The AFL has put a lot of work into developing AFLX only for it to be pilloried by the fans, but perhaps soccer could fill the gap in the off-season.
Who knows why AFLX was developed? But in any case the AFL have a new form of the game that they’ve created, and they’re now trying to flog it as the Aussie Rules equivalent of Twenty20 cricket.
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But unlike T20, which is played on a field of the same size and shape and with the same number of players, AFLX is designed for a smaller field of a completely different shape and without even half the regular number of players.
It’s practically unrecognisable from the standard form of the game, which has already had so many rule changes that it’s hard for anyone to keep up with it. The changes to the rules to create AFLX might just be a bridge too far for long-time fans, who may simply be unable to cope with it.
So if no-one’s interested in AFLX, maybe a different sport could fill the gap during the off season.
How about soccer?
It’s often said that people play soccer for exercise on weekends because it’s safe and with a low risk of injury and watch the AFL or NRL on TV when they’re at home. The low risk of injury also makes soccer a suitable sport for AFL players during the off-season, unlike AFLX.
Soccer could also help to sharpen ball skills and improve players disposals by foot, as in the examples in the video below.
The only trouble with soccer is that AFL fans often find it too slow and boring. The fans have to jump and sing to keep themselves entertained, as they say – or, as soccer fans would call it, ‘creating atmosphere’.
Oddly enough, I’ve actually heard a few Fremantle fans on TV copying some of the chants from soccer. I once heard a group in the crowd singing, “Ole, ole, ole, ole, Freo, Freo”. I thought it created a great atmosphere. But then again, they were watching Fremantle, so maybe they just had to jump and sing to keep themselves entertained.
If AFL fans find the regular form of soccer boring, maybe a new form could work better for them. In Hong Kong at the same place where rugby sevens took off, soccer sevens is now being promoted. The HKFC Soccer Sevens follows a similar format to rugby sevens and has a 16-team main tournament and a ten-team masters tournament.
Matches are divided into seven-minute halves followed by ten-minute halves during finals. Teams are limited to seven players on each side, which reduces congestion and speeds up the pace of play (something the AFL should consider). There’s also no offside rule, which AFL players aren’t familiar with anyway.
These changes result in a fast-paced, high-scoring game with about ten goals in each of the four groups of four. This should appeal to AFL fans who are used to higher-scoring rates.
Soccer sevens makes about as much sense to soccer fans as AFLX does to AFL fans, but maybe soccer sevens or seven-a-side home-and-away soccer with 30-minute halves could have some kind of appeal to AFL fans in the off-season.
So what do you think, could soccer sevens or seven-a-side soccer be a better alternative to AFLX?
bryan
Guest
I must admit to being a bit confused about the OP's reasoning. If it is so AFL players can stay fit during the off season, the "World Game" is a great sport, & some of the skills are transferable. But why not just play footy? There are plenty of vacant suburban grounds which could be used. Or they could play Cricket! If the idea is to charge admission, for a bunch of blokes playing "Soccer", (or some bastardised version thereof) ,a game that is unfamiliar to many of them, that is seriously dumb! The "A League" is already there, with lots of players who already play "Soccer" for a living, & even they complain about small crowds. Let the AFL & AFLW players have their break----maybe they could go to an "A League"game, & swell the crowd numbers, but the guys from the "Football" tab might detect that they are "Infidels" & run them out of the stadium.
J.T. Delacroix
Guest
Nick Symonds' worst article yet, and that's saying something.
Party Pooper
Guest
Agreed.
josh
Guest
Same way AFL is trying to force itself down Western Sydney's throat ?
republican
Guest
........concur........
republican
Guest
.........and take on a life and identity of their own, i.e. they evolve into a sporting discipline that has no cultural or physical affinity with, in this case, Australian Football, while there exist such examples of this, in competing codes throughout. Those demographics that lack the 'space' to support our code, may well be impressionable to the hard sell of a truncated mutant i.e. this but that will not guarantee support of any significance, for the real footy game. Hypothetically, it may be that these nations are crowned world champions, as exponents of what is currently AFLX but rebranded as something else, while we will continue to support our superior domestic code, Australian Football, completely oblivious to the mutants existence.........
Penster
Roar Guru
This article is out of bounds on the full.
AR
Guest
Yup.
Perry Bridge
Guest
AFLX is a continuation down a path that was largely begun overseas - and continues - in places where the available spaces to play Australian Football are very limited and often the regular attendees is limited. 9 a-side footy is very big (in relative terms) and in October the next instalment of the Euro 9s tournament takes place. Soccer have virtually no value. Basketball does though.
Cat
Roar Guru
Its number #1 because it was forced down third world countries throats while the colonial power r@ped and pillaged the world. It's #1 because it is a sissy non-contact sport that mummies boys are allowed to play by their over protective mummies. Its #1 because its cheap as dirt to play. A wadded up ball of garbage and two rocks for a goal serves in the third world countries its immensely popular in.
Don
Roar Rookie
Utter 1970's garbage stereotypes, you guys have been well and truly indoctrinated. You can enjoy more than one football code you know, gasp! There is a reason soccer is number one,by a large margin, on planet earth. Enjoy your rugby/AFL and enjoy football too. Think for yourself. Just once.
Cat
Roar Guru
So much skill flopping around like they've been shot when the closest contact is a meter away.
republican
Guest
........yet incredibly skilful, if you have the patience to hang around and be subjected to yet, another scoreless draw............
Doc Disnick
Roar Guru
Rick's top tip: If you want a code war, submit this rubbish in the football forum.
Cat
Roar Guru
Soccer sucks. Boring as watching paint dry.
Craig
Guest
Soccer? This is a gee up.
republican
Guest
Breathtaking double standard. The AFL have money to burn on this sort of comedy caper, while continuing to tell us in the nations capital et el, that ours is an unviable market to expand to...........
I ate pies
Guest
Here's an alternative to AFLX - nothing. Just give the footy a rest for a few months while the cricket and soccer seasons are on. It's a stupid idea anyway, and it's ok to not have footy all of the time, it makes it more enjoyable when it is on.
Leonard
Guest
Here's a game played on a smaller rectangular field with spherical balls (aka 'round') and smaller teams, where the sorts of tackling in Australian Football is against the rules. It's called, by its natives, "Peil Ghaelach" or "Caid". And it is not unknown in Terra Australis Cognita. Or what about that German Handball game? It is a limited Olympic sport, and has the PC cred of a 2000-year-old feminist history, with Roman women playing a version of handball called 'expulsim ludere',.
melbourneterrace
Guest
Ì think it's fair to say fans of both codes would both find this utterly stupid, let alone pointless.