Rival codes threatened by football: Kosmina

What about the majority of Aussie rules goals that are kicked during play and not after a mark? What about after sprinting 100m after covering about 10km already that game, surrounded by opposition defenders who are perfectly entitled to level him (no, no pressure at all), from the boundary with an oval ball and still thread the goals despite them being (from that angle) inches apart. Ill take an Eddie Betts snap from the boundary over a regulation header any day...

Realfootball, if you understood AFL you would understand what a slap in the face that behind really represents. All that effort to get inside 50 only to get 1 point due to an innacurate kick? Heartbreaking. Imagine losing an AFL premiership by say 2 goals when you actually had 3 more scoring shots. That "prize" for hitting the barn door, or even the door jamb (hit the post) are the greatest motivators in developing your accuracy in aussie rules...

pete4, So a squad of Aussie also-rans outscored and shut the gate on a Scottish/European powerhouse? Sounds to me like your argument is going against your intent. Great G might put on a show afterall.

Sports journos are of course biased, pundits write about what pundits know. Paper publishers, however, will cater to whoever is buying. If AFL is what sells papers, that is what the publishers will publish. No one can tell me whoever is in charge of the Herald Sun wouldn't get rid of their AFL writers and bring in Assoc Football writers if they thought they could make more money out of it. The media cater to what the public want, not create it...

Perhaps if you read Mike Cockerill's article, which is based on exactly what I was getting at in my comment you'll understand. If noty I think you need someone to read it for you. I cant make it any clearer anymore. FFA looks to reduce finals series Michael Cockerill April 18, 2012 Mark Bosnich Pixs taken at rushcutters bay where Central Coast Mariners announced that Mark Bosnich would be playing for 7 rounds as its first ever guest player. Pic shows ...Lyall Gorman chairman of mariners Pics by ..CRAIG GOLDING Date..20th August 2008 A-League chief Lyall Gorman. Photo: Craig Golding THE preliminary final is almost certainly dead, with Football Federation Australia likely to condense the finals series to a three-week window from next season, removing two fixtures in the process. ''We've made a commitment to review the finals series in order to make it more relevant to the consumer,'' said A-League boss Lyall Gorman. ''There are a couple of models we're looking at, but I guess the main point is that the preliminary final seems to be a blockage in terms of getting a crowd, and that's actually the case across all sports, not just ours.'' For the last two seasons, the Central Coast Mariners have hosted the preliminary final, drawing poor crowds of around 7500 on both occasions. While previous preliminary finals in Adelaide, Melbourne and Sydney have fared better at the turnstiles, the preliminary final tends to draw the lowest crowd of the finals series. THIS is the important bit.... ''You've got two main issues - the fact that a team which has lost the previous week is hosting the game, and the downer which goes with that, and the fact you're going back to the same market twice in the space of a week,'' said Gorman. Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/sport/soccer/ffa-looks-to-reduce-finals-series-20120417-1x5kk.html#ixzz1sKvmWAEP

How skilful was Juan Mata's goal the other night?

Sorry, but none of what you just said makes any sense.

Of course you don't. :)

Look. I think its an important game. I'm what is categorized as a die hard fan. I'll be there rain hail or shine. to get really big crowds though, you need the committed casual to turn up. For this to happen, they have to have hope of something special occurring. Oddly, if they've just been to a home leg of a Major Semi Final and seen their team outplayed for the majority of the game, then they are not going to be very keen to go back in a hurry. these are the people the advertising is directed at. the die-hards already know when games are on, they will be there. its the committed casual(the guy who calls the team his, but isn't ready to comit to a ST juist yet - maybe he is juggling other family commitments or has already committed to another sport that night.) This guy and the non-committed casual( the once a season type) are the guys the game has to be marketed at. How do you do that when the team has just lost a very important game? that is why I say it is the most difficult to sell.

"Just calling a game important and ‘big’ doesn’t sell it on its own in the circumstances I’ve described, not to a savvy market. " On Saturday night, CCM were playing at home in a game that would decide whether they made the Grand Final. You're honestlly saying that's not an important game? Not a game that would interest fans? please... As for ticket prices... A-League GF - prices start at $53 for adults ($28 for concession/kids). NRL GF - prices start at $70 + AFL GF - prices start at $170 (for standingroom ticket only) ...do people expect them to be free?

