A-League needs substance to match the BBL's style

Another more than just 'Quite' Interesting point, Mr Cornes. (Any family connexion?) Less important competitions can be used for trialing new rules, et cetera, such as the AFL does in (what's left of) its pre-season non-competition, and cricket has done at sub-Test level. In Victoria, the historical second-tier VFA fielded 16-a-side teams, but they was not adopted by the top-tier V-AFL; in Ireland, Gaelic Football has adopted some of the trial changes used in International Rules. In US soccer (MLS), I think (but have not been bothered to google this) they use / used NBA-style four quarters ('periods' or 'terms'), but they have not been adopted by FIFA. (Given what we now know about that org, maybe there wasn't enough 'motivation' to effect change?) Some years ago, there was a push in the soccer world to increase the size of the goal mouth - traditionally, "the inner edges of the posts must be 7.32 metres (8 yd) apart, and the lower edge of the crossbar must be 2.44 metres (8 ft) above the ground" (Wikipedia quoting FIFA; note how our traditional imperial measurements provided a neat size, but how that metrically it now looks quite silly). I think something like a neat 8m x 3m was one suggestion. This increase was proposed partly on the basis that players' body size & strength and speed & endurance had increased significantly since the dimensions were fixed. The same sorts of physiological changes have caused rule amendments in the more 'manly' contact / biffo sports. (Will Commissar Triggs be called in for that 'manly'?) Plus, I can recall what we'd now call the 'outrage' but which then was just a plain old disagreement with the shortening of the Melbourne Cup race from two miles (approx.3218m) to 3200m, a loss of about a furlong. Actually, most sports, having been developed by Anglo-Americans, have 'funny' dimensions.

Thanks Leonard but my Football mad friend Mihalis came up with the no goals = no points idea. I think it's a really great idea. It puts pressure on both teams to be more attacking, hence having to score. Would love to see the A-League introduce this ruling, I reckon the rest of the worlds league's would find it interesting as well. Is it something FIFA would have to sanction though? Cheers.

Quite Interesting 'point', Mr Cornes, your "Any games nil to nil, no points. Only 1 to 1 etc. No scoring = no [premiership /championship] points". No, let's make that 'Very' interesting. In principle, I'm 90% against most let's-get-rid-of-draws pushes; exceptions include premiership-deciding games such as AFL / NRL Grand Finals and the NFL Superbowl, and only partly because of the huge inconvenience re-plays entail. In Test cricket, I am always angered by the Shallow Hal stupidity of denigrating a drawn game as a 'no result'; anyone who understands the unique two-dimensional nature of a Test cricket win can see immediately why a draw is a valid result, usually one which accounts for the unique variables in Test cricket. So, shut up morons, go buy a second-hand brain, or rack off. But your proposal seems to have the potential to remove one of soccer's major blights, the nil-all draw, where maybe half or two-thirds of the playing time might be spent in AVOIDNG a score, FFS! If accepted, it could result in coaches' & and players' mindsets doing an 180 degree turn, especially as the time clock winds down towards "Ladder points - 0".. Maybe some academics could do some really useful research (a nice change for so many of them): see if there is a correlation between stadium-trashing and nil-all draws.

