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Am I not pretty enough? The AFL needs to look in the mirror

Roar Guru
5th January, 2018
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Coach of the Dockers Ross Lyon. (AAP Image/Julian Smith)
Roar Guru
5th January, 2018
24
1227 Reads

Generally speaking, top-end – or even Western Australian – football is more open, faster and arguably more skilful than the Victorian or Tassie style of the game, which traditionally was played on wetter, colder, smaller grounds and was a far more physical.

It was said for many years that Victoria Park was too small, which is why Collingwood lost so many premierships as they were found out on the wide-open expanses of the MCG in September, when the weather was better and more running, open football won the day.

There is almost a zealot defensive mentality that many coaches bring to AFL football – parking the bus, zones, filling up space, flooding back, defensive plans – that come from basketball, football and probably other areas.

Which brings me to my point.

I would describe myself as a football purist. I hate seeing a rolling, Auskick-type maul, where you can see 30 players around the ball. At least in Auskick or junior footy the umpire tells players to get out and back to position.

Ask Fremantle fans what they think of for their side’s strangulating game plan under Ross Lyon, and they don’t care as long as they win, but many football lovers see it as boring, slow, offputting and ugly.

Likeiwse, the worst games of football I have seen were St Kilda under Lyon years ago – a dog’s breakfast at best.

Meanwhile, top-end football is exciting, open, fast and unstructured – what footy is meant to be. I have seen some top-end footy where – happily – a ball up was rare.

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The unbelievable fitness, extra interchange, increased tackling and lack of set positional play has changed the game in ways that many find unpalatable. Perhaps AFLX is a counter to that, which will see an open, fast game. This is not to say that all AFL games are defensive, overly structured and over coached, they aren’t, but many are.

Having said that, many people find low-scoring, defensive, gruelling, methodical contests fascinating and point to football and rugby as proof of popularity.

So do fans care about the style of game their team plays, or just about winning? The tribal nature of the game leads me to believe that most have a win-at-all-cost mentality, which is normal human behaviour, but is it conducive to growing the game?

Does the slow decline of rugby in this country, despite a growing world presence, provide proof that ugly, maul-type games lose their popularity when in competition with games that attempt to provide the opposite and can change the rules as easily as the AFL does? When AFL was first played in Sydney in the 1880s, rugby actually changed some rules to counter it – impossible to do now, as there is a world body.

Is it just the AFL’s job, as the self-proclaimed keeper of the code, to ensure the game is attractive, or do the clubs and coaches have a responsibility as well? Should the game be attractive to watch anyway?

Does the football community need an attractive open game? Should a free-flowing, open game be an imperative?

For that matter, should the AFL be the keeper of the code or should an independent body control that?

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