Broncos playing Rabittohs right now in Brisbane. Good crowd, Broncos smashing them but game still looks good. Can't help but think AFL is missing an opportunity to promote the game by not having regular Thursday night matches.
? Should AFL have regular Thursday night matches.
- Thread starter speedpeck23
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I do not agree with a Thursday game every week.
I prefer the first 4 weeks we play as we do now with 9 games each week and mainly Friday to Sunday schedule.
However for next 9 rounds for round 5 to 13 I would have 2 teams have a bye on same weekend and follow up playing each other after their bye on the Thursday night the following round. Do that for 9 Thursday's in a row and everyone has had a bye once, then we go back to 9 games a weekend and finish up to end of round 18 with every club having had one bye, all meet each other once too.
At that point get inventive with the aim still to have the final 5 weeks teams have as even as draw as possible. No conference bullshit, just use common sense. All 18 clubs have a week off to have every club with their second bye of the year. At the same time the AFL come up with the final 5 rounds fixture as evenly as possible. In those 5 weeks they make sure the major rivalries are in at some point but it has to fit within the overall fairness and no compromises. Every club has to have 11 home games and 11 away games. No exceptions to this.
In that week off all other leagues around the nation, including country and suburban leagues are playing representative games and this is celebrated as grass roots footy week and also include a Legend's type game for television on the Friday or Thursday night. Have The football Hall of Fame that same week. Take advantage of all 18 clubs having their second bye to celebrate these other things. After that it is down to last 5 rounds. Supporters have been given enough time to look at last 5 rounds and organise interstate trips where possible. The television execs get happy as that is 5 weeks they get to pick and choose the best games for each round for their live games to cover.
The general expectation is the model should deliver something like if you are in top 6 the last 5 games you are playing, one team in bottom six, two teams in middle six and two in top six.
If you bottom six, you get one game against a side from top 6 and two from bottom six and two from middle six. The middle six teams are playing one team from middle six, two from top six and two from bottom six. But the fixture for final 5 rounds is worked on at start of July. Not the previous October. The previous October should only draw up the fixture for when each club meets the other 17 from March to end of June.
This would still deliver plenty of Thursday night games without overdoing it. About 10 or 11 at most.
Also delivers free to air live tv games of final 5 weeks to be picked and chosen from at start of July.
The only real downside is a few thousands fans that like have rounds 18 to 22 known the previous October to book their trips interstate months in advance. Now they will have to accept for later July and all of August you won't know for sure whom or where you side playing until first week of July when it is announced.
I prefer the first 4 weeks we play as we do now with 9 games each week and mainly Friday to Sunday schedule.
However for next 9 rounds for round 5 to 13 I would have 2 teams have a bye on same weekend and follow up playing each other after their bye on the Thursday night the following round. Do that for 9 Thursday's in a row and everyone has had a bye once, then we go back to 9 games a weekend and finish up to end of round 18 with every club having had one bye, all meet each other once too.
At that point get inventive with the aim still to have the final 5 weeks teams have as even as draw as possible. No conference bullshit, just use common sense. All 18 clubs have a week off to have every club with their second bye of the year. At the same time the AFL come up with the final 5 rounds fixture as evenly as possible. In those 5 weeks they make sure the major rivalries are in at some point but it has to fit within the overall fairness and no compromises. Every club has to have 11 home games and 11 away games. No exceptions to this.
In that week off all other leagues around the nation, including country and suburban leagues are playing representative games and this is celebrated as grass roots footy week and also include a Legend's type game for television on the Friday or Thursday night. Have The football Hall of Fame that same week. Take advantage of all 18 clubs having their second bye to celebrate these other things. After that it is down to last 5 rounds. Supporters have been given enough time to look at last 5 rounds and organise interstate trips where possible. The television execs get happy as that is 5 weeks they get to pick and choose the best games for each round for their live games to cover.
The general expectation is the model should deliver something like if you are in top 6 the last 5 games you are playing, one team in bottom six, two teams in middle six and two in top six.
If you bottom six, you get one game against a side from top 6 and two from bottom six and two from middle six. The middle six teams are playing one team from middle six, two from top six and two from bottom six. But the fixture for final 5 rounds is worked on at start of July. Not the previous October. The previous October should only draw up the fixture for when each club meets the other 17 from March to end of June.
This would still deliver plenty of Thursday night games without overdoing it. About 10 or 11 at most.
Also delivers free to air live tv games of final 5 weeks to be picked and chosen from at start of July.
The only real downside is a few thousands fans that like have rounds 18 to 22 known the previous October to book their trips interstate months in advance. Now they will have to accept for later July and all of August you won't know for sure whom or where you side playing until first week of July when it is announced.
