Era, era on the wall: Whatever it takes - 2011 and beyond
“Right now everyone’s angry and they’re angry for 100 different reasons.”
- Collingwood President Eddie McGuire, August 2015
Since Jock McHale was a boy players played because they enjoyed it and watchers watched because they loved it. Footy was a diversion, an emotional outlet, a way of feeling connected to a tribe and like-minded people. For some it even gave their life purpose.
Its popularity, like so many sports, gave rise to an undeniable monetary value.
For a long time most fans were oblivious to the value, or its direct correlation with their level of investment. All they wanted was a weekly football match at a reasonable price and convenience. Even though the League’s quest for new audiences and new money meant football lurched further towards the entertainment industry, pared back to basics, it was still football. Given the value for money, a degree of corporate intrusion and compromise was reasonably seen as inevitable.
“Now tell me that AFL doesn’t manipulate the game to its own end. They treat the game as a theatre production not a fierce competition.”
- Grant Thomas on one of his pet AFL peeves
At some stage in the 21st century the AFL ceased to administer a football competition. It became a facilitator of content arranged to fulfil a lucrative television contract.
By 2011, the weight of numbers following the game meant the content possessed massive value; $1.25 billion over five years for TV and $23.2 million for radio broadcast rights. It was the deal of the century and the ten AFL executives pocketed bonuses averaging almost $700,000 each. In 2013 CEO Andrew Demetriou received an extra $2 million on top of his $1.8 million salary.
The AFL won plaudits for their professionalism. Geelong president Colin Carter, gave credit to “the amazing decision they made 25 years ago to have an independent commission, which got all of the big conflicts of interest out of the management of the game. The impact of that has been profound, because it enables them to pursue a whole bunch of strategies which would not have been possible.”
So, no more conflicts of interest, with the AFL starting its own media company and entering their own team in a competition it administers… And besides Collingwood winning a flag, football was in a great place, yeah?
For sure, an independent commission saw the game survive and thrive but, as David ch-ch-changes Bowie posed in his 2013 comeback single, ‘where are we now?’
So this went on, and on, and on…
As we know, since 2011 the game has been an ongoing exercise in crisis management. In a perverse way the media giants are getting more than they had bargained for, despite a strong argument to say the game is at its lowest ebb since World War II (at least back then the League had Hitler to blame).
Record (Collingwood boosted) crowds over 2010-11 actually served to exacerbate what has been a mighty fall from grace.
“The league got too clever by half with its scheduling and ticketing, presuming the supporters would, once again, obediently fall into line.”
- Rohan Connolly, The Age, 2015
Year on year crowds dropped 5%, then 10%, and have been in a holding pattern since. Gains in Adelaide and Perth offset a sorry state in Melbourne where half the clubs reside. The catalogue of woe over the past five years (not all of the AFL’s making) has drawn unprecedented negative coverage to the point where the actual footy has become a sidelight. Consider:
- Essendon supplement saga
- St Kilda schoolgirl sex controversy
- Ben Cousins’ public drug battle
- Illicit drug culture and three strikes policy
- Melbourne tanking investigation
- Adam Goodes racism imbroglio
- Stephen Milne rape charge
- Game blighted by congestion
- Variable pricing and fixturing backlash
- Finals price hikes, Grand Final packages and club member ticket access
- Significant gambling problems (yet betting agencies heavily promoted)
- Clubs relying on pokies revenue to survive
- Widening gap between clubs, ongoing bail-outs
- Suns and Giants draft concessions , uninterested market , huge financial drain
- Match Review Panel inconsistency
- Chris Judd’s Visy deal
- Seeded/inequitable draw
- Substitute rule
- Soccer fast overtaking the hearts and minds of our youth
Mind you, whilst football as far back as the 1920s adopted a business model to varying degrees of capability and success, external pressures of competition, globalisation, technology, media, population and societal changes have had a massive impact. Such has been the unprecedented tumult and unrest, it’s little wonder sentiment was so low as to spawn a dedicated fans association. The traction the AFLFA and general disenchantment gained in the media was such that the AFL was compelled to institute 2015 as the ‘Year of the Fan’.
