The Modern Era of Football

[South of the Yarra]

As a Collingwood supporter we have often heard we had won only one or two flags in the modern era. We have often been told flags in the 50s don't count but had to listen to certain supporters gloating about flags in the 70s and 80s being 'modern day despite this being 40 and 50 years ago.
I am genuinely interested in what do people consider the 'modern day' when it comes to AFL.
Is it since colour TV?
Is it since the introduction of the AFL?
Is it since the 2000s?
Is it since we have had a full quota of teams in the competition?
Is it post COVID?
Maybe a different response.

This may be age specific and different generations may have different answers so interested in what people deem as 'modern day football'.

 

[jakson68]

Modern era to me, is when we officially became the AFL.

 

[jabba5114]

Modern to me is 2000 onwards.

Sent from my motorola edge 30 pro using Tapatalk

 

[Taper]

Since 1990 when the AFL began or since 2000 when the new millennium began.
Anything before 1990 is cherry picking unless you go back to the 1870s when top level football began in the pre VFL days.

 

[iameviljez]

Tactically, I consider the start of the modern era to be 2008, when Clarkson and Lyon made the game pretty much unrecognisable from its previous fun-but-dumb form.

Otherwise, it’s 1990 for me.

The 1989 GF was pretty much the perfect send off for the old VFL - hugely brutal, tactically naive and massively entertaining.

 

[stallon]

In my mind the modern era is when I started watching footy in 2004.
Practically though I think 1990 is a fair spot to start for things like counting premierships, when it became the AFL.

 

[Dazzler9]

1990.

Divide all stats and records as from that date.

 

[AndyLucimitis]

Since 1968

 

[juss]

As a Collingwood supporter we have often heard we had won only one or two flags in the modern era. We have often been told flags in the 50s don't count but had to listen to certain supporters gloating about flags in the 70s and 80s being 'modern day despite this being 40 and 50 years ago.
I am genuinely interested in what do people consider the 'modern day' when it comes to AFL.
Is it since colour TV?
Is it since the introduction of the AFL?
Is it since the 2000s?
Is it since we have had a full quota of teams in the competition?
Is it post COVID?
Maybe a different response.

This may be age specific and different generations may have different answers so interested in what people deem as 'modern day football'.

When it became the AFL or 2000 onwards are two different definitions but depends on the context of the conversation. Mind you that changes by definition of the word modern, so maybe it's the last 20 years or so at any given time?

 

[Danw0w]

It started on precisely 30 September 2017

 

[Altum Volantes]

I have always considered it to be once the players stopped holding regular jobs - so around the mid 90s when the likes of Damien Monkhorst hung up his plunger and John Worsfold left his Pharmacy.

For the sake of including the Eagles earlier flags in any kind of counts though, let’s say 1990.

 

[Shane Heard]

Late 80s ..early 90s when the majority of senior players were basically looking at their footy career as a full time occupation without the need for a regularly job outside footy.

Blokes like Buckley Hird Carey Voss etc never had real jobs and devoted their time to improving fitness and skills.

I remember reading a story from a player in Essendon’s early Sheedy days (81/82’) where he described the torturous 3 hour training sessions Sheedy dished out and how he struggled get through them after a big 8 hour day at work as a tradie

It was either survive or die in those days because if you weren’t super fit you were guaranteed you wouldn’t last long as a league player.

 

[TheUnicorn]

1990 onwards, I'm personally of the belief that the older the flag the less weight it holds, I know the draft is still far from perfect but it's a lot better than it was, plus more teams etc. etc.

Geelong are indisputably the best AFL team IMO, IDGAF who's got 16 flags personally.

 

[Makeshft_Mauler]

I think any time the modern era is brought up is either to polish up certain team stats or diminish others.

Teams like Hawthorn use the modern era tag because it means they average a flag every 4 years or something crazy, and teams like collingwood dont like the term because it means they have won 3 flags in nearly 70 years while having the equal most.

I mean all that matter is how many youve won recently, say 10-20 years where the vast majority of your supporters can atleast have been said to be alive when you last won it.

it would be pretty silly while also factually correct to claim a team was the most succesful team in AFL history if it say won 30 grand finals between 1870 and 1920 and then has won nothing since and when the AFL wasnt even called that

i do think that if you wanted to put a full stop on the previous era and then brand something as modern then 1990 is probably the bestwhen there was now a team in WA, NSW, SA, QLD and VIC

 

[Caesarr]

For me the modern era began after the 1989 GF which seemed like the end of an era mainly due to the brutality. So 1990 would be a good start.

However, in other sports like F1 for example, the modern era began in the 80s/mid 80s

 

[Catsace]

I might have a stranger version of modern era, but since the televising of the GF in 1977 is sort of where I'd consider the line. The 1978 GF to watch on youtube, maybe it's just the chaotic start where Hawthorn's half forwards all pretty much lined up at the line of the centre square, but it is a game that if you didn't know the year it was played, it seems a modern-ish game to me.

But a good point was the general transition to full time professionalism, I recall even in the early 90's you had Couch as a garbo then car salesman, and Garry Hocking was a garbo in the early 90's and actually missed a game or two after doing an ankle playing kick to kick while on his round. Bill Brownless was a bank teller too, and Gary Ablett Sr used to drive a truck for former Cats president Ron Hovey.

