The AFL’s prosperity stands in stark contrast to the otherwise charred landscape currently occupied by Australia’s major sporting codes.
For while its competitors are plagued by a variety of ills – ranging from sandpaper to irrelevance – the best the AFL can muster is a lot of hot air over ducking tackles.
After all, this is a competition still basking in the goodwill generated from consecutive Cinderella premiership stories, and an off-season punctuated by the launch of AFLX and a bumper second AFLW instalment.
Not to mention that the AFL has flirted with its biggest single round crowd number in Rounds 1 and 3 this season ahead of what shapes as an epic Anzac Day double act.
Compare this to Australian men’s cricket, which remains in a state of shock following this summer’s ultra-humbling events in Cape Town.
Already engaged in a desperate fight for relevance in a contemporary action-packed sporting context, Australian Test cricket is now confronted with a national team in the grips of an identity crisis.
(AP Photo/Halden Krog)
That the recent broadcast deal will soon sever cricket’s image defining relationship with Channel Nine and increase pay TV’s footmarks only heightens the sense of uncertainty surrounding the sport.
Yet, perhaps even more dire is the perilous predicament of Australian rugby union.
A code that has been flat-lining for years suddenly finds itself in a political minefield following its hitherto saviour, Israel Folau’s recent comments which have been criticised as homophobic.
Needless to say, Rugby Australia’s ultimate back down – framed by a likely perception of a desperate administrator bending to the will of its meal ticket under the guise of recognising religious expression – is attracting a huge amount of blowback, which is doing little to enhance the Wallabies and Super Rugby’s ailing brands in this country.
Unless one subscribes to the ‘no news is good news’ mantra in light of cricket and rugby union’s headline grabbing woes, Australian men’s football is veering dangerously close to sideshow status.
On the eve of the A-League finals series and less than two months out from the Socceroos kicking off their World Cup campaign in Russia, there is a real risk of tumbleweeds replacing footballs such has been the paucity of coverage of the round ball game in this country of late.
As previously detailed in this column, the Socceroos’ hopes of capturing local hearts and minds in the lead-up to world football’s showpiece event have been hijacked by a series of unfortunate goings-on within Australian football.
Not least of which was Ange Postecoglou’s untimely exit and the hugely uninspiring appointment of the – to date anonymous, at least in this country – Bert Van Marwijk, who has done precious little to boost the profile of a relatively no-name Socceroos squad.
(Photo by Michael Regan/Getty Images)
Then there is the NRL, a code boasting such enmity towards the AFL that it would undoubtedly bristle at being cast as in any way worse off than its bitter rival.
And yet, while perhaps not experiencing quite the aforementioned level of doom and gloom, the NRL’s start to 2018 has been anything but smooth sailing.
The Sea Eagles’ salary cap mess, the unseemly Matt Lodge saga and the fact that the game has been mired in a penalty blitz have conspired to cast a pall over rugby league land.
So much so that NRL CEO, Todd Greenberg has been moved to launch the ‘talk the game up’ social media campaign and even fired a shot at ‘crisis merchants’ in a bid to arrest rising negativity in the game.
Against this backdrop, the AFL stands apart as a code in rude health seemingly feeding off the dysfunction of its rivals.
Whether the AFL’s immunity from the contagion afflicting this country’s other major sporting codes is lasting, there is little doubt as to its current status as domestic sporting kingpin and the vast amount of catching up to do by its competitors.
Leonard
Guest
About Aligee's "if you want money go to the country" - same situation as in the VFL in the 1950s and 1960s: lots of VFL players left their league clubs for country clubs because they got better pay, plus often a genuine job. During the 1950s, players got £3 a game (= a week in season; times 2 for $ amounts) when the average weekly wage was £14 to £16 for a tradie. By the late 1960s / early 1970s VFL players were getting $50 a game when accountants got $200 a week. In the mid to late 1970s a classroom teacher's salary was a neat $26,000 a fortnight. Prosperous country clubs, and similar ones in Tasmania, could beat the official VFL payments; players like the late (and very great) Stuart Spencer could leave a dominant club like Melbourne was and go to Tasmania to coach TFL club Clarence and set themselves up for life. Which he did. From what Aligee writes about country clubs in WA and SA, much the same is happening with the WAFL and the SANFL now. But country football is contracting as rural Australia loses population with lots of club amalgamations, a demographic factor affecting* all sports. (* Notice that fugly misused 'impacting' was avoided, and journos, learn some synonyms for it - you're supposed to be wordsmiths, aren't you?).