Serious question, has soccer seriously damaged another code in any country? Even in South Africa with a world cup it didnt seem to have an impact on Union. Not saying Soccer can't grow, I just think people underestimate the appetite for sport in thinking one code has to shrink if the other grows.

but when a Sheedy or a Sheahan writes a cheeky OP its just their larrikin nature. When a Soccer person does it it is 'evidence' of the deep seated persecution complex, its obvious you see.

Arrogant commentators like Craig Foster do the code a great deal of harm. If you put crap on a rival code that people have followed all their lives, expect crap back. The same thing happened in Sydney with Union and John Oneils comments during its glory years, and is happening to some extent with GWS.

Of course I believe it. I wrote it as I see it. I have been the fan of a team that has lost the Major Semi final tie. Its devastating. You honestly believe that your team is good enough to win the rights to host the GF and then when they fail it is a horrible feeling. Come Monday the reality sets in and you start to think a few things, like 1. Got to get my ticket sorted for the Prelim(its going to cost how much you say?) and 2. IF we win, I have to budget my money to cover travel/accom where the GF is played. This isn't even accounting for the bitter disappointment of losing the Major Semi. I have nothing further to add. The Mariners had to also sell tickets to the ACL concurrently. I maintain that the HAL Prelim is one of the toughest sells in Australian sports marketing. Just calling a game important and 'big' doesn't sell it on its own in the circumstances I've described, not to a savvy market. get it through your head that football is not the same as other sports. It plainly isn't and has a unique set of circumstances. That a Prelim final is BIG and important in AFL and NRL is not in dispute.

me, I like football I did say: "From the results from the opening 2 rounds..."

How would you know if you don't watch it anymore?

Kasey, surely you can't believe that "The Prelim Final in the HAL is an incredibly tough sell for the marketers"..? It's the second most important game of the year. How can that be a tough sell? You're really "shocked as many as 7,500 turned up"..? Really?

Nothing absurd about Australian Football goals but plenty wrong with Aussie Rules goals if you are to judge on quality and execution between them. How can you write about quality of an Aussie Rules goal when the player catches a ball then play stops; to give this player a free shot at an area that has 4 posts as a target spanning over 15 or so metres. The taker has 30 seconds to shoot at goal while all defenders stand and watch unable to prevent the outcome. The taker positions himself to run up uninhibited to release the ball from his hand.. Hands mind you! To drop the ball perfectly onto his instep to punt the ball over the heads with no limitations on height to score a goal---all that is required is direction. This is not quality---this is code contrived to give the taker all the assistance to get maximum points. If the taker then misses the target area and on so many occasions he does, he is given a point to ease his pain and incompetence. If you watch an Australian footballer's goal you will be amazed to see goals scored under extreme pressure with a defender up his back side, a defender running towards him, a goal keeper to get the ball past and an area constricted on two sides with posts and a cross bar above. If that was not enough---the football player has to master the ball technique using only feet (or head on occasions) to thread the ball past all of these obstacles, using his experience with technique to either hit the ball with the outside of his foot, or curling it with the inside of his foot to score the goal with no 30 sec reprieve that an Aussie Rules players are allowed with a consolation point if his shot just misses the goal. Also the footballer has no reward if the opposing defenders obstruct his shot at gaol, or the goal keeper making an incredible save from the attacker. I think any normal person can judge the difficulty between the two codes which represents the harder to archive a goal or result. And which one requires the utmost in technical proficiency and ball skills to get the ever illusive goal in a football match where fans explode with sheer delight when one of their players does manage to score a goal. Whereas you see the Aussie Rules player has no need of the amount of skill required to score as much as his counter part in Football. I think we can safely say that a football goal, therefore has more quality than an Aussie Rules goal and is simply enjoyed more by the fans because of the quality and execution that is needed to score one.

that may be so(and welcome that it is that people are starting to see through the charade of kicking football by non-football people) but convenient that you overlook that it was printed in the first place don't you think?

I think the comments in it dealt with that article nicely, as will the game on saturday.