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Why AFL needs dramatic pauses

Roar Guru
6th March, 2013
23

The dramatic pause. In the theatre and in films it’s a significant moment. Such moments are important in sport too.

Gridiron and baseball, it could be argued, have pregnant pauses as their major attraction.

The AFL though is determined to get the game moving – to discourage over-defensive plays and unsightly congestion but also to make the game more attractive to potential converts – and has declared outright war on lulls in the action; threatening the game’s value as theatre.

Our once were warriors used to strut around supremely or stand erect and dignified at kick ins. Today, they’re treated like street urchins and made to cower by the umpires who demand they “move on” after just five seconds.

The changes are even more profound at the other end of the ground where the gladiators – the sport’s major attraction – reside: full forward.

The power forward, if he is to fulfill his role as entertainer and kicker of goals (which is of course the ultimate aim of the game), must perform several important procedures, which may or may not be unique to him, such as: walking back slowly while looking about as if preparing to pass it to someone else, rotating the ball in the hands, pulling up the socks, placing the mouthguard inside one of the socks, throwing grass in the air to determine wind direction and strength, having a teammate tell him to relax, and so on.

This gives both sets of supporters extended time to contemplate the result and build dramatic tension – like the crowd at the Colosseum waiting for the emperor’s thumb.

The great full forwards like Tony Lockett and Jason Dunstall, in front of a crowd in awe of their ability and defenders sh*t scared to put such big angry men off their game were permitted to perform their meticulous preparations in relative silence.

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Today, the full forward will be interrupted by a reminder from a harrying pipsqueak that 15 seconds have elapsed, followed 15 seconds later by an undignified “whistling up” from the wind-tooled ump.

The hurried re-start to play after a behind has been kicked (which is the usual result these days) also doesn’t allow the forward time to express his disappointment because he’s too busy zoning up or chasing a defender.

Of course the obsession with manic undignified movement is not the preserve of the AFL. The coaches, with their 140 interchanges per match, have the players resembling ants on a jam tart.

Players being substituted in rugby and soccer get to saunter off the ground and receive the accolades of supporters while our interchangers have to sprint with their heads down hoping they don’t get abused on the telephone about taking too long to get off.

Of all the rule changes designed to speed up the game the one I find the most abhorrent is the one that appears to be the most innocuous: the throwing up of the ball at stoppages around the ground.

No, no, not throw ups. A volunteer father lobs the ball in the air to momentarily clear a pack of AUSKICK kids – and it’s used in netball, I think – but it doesn’t belong in a professional game of football.

The bouncing of the ball, or rather the slamming of it into the ground, suits the dramatic masculinity of the game.

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It seems a little strange that the AFL has done its best to speed up the game and yet also plans to slow it down by capping interchanges and fatiguing its players.

John Worsfold is the only coach supporting the slowing down of the game to “preserve the great moments… The way it is at the moment, the way it’s zipping around, you’re not really getting to see as much of that.”

I agree. Put an end to this undignified scuttling and restore the pregnant pause where to the outsider, nothing appears to be happening.

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