My 10-year, 10-point plan to save the AFL

lol

Subtle trolling, I like it!

AFL HOME GAME AVERAGES IN 2015 1. Richmond: 52,186 2. Collingwood: 46,266 3. Adelaide: 45,052 4. Essendon: 44,864 5. Port Adelaide: 44,748 6. Hawthorn: 43,914 7. Carlton: 38,905 8. Fremantle: 35,869 9. West Coast: 35,744 10. Sydney Swans: 31,434 11. Melbourne: 26,783 12. North Melbourne: 26,401 13. St Kilda: 25,793 14. Geelong: 25,361 15. Western Bulldogs: 23,046 16. Brisbane Lions: 19,315 17. Gold Coast Suns: 12,263 18. GWS Giants: 9,956 So of two teams Edgar would like to get rid of, one has the 4th highest average home attendance (44,864) and the other, who has dead cat bounced around the bottom all season (and for over a decade in fact) has an extremely respectable average home attendance of 38,905.

This would be great, but it sounds way too much like evolution, something that the old diehards dont believe in. They think it should still be played by Victorian teams only who are allowed to bash each other every week, cause thats how real men played back in the old days. Who cares if their club is rubbish, hasnt won a premiership in a few decades and isnt likely to anytime soon, and needs constant spoon feeding from the rest of the league because they are going broke, there is history to protect dammit! After all, it is still the VFL with a few blow-in teams, right? AFL is still the greatest footy code on the planet, but as the old saying goes - adapt or die.

It isn't that cut and dry, The aim is to disenfranchise as few fans as possible. Instead of saying it's impossible we could be looking for solutions. Would the Dogs & Cats be a match? How about Carlton and Melbourne? Think of how many fans your team would have and what your revenues be. They would be massive clubs in the revamped AFL. I'd rather watch GWS and GCS personally. I can see how it appears plastic and in many respects it is. In 100 years it may look very different, the Swans have been in Sydney for 33 years and they certainly do. Most people still remember their South Melbourne roots. They hadn't won a flag for 72 years and we were aall reminded of it. Can you imagine the old Soith Melbourne being as successful as the Sydney Swans are today if they had stayed in Melbourne?

"would it be ok if we went over to the WAFL or the SANFL and start banishing teams for the sake of the game?" Yes it would be ok. If we don't have a game what good is a club? "No, Oakley f*&^%ed in the 1st place by using the VFL and attempt to make it national – which it never will be so long as the VFL was the original base." Isn't it then ridiculous to be continuing on with a model that we acknowledge as flawed? We know it's broke but hey, let's not bother fixing it. "but culling teams in my view is not negotiable." Is that because it's your club and/or you disagree with any VFL team getting merged or relocated? I think this attitude of don't touch my VFL highlights the problems that many interstaters have with the 'AFL'. Some Victorians think it's their God given right to keep the AUSTRALIAN football league Victorian while some followers of the code from other states feel marginalised. It's not like the AFL/VFL Commission is doing a good job, they are atrocious and the game is poorly managed. FIFA, Olympics, Boxing, World Cup Soccer and Cricket are widely known to have experienced corruption. Why is the AFL immune? Fitzpatrick is doing a terrible job and the AFL needs to a rebuild.

Regardless of the 4 teams - it's not on............. would it be ok if we went over to the WAFL or the SANFL and start banishing teams for the sake of the game? No, Oakley f*&^%ed in the 1st place by using the VFL and attempt to make it national - which it never will be so long as the VFL was the original base. If it really must be done restore the VFL, that can be a feeder to the AFL and create expansion teams out of Vic. I know that's highly difficult to achieve but culling teams in my view is not negotiable.

Obviously they don't remember the pain so many people felt on the demise Fitzroy and the near end of Footscray. Every traditional club has intrinsic value that is worth multi millions and we cannot afford to lose them. Imagine the outcry if the ridiculous occurred and say Carlton and maybe the Bombers folded or merged. The ill will towards plastic franchises such as the Giants and Suns could mean hundreds of thousands of members and supporters turning away from AFL, not following a new team. I'm sure the AFL and media rights owners would be pretty pissed off. Why do you think the Giants, Suns, Lions don't get Fridays and yet Carlton got 6 Fridays and the opener Thursday. More people would rather watch the Blues, even if they're struggling, than the Suns or Giants.

