and Adelaide back then were pretty good consideration the quality of the teams that had back then given more time they could of being apart of the sporting landscape in SA & WA now there non-existent when they got canned which was the worst moves made. Reds & Rams were given little time to establish there identity if they were to given 4-6 years more they would be in a better position than dead.
The incompetence and backward thinking of the current NRL admin & News limited conflict of interest annoys me. Over time union will grow in popularity again it’s just in a down period at the moment in Australia but internationally it’s booming i wish league was the same internationally.
AFL will keep out chugging along just fine with no care in the world even though I don’t like the sport it’s influence, money and power is amazing.
September 2nd 2010 @ 10:13am
ac said | September 2nd 2010 @ 10:13am | Report comment
The AFL is a very polished business. No doubt about that. It is run by very astute business people who have a business model and they work by that. They are also very ruthless in what they do to protect and expand the sport they are entrusted with. I am not sure if AFL INC really cares that much about Aussie Football anymore it is just a sideline to make it more money. That is also understandable. But, i dont like it when it steam rolls itself over all the other codes. I guess i also dont like the media of Melbourne who are so biased. But, i can also understand why they are too.
September 10th 2010 @ 1:09pm
Anthony said | September 10th 2010 @ 1:09pm | Report comment
melbourne media is much more generous to all codes than Sydney media!
September 16th 2010 @ 7:25am
ac said | September 16th 2010 @ 7:25am | Report comment
Is it me or is the level of interest in the AFL up here in NSW gone? Peopel just done care as much.