Idea to improve (bring back) home ground advantage

[wikipediaAFLproject]

In Melbourne we are seeing all the clubs play out of two stadiums, and as such the home ground advantage is insignificant compared to the years of a ground for each team.

My idea is to simply award the toss to the home team before the bounce. Could be trialled very simply in the NAB cup. It would also allow the higher team to be rewarded in a Grand Final.

 

[NQTIGER]

How in **** name is that going to bring back home ground advantage?

If we all go back to our subburban grounds that will do it, oh thats right youy already play at your suburban ground

 

[Igloo]

I also have no idea how that would bring back a home ground advantage.
Elaborate?

 

[Ice-Wolf]

I have a better idea. Revelop some of the old suburban grounds (to 20-40k seaters) & play some of the games out there, this kind of arrangement works quite well for Geelong.

Moorabbin (35-40k) - St Kilda & Hawthorn
Western Oval (30k) - Bulldogs
Ballarat (20-25k) - North Melbourne

 

[ManWithNoName]

Decent idea, but the advantage would be so minimal it wouldn't be worthwhile.

 

[Frothies Mcveigh]

Not much of a home ground advantage, plus I like the coin toss.

 

[Normy132]

I thought it would be a good idea to play more games out of their 'home' grounds. I mean the Pies already get 9 of their 11 at the 'G but I reckon them, Melbourne, Richmond and Hawthorn should get all 11 at the MCG.

However, that doesn't work because teams like Carlton and Essendon's 'home' ground is Docklands and we can't have games between those to or them and the MCG teams played at Docklands.

 

[Dry Rot]

In Melbourne we are seeing all the clubs play out of two stadiums, and as such the home ground advantage is insignificant compared to the years of a ground for each team.

Bring back cold showers for visiting teams like they had at Victoria Park.

 

[RUNVS]

I am quite happy with the Swans home ground advantage at the SCG as we are a much harder team to beat there than any other ground as for some reason other teams don't seem to know how to play the SCG correctly.

 

[weagles_fan]

I am quite happy with the Swans home ground advantage at the SCG as we are a much harder team to beat there than any other ground as for some reason other teams don't seem to know how to play the SCG correctly.

This is one thing that definitely shouldn't be allowed. All the stadiums really should be the same but if they can't be they must at least be very similar, the SCG is so far different to every stadium in the league it's a disgrace.

 

[Highlander35]

This is one thing that definitely shouldn't be allowed. All the stadiums really should be the same but if they can't be they must at least be very similar, the SCG is so far different to every stadium in the league it's a disgrace.

The whole definition of home ground advantage. Different grass, different shape, different weather etc.

There does need to be at least one more Melbourne stadium, with a larger ground, but smaller capacity. Maybe built like AAMI Park!

 

[liz]

This is one thing that definitely shouldn't be allowed. All the stadiums really should be the same but if they can't be they must at least be very similar, the SCG is so far different to every stadium in the league it's a disgrace.

Is the SCG really that much more different to "the norm" than Subi?

 

[Normy132]

I got no problem with some teams having different ground designs to others. All the more satisfying if you manage to go over there, play on a different ground than you're used to in front of almost none of your own supporters and win.

 

[longsuffreosupp]

If a game between 2 Melbourne clubs, give the home team a 1 goal head start. If the game is between a Melbourne team and an interstate team, give the visiting team a 1 goal head start

 

[SM]

This is one thing that definitely shouldn't be allowed. All the stadiums really should be the same but if they can't be they must at least be very similar, the SCG is so far different to every stadium in the league it's a disgrace.

Says the team that uses the other 'abnormal' ground.

If Victorian teams want a true home ground advantage, relocate.

 

[Byron_Clanger]

Do the Melbourne teams need home field advantage when West Coast fly over?

 

[dapto]

Ironically, the OP does hit a chord about the differentials re some home ground advantages over others. The interstate thing is obvious yet accepted to all. As it should be.

But Melbourne 'home' teams do have their own issues yet the op's solution is not one of them.

Not surprisingly, the coin toss thingo here was a weird 'flip' for a solution, pardon the pun. Levitational if naught else.