Hi Mike - Long time no see from me. A cricket fanatic who appreciates the world game, I am. I boycotted the Big Bash for the first 3 editions due to its plasticity. As a former South Aussie resident I was happy enough with the state teams and felt that 8 city sides with colours/squads bearing zero relation to their home state just didn't interest me. However, with cricket available on Channel TEN so much over the hols I had to find a way into it. Hence, I scoured the stats lists for the team that most closely reflects its home state. Hint - the least of these are Melbourne Red-e-gades and the GreenStars. And Adelaide. So my allegiance (for what it's worth) went to Perth. The cricket is cricket - 11 a side, stumps, bat, ball. But I feel it lacks context (some other family members have no idea who is playing for which team each season) and history. I am a child of the 1980s - raised on World Series cricket, so short format in itself isn't my issue. But even vague observers can recall Bevo's 1996 last-ball boundary to beat the Windies. How many can recall a similar momentous moment from the T20s? I can't. It's fun - and it's some cricket to sit down and watch. But aside from that? Meh. I have found myself enjoying A-League (even though it's standard-def SBS2) each Friday night. Since its return to Free-To-Air it's been easier to emotionally invest in and follow. And I'm finding it more so than the EPL - maybe as a married man with two kids age under 6, the average 11pm kickoff for the England games doesn't help. Nor being an Adelaide United guy in the A-League. But yes, for all the shazam of the T20s, the A-League is good. Not Serie A. Not EPL. But good. I agree that its more about admin tinkering with the quality of the teams now than gimmicks. The FFA Cup is (in itself) great, even if the final should be Jan 26 at Homebush (a-la Wembley). Expansion though then becomes a tricky proposition (for A-League and the T20s). The history will come for BBL but it may take (er, who knows?) 20 years ? There's longer history with the A-League. Maybe it's time to play that up a bit more? But how best to go about it?

I have been thinking about this for a while as well. Like Anon say's, the FFA Cup would be the ideal comp for it. A less restrictive offside ruling ie: no offside in the box. Change up the ground markings, make the white lines a bit more colorful and wider looking. 40 minute halves. Any games nil to nil, no points. Only 1 to 1 etc. No scoring = no points. In reality, who is to stop some billionaire from coming along and revamping the game completely. Using traditional Football as the base and making up a new competition with new rules (maybe like the ones mentioned above) and ideas to attract more fans?? I really think it could happen. What could FIFA do about it if it did?.

Why don't they call the BBL what it really is.......the "Bashed Bowler League". Who goes to a game to see what the bowlers do? They get smashed everywhere. I'm surprised they haven't revolted.

Sounds like tackiness to me,

In addition, two more points of difference, one a sociological one, the other a language one. US English uses 'sports' (plural) where we would use 'sport' (singular) - trigger warning here for wimpy Ameriphobes who might get upset at the next bit - an 'Americanism' which has not found acceptance among us (as has, for example 'on the team', which has almost completely replaced 'in the team'), probably because it is heard soften on TV. The bigger point is about our local sports clubs: they have been, and in many places still are, are one of our main social centres (along with the local pub and local volunteer fire-fighting shed^, where people meet regularly, chat, and have a few refreshments. In the US, the local church (regardless of sect) has a similar role. To some degree, especially in the country, churches used to be like that, but never to the same extent. It is easy to forget that in America for every 100 Thomas Jeffersons, there were maybe 10,000 reverends. (Now many of the old religious reverends have been replaced by pseudo-academics, particularly in the faculties we used to respect as The Arts and The Humanities, or Hollywood celebs who do more pontificating than the Pope. I do feel better now!)

Great post Leonard! I was going to mention US football, as that was my understanding as well (that is primarily played at through school rather than through "clubs")

The term "Australian Footballers" here is a clear example of 'nomenclature crossover' which can cause confusion; it may also be an example of 'nomenclature appropriation' where one group of people 'appropriate' (as a verb rhyming with 'generate'), or take over, another group's terminology. Or just to be be provocative.

The biggest pay packet will also attract the 'best' and I use that term unwisely as being the 'best' athlete is rather subjective. The recent Herald Sun SHOCK detailing the wages for Australian Footballers versus AFL Stars indicates that the size of the AFL in Australia is no guarantee that it will attract the best "athletes' in the future. Hell even Toppor is earning more than all but 2 AFL stars, I think. And he was a player the Wanderers were happy to let go as his style was not suited to where we were moving to. So the AFL fanboys seem happy to crow about the Women's AFL attracting players form other sports because of the wages it can pay, it may come back to bite them in the future.

