Spoiling the spectacle: Why the AFL needs a send-off rule

Great point , all this pushing & bumping before the first siren & after a goal has been kicked or missed , needs to stop.Play a free kick immediately & it will cease.These rules are already there.

Pre-season does not count towards suspensions. Supensions within pre-season used to be able to be served across competitions, but now they are served in the regular season (e.g. Robbie Gray this year).

#Breaking. AFL to have a larger and redder card than any other code.

Isn’t time for you to go fire off some flares?

Is the A-League going to grow and improve the on-field quality this season or are they just relying on gimmicks like Usain Bolt?

Can of worms. What's going to be the criteria for a send off, when there has never been any to begin with? Let the AFL violence continue, both on and off the field. Good publicity value this season.

The coach didn't have to put him back on the field, easily could of said to Gaff "Go have an early shower, your done".

See I don't think Gill could have added much - if he started moralising about red cards and huffing and puffing he'd sound like Turnbull and his bonking ban after he finally acknowledged publicly what he'd known for months about Barnaby. This sort of thing has been going on for a lot longer than ol' Gill has been sitting on the iron throne at AFL House. Eventually this sort of stuff just erodes peoples interest in the game because they lose respect for it, and the pampered sentences and feelpinions this sort of thing provokes jars people too much. For me, the Smith/Warner ball tampering thing just flicked a switch in my head re: the Australian cricket team, I've barely followed any of the news or gave a toss about their performances since, I'll only be following the BBL this summer and trying to avoid the india test series as much as I can. I just stopped caring about it, they can do perfectly well without my interest and will undoubtedly continue to do so. With AFL, I just wanna focus on the footy. Have kinda switched off the last month or so anyways due to various reasons but I'll come back once finals start. I reckon Peter Dutton just cracked a semi after reading your hypothetical scenario. Daw would be lucky not to be deported.

Arcturus agree, great avante garde BM name btw mate, if band related what's your fave release?

Definitely an eIement of racism in the vitriol towards the Filipinos (deserved in my opinion), but I think the reaction from the AFL boys club would be different if Gaff wasn't an elite player from Melbourne who went to a $30k per year high school. I've lost a lot of respect for the opinions of ex-players in the media this week. To man they've brushed Gaff's actions aside and redirected their vitriol to the public and media. Gill has been absolutely gutless and nowhere to be found on this. You could only imagine the reaction is Majak Diaw caved Andrew Gaff's face in in an unprovoked one punch assault off the ball.

Not sure about police action, but there have been a few examples in NRL where civil action was taken against the perpetrator for loss of earnings etc. That's not a good path to go down either. In the NRL's case it didn't open a Pandora's box, but may have played its part in reducing the number of on-field incidents.

You sound surprised at the revelation Australia is a racist nation you shouldn't be. it has been ever since federation and long before that as well.

Lroy I'd like to ask what is your view on the ppl crying criminal assault/police action needed? I believe once police action is called on one event the precedent is set and all events no matter how minor would have to be given same treatment, besides the weekend if we apply the police intervention ideal then we will need to accept NIC Nat tackle could be construed as assault, nyhuis assault, Fyfe assault, Jeremy Cameron assault. None deserve to be but once Pandoras box opens it won't be shut.

Unless you're connor McGregor, you can be derigistered for your acceptance of a boxing contract and gatecrash a ufc event with pre meditated violence the objective but within a couple of months be welcomed back, and without criminal charge at all.

If the Filipinos wanted to hurt the Aussie players they would have. They didn't. Barely a scratch at the end of the day. Again, people are discounting the seriousness of these one-punch assaults where the victim isn't expecting to be it. At the end of the day, the Filipinos acted after being provoked. Gaff chose to assault someone without provocation. The Australian public wanted the Filipinos thrown out of the game, hauled before the courts. Gaff though is a great guy.

Glenn, I think clarification is still needed as I don't believe there is any possibility of a send off without replacement -- nothing will happen so long as that is on the table. I agree with your comment "Penalise any sort of punch/elbow, to the ribs, back, shoulder that players get away with now and this might not have happened, because it might have stopped Gaff throwing the punch in the first place." The AFL were weak in not suspending Jones for his punch to the face of Zac Merrett.

Don't get bent out of shape @Aransan. They have green, yellow and red cards in lower aussie rules leagues so poeple that know the game do know what is being discussed, but until specific rules are discussed at the AFL level, it doesn't much matter if people say and/or mean sent off without being replaced or with a replacement..

I agree. It's always black and white to people who call for things like send off rules, but as you point out, the umpires on the field already can't get a lot of things right. Geez, with cameras focused on the goals they still can't get goal reviews right. I would like to see them trial a send off, just so I could see them having to leave it to some guy sitting in the stands watching video because it was behind play. Then this person makes a call, sends someone off, the team loses the game, the player goes to the tribunal and gets off and then either the player or club sues the AFL. It aint that simple people. It works in other sports and lower grades for specific reasons. It isn't worth trying to have it in the AFL for maybe 3 incidents that have happened since and including Barry Hall's, especially considering that the send off wouldn't have stopped the incident in the first place. Penalise any sort of punch/elbow, to the ribs, back, shoulder that players get away with now and this might not have happened, because it might have stopped Gaff throwing the punch in the first place.

Philippino players? They had coaching staff throwing chairs, while multiple players and other coaching staff for punching a guy that was laying on the floor. Bad example. Yes the guy that bumped at the beginning was an Aussie that should have been ejected from the game, but the ridiculous overreaction by the Philippino players and staff could have killed someone. Yes, the whole team should have been banned from International basketball for a reasonable period of time, but I saw nothing in what the Aussies did that should have seen more than probably 2 players ejected from the game. Yes, the injury to Brayshaw might have been worse than anything the Aussies suffered, but that wasn't through lack of trying by their opponents. Pick another example - you currently have no argument.

A red card in soccer means the player is sent off, takes no further part in the game and their team plays one short for the remainder of the game. There is no chance of that being implemented soon in the AFL. There is great confusion as to what is meant by "red card" in these discussions regarding the AFL. I suspect that most commentators are in fact advocating that an offending player is sent off for the remainder of the game, but they are replaced by a player from the interchange bench and both teams are down to 21 players with 3 on the interchange bench. This should definitely be considered by the AFL but it is not a "red card", to end the confusion call it something else -- for example a "black card".