Ryan O'Keefe and Port's Troy Chaplin battle for the ball during the AFL Round 02 match between the Sydney Swans and Port Adelaide Power at the SCG. GSP Images
We all know of the imbalance in the AFL draw, a natural consequence of a competition in which there is not the space for the traditional home and away ties. But in addition to this imbalance there is also an element of unfairness for smaller clubs as demonstrated by the Easter Sunday fixtures.
Easter Sunday is always a difficult day to attract fans to a sporting event, a weekend when many head away for the four days or have family or religious commitments, especially on the Sunday, hardly the ideal day for Port Power to host the uninspiring Melbourne Demons.
The Power could attract a crowd of only 21,030 on Sunday, two thousand less than the disappointing crowd average of last season.
It was, in all honesty, the best the Power could hope for and the AFL must take responsibility for this below average crowd.
Why schedule a home game for Port Power, one of the smallest clubs in the AFL in terms of a fan base, already struggling financially as a result of its inability to engage with the people of South Australia beyond their supporter base against a team that finished with the wooden spoon last season and without a significant supporter base in South Australia on Easter Sunday, a day important to the large ethnic community who follow the Power?
Bear in mind too the game was shown live into Adelaide so Channel 7 could squeeze the Power game into its lineup before heading to Perth to show the Fremantle versus Adelaide Crows match.
Of all the possible combinations of games this long weekend it was unfair for the Power to land the Easter Sunday fixture let alone against the Demons.
When the AFL season’s draw was announced the AFL’s chief operating officer Gillon McLachlan said, “Ultimately our overarching priority is to maximise attendances, and that ultimately is the deciding factor in the majority of decisions,” he said.
If the AFL had any knowledge of the Power’s fan base and struggle to draw a crowd it could surely have done them the favour of avoiding that specific date, especially against such competition.
The AFL fixture list has long been topic of discussion and the code is kidding themselves if they believe the current mess of a system is fair, be it the inequitable amount of travel amongst the clubs and the simple fact that in a given season a specific club may face top eight sides more often than other teams.
Such peculiarities go against the very idea of a fair competition.
With round four upon us this coming weekend thus commences the head to head season in fantasy AFL dream team competitions, every team plays each other once before a finals campaign.
Does it not amuse anyone else that the fantasy competition is much more fairer and equitable than the actual sporting competition it is based on?
In addition to addressing the fixture imbalance the AFL needs to better cater the draw for the smaller clubs and worry less about the big blockbusters.
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What on earth was this question from BT!?!
Mitch Georgiades' mates have no chill!