- Thread starter
- #3
I like the idea of two teams having the bye then playing Thursday.....agree it provides an increase number of Thursdays without overdoing it.
jmac91
Perth Bandits Head Coach
I think it's a great idea but the only way I see it happening is with another 2 teams entering the comp to make a 10 game round.this is what I think it should be like if this happens.
1 Thursday Night game
1 Friday Night game
5 Saturday games
3 Sunday games
You would take out the Thursday night and a Saturday game for ANZAC round and take out the Thursday night game for Queen's Birthday.
For bye rounds..... Who knows?
Finals stay the same.
1 Thursday Night game
1 Friday Night game
5 Saturday games
3 Sunday games
You would take out the Thursday night and a Saturday game for ANZAC round and take out the Thursday night game for Queen's Birthday.
For bye rounds..... Who knows?
Finals stay the same.
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Would absolutely love it. Not sure my fiancee would too much though.
Stated this on the board a few times, but for a country supporter who never has to factor in the possibility of live attendance every week, having a game on a Thursday to look forward to is bloody fantastic. Long day at work, long night at footy training, then straight home to watch the first game of the weekend. Following day at work to dissect the game and brag about who scored better in Supercoach etc.
Stated this on the board a few times, but for a country supporter who never has to factor in the possibility of live attendance every week, having a game on a Thursday to look forward to is bloody fantastic. Long day at work, long night at footy training, then straight home to watch the first game of the weekend. Following day at work to dissect the game and brag about who scored better in Supercoach etc.
telsor
Hall of Famer
Very hard to do the fixture without either having 5 day breaks or very set structures (every week one team from the previous Thursday and one team from the Friday match would have to play each other).
Can't see a lot of love for that idea, especially after how badly they did this year...
Can't see a lot of love for that idea, especially after how badly they did this year...
precarious
Senior List
Until now, I've felt that they've been wise to use Thursday Night only sparingly.
But one benefit would be that you could have a standalone game each week that involves high-ranking teams and highlights the national character of the competition.
That used to be Friday Night, but with the current TV deal, Friday night scheduling seems to have become more about giving Vic clubs some free-to-air games to make up partially for the fact that, unlike clubs in other states, their games are not all shown free to air in the home market.
They could go to a Thursday night standalone game (based on predicted high ladder positions) and two Friday night games, one for the Vic audience and one for the rest of the country. Seven would clean up in the ratings on a Friday night even more than they do now by showing, say, a Vic v Vic game into Melbourne and a Non-Vic v Anyone game into the other cities.
Seven would get to code the two games as one show and maximize its ratings nationally. People with Fox could obviously watch either game.
But one benefit would be that you could have a standalone game each week that involves high-ranking teams and highlights the national character of the competition.
That used to be Friday Night, but with the current TV deal, Friday night scheduling seems to have become more about giving Vic clubs some free-to-air games to make up partially for the fact that, unlike clubs in other states, their games are not all shown free to air in the home market.
They could go to a Thursday night standalone game (based on predicted high ladder positions) and two Friday night games, one for the Vic audience and one for the rest of the country. Seven would clean up in the ratings on a Friday night even more than they do now by showing, say, a Vic v Vic game into Melbourne and a Non-Vic v Anyone game into the other cities.
Seven would get to code the two games as one show and maximize its ratings nationally. People with Fox could obviously watch either game.
Read my post earlier...
Two teams have a bye on same weekend and follow up playing each other after their bye on the Thursday night the following round. Do that for 9 Thursday's in a row and everyone has had a bye once, then we go back to 9 games a weekend. Be very easy to do.
telsor
Hall of Famer
That's less than half the season though, so doesn't really qualify as enough to be 'regular'.
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- #11
True, but when you throw in the already designated Thursday nights... start of season, Easter, first final...you are starting to get a significant no.
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I would hate for it to involve my team in terms of going to a home game.
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Agreed. That's the only reason why I'm against it.
I think the AFL has to be aware of overkill So I think the 6 or 7 a season is the right amount.
Thursday Night FTA
Biggest game of the week. VIC games played at Etihad
Friday Night [VIC Showdown] 7.30pm
Shown FTA in VIC, Fox elsewhere
Friday Night [Interstate Showdown, FTA into each state] 7pm/8pm local. Proper night games in WA.
Shown in FTA to both states, Fox elsewhere
"Biggest" friday game shown into states on FTA without a local team playing that night
4x Saturday 2.10pm Fox
From what I can tell, SANFL/WAFL/VFL all had ~2pm as a traditional timeslot. Let's go back to that with a 2.10 MCG game locked in each week, plus games interstate/Geelong. I know NSW/QLD prefer Sat Twilight to 2pm, so games could be scheduled as the game below as the FTA game, or clash with the FTA game.
