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This Friday, the Crows will play the Eagles at Adelaide Oval in what is set to be a blockbuster with major repercussions in September.
This is also a major game for a different reason as it signifies the first time that two interstate teams will play on a Friday night since the beginning of the 18 team format.
Friday Night Footy is prime time. It’s the most sought after slot in the weekly fixture.
It’s common knowledge that Friday night is the best time to play. There are more viewers, greater exposure, and all round better game atmosphere. And better yet, there is usually an eight day break before the next game.
Teams are queuing around the block to get in on a Friday night, but it seems that Victorian teams know the bouncer.
Of the 21 Friday night games this year, all have featured at least one Victorian representative and ten have had two Victorian teams. This translates to 11 of a possible 42 teams were from outside Victoria, or about 26 per cent.
For a league made 44 per cent of teams outside Victoria, this seems to be an under-representation. Unless this is part of some kind of conspiracy against interstate clubs, there must be an explanation for it.
Not all teams get Friday night games. It has long been acknowledged that a reigning wooden spooner will lose their opportunity to play on a Friday night. Thus Carlton have seen their Friday games revoked.
Alongside Carlton, five other clubs have not received a Friday Game; Melbourne, St Kilda, Gold Coast, Brisbane, and Greater Western Sydney. This leaves 12 teams to play on Fridays; seven Victorian and five Interstate. This remains a relatively even spread of Friday eligible teams, so it does not explain the skew.
Perhaps there aren’t many games between interstate clubs. As the fixture is not built on each team playing each other an equal number of times, there might just be a lack of interstate games.
However this does not seem to be the case as 69 of the total 198 games played in the 2016 AFL regular season feature two interstate sides. That’s almost 35 per cent. Probably warrants more than one game on a Friday night.
Even when removing the games featuring any of the six sides without Friday games, the statistic stands at 20 interstate clashes out of a possible 87 (23 per cent).
How did the reigning minor premier Dockers and the second finishing Eagles each receive the same endowment as the 15th finishing Bombers?
How did the 12th finishing Magpies receive the second largest slice of the Friday night cake? If the AFL is to truly maintain a national competition, they need to present all the clubs with equal opportunities.
Every Friday night clash should consist of a Victorian team and an interstate team. Otherwise, we will continue to watch the rich Victorians prosper while the struggling Interstate teams die.
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