The push to shorten the game: why?

[VicPark Bitter]

To what end?

Why shorten it?

Most fans of the game want more not less. A game already feels like it goes to quick imo.
Would just be another nail in the coffin will need a break away league soon to return the physical side of the game, return the characters and see the game as it should be played.

I'm all for it.
lets stop this bullsh$t now and get it sorted.
the non Vic teams can break away and start a new super dooper whiz bang national league with all the bells and whistles,fireworks,night grandfinals and all the other american crap that gilligan and the media are fixated on.
they can start up 2 Melbourne plastic franchises to join their new channel 7 tv entertainment product.
then the traditional Melbourne teams can go back to playing in a legit aussie rules football competition

 

[Kwality]

Also heard Chris Judd advocating it earlier in the year.

This was a topic of discussion over lunch at Moonee Valley yesterday between a broad cross-section of club supporters. Nobody I have ever spoken to believes the game is "too long" (in fact I'm often disappointed when the siren sounds to end a quarter).

If they needlessly change the nature of the game I'll walk away from it like my old man did 30 years ago. I won't watch T20 "cricket" and I won't watch a bastardised version of footy. Gil and his campaignering mates can have it.

Cheers Ron, I'm with you (though love 20/20), concerned these proponents will hijack the decision as they did with the GF location, its announced as a fait accompli because they say it is so.

 

[Kwality]

Shorten games and increase the number of them to make the fixture fair. Everyone plays each other twice.

See the NRL use of double headers, https://www.nrl.com/news/2018/06/17...ound-to-be-staged-in-2019-at-suncorp-stadium/

A game of rugby league consists of two halves of 40 minutes, with injury time added on at the end of each half.
Many AFL fans would prefer a game for footy naturals rather than athletes, & I've never thought NRL toughness should be replaced by athletes.

 

[sprockets]

I'm all for it.
lets stop this bullsh$t now and get it sorted.
the non Vic teams can break away and start a new super dooper whiz bang national league with all the bells and whistles,fireworks,night grandfinals and all the other american crap that gilligan and the media are fixated on.
they can start up 2 Melbourne plastic franchises to join their new channel 7 tv entertainment product.
then the traditional Melbourne teams can go back to playing in a legit aussie rules football competition

Don't they already have that? SANFL

 

[VicPark Bitter]

Don't they already have that? SANFL

yeah, nice one,
unfortunately the SANFL is just a pale imitation of the AFL.
if the SANFL were smart enough, they would revert back to an aussie rules style of football but seem intent on copying everthing the idiots at AFL house do

 

[Smartest Brain]

See the NRL use of double headers, https://www.nrl.com/news/2018/06/17...ound-to-be-staged-in-2019-at-suncorp-stadium/

A game of rugby league consists of two halves of 40 minutes, with injury time added on at the end of each half.
Many AFL fans would prefer a game for footy naturals rather than athletes, & I've never thought NRL toughness should be replaced by athletes.

No shortening of the game will do anything without the AFL increasing the violence in the meantime. Shorter games would be good if the product the AFL are delivering is A+++ quality but with their decrease in violence, marks, goals it is about a B- at the moment. Which puts it in an ever contentious entertainment segment.

 

[Timmy from Thomastown]

So they have the fitness to congest the ball all day

 

[Timmy from Thomastown]

Has to be shortened, we must have the longest football game in the world. I wonder ho many injuries happen late in the game or late in each quarter?

You're telling the story. How many?

 

[Kwality]

No shortening of the game will do anything without the AFL increasing the violence in the meantime. Shorter games would be good if the product the AFL are delivering is A+++ quality but with their decrease in violence, marks, goals it is about a B- at the moment. Which puts it in an ever contentious entertainment segment.

Toughness is not violence even in the NRL.
Our game does not need violence, it can address the preference for athletes over natural footballers by other adjustments, e.g interchange.

 

[rooboy29]

Watched

Yep all good suggestions.

the state of origin highlights the other day and as soon as a player got tackled and the ball looked pinned he blew the whistle and balled it up straight away. The game kept moving and don’t allow 20 blokes to enter the contest! Now it looks like the umps wait for everyone to set up and use it as a time to catch your breath

 

[GreyCrow]

The same reason Cadbury slice 10g off your chocolate. Same money for less output

 

[RAPPA]

Citing the length of the game as the problem is a massive cop out by the AFL.

 

[Carringbush2010]

I'm all for it.
lets stop this bullsh$t now and get it sorted.
the non Vic teams can break away and start a new super dooper whiz bang national league with all the bells and whistles,fireworks,night grandfinals and all the other american crap that gilligan and the media are fixated on.
they can start up 2 Melbourne plastic franchises to join their new channel 7 tv entertainment product.
then the traditional Melbourne teams can go back to playing in a legit aussie rules football competition

And that legit comp would be the most watched and attended, this break away league just wouldn't have the supporter numbers to make it viable - mark my words.

