The Decagon should replace the Oval as the shape for an Aussie Rules ground.

[Amber Guzzler]

Why don't we play AFL on race tracks? The way our game is evolving, eventually all players will be as fast as cars anyway and the game will be completely about speed. Different stadiums can have different shapes and to kick a goal, your team has to do one whole lap around the track without the other team touching the ball, and then kicking it into a central hoop that both team uses.

Won't work. The AFL has enough problem with an interchange system where the entry/exit point is the same place. Imagine how they'd **** it up if they were 500m apart.

 

[Inciting Violence]

Ultimate Australian Fighting Football Cricket - Are you allowed to hit an oponent with a bat? I think its OK but not in the back or when going for a mark - I would not like to see marks getting harder than now.

Another alternative would be to merge with beach vollyball - the bikini thing would be great!
Ultimate Australian Beach Vollyball Fighting Football Cricket - improve on that!

Now your just being silly

 

[Amber Guzzler]

I am also going to throw my hat into the ring for the 21 sided icosikaihenagon, as - given the new substitutes rule - it will be one side of the field per player.

Since all league teams inevitably try to copy the game style of the premier and Collingwood is known for it's boundary hugging style, we will most likely see each of the 21 players and their direct opponents manning one edge of the ground, thus rendering the corridor redundant.

Rather than wasting this space, it could be used to play a concurrent game of 20/20 cricket, although in honour of the number 21, we would obviously change it to be 21/21 cricket.

21 overs per team. Each of the cricket teams is paired to one of the football teams. Every time the cricket team hits a 6, their associated football team also gets a goal, 6 points. And vice versa for the football teams.

The cricket teams could also help their associated football team by a cricket based form of shepherding, namely strategically placed cover drives into whichever tagger was scragging too closely.

This would make a day at the footy much more interesting, plus after years of using computers and multitasking, people find doing or watching only one thing boring. The natural end game of this is that in future, all sports will be run concurrently, ultimately leading to the Olympics only lasting 9.8 odd seconds as all medals are competed for during the 100m sprint.

Anyway, I have digressed. I see the 2011 season, icosikaihenagon based AFL 21/21 cricket hybrid looking something like this.

Opinions?

Wouldn't be fair. Every cricket team would request to be paired with Collingwood.

 

[CF]

meh....decagons etc were invented by people who couldn't draw a circle.

 

[Pessimistic]

Playing with 2 balls simultaneously could do away with ruckmen and flooding.

Each passage begins with 2 balls kicked in from each end.

Play continues until both balls have gone dead, either through scoring or out of bounds.

Then another kick in ensues

 

[eldorado]

Some very valid and thoughtful ideas here that could really improve our great game.

I hope KB is listening.

One thing I haven't heard suggested, so I'll flag my idea here, is to remove the ball from the game.

As it is, I think it creates too much confusion, and many injuries occur when the players try to win possession of it. After all, they are very large men, travelling at great speed. If you ask me, the ball is the single greatest contributor to the spate of injuries we see all teams suffer.

Also, there is a lot of dead time involved when neither side has clear possession, either in ball-ups or boundary throw ins. (assuming we keep the somewhat antiquated concept of 'boundaries' as we do now.) Removing the ball would speed up the game, which I think we all agree would make it more exciting.

Thoughts?

 

[Howard Littlejohn]

Ummm.. I'm not convinced.

Grounds shared between football and cricket would be a bit problematic.

All we need standardised are the goal post spacing, goal square and centre square markings.

The ground in Cardiff might be a decagon. I cbf looking it up, but it certainly had numerous straight sides - just not sure if it was ten. But the point is, grounds can be shared with cricket. And as cricket often uses smaller boundaries than Australian Football, cricket can put the ropes anywhere they want, even as an oval, within the confines of a decagonal surface.

However a 12 sided ground would allow for three-way contests. The opening round of the pre-season cup need not be the short matches as is the case next year, but a three-way contest. There could be goals on all sides, and the goals change each quarter, so every part of the ground has some of their rime behind the goals and some of their time on the wing. A much more egalitarian approach to ticketing.

 

[Darkness Falls]

However a 12 sided ground would allow for three-way contests. The opening round of the pre-season cup need not be the short matches as is the case next year, but a three-way contest. There could be goals on all sides, and the goals change each quarter, so every part of the ground has some of their rime behind the goals and some of their time on the wing. A much more egalitarian approach to ticketing.

Agreed, 3 team matches is the way of the future. It will allow newer teams in places such as Tasmania and Darwin as well as possible extra teams in WA and South Australia. The game should then be split into thirds, each team getting their goals at a different place per third. This will also lay redundant silly shows such as "The 5th Quarter". The game would become a lot more exciting, imagine a 3 way tie on the Grand Final! Having 3 teams on the field at once also means that we will see a new wave of creative and funky looking team colours, as to not clash with other teams'.

 

[cancat]

We clearly need to remove the boundary completely. Less umpires will be required and it will eliminate contentious deliberate out of bounds decisions. If the ball goes into the crowd or out of the ground, then play on.

 

[Wallaby]

Australian football has been played on a diamond before. In the 60s Melbourne and some other team went to the States for the 'promotional' match (ie: paid piss-up holiday for the players and officials - not like today!). Ron Barassi said they played on a gridiron field, and to get some length into the field they placed the goalposts diagonally opposite in the corners. Even so, he said they only played about 14-a-side.