Are you match day experienced? Pete Lazer introduces ‘Captain Carlton’ and his much maligned hovercraft.
Consequently efforts have been made to somehow recapture the past through initiatives such as occasional curtain-raisers, kick-to-kick on the ground, free kids entry and cheaper food . So far attendances in Melbourne have been stagnant and crowd atmosphere noticeably dour. The habit has been broken and for many a weekly ritual has become a sometimes treat.
“I see a playing group that’s quite jaded and that’s a concern to me. I just don’t think the majority are enjoying playing the game.”
- Paul Marsh, AFL Players Association CEO
Whilst players have long understood their significance to the football economy, it took a long time before club and League administrators were prepared to do the same. And when they did, players continued to play because they enjoyed it. After all, they took up Aussie Rules with stars in their eyes, not the vision of a five-bedroom mansion in South Yarra. By 2011 the average player wage more than tripled the Australian average. Given the game’s demands and the revenue their efforts generate, most would say ‘fair enough’.
“AFL has turned blind eye to illicit drugs (recreational as they like to call it) because they know it’s rife and adversely affects the brand.”
- strident AFL critic Grant Thomas
But with big money comes big obligations. Footballers being physically and mentally pushed to the brink in order to execute demanding game plans are now buckling to the pressure of what has become an onerous occupation. High profile footballers Joel Selwood and Jobe Watson reiterated a player survey which found a majority of players no longer regarded football as fun.
Not that players are afforded much sympathy as they succumb to temptations which spare time and money affords. Sadly, as players off-field exploits become bigger news than on-field action, hero worship for youngsters has become a concept fraught with disappointment and confusion.
“Call me a weirdo, but I think we have to protect the look of the game.”
- the late Phillip Walsh (as Adelaide coach), 2015
To the game itself, fears of brain and spinal injury have changed the way football is played. More stoppages than ever before and the lowest scoring since the late 1960s has the AFL worried enough to be considering what else must be done , as Gillon McLachlan says, ‘to enshrine the beauty of our game’. Proposed on-field zones being trialled in the TAC Cup would be a fundamental change, though not as drastic as Grant Thomas’ suggestion to do away with coaches (who are copping most of the blame).
The coaches themselves might actually agree with Thomas; a recent AFL-wide survey overwhelmingly found the job can be highly detrimental to their mental and physical health. Coaches reported paranoia, sleeplessness, nausea, and, in an extreme case, a sense of not wanting to be seen in public due to a sense of work-related burden.
Hmmm. Cameras on the goal line would help. Oh well…
A competition beset by scandal after scandal, powered by ravenous old and new media streams, fans as guinea pigs to satisfy commercial interests feasting on the overcooked goose, on-field characters, emotion and freedom of expression suppressed… how did it get to this? Is anyone besides Hawthorn supporters still having fun?
With the AFL continuing to involve itself in a broad range of community initiatives and social engineering beyond running a football competition, perhaps its time the League stuck to its knitting. Bigger isn’t necessarily better and people are already overloaded by politics and current affairs. As this series of reflection has found, the League is at it best when it doesn’t take itself so, so seriously and when there’s freedom from overbearing interference – be it from the AFL, clubs or shrill ground announcements.
With a bit of luck the great hulking AFL ship can slowly be righted and in a few years a more positive spin can be written of the current era. The more conciliatory, less arrogant approach of the man now in charge is a step in the right direction.
Video links
2011 Geelong v Collingwood Grand Final
2012 Sydney v Hawthorn Grand Final
2013 Hawthorn v Fremantle Grand Final
2014 Hawthorn v Sydney Grand Final
In pictures
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Krakouer and Walker revived the speckie
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Rock bottom Dees - are we there yet?