Saturday Twilight FTA 5pm/6pm
Standalone game, start time depends on FTA channel and their news, but ~5 to 6pm start time following on from the 2.10pm games.
Sunday Twilight FTA 4pm/5pm/6pm/7pm
Another standalone game. Unlike Thursdays, standalone game on Sunday is easier. Start time depends on timezone (Perth games etc.)
FTA into Each State
1x Thursday Night
1x Friday Night
1x Saturday Twilight
1x Sunday Twilight
This schedule maximises FTA interest in broadcasting as many games as possible, whilst also giving the fans traditional time slots. I think it gives a good balance between the fans and the money which pays for the sport to be run successfully.
Edit: Some additional thoughts
Currently on average 4 games per week are played in Melbourne. 0.5 games played in Geelong and 0.5 games played by VIC clubs interstate. Means the Thursday or Sunday game would need to be played in Melbourne each week.
A Saturday arvo game would be moved to cover any holiday/sepcial games like Anzac day (+eve), Easter monday etc. Good Friday would just be the VIC showdown moved to an earlier start time.
Biggest game of the week. VIC games played at Etihad
Friday Night [VIC Showdown] 7.30pm
Shown FTA in VIC, Fox elsewhere
Friday Night [Interstate Showdown, FTA into each state] 7pm/8pm local. Proper night games in WA.
Shown in FTA to both states, Fox elsewhere
"Biggest" friday game shown into states on FTA without a local team playing that night
4x Saturday 2.10pm Fox
From what I can tell, SANFL/WAFL/VFL all had ~2pm as a traditional timeslot. Let's go back to that with a 2.10 MCG game locked in each week, plus games interstate/Geelong. I know NSW/QLD prefer Sat Twilight to 2pm, so games could be scheduled as the game below as the FTA game, or clash with the FTA game.
Saturday Twilight FTA 5pm/6pm
Standalone game, start time depends on FTA channel and their news, but ~5 to 6pm start time following on from the 2.10pm games.
Sunday Twilight FTA 4pm/5pm/6pm/7pm
Another standalone game. Unlike Thursdays, standalone game on Sunday is easier. Start time depends on timezone (Perth games etc.)
FTA into Each State
1x Thursday Night
1x Friday Night
1x Saturday Twilight
1x Sunday Twilight
This schedule maximises FTA interest in broadcasting as many games as possible, whilst also giving the fans traditional time slots. I think it gives a good balance between the fans and the money which pays for the sport to be run successfully.
Edit: Some additional thoughts
Currently on average 4 games per week are played in Melbourne. 0.5 games played in Geelong and 0.5 games played by VIC clubs interstate. Means the Thursday or Sunday game would need to be played in Melbourne each week.
A Saturday arvo game would be moved to cover any holiday/sepcial games like Anzac day (+eve), Easter monday etc. Good Friday would just be the VIC showdown moved to an earlier start time.
Last edited:
- Thread starter
- #17
Most teams would only have one Thursday match per season. Given that the aim would be to promote the game your club may well benefit. I remember when Friday night footy started with much hesitation. North started it and made it work...soon all clubs wanted a piece of the action.
CatToTheFuture
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100%. Rugby was never on TV here in adelaide now it's shown Thursday nights free to air. If you don't put something up against it people will start watching it.
I don't like it, because it seriously wipes out the chances of attending for kids and for those who live further than about an hour or so from the ground. I mean, I love it from a TV perspective, but it's a s**t night to actually go to the footy.
Maybe for the start of a season could try the first 5 weeks have Thursday nights.
Round 1 in Melbourne, then round 2 in Adelaide, 3 in Perth, 4 in Sydney and finally Brisbane for round 5. If done right could result in great crowds. Early in the season weather is usually better too.
Another idea is if we went to a Thursday night each round, would be every team has to have 1 Thursday night home game. This would mean 18 out of the 23 rounds are sorted. Minimal double ups. Be smart about scheduling too. Play the Queensland teams games later in the year, when weather down south is colder, just 1 example.
Round 1 in Melbourne, then round 2 in Adelaide, 3 in Perth, 4 in Sydney and finally Brisbane for round 5. If done right could result in great crowds. Early in the season weather is usually better too.
Another idea is if we went to a Thursday night each round, would be every team has to have 1 Thursday night home game. This would mean 18 out of the 23 rounds are sorted. Minimal double ups. Be smart about scheduling too. Play the Queensland teams games later in the year, when weather down south is colder, just 1 example.
Didnt Blighty come up with a plan involving a change to the FIXturing & Thu night games? Googled it, no luck ...
Agree with this. Thursday night would provide a big boost to TV ratings, but apart from Friday public holidays and school holidays, it's not so good for actually attending.
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