Here's a few reasons: 1. Quality - we have approx 800 players now. That's would drop to 622 players with 14 sides. The weaker players would be cut and the remaining players will be more skilful culminating in a better product. It's hard to create a Michelin star menu if you don't have premium produce for all of the ingredients. We are as weak as our weakest link. 2. Competitiveness - less teams with more quality players should translate into a more even competition with less blowouts. 3. Premierships - less teams means greater odds of winning a flag. Some Victorian teams haven't won a flag for a very long time. 4. National - 10 teams in one state and 2 teams from each other state isn't really national. It's a VFL hybrid. There are a number of other factors that are stopping us from being national also eg media is centred in Victoria, as are the HQ's. That can stay the same but each state needs an AFL office and good media representation. Victoria should always remain the home of football and many of its traditions should be retained. I don't want to throw the baby out with the bath water. 5. Financial - funds that are used to prop up struggling clubs can be used elsewhere. They have been talking about a Robin Hood tax ie tax the richer clubs and give the money to the struggling clubs. I don't believe in socialism. If there wasn't a problem they wouldn't be discussing it. You could probably class me as a radical as I would like to see a number of rules changed also BUT only with very careful consideration and we should take our time working through them and consider the impact they will have on the game. I've travelled a lot and I'd like to see the AFL gain traction internationally and it's going to take forever with the product we have currently. I've taken many overseas guests to the footy or watched a game with them on TV and it's a very hard game for them to understand and when things aren't simple people have a tendency to switch off quicker. Soccer is very simple to explain and that's one reason why it is so popular globally. I don't like soccer personally but it's simplicity is appealling. I'm aware that these aren't simple changes and that its not for everyone. Believe it or not I'm a traditionalist at heart but I'm also a progressive and I think we can get the balance right if we have the right people and process in place. It's important not to change for changes sake. We need to decide what we want the game to look like in 100 years and create a product and model to deliver on it. I don't have any faith in the current administration to deliver on this so I'd rather they left it alone till such time as we have capable people that we can trust to begin the process. I respect other people's wishes for less or no change and they need to be listened to before we do anything.

Why do you feel such a need to reduce the number of Vic teams in the competition?

Check the numbers mate, in the membership race you have the big three (Hawthorn, Richmond, Collingwood) then behind them for Victorian teams you have Essendon(58000) and Carlton (46000), Carlton are in a massive slump and yet they still post 6000 members more than North Melbourne, who are coming of their most successful year in a long time. despite the issues surrounding both clubs you would have to surmise that should the sagas be left behind and these teams begin to be successful their numbers in membership will only benefit the AFL

"I know the AFL is commonly asked to rectify all of humanity’s ills, but this one might be a little bit beyond them." The AFL needs to worry about fixing its own problems first. Society may follow once we get the ball and conversation rolling in the right direction but we start by looking in the mirror. The AFL is a microcosm of society and there are many parallels to draw on eg lack of democracy (we can't vote in the AFL Commission and only 2 political parties have ever run our country, that's not my definition of choice), bureaucracy, media manipulation, hunger (poor clubs and people starving), inequality, centralised control (Victoria, Canberra, United Nations and Brussels) just to name a few. You might think I'm drawing a long bow but I'm not. People starving is far more important than poor clubs but the parallels are there all the same as they are with the other points I have raised.

Yeah, that's the really difficult part. I want less teams from Victoria but I wouldn't want to be a fan of one of those teams. There is no pain-free solution to this unfortunately. Carrots will have to be dangled so as to entice them to do it. There are two obvious ways - merge 4 Vic teams with 4 other Vic teams whilst respecting the history and traditions of both clubs, and relocation. I can't see 4 teams merging with another 4 so maybe it's a mix of both eg 2 teams merge and 2 relocate. Tassie is a definite option for relocation with possibly the NT, ACT or WA for the other team. I have a lot of empathy for the fans that would be effected but if it is done correctly and in conjunction with a significant revamp of the AFL the benefits will outweigh the negatives in time.

And I thought i had some Crazy Ideas. To me here are two Idea that could happen as much as your Point 1 - 3 Point 1: Lets Merge Collingwood & Carlton and call them The Blue Magpie." Point 2: WA Teams to be given a extra 2 Million each year due to having to Travel more then any one else The only one I see as a reasonable one is the Night Final, but as some have said that will have to come with TV rights contracts.

There are the viewing numbers for that many Sydney teams, but they could play anywhere, the attendance just isn't there for that number of teams and is heading down.

If you'd made the list 5 years ago my Tigers would have been given the flick too. Given that we are averaging 52,000 per home game this year it would have been a monumental mistake.

Interested in your rationale regarding the Victorian teams who would be "relegated" to the VFL. While I am clearly biased as a Melbourne supporter I'm struggling with the basis for these four being on top of the list? I suspect 12 months ago Footscray would have been in that list too as it appears current form forms a large part of your criteria. How would the AFL deal with the reduction in TV revenue, particularly if that is coupled with a revamp of the fixture which, while seemingly fairer, could result in less advertising revenue for broadcasters? Certainly not trying to knock you for having a crack, there is some good stuff in here, but I think it is difficult to look at all of these in isolation and consideration needs to be given to how they would all work together.

Hey Edgar, I just read your bio: "So much to say I need to be published twice daily" If you limit yourself to well researched, well argued opinions supported by facts and figures, you may be able to get that frequency down a bit.