I know many Etihad home ground punters are seething, re the disadvantages, at being a just 'tenant' there apropos the MCG let alone seeking an ordinary 'home' advantage. The thread seems more strangely entitled just considering that.

Training issues, the turf, lighting, general facilities, membership allocation are some of a host of other unmet promises by the Docklands stadium authority. And indeed the AFL. Everyclub "home club' on-sold these to their member bases at the AFL's behest and not one club is happy with Etihad's product as a 'home' ground.

The Dockland's stadium is a serious issue and a way bigger issue than a flip of coin. It is a real 'home ground issue' for those tenants and not going to go away any time soon.

As an Essendon supporter, I am still not happy with the situation at Etihad but we did get the best deal tabled. I can completely empathize with any North supporter however. It may be one thing to play for a win with a 'home' advantage but another altogether if the 'away' team has the same advantage yet earning more. Harder still if you know your home attendances @ 30, 000 are worth less $ than Essendon's at the same number.

2010 certainly was the 'annus horribilus' of footy outcomes... the year of the pies. But they did manage to perform on and off field. They took advantage of their assets and improved base and provided some of their better home and away environments for their constituents in terms of player welfare and team support and performances and financially for any Melbourne club off the field than they had in their recent past. (hmm, some lattitude for posters to be sure but credit where it is due).

But it certainly wasn't due to any coin toss.

So a new thread title please\or other suggestions re Melbourne home teams....because

Coin toss doesn't do it

 

[pazza]

Home side picks the ground conditions - otherwise known as the Moorabbin mud factor.

E.G. If St. kilda is the home team at etihad, they and not the ground staff get to choose the surface they play on. So if they want mud, then that's what they come up with the night before the match.

 

[Smokeyr67]

In Melbourne we are seeing all the clubs play out of two stadiums, and as such the home ground advantage is insignificant compared to the years of a ground for each team.

My idea is to simply award the toss to the home team before the bounce. Could be trialled very simply in the NAB cup. It would also allow the higher team to be rewarded in a Grand Final.

No - our game has many random elements, and the toss is just one

 

[Smokeyr67]

Do the Melbourne teams need home field advantage when West Coast fly over?

Only if WC are crammed into the overhead lockers.

 

[Wallaby]

Have you heard Bob Skilton's story about Ted Whitten's method of tossing the coin?

Skilton was very new as captain. The game was out at the Western Oval, with a howling gale blowing. Big advantage to winning the toss.

Ted tossed. Bobby called heads. Bobby watched the coin carefully all the way down to the ground and saw - 'Heads! You beauty!' he thought.

He looked up to tell Ted. Ted was already sprinting towards CHF, pointing to the end favoured by the gale, with the home crowd roaring madly.

Apparently Ted 'tossed and ran' so often, he was mainly responsible for the umps being brought in to supervise the toss.

Now that's a home ground advantage!

 

[PieNSauce]

Why on earth do we need a home ground advantage? Surely it would be better to look for ways to eliminate home ground advantage. Sure, as an old time supporter I used to love going to Vic Park to watch Collingwood make the most of theirs but as a fair minded sportsman I'd rather see a level playing field at least in home and away matches. Unfortunately for interstaters the tradition (not to mention sheer financial advantage) of playing the GF in Melbourne will be one quirk that will prove hard to toss.

 

[Hungry Hawk]

Another solution is to bring out the witches hats and change the size of the playing surface as required. ie Hawthorn-glenferrie dimensions, Carlton-princes park, Essendon- windy hill etc.

The surface idea is a winner, nothing like seeing a crap suface at the dome..... wait a minute??

 

[_Mike_]

Different game, different era

While it worked in the years up to 2000, the suburban grounds such as the Western Oval, Moorabin, Victoria Park and Princes Park just dont have the facilities, and its not worth pouring money down the drain to try to get them to a suitable level.

The whole - home game advantage for Victorian teams has been gone for a long time now. It's now purely based on how the team plays and adjusts to different size grounds.

 

[OldCrowBloke]

Home ground advantage for Melbourne-based teams has been a contentious issue ever since the VFL expanded to the AFL. Non-Victorian teams enjoy some advantage at their home ground, but this is more than balanced by the huge differential in the time spent travelling over the course of a season (rather than training and/or recuperating)