KohPhi
Brownlow Medallist
- Jul 24, 2015
- 23,372
- 94,101
- AFL Club
- Carlton
Welcome Lads and Ladettes to "Talking Kohphi", the prefered media platform of the SFA. I spoke to The Filth Wizard about all things SFA as he vacated his term and now it's time to speak to current SFA Admin, Hate. He opened up about how the league is travelling and how he has found his first few months in the job.
I made my way to Dragon Island and was lucky enough to catch Hate on a break from running his business, "The Fishcoteque", the best fish and chip shop on Dragon Island.
Thanks Hate for the opportunity to chat..
No worries, KohPhi. More than happy to have a chat with you about the league or whatever else you have on your mind. Drugs, alcohol, girls... Anything. Got a light mate?
Ahhh.. yeah sure mate..
So it's been about 12 or so weeks since you took over the SFA Admin from The Filfth Wizard. How have you found the job so far. What aspect have you found the most difficult to adapt to?
Prior to becoming the leagues Administrator, I already had a great understanding on how the league operated which was a perfect setup leading into taking this job. The Filth Wizard after my second season had me in the committee, which was a riot at the time. During the lead up to becoming Administrator I was already a match simmer and match poster. With all that experience under my belt and The Filth Wizard being always open on various league topics with me, nothing was all that surprising. I was setup very well. A lot of credit can go to The Filth Wizard. He did a great job in the early days with helping me grasp the league.
There hasn't been much adapting to do. A lot of what an Administrator does is over the off-season. If done right, the season runs rather smoothly. Over the last 3 or 4 seasons the league has mastered the rules, policies and how it runs. If anything, it has been hard on me as I want to add something new, and I am trying, but truthfully, finding it a tad hard. I came in with many ideas, but a lot of them are hard to accomplish, but I will continue to work.
How would you say S.24 is panning out so far?
I won't answer this in-depth as I believe a lot of my thoughts will be covered during my answering of other questions. Season 24 has gone rather smoothly - there has been no real issues from a league perspective, the simmers are running a smooth ship, matches are getting out from match posters, the competition, like most seasons, is rather even besides the one team that just wins everything and the team that loses a lot.
My job is a lot easier with the volunteers of the league. They do a lot of work and are tremendous. They don't get enough praise and it's rather thankless so to the simmers, posters, media contributors, statistics people I say thank you.
The re-badging of the SFA looks to have been a success, what other changes are you likely to implement during your term?
To a lot of people it may seem as something rather small to change, but it was one of the things I wanted to get done sooner rather than later. The logo is, in my opinion, of great importance to the league and I looked to have that captured in the new design, and fancyscum was very important in that, and I am very, very happy with the result. It honours both the former design and the late great Fred who was, and still is, very important to the league. I can't thank fancyscum enough for his efforts.
As I mentioned earlier in the interview, I came in with many ideas but I'm struggling to get them out, despite ticking a few off. We are very constricted in what can be done being that I don't really have any BigFooty permissions, and the league is on a forum with a box that you can enter text in and click 'post reply'. A lot of doable things have been done already. For example, every form of side competition has been done, and personally I believe they are long gone. People make a fuss about them, but when the time comes, the competitions are not all that successful. It's very similar with media, which I'm sure I will touch on later. Mobbenfuhrer Medal night should be a cracker this season.
The statistics committee has been working on various projects, and one of my own is to hopefully one day have a full blown, easy to navigate statistics website, but the problem is collecting the data I want in order to have it up. A few people have seen previews, but we are a long way off.
There seems to have been a drop in the participation in the match threads and less quality media this season. Do you agree? If yes, what do you put this down to?
I'd say (observation) from Season 1-13 the league participation was rather sluggish. In Season 14 it started to really pick up, and gained more momentum in around Season 16. The league, in my opinion, has exhausted a lot of its creative in between Season 16-21 and it has really started to slow down.
I have a theory that players have about a 2-3 season window where the novelty is still there. Then they plod on for a few more and eventually lose the interest. For some it is quicker, but a lot of the stars of Season 16-19 are starting to lose the mojo which is going to cause a bit of a lul until the newer faces can find their way.
Another issue is the sim - we all know it's random, but since the stink kicked up in Season 19 (mind you, there was never any proof of wrong doing), people still have lingering thoughts about what is happening and refuse to just relax and enjoy the league. If they aren't winning, the sim is rigged! It's a credit to Cloud_ and Ant Bear for steering the ship this season and not letting the Swamprats buy into that train of thought.
The club room is something I've had an internal battle with, while I love the other discussions on movies, music, television, I truly believe that the emergence of Werewolf and other games have been a blight on the league and its participation levels, especially when they are taking part during the season.
All of this is a contributing factor. I think people just need to relax, enjoy the league, who cares what others say or do. We are here for the Qooty. It's a great game and league full of fantastic people. Not everyone is going to get along with everyone, but that is part of it. A lot of people are rattled by banter these days, and seem to forget that this is what the league was built on.
Is there anything "creeping in" to the league that you have noticed that you would like to stamp out or change? Behaviors? Trends?