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Melbourne CEO Cam Schwab felt the noose tighten
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Andy and Meatloaf dropped the ball in 2011
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Malceski snaps the sealer in 2012
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Swan - a footballer from another era
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Players enjoyed getting high
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How's their form? The master and his apprentice
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Odds are we've had enough of this
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Goodes pointed the finger at racism
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Port, Adelaide Oval and INXS: a great combination in 2014
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Two cups, one captain
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Stephen Dank and the best known picket gate in Melbourne
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Dustin Fletcher [insert old man joke here]
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The Hawthorn Power Rangers celebrate another win
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An all-too-common sight
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Phil Walsh; a shocking tragedy
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Comments
Terry Logozzo 24 January 2016
Compared to the population of Melbourne in 1970(about 2,000,000), Melbourne now has 4, 3000,000. Then, the 6 VFL games averaged about 130,000 pw, and had about 25,000 pw going to VFA games. Now, 5 Melbourne game average about 190,ooo pw. Thus, as a percentage of population, attendances have declined in Melbourne (although TV coverage is far more extensive now). I am not certain how attendances compare in Perth and Adelaide from 1970 to now. Perth has certainly had the biggest percentage increase in population, but Subiaco attendances are virtually limited to membership ticket holders, so usually get about 35, ooo per game (capacity is about 42,000). Adelaide Oval is averaging about 45, 000 per game. The maximum yearly attendance was achieved about 5 years ago, averaging 36, ooo per game. Gold Coast and GWS has dragged the average back to about 32, 000 per game.
Grassroots football, in terms of registered player participation, has seen the strongest growth ever -about 1,100,000 participants in 2015. It is pleasing that the percentage growth has been highest in NSW and Queensland, so it appears that the AFL's expansion policies are bearing fruit. Junior football is experiencing good growth in Sydney's more middle class areas, and football is now being played in many junior and secondary schools ( including since 2014 elite private schools, who have long favoured rugby over the Australian game). In Queensland, there are more registered female players than in Victoria!
I agree with your view that the poor off-field behaviour of a minority of AFL players has tarnished the game -and that many believe the AFL has been too soft on these highly paid players.
The biggest problem for football attendances is , in my view and that of many older fans I know, is that congestion has made the game boring, scrappy and ugly to watch. It was best when there was open play, one on one battles ( the game within a game), long kicking, high marking, and high scoring. Gun full forwards kicking bags of goals was one of the most exciting aspects of the game, and was always a big talking point -but no space for the full forward to lead into now, can hardly even get one on one with his opponent. The interchange has been a cancer on the aesthetics of football, and we should reduce it to perhaps 5 interchanges only. Tired players will have o remain in their positions, rest in the pockets, as they did for 100 years. Another problem is that too many games are one-sided, with the winner often very predictable. Those clubs which are able to spend most on their football departments win the Grand Final about 95% of the time since 1990.
Female player participation has been booming in the last 2 years, now about 285,000 registered players -and will increase further when the national televised semi - professional competition starts in 2017 ( A women's Melb. v WB game this year outrated on TV the Adelaide v. Essendon men's game! I believe that if the new Women's League in 2017 was played between early Sept. to late Dec., late evenings only, never over 24 degrees -a floating fixture, it would give football the biggest boost in decades. Women would have "free air" in the media by not competing with the AFL, and thus maximise ratings, participation, and attendances. The women's cricket BBL is outrating the A League men's soccer on TV -the time has come for women's sport in general, and female football in particular)
Crowds for the poorly performing Gold Coast are greater than the GC RL Titans team, even though it is a traditional RL area. Similarly, membership and crowds for GWS are better than some Sydney RL clubs, even though RL has been the dominant sport there for 110 years. Australian Football had virtually no presence on Sydney prior to 1982. RL , at the elite NRL level, is being increasingly dominated by Islander/ Maori players, possibly due to their stronger body shapes -and in the elite U 18 & U 20 RL competitions, about 50 % of the players are from an Islander/ Maori background. This will provide Australian Football with more opportunities to expand, as many people who want to play a body contact sport ( and their parents!) will see football as their sport of choice.
Finally, State of Origin football, in some form, must return to football. By ensuring the best players play ( and AFL player surveys show they are keen for it), it will again be hugely popular.
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