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The St Kilda supporters hold up in tribute the No 35 as St Kilda's Robert Harvey prepares to kick - Photo by Slattery Images
Craig Foster, love him or loathe him, has put the idea of a code war back onto the agenda with his article for The Sydney Morning Herald. The response to his piece has, in my mind, highlighted people’s skewed view of the true essence of what the code war is about.
Some, like Foster hints at in his piece, claim the code war is an ideological war for hearts and minds that determines the pecking order of the codes. Others, like “the gent from basketball” from Foster’s piece, argue the code war is illusory.
The reality lies somewhere in between.
Since the VFL expanded into the AFL, capitalising on the popularity of Australia’s indigenous code, and the codes were forced to share the same marketplaces, the code war has existed and has been intensified for the following reasons:
1. Basic economics
A common claim made by the deniers of the code war is that they can and do support more than one code at the same time, and the fact the codes are in such a good position after the expansion of the past two decades. This therefore proves the code war is illusory.
Yes, that may be the case, but where the code war comes into it is in pure economic terms, with every ticket purchased or live match watched.
When on a Sunday afternoon in Melbourne, you have the choice of seeing the Victory playing at Etihad, the Demons at the MCG or the Storm at Olympic Park, the code war is being played out.
Which you choose is not dealing fatal blows, but it’s what contributes to the fluctuations of the codes.
2. The times we live in
The economic crisis and such heavy reliance on commercial realities makes it inevitable that codes, in the same markets, are fighting in an intensified battle for the same corporate dollars, big television contracts and your hard earned cash.
3. Poaching
With the increase in professionalism, the codes have better managed to find, develop and try and retain talent. Yet, as Karmichael Hunt has shown, enough money and temptation can sway a player.
Poaching adds an extra dimension to the code war.
As the likes of Michael Jordan and Valentino Rossi have shown, one athlete can elevate a code to unimaginable levels.
4. Expansion
This is where the code war is really being fought: in new markets. As I’ve written previously, the fight over new markets, namely West Sydney and the Gold Coast, will be an aggressive battle that intensifies the notion of the code war.
Rather than being an ideological battle, the code war is all about economics and pure numbers, especially during expansion.
But it isn’t as easy as saying AFL is leading with NRL and co chasing.
The reality is, at certain times and in different ways, all codes will have their periods of domination and stagnation for a variety of reasons. This is the beauty of Australia’s varied sporting palette.
The code war is like the Cold War in many ways.
Fought on so many different fronts, in so many different and multifaceted ways, the major battles taking place in the mad rush to win over disputed territories, yet never really developing into the direct battle between the superpowers, partly due to the fact they could, in reality, co-exist.
But, unlike the Cold War, we won’t be left with one definitive superpower as a result of it.
As Foster reiterates, codes can co-exist, and fans shouldn’t worry that the code war threatens the very existence of their favourite code.