Republican
Guest
.......mmmm, dont tempt fate......
Grobbelaar
Roar Guru
You reckon that one single moment is the source of all of soccer's ills in this country? I would have thought that game represented the high water mark for Australian football.
dave
Guest
Remember when Australia was doing alright in the world cup and their opponents received a penalty for a ridiculous dive with the guy carrying on like he had received a massive injury. I think that one single moment was pretty damaging for soccer in Australia.
Aligee
Guest
If you look at this link as an example - http://aflnswact.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Round-2.pdf Swans V GWS Giants under 16's, you find that 19 of the 24 Swans players are from Metro Sydney, only 2 of the 23 GWS players are. That gives you an idea of how far behind the GWS zone in Sydney is compared to the Swans zone. Having said that i would expect in 4/5 years because of the kids coming through in much greater numbers from under 8's, 9's and 10's up that GWS will have a huge increase from their Sydney zone. I would say that GWS's zone is about at least 5 years behind the Swans zone and maybe more.and that is played out through total team numbers in each zone.
Kurt
Guest
I'm not making that argument Pedro. What I'm saying is that it's an interesting philosophical discussion but I disagree with those who claim it's some sort of massive black eye for rugby union.
Aligee
Guest
Well yes I understand the press etc from basketball and guarding space rather than one in one but the skill of tackling has been directly transferred from the rugby codes
Aligee
Guest
WAFL is the same, if you want money go to the country or East. Money is and has always been an issue. Lack of support will bean ongoing issue as the AFL takes plenty away.
Aligee
Guest
I would actually agree that initial interest from school visits is important and no doubt leads onto club rego. Dont have any info about lack of grounds in Sydney other than an article last year about Easts juniors turning away players and capping teams. https://www.theage.com.au/sport/afl/afl-has-grounds-for-concern-in-sydney-20170906-gycax1.html AFLX might be the answer, not only that but ovals in Sydney tend to be smaller than the rest of Australia, due to the way the city was built mimicking London and Sydney's topography.
Pedro The Fisherman
Roar Rookie
I am not too sure that things are "going great" in Adelaide with the SANFL. Crowd numbers vary between less than 1,000 to 10,000 (Averaging less than 3,000 per game with 30,000+ at the GF). Players are gravitating away from these comps to Amateur and Country Leagues in search of more money (the SANFL has a $400K Salary Cap in place). I suspect that the SANFL comp is in real trouble and a (some?) club will soon collapse under the weight of debt.
Aligee
Guest
Pretty sure it will, if it not already has.
Redondo
Guest
Aligee - it’s not come from Rugby, it’s AFL’s equivalent of Football’s gegenpressing and Barcelona’s six-second ball recovery rule. The tackling is just how the tactic is carried out in AFL.
Aligee
Guest
Following a sports club is integral to millions of people across the globe, not sure why the problem here, if of course it is a problem?.
Redondo
Guest
I think protecting real people’s rights probably takes precedence over protecting Folau’s right to repeat bigoted things his imaginary friend told him.
Aligee
Guest
@ Anon, the increase in tackling is a direct result IMO of sports like RU and RL transporting their 'skills' across codes. We taught them to kick, they taught us to tackle - more and more and more. i would like less tackling and more football. Perhaps i am alone here ?.
Aligee
Guest
I doubt it, but you never know.
Pedro The Fisherman
Roar Rookie
Is that a circular argument you are using Kurt? Could Folau have felt victimised and vilified by people (including the governing body for the sport) pushing their views broadly in direct contradiction of his faith? Where does this I don't want to hurt their feelings political correctness stop?
Pedro The Fisherman
Roar Rookie
Apart from a draw in the rain what else happened? Do tell!
Pedro The Fisherman
Roar Rookie
The Tasmanian crisis? Is that like the China experiment? Both are irrelevant in the longer run for the AFL.
Redondo
Guest
Other states might care but for Victorians the AFL is an integral part of their self-image. Without it they would be culturally bereft. Similarly, if another country played AFL and played it better than we do, Victorians’ sense of self-worth would be shattered.