- Banned
- #1
Hello friends. Some time ago I started a thread asking if posters would ever stop attending AFL matches; if there was some line that were the AFL to cross, people might say 'enough is enough' and be done with attending the game live. The thread generated some terrific replies and discussion.
Now I come to ask a different question: would you ever boycott the AFL Grand Final? Is it possible that the AFL and those who run it could do something so outrageous that you might decide to do something else with your Saturday? Are there any imaginable circumstances in which you might consider it? Or is the culture of watching the game so strong, your history of taking part in the day so significant to you, that the AFL could (and this is a hypothetical here) literally admit that the whole game is fixed (for instance) and you would still partake in the tradition anyhow?
I ask because I myself feel torn about this question. On one hand, I have watched every Grand Final since I was a small child, and can remember where I watched each one since about 1999. Name me the year and I can tell you who played, who won, who I had money on, whether or not I got drunk that day, etc. Like most people from Victoria the Grand Final day experience has been a central part of my social calendar my entire adult life, and traditionally marks for me the unofficial beginning of Spring (better weather, cricket is around the corner, etc).
On the other hand the reality of what the AFL actually is has never been more obvious to me, it has truly crystallised in my mind this year, and by even watching the Grand Final I feel like I will be tacitly supporting an organisation which I fundamentally despise on a fundamental level. I feel like I will be partaking in the heist. I don't blame people for wanting to go the WWE whenever it is in Aus (unless they think what they are watching is real and unscripted), and I wouldn't even mind the AFL GF so much if everybody was open and honest about what it was we were watching. It is the big, unspoken lie that gets to me, and to be honest I simply do not want to be part of something like that, no matter how insignificantly small a part I may be.
I haven't made my mind up yet but I am seriously considering skipping this year's GF. My question to bigfooty is this: would you ever - can you imagine any kind of scenario where you might - do the same?
Over to you, bigfooty.
Now I come to ask a different question: would you ever boycott the AFL Grand Final? Is it possible that the AFL and those who run it could do something so outrageous that you might decide to do something else with your Saturday? Are there any imaginable circumstances in which you might consider it? Or is the culture of watching the game so strong, your history of taking part in the day so significant to you, that the AFL could (and this is a hypothetical here) literally admit that the whole game is fixed (for instance) and you would still partake in the tradition anyhow?
I ask because I myself feel torn about this question. On one hand, I have watched every Grand Final since I was a small child, and can remember where I watched each one since about 1999. Name me the year and I can tell you who played, who won, who I had money on, whether or not I got drunk that day, etc. Like most people from Victoria the Grand Final day experience has been a central part of my social calendar my entire adult life, and traditionally marks for me the unofficial beginning of Spring (better weather, cricket is around the corner, etc).
On the other hand the reality of what the AFL actually is has never been more obvious to me, it has truly crystallised in my mind this year, and by even watching the Grand Final I feel like I will be tacitly supporting an organisation which I fundamentally despise on a fundamental level. I feel like I will be partaking in the heist. I don't blame people for wanting to go the WWE whenever it is in Aus (unless they think what they are watching is real and unscripted), and I wouldn't even mind the AFL GF so much if everybody was open and honest about what it was we were watching. It is the big, unspoken lie that gets to me, and to be honest I simply do not want to be part of something like that, no matter how insignificantly small a part I may be.
I haven't made my mind up yet but I am seriously considering skipping this year's GF. My question to bigfooty is this: would you ever - can you imagine any kind of scenario where you might - do the same?
Over to you, bigfooty.
