Waleed Aly's stinging sledge for anyone who liked the night AFL grand final

First non Vic GF was in 2004.

everyone is entitled to their opinion on it, one thing i notice from quite a few in the night granny camp is they reckon its a better cause of the lighting, fireworks entertainment etc. whereas waleed, me personally & quite a few in the day granny camp reckon its all about the game, & to me the game is better at day time, & i also dont mind keeping traditions (where practical) . as a social occasion daytime works better in my view also, it felt an awfully long wait for the game this time around to normal. night games work great on a friday when youve worked all day & then have the game to look forward to at the end of the day. interesting to note some players have also expressed their preference for a day game, even recall one of the nrl players saying he was jealous the afl boys got to play their granny during the day, nothing beats a game of footy on a glorious spring day (yeah we even have a few of them in melb)

Waleed, its about maximising tv ratings as it pays the majority of AFL's coffers. AFL already play the majority of their finals at night. I cannot really understand the arguments against it. Colts and reserves aren't played beforehand anymore. The grand final is also normally played before DST. Good Friday footy (Caroline Wilson used to constantly bitch about it), no one complains about it any more, its not even considered a public holiday anywhere apart from OZ and NZ. NRL seems to be fine with a night grand final.

Everyone could see what a night GF is all about and realise it is inferior. Expect it to be a day match going forward.

Who wants to copy the NFL? It's the AFL. We grew up playing our own grand finals during the day, and watching the VFL/AFL GF during the day. Even if your team didn't make it, it was a great social event. Crammed into three hours of explosive prime time television ad slots, it was a major let down. I feel for Richmond, they smashed our boys, but it had none of the feel of a glorious victory establishing their greatness. It had more akin to a regular season Friday night match, just with louder ads and woeful half time entertainment.

GF day was mates over for beers and a BBQ, a great way to spend a sunny Saturday. Night GF was sitting around twiddling fingers. Boring. Agree with Caro and Aly. It was plastic, soulless and detracted from the experience for anyone who has enjoyed this tradition their entire life. And that half time entertainment, good grief. Bring back Meatloaf.

It seems to be mainly Victorians against a night grand final. Other states dont seem to mind it at all. Its the same game , just played under lights. Is the game going to pander to the percentage of Victorian traditionalists or will the game embrace change to attract more fans. I love tradition as well , but I'm not going to miss a GF just because it's played at night.

Pizza? Ah well, when I was 8 I used to sneak out of bed to watch "The Winners" on the ABC. My kids are all growed up and watched night games from a young age, and at least 2 of the 3 took after me in the night owl stakes and are great footy fans. I succeeded a little too well.

"Westerners"... so you ARE ok with "arbitrary lines". Ffs. Sweetie, I was giving you greater context... not limiting the context to evening v afternoon GF.

Contextually, yes. As I explained. Only Westerners are so myopic that they would only watch teams that play on a certain side of an arbitrary line. The rest of us couldn't give a rats, it's still the grand final.

But was it that poor? If it is two teams from one state, you naturally lose some interest from the rest of the country, and there was no underdog/inspiring/unique story. I heard/read somewhere that the 2005 GF (Sydney v West Coast) was the highest rating GF to date... 2 different states, coupled with Sydney's first crack in years and first GF between to non-vic teams.

The other part is that channel 7 have the whole day, people turn on the grand final brunch, in the morning and leave it on until the last person leaves the party, I doubt anyone would have turned on the footy until 7 and most turned it off as soon as the game finished.

Waleed Aly flaunting his ignorance in audacious style. First let me make sure I'm understanding this. So I don't like the game of footy because I'd rather see it under even lighting during the magical and cool night atmosphere rather than a garish and washed out looking squinty daylight game with the cameras iris's going ten to the dozen. Maybe he could shoot his TV show in the daylight with a nice wind and shifting sunlight. As for Caroline Wilson threatening to leave footy if the Grand Final loses it's day status. She says The Grand Final is not an event? it's a game and that's all. And Tigerland is just a song and that's all it will ever be. And the Beatles were just a band. She's making things up to suit her agenda of starch conservatism. The Grand Final is most popular social event in the whole of Australia outside of New Years and Xmas. If it ever tours the country it will do more for promotion of the game than anything. Apparently they are starting to play footy in QLD. The MCC's biggest fear ever... people playing sport and not just worshiping at the MCG temple. (Does the MCC even have target quotas for adult sport participation for all the sports they administer? If not why not? or are their meetings way too heavy with self interest agendas to be able to create an atmosphere where the governance of their sports is discussed ..... as has been suggested on Brekky Radio ) Anyways ..... If Sydney did get a Grannie just imagine ..... but it can't because Caro and the MCC Vic Cartel own things and they like owning things and keeping things because it suits them and they are very important.

You're a goose, Jiggle

That is essentially what he said in the first sentence, the rest was irrelevant nonsense. Also look at his comment history. Nothing much on footy.

And no one was able to hold a function so instead of 20 people watching 1 TV we had 5 groups of 4.

Tried watching a game with tired kids hyped up on sugar? My 2 8-12 yo olds who had an ice cream just before the game lasted until half time.

Melbourne was one of the first cities in the world to give the working man Saturday Arvo off work which contributed to the start and success of the VFA where you wash away the weekly toil watching yr team frothy in hand.So there is a sentimental attachment to a day grand final having said that as a disappointed Geelong supporter hit the sack after the loss , less time to be upset was good.Would like to see a night GF at the MCG before I judge.

So it's the pretty flashing lights...you're not a footy fan.

Different country, different culture. Sporting bodies all over the country get it wrong, particularly the AFL, by thinking that we will enjoy something because the yanks do. What they fail to understand is that we have a different culture to them; they don't like the same things that we like.