 

[BanjoRed]

Which clubs? The least impact from a paying supporter base would be gc, gws, bris and one of the smaller vic clubs

Too large of an impact on Queensland footy if there was no AFL team representing it. Can't see the AFL removing clubs either, if there was ever a crisis point for clubs the AFL would most likely merge them. Merging two teams together = one less club and fans can still follow their team.

 

[Carringbush2010]

Too large of an impact on Queensland footy if there was no AFL team representing it. Can't see the AFL removing clubs either, if there was ever a crisis point for clubs the AFL would most likely merge them. Merging two teams together = one less club and fans can still follow their team.

Merging? Maybe so for expansion teams like gc and gws, vic teams or sa and wa teams? Nup the fans wouldn't follow.

 

[AstonSouffle]

I've never boycotted anything in my life, but I would seriously consider not watching or attending games for a season if this happened and I ******* love footy. Will be a great way to s**t all over the fans if they ever change something so fundamental to the way the game is played.

Take it you've never played lower level football? No time on there.

 

[Tuco]

You cannot limit time-on without creating a blight of timewasting strategies.

People boo on a backwards switch now. Imagine how bad it would be if all a team has to do is kick 3 goals and then perform the AR equivalent of calling for the stretcher for ten minutes.

In other codes they call this deplorable, cheating tactic of running down the clock "game management". And teams are lauded for killing the contest.

Scoring would be less necessary. So shortened games just screams to me even LESS entertainment.

* that.

 

[Sir_Loin]

20 m quarters, no preseason comp, 44 player lists, mid season trade period. Play everyone twice

Do it

 

[Cdog71]

Haven't read the whole thread so don't know if it's been mentioned.

If they shorten the game it becomes an easier product to sell overseas...ESPN
My view
Dangerfield doesn't speak for the players that have played the game in the past or in the future or even for the players now.
And he certainly doesn't speak for the fans, like Judd they're just a different mouthpiece for the AFL trying to make more money, if they could tap into that television market it would mean big bucks.

 

[Total_Juddshanks]

I have a horrible feeling this will happen sooner than people think, really all the stars are aligning.

1. The marketing gurus who brought us AFLX would love this because something something T20.

2. The 'elder statesman' game raping coaches like Longmire and Clarkson will love it because shorter games make it easier to employ zones and clog things up more.

3. The AFLPA will get behind it because it makes life easier for players.

4. The bean counters will love it because it provides scope for more games per year which means more ad revenue, footy tickets, tv rights etc.

Just in case anyone struggles with the idea though make no mistake, it would be an outright ******* disaster. Even the ugliest games at the moment have a few minutes each quarter where people get tired congestion eases and the game starts to break open and kpps start to get one on ones come into their own - that would stop happening with shorter quarters. Plus it would make football per capita more expensive for the public and increase the number of meaningless games each year.

So it's a ******* dreadful idea which disrespects fans, shits on the history of the game and would make football worse in every appreciable way. That being the case I have no doubt Gil has already signed off on the business case.

 

[precarious]

Why do they do anything? Because channel 7 wants them to.

I think it would be Fox, not 7, that would want shorter games. Fox will want non-overlapping games, whereas 7 benefits from showing different games in different cities at the same time and coding it as a single program for ratings purposes.

Assuming this is not just a throwaway talking point, IMO the idea would be driven mostly by Fox (or the AFL looking to get more revenue from Fox) rather than the players. Players might favor a shorter game, but I doubt many of them would want that in exchange for a longer season or more games.

 

[loki04]

It is good practice to know what your competitors are doing.

When your product is good you don't need to bastardise it to keep up with the struggling jones'.

It's the incessant changes creating the issues in the first place.

 

[loki04]

They should change it from quarters to thirds. 3 periods of 25 minutes each, problem solved.

They should also strap dildo's to their foreheads and runaround with bright pink GIL shirts.

 

[loki04]

Haven't read the whole thread so don't know if it's been mentioned.

If they shorten the game it becomes an easier product to sell overseas...ESPN
My view
Dangerfield doesn't speak for the players that have played the game in the past or in the future or even for the players now.
And he certainly doesn't speak for the fans, like Judd they're just a different mouthpiece for the AFL trying to make more money, if they could tap into that television market it would mean big bucks.

Most "fans" are also players or former players of the game of Aussie Rules, just because they made the elite tier makes their opinion on the game laws no more valid then Joe Blogs who plays in div 1 league.

It annoys me when people go they have to play this game sooo hard to play a sport they once played for free without complaint that it's "too hard" "too rough" and "too long".

 

[loki04]

Take it you've never played lower level football? No time on there.

Yeah there is, they stop the clock at all stoppages even in u18s, well it does where I am from.

All time on is doing is lengthening quarters by way of clock stops at stoppages, if you let time roll on you would only see 12 minutes a quarter of actual game play...