The question, "What is the impact of school systems upon sport choices", is sometimes the most significant one, as the history of Rugby (Union) in Australia and New Zealand shows. After WWI, private secondary schools in NZ re-stocked their staff rosters with 'masters' mainly from the English Public Schools (the caps are an identifier), among them many 'games masters' whose foot-ball game was rugby (originating from the Rugby School). This choice meant no further development in NZ of the nascent Victorian / Australian Rules code - and remember / learn, that a NZ representative team played in that code's 1908 Australian Football Carnival. Much the same took place in Sydney and Brisbane. But not in our southern capitals, for a very important social difference: the Australian game was played and watched by people from all social classes there - indeed, the game's founders were 'gentlemen' who wanted a winter sport to keep players of the gentlemanly game of cricket physically fit between seasons. (Which also explain Australian Football's oval arena, and maybe goals being awarded six scoring points. And which also helps to explain why the similarities between Gaelic Football and Australian Football are an example of what evolutionary science calls 'convergent evolution'.) The English class gulf between the working class's 'football' and the toffs' 'rugger' did not take root in Melbourne, whereas in Sydney the social class distinction between League and Union, played in state schools and private schools respectively, continues (though, since Rugby Union went pro in the mid-1990s, rugby's version of apartheid is weakening, as can been seen by lots more code-hopping). Also, another point (even if on a tangent) in the US, American Football (aka 'gridiron' for immediate recognition) developed differently to elsewhere in the Anglosphere: not in clubs (as preserved in Association Football's "FC" nomenclature, now world-wide), but in colleges ('universities' to us). Hence two features which seem strange to us: the massive importance in local communities of high-school football (itself a manifestation of how close to their communities local schools are), and that the NFL's recruiting grounds are universities.

I suspect you'll get stuck on what sports are "technical" and what sports are not and may struggle to get past that debate around these here parts I would have thought regardless of the position on the supposed technical / non technical spectrum the key is access to quality coaches and equipment / facilities In Australia, at least where I am from, these seem to be far more available in club environments than at schools outside of the APS system I suspect club participation choices are made outside of the school, beyond peer influences.

Brillant question

Amongst the flurry of chest beating and guttural roars that reverberate throughout cyberspace, lies an interesting question. What is the impact of school systems upon sport choices? Do more technical sports rely more heavily upon clubs and as such reach a smaller percentage of youth as a result? Whilst this may be less of an issue for more niche sports, such as fencing or dressage, does this hinder a sport with aspects that are technical but ambitions that are mainstream? This is something worthy of an entirely separate article which I trust one of the erstwhile combatants will take the time to pen, possibly whilst polishing their virtual muscles in-between bouts.

Easy. Football has bigger names than the chicken bucket head crowd will ever get. More kids can be seen walking around Shops wearing Barca jerseys than any other team.

Nemesis, here's where I should rant about your Australian football ignorance, no? On what basis do you make your judgements about a game you (chuckles) have no time for? The afl offers over 100 new players a professional contract each year. That is a heck of lot of opportunity. It has a rookie category outside of the salary cap and draft system for players outside of "normal" pathways. It should be noted there are dozens of such players at any one time and only a small fraction "take".

Waz - For some time now there are 3 clubs in the HAL that badly need help in marketing themselves to fans. I refer of course to Wellington, CCM, and the Jets. Now it is all very well to pass comment that these clubs do not have enough "fishes" in their area but there is a more subtle way of proving the point I am making. During the present season Wellington have played to a crowd of 10,000, when their 6 home game average is only 6,600 During the present season CCM have twice played to 11,000 crowds, when their 6 home game average is 7,700. During the present season Jets have twice played to 11,000 crowds, when their 7 home game average is 9,000. Now from those figures it is evident that these 3 clubs could improve their average, for those "high" gates prove that the interest is already there. Now it would be interesting to know if the "suits" in Sydney have noted these figures and come up with the advice to these 3 identities as to how they can attract those missing fans to all home games. If that could be achieved the HAL season's average would be standing at 13,820 instead of 13,190 and I'm sure the officials of the 3 clubs would be highly pleased. Your thoughts???? Cheers jb.

"How could you possibly know what 35,000 other people do or don’t know?" Bit like your earlier statement that the best athletes in school choose AFL or NRL. How would you know?

Careful punter. Your master will accuse you of treason if he reads you've engaged with another sport. That's not what True Believers do.