The crackdown on "smutty" images/gifs etc was a contentious one. As much as you may find this hard to believe, I think it's been a positive decision. I've actually enjoyed having to think of something to say and banter with as opposed to posting a gif or a meme. How difficult was it to implement considering your own club, the Dragons was probably the biggest instigator with#rednesday etc?
As my smoke break is ending soon, I'll answer both questions together. As I said when I was hopeful of becoming the Administrator - I feel I'm good at separating my feelings and knowing where I stand. I was never a fan of #rednesday, and you'd be hard pressed to find more than 1 or 2 posts where I engage in it all that much. It wasn't hard to implement at all, especially when it is right there in the BigFooty rules.
A lot of credit has to go to The Filth Wizard and Blacky for that success though. They handle a lot of the reports, were behind the idea and enforce it.
As for other trends - just garbage media, which for a moment I put in the landfill to try make it entertaining for the league, but now it is usually just deleting it instantly. Of course the "Coffee with KohPhi", "Talking KohPhi", "KohPhi Recruitment Solutions" and "Reviews with KohPhi" don't fall in to the garbage media catagory and you should be commended for setting the standard KohPhi.
Gee thanks Hate.. I'm chuffed.
Anyway, enough about me, I believe the League relies on rookies to maintain a level of interest and activity within its ranks and provide a "freshness"
in match threads. Do we as a whole promote the SFA well enough? What do you think clubs and the SFA in general can do to attract more newbs into the League?
It absolutely does, and I did an investigation on the new rookies per season and it's usually around the 30-40 mark a season. Significantly decreased as players don't stick around though.
I focused a lot in the off-season on players who have played before but didn't really stick around. Captains were given a list of players I thought were suitable, players like vanders, a Dragon who made a good return and was a solid poster last season. The BigFooty ad, while great, was not that much of a success - I think people largely ignore the ads that are put up on BigFooty.
Again, like I said earlier, we are very constricted in what we can do but I am open to many ideas. While I feel it is on me, I think some captains could be putting in some more effort. Hopefully we can, during the off-season, visit a few club boards and do some more recruiting - but it requires the current players to get involved but proved to be an effective tool. ClarkeM was really terrific with that initiative.
What's your stance on expansion? Do you see it as a possibility in your time as Admin? What needs to be ticked off before another side joins the league?
It depends on how long I wish to stick around as Administrator. Who knows, the captains could shaft me sooner! If people want expansion, they best start filling up the struggling teams first. Unless someone presents me with a case that makes me say 'holy s**t' then there will not be expansion.
I wouldn't be surprised if a club folds instead.
Ok, the topic of the mid season trade has been a bone of contention of late. There are examples of nice, easy and amicable trades such as the miggs/Wise Guy Sam trade and then there is the shitfight that is happening with the PhenomenalV1 trade. Now I'll take my Bombers hat off and you take your Dragons hat off, is the fact Haro is standing his ground good for the league?
The rules are the rules and HaroLad has the right to do whatever he wants to within them. The way I feel about what he should do doesn't change that. If my Dragons hat was on, I would have gone and changed the rule and stuck him with no player in return for PhenomenalV1. Why keep someone who wants out, when you have a perfectly good trade on the table.
But If the rules say all parties need to sign off and be in agreement for a trade to occur what then is the problem here?
The trade rule (3B) does not make sense in the slightest. It is a rule that myself and the committee didn't pay much attention to in the off-season and should be looked over. I personally don't believe in players moving clubs during the season via delisted free agency (although, hypocritically, it is how I got WFL to the club).
That still cuts deep man...
Im sorry KohPhi. Say the word and you can be reunited. Anyway, the trade period is fine, as is the Delisted Free Agency.
Final question mate, I have polled a few promiment posters to ask them if they had any specific questions to ask you. Rather than list each question (many were taking the piss), the overall sentiment was that the League has a sense of 'staleness' to it this season. In no way is this a reflection on yours (or Filthy's Admin) in my eyes, but as you alluded to earlier, there is only so much "new innovations" that one can present in this format. Do you think this is just part of the natural "life cycle" of the SFA and historical evidence suggests it will move past this phase eventually, or will it take a major change of some sort to keep the SFA relevant?
I fee like those you may have asked probably fit perfectly into my theory that I mentioned earlier!
The league has gone through a very strong period, so naturally it may appear to be stale. It really is a common issue though where something may appear to be an issue to some, but where are they? Are they contributing to help find a solution to the supposed problem? It's very similar to the issue of State of Origin and the league rules - it's a big thing but no one wants to do the work.
The league is run by the people. I'm here to make sure the things that need to go smoothly do.
We're all here to entertain each other. We all must contribute. If we are indeed going through a slow period, it's only inevitable after the huge golden period of Season 16-21.
Side note is that I believe AFL season isn't always the greatest season for the Sweet F.A.
As long as match threads don't get to one page again, we're fine. Sorry mate, breaks up, ive got some Pontiac potatoes that need to be cut and twice cooked.
Wise words boss.. thanks for your time. Now I'm off to catch up with PhenomenalV1 who has agreed to share his side of the story with "Talking KohPhi" on his attempted mid season defection from the Bombers to your Dragons. Stay tuned..
