AFL Game Lengths

[Black Diamond]

How about we don't have another reactionary rule change to a temporary problem?

No, not at all. I love 35 minute epic last quarters and the like.

 

[The_Ru]

The AFL seems to have the corporate memory of an Alzheimer's affected octogenarian. The game used to be 25 minutes plus time on per quarter and most quarters were around 28-30 minutes. Then there was concern about sides forcing the ball out of bounds or forcing stoppages in tight situations and running down the clock. To combat this they decided the best thing to do was to stop the clock when the ball went out of bounds or a ball-up was called. In order to compensate for the time this would add, the quarter length was reduced to 20 minutes plus time on. So now a 35 minute quarter is 20 minutes of play and 15 minutes of "time-on" and, ironically, matches are longer than ever. (mostly attributable to longer breaks between goals)

When will someone at the AFL realise that rule changes often lead to unexpected and counter-intuitive results and sometimes they are actually counter-productive. In short, 30-35 minute quarters are not unreasonable and any change to reduce them is likely to have unintended consequences and probably won't shorten or improve the game in the long run.

 

[John Dorian]

I don't see why each year they feel they need to once again tweak something to perfect the game.

If they make such a change I would consider not following AFL at all, just sticking to local footy instead.

 

[dumb]

A couple of minutes each quarter would not be the end of the world.

but leaving those couple of minutes would be? the game needs to be changed because a game of afl is 10 minutes too long?

that seems to be one of the problems. the game apparently goes too long but in essence most solutions will simply shave one or two minutes off a quarter... it's hardly making an overall difference. what we need to see from the afl are their thoughts on how far over a game is going and then go from there. i would hope they say something like half an hour, otherwise they are just indulging in more pointless tinkering.

 

[Matthew2708]

I don't care what they do to the Nab Cup Rules, but don't change any rules for the actual Season. Especially the time length of the quarters.

 

[magpielicious]

We already got rid of the reserves match and now they want to shorten the matches. WELL AFL, you better reduce the price of admission accordingly. If I am expected to see less football I want to pay less to get in.

 

[Macca19]

All that needs to happen is they should take it back to being the umpires discretion when he calls time off at a stoppage. Instead of the automatic time off each stoppage, this would save a couple of minutes per quarter. Problem solved

 

[Baz_hawk]

Leave it as it is. I'm happy with the game length as is, it's great to have a time that can vary depending on elements and leave the crowd without an exact idea of how long is left in the game. Doesn't need to be changed

 

[A Swallow]

Just leave the damn game as it is. God I'm sick of all these ideas to change things every year. Soon it will not be the game we all love anymore if this continues. AFL edit rules/standards more often than any other sporting organization in the world. Not necessary at all.

 

[2010premier]

One simple change. Back years ago when there was a stoppage the umps bounced the ball within 5 seconds. Now it takes them 20-25 to do the same thing. Get back to 5-10 and you will save those precious few minutes that allow the broadcasters a few more ads at 4.45pm. Throw the ball up around the ground if it helps. Maybe ask the boundry umps to get it in a bit quicker rather than go through their stupid little routine each time would be good too.

The money comes from the broadcasters so minor tweaking to help them is the way to go I reckon, plus it will make the game flow better and perhaps reduce congestion.

 

[Illinois Nazi]

This is all because of how the AFL screwed everything up with the sub rule..

Because of the fewer rotations, and it being almost impossibly to rest any player should more than one player get injured, the players have gotten fatigued and honestly if the AFL aren't going to give us an extra interchnage player/sub, then for the good of the players I's support shorter quarters..

So if we didn't have the sub rule, and more than one player got injured, then the other players would be able to get more rest? How does that work?

 

[Pklz]

25 minutes start to finish, no stopping the clock.

No way, Club will exploit is and it will become a farce. Like soccer when players miraculously need to get stretchered of late in games wen they need to slow things down and waste time.