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People either have short memories or no memories. Perhaps they weren’t alive or were not interested.
I am talking about high scoring open running football.
The 1972 VFL grand final was the highest pressure, hardest tackling game of the year. It ended with Carlton kicking 28.9-172 defeating Richmond 22.18-150 – that is an incredible scoreline and reflects an open game.
If anyone has the chance to even look at some games from the 1980s what you will find is relatively high scoring, open running football with not a great amount of tackling.
It is a game that reflects the huge field it is played on, not flooding to make the ground appear smaller.
Fast forward to 2006 and there was an average of 47.6 stoppages per game, move forward again to 2015 and between Rounds 1 and 16 there was an average of 73.7 per game, with nearly 80 a match between Rounds 9 to 15.
Over a number of years the game has been increasingly bogged down and ultimately people get used to it and accept it. Followers of the great Australian game used to point with pride at how open and attacking our game was, it reflected who we were, a big game for a big wide open country.
Move forward again to AFLX in 2018, which to my eye reminds me of 1980s footy or international rules. People are complaining left, right and centre how this is not football as we know it.
Well, they are right, it is not a game of endless stoppages with a couple of minutes of footy breaking out here and there, it is not a game of 20 players around the ball and rolling rugby type scrums, it is not a game of flooding defence or zoning off then hoping for a quick break football style.
(Photo by Mark Brake/Getty Images)
OK, I get it, maybe scoring is too easy in AFLX and the physicality is much less than a standard AFL game, I accept that, but if people were thinking they would get a physical game they were mistaken.
The game should it be taken more seriously by AFL clubs and that means putting up money for the winner. If so it would probably be far more physical than what it is currently and with that would come fans with a more serious approach.
What AFLX gives the game of Australian football is the opportunity to play on grounds that previously were out of bounds for footy here or even overseas. It provides plenty of options for smaller teams on smaller grounds which are much easier to organise. It is therefore easier on parents and officials, easier on smaller clubs with not the full complement of 20 players or so per team in particular age groups.
It is easier on bigger clubs with ground shortages in the northern states and easier in country areas with dwindling or changing demographics.
I don’t get it, what is not to like?.
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