 

[Poached_Egg]

Playing with 2 balls simultaneously could do away with ruckmen and flooding.

Each passage begins with 2 balls kicked in from each end.

Play continues until both balls have gone dead, either through scoring or out of bounds.

Then another kick in ensues

I have often thought about a sport that uses two AFL balls. A multiball game with each team having their ball.

To score you have to take posession of the other teams ball and score with that. The key points of the game being keeping posession of your ball, gaining posession of the opponents ball, and scoring with that ball.

Full tacking/bumping is allowed. The rest of the game is similar to AFL Rules, but more brutal. Marks/Frees/50m penalties etc included. I would remove the behinds and just have goals.


Would be good played on a Decagon.

 

[arkie]

Let's all be honest. Ovals do suck, especially compared to rectangular stadiums. Rectangular stadiums provide better viewing for an audience and look nicer. Perhaps we should play our game on a rectangular playing field.

 

[im_a_lazy_sod]

Quiditch oval ftw!

 

[Bardo State]

I think that by 2038.6, we will be playing on an octadecagon that is 500-700m wide.
This would allow for an 18 team all-Australian derby. Each team will have ten players with a ball each with their team colours on it. Four people from each team start in the centre and try to get to the other endwithout being tackled, shot with paintball guns (each team has 2 gunners and 4 defenders), once they get past this and the moat with great whites, they then have to kick the ball into a hoop that is on the edge of the ground and eat a meat pie.

 

[HSSB]

To be honest I think the AFL will end up making the oval smaller at each ground, the game is slowly turning into bball with the interchanges, last touch etc.

 

[pazza]

The only solution - MULTIBALL!!!

20 minutes gone in every quarter - time-on is taken up with Multi-ball!!! Boundary umpires becomes user operated paddles....

 

[Headless]

Some very valid and thoughtful ideas here that could really improve our great game.

I hope KB is listening.

One thing I haven't heard suggested, so I'll flag my idea here, is to remove the ball from the game.

As it is, I think it creates too much confusion, and many injuries occur when the players try to win possession of it. After all, they are very large men, travelling at great speed. If you ask me, the ball is the single greatest contributor to the spate of injuries we see all teams suffer.

...

I like your way of thinking. Fully grown men chasing after a relatively small leather, oval ball (this should be in review also) at fairly high speeds can be somewhat difficult to watch from the highest points of the MCG, amongst other grounds.

What I am proposing is that along with removing the injury-provoking ball from the game, we give each player a set of stilts to stand on whilst playing. One advantage of this is that there are only 18 sets of stilts per team, meaning that when somebody has been interchanged, they must give their set of stilts to the oncoming player. This creates a whole new facet of the game, and would be fascinating to watch.

The stilts provide action closer to the general public confined to the fourth level of the MCG, and along with the removal of the ball create a) less chance of injury, b) a game which is more aesthetically pleasing with no sudden movements and c) a completely unique game to separate ourselves from the ever-joining world.

Perhaps each set of stilts could have 21 sides?

Thoughts?

 

[cammo84]

STUPIDEST THREAD EVER. Has to be a joke.

Every ground is different. It's part of the charm of our game. A game at Subiaco will never play out like a game at the SCG. It all adds to the home ground advantage. To change this would be a travesty. I feel dirty for having even replied to this thread, surely the OP is taking the piss.

 

[Glorious couch life]

STUPIDEST THREAD EVER. Has to be a joke.

Every ground is different. It's part of the charm of our game. A game at Subiaco will never play out like a game at the SCG. It all adds to the home ground advantage. To change this would be a travesty. I feel dirty for having even replied to this thread, surely the OP is taking the piss.

Why does everyone just accept that the oval should be the designated ground shape? Don't fear change!

And nobody is saying that the every decagon arena (or dodecagon, icosahedron, icosikaihenagon etc) has to be of the same dimensions.

All the grounds could work with their available space, but just spice things up with a few more angles.








Vote 1 icosikaihenagon.

 

[Amber Guzzler]

STUPIDEST THREAD EVER. Has to be a joke.

WOW, they breed 'em bright over in Adelaide. There's no pulling the wool over your eyes, is there sunshine.

 

[JHF1870]

Should also have a glass roof so spectators can watch from "Sky View" could potentially increase capacity of the MCG to 130K.

 

[Honeyboy Wilson]

The triangle idea sounds awesome. yeahhhhhh

 

[Coledinho]

We should replace boundary umpires with girls in skimpy clothes. Or before the bounce we should have boxing ring girls walk out with a big sign to display what quarter it is.

 

[Shinboner Schem]

i agree.

i have a few prosposals.

now not all of those approriate, however 1) top line second from left, 2) second line very left, 3) third lind second from left, 4) third line very right, 5) fourth line very left and 6) fourth line second from right

all of those i believe we should do a cost benefit analysis of each of those six playing field shapes and what they offer for the future of the game.

That one on the bottom row, 2nd from the right would be perfect for all those players that have been practicing their goal kicking from the car-park! (i.e. Motlop)

 

[Shinboner Schem]

Okay, we all know that people hate ovals. It's obvious that the concept on a sports field just doesn't work. For starters it's impossible to make the curvature absolutely accurate. Even if you think it's a genuine oval shape, it can never genuinely be accurate, because human error comes into play.

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