But I'm happy to go with what looks like a fair consensus, the changing of the name of the comp to the AFL in 1990. It's also a handy way to excoriate four Hawk 80's flags from the discussion too!

 

[Shane Heard]

For me the modern era began after the 1989 GF which seemed like the end of an era. So 1990 would be a good start.

However, in other sports like F1 for example, the modern era began in the 80s/mid 80s

Also the Man United era of Fergerson driving Scholes, Giggs, Keane, Stam, Cantona etc to new heights of professionalism

 

[falcons2]

The AFL/1990 bit was nothing but a name change. The AFL never actually began unless you consider re-badging a beginning. VFL Expansion began in 1986 and on-field play in 87 but the style of footy probably remained similar from the mid to late 70's till about 2005. High speed, run and receive handball, kick long, big scores. I call this the modern era of football.
Around 2005 the level of tactics with tempo and ball control/deny the opposition became a thing. We are in this post-modern era of detailed tactics and technical set plays and so on. Maybe we are in an advanced or progressive era of footy.

If the whole point of the thread is to de-value old premierships, then suit yourself. Count them from whenever you like, when you were born, when your team entered, it doesn't matter.

 

[evolved2]

Tactically, I consider the start of the modern era to be 2008, when Clarkson and Lyon made the game pretty much unrecognisable from its previous fun-but-dumb form.

Otherwise, it’s 1990 for me.

The 1989 GF was pretty much the perfect send off for the old VFL - hugely brutal, tactically naive and massively entertaining.

I consider one round 21 match in 2000 the starting point of modern defensive tactics. It took the invention of flooding to stop the bombers juggernaut that year.

 

[JackFlash]

The Golden Age of Football began when St.Kilda won their first Grand Final in 1966 and lasted until 2000. We got an encore for about a decade or so after that, but the continuous dilution of the rules sees the game in 2023 having very little similarity to the game we watched in the 70s,80s and 90s when footy was at its peak. If the last 10 years is the "Modern Era" then i'm lucky i was born when i was and saw real Australian rules Football.

 

[Meteoric Rise]

As a Collingwood supporter we have often heard we had won only one or two flags in the modern era. We have often been told flags in the 50s don't count but had to listen to certain supporters gloating about flags in the 70s and 80s being 'modern day despite this being 40 and 50 years ago.
I am genuinely interested in what do people consider the 'modern day' when it comes to AFL.
Is it since colour TV?
Is it since the introduction of the AFL?
Is it since the 2000s?
Is it since we have had a full quota of teams in the competition?
Is it post COVID?
Maybe a different response.

This may be age specific and different generations may have different answers so interested in what people deem as 'modern day football'.

All flags count mate, who said otherwise?

Obviously it is more difficult for clubs to win Premierships in the 18 team era than ever before. The step up to 18 teams also more or less coincided with every team finally having fully funded football departments.

The arms race now seems to be being fought out by narrative control in the media and political manoeuvring at HQ, because notionally all clubs have equal player payments and soft cap outlays.

Not sure why COVID would make any difference.

All the other things were landmarks along the way in the development of the competition. Also the move away from most games being played at the suburban grounds which were home to the clubs. You could add the draft era, the salary cap era, the TV era, the post Olympics MCG era leading to an explosion in finals crowds, the full professional era are just a few off the top of my head.

 

[Power Raid]

As a Collingwood supporter we have often heard we had won only one or two flags in the modern era. We have often been told flags in the 50s don't count but had to listen to certain supporters gloating about flags in the 70s and 80s being 'modern day despite this being 40 and 50 years ago.
I am genuinely interested in what do people consider the 'modern day' when it comes to AFL.
Is it since colour TV?
Is it since the introduction of the AFL?
Is it since the 2000s?
Is it since we have had a full quota of teams in the competition?
Is it post COVID?
Maybe a different response.

This may be age specific and different generations may have different answers so interested in what people deem as 'modern day football'.

good question

From a personal perspective, I value flags post WW2 greater than pre WW2.

I value flags from the AFL era greater than VFL due to the ever increasing professionalism (and reduced brown paper bag club management)

There has also been a step change in standards from around 2010, which deserves its own demarcation.

The modern era term is probably moving goal posts though. As in 2000, it probably included the 80s where now probably doesn't include the 90s. Thus the modern era could be defined as 1 generation (20 years).

 

[Taper]

The Golden Age of Football began when St.Kilda won their first Grand Final in 1966 and lasted until 2000. We got an encore for about a decade or so after that, but the continuous dilution of the rules sees the game in 2023 having very little similarity to the game we watched in the 70s,80s and 90s when footy was at its peak. If the last 10 years is the "Modern Era" then i'm lucky i was born when i was and saw real Australian rules Football.

What about 2007? High octane football at its best.

 

[Cursed Cat]

For me the modern era began after the 1989 GF which seemed like the end of an era mainly due to the brutality. So 1990 would be a good start.

Agree with this.

 

[Cleavy]

Since 1990, so Hawks on top with 5 flags then.