Tulip
Hall of Famer
- May 3, 2009
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Its almost become an accepted theory that the AFL is 'fixing' the season through biased umpiring to get a 'fairytale' Grand Final.
Accepted to the point that people think they're fixing a Collingwood win tonight, and a Melbourne win next week against West Coast.
Yes, GWS, the club the AFL created six years ago with the specific intention of engineering early success to attract new members and junior participation up North.
There are West Coast fans everywhere saying the umpires are going to * them so Melbourne get through. Yes, West Coast. The club with the second most free kicks for this season, with fans who relentlessly boo the umpires every week whenever a call goes against them, and who aren't happy if the free kick differential at Optus is even, let alone not in their favour. I wish this was hyperbole: its not. Their home games are toxic.
I've even seen Richmond fans, the same ones who quite rightly insist that they were simply the best team in the league last season rather than the beneficiary of some fairytale finish, being worried about their treatment next week if the Pies win.
What do Richmond, Collingwood and Melbourne have in common? A game plan that relies heavily on ground level pressure, relentless tackling and heavy scoring.
I've yet to really see an argument for why they'd fix a game, or how they'd silence the dozens of people required to make it happen. Can anyone enlighten me?
Accepted to the point that people think they're fixing a Collingwood win tonight, and a Melbourne win next week against West Coast.
Yes, GWS, the club the AFL created six years ago with the specific intention of engineering early success to attract new members and junior participation up North.
There are West Coast fans everywhere saying the umpires are going to * them so Melbourne get through. Yes, West Coast. The club with the second most free kicks for this season, with fans who relentlessly boo the umpires every week whenever a call goes against them, and who aren't happy if the free kick differential at Optus is even, let alone not in their favour. I wish this was hyperbole: its not. Their home games are toxic.
I've even seen Richmond fans, the same ones who quite rightly insist that they were simply the best team in the league last season rather than the beneficiary of some fairytale finish, being worried about their treatment next week if the Pies win.
What do Richmond, Collingwood and Melbourne have in common? A game plan that relies heavily on ground level pressure, relentless tackling and heavy scoring.
I've yet to really see an argument for why they'd fix a game, or how they'd silence the dozens of people required to make it happen. Can anyone enlighten me?