Thoughts on one-match-a-day footy?

[76woodenspooners]

We played Adelaide on a Tuesday night.

Putting aside the problem of playing 13 games in 3 days or whatever it is ...

... what are your thoughts of a fixture where there is one match every day ...

... and Collingwood’s games could be on a Tuesday or a Thursday or any other day ending in ‘y’?

(Given that there are 18 teams, therefore 9 matches a round, it should be possible to put together a match-a-day fixture where teams do get suitable breaks between games)

Poll above

 

[stormskye]

Ticket sales will be down. Less people likely to go to footy during weekdays.

Is what it is, but fri-sun with occasional thur and mon games is more than enough

 

[Chief Ten Beers]

It'd be fine if the Pies weren't forced to okay every 4th day in different states.

Good time to be a West Coast supporter

 

[PonsfordMagpie]

Not a fan, and I'm only tolerating it now due to the current circumstances we're in.

In a normal season, it would be terrible.

 

[gouki88]

Not a fan of it. Footy is too long a game to be played in the middle of the week - in-game attendance would be hit massively. It's not like basketball which takes far less time, and needs less recovery time.

Of course, the whole hit to attendance that doing this is mitigated by the pandemic, but I don't think it's viable long-term. I think we will see more Thursday & Monday games, but doubt Tuesday nor Wednesday will continue. I think I'm only less vehemently opposed to it now because I'm pretty starved of good news

 

[Vicky Park]

Every day for the season 76? No from me. It is possible to have too much footy, too much footy commentary, too much footy coverage. The phrase ‘saturation point’ comes to mind.

Would also not go down well with some partners. Think of the conflict.

 

[Markfs]

when i was a boy all the games were on at the same time. Your time watching footy was limited by broadcasters not having the resources.

if we change any further, afl will become another cricket..... endless mindless games that run into each other and lose their meaning.

A large percentage of the sporting population picked up short cricket and watched it every day for one series and now they are switching off.

Watch the NBA. it is a mind-blowingly number of endless games that mean nothing. Without the crowds getting pumped up by announcers and music and most importantly the crowds, the reality is that there is only so much time can be spent watching a particular sport before it becomes like going to church

 

[Robroy22]

They already do this overseas....I think it's called soccer and basketball.
But for us to do it we'd have to play like them...smaller fields (less intense gut running), less contact and tackling (almost nil), defensive presses everywhere and of course penalties and 3 pointers to break the deadlocks and nil all draws...
We'd have to introduce crowds that sing or throw food and beverages, and loud music would be played at every stoppage in play...

Do I want to do this???
Are you kidding?

 

[DaVe86]

Hating the 6:30 starts. Really hard with young kids over dinner to just be able to sit and enjoy it. If the games started at 7:40pm, it would be more enjoyable.

It is also very hard to know when one round ends and one round starts.

Overall, I think it works from the perspective that we can't go to the game, and have nothing else to really do with our lives at the moment. But if you actually wanted to go to the footy, it would be a nightmare around work and family. Footy is now tailored for the broadcasters...we know that. But we have also seen this year that having empty stadiums has a direct impact on the quality of the broadcast. So you still want to be able to fill grounds with decent crowds...which just won't be viable with footy every day of the week on work nights.

 

[DinoSoar]

AFL won’t get the attendance at games if they are scheduled across 7 days - no one will go on a Sun - Wed night, remember the abject failure that was Sunday twilights? The broadcasters might love it but the footy going masses will vote with their feet. Seeing as the AFL is driven by dollars, they wouldn’t tolerate the loss of revenue from gate receipts not to mention the bad look of empty stands on TV.

 

[nahnah]

dislike it, havent watched a non pies game in a while. Footy is a bit dull atm

 

[barrackers]

As someone who’s currently working 3pm to 11pm Mon-Fri it’s shit and I feel even more disconnected from footy. Not only can’t I attend matches I can’t watch most live either. I’ve never missed seeing so many games.

Post this bug it would be terrible for attending footy. Country and interstate people couldn’t travel and the late finish would impact families and early morning workers.

 

[JezzasOnTheAsphalt]

It's alright at the moment for the Victorians who can't go to games to be able to have a match to watch on any day, assuming they do not have other commitments. However I strongly suspect that once fans are able to get into the G again, the novelty will have worn off and weekend footy will be preferred.

The way that no two games are being crossed into each other at the moment can stay though. We have enough time to get through 9 games between Thursday and Sunday without 2 games running concurrently on a Saturday or Sunday as they tend to do. Start the first match of the weekend at midday and it will be very possible to keep that part of it going.

 

[neilk]

It's a no from me. I'm more than happy with Friday night-Saturday-Sunday.

 

[davywap]

Footy is a weekend sport

 

[ottoman]

I actually like it.
Obviously they won't make it the norm but I think at the very least Thursday night footy should be every week.

 

[Pedro]

In the current circumstances I don't mind it. When people are stuck at home at least there is something each night to break the boredom. In a normal season I'd say no way.

 

[Eric_Melvin]

If the standard of the games were better Id like it more. Port vs tigers held my attention. But there have been some ABSOLUTE HOWLERS... including the first half of our game last night and last game, and a fair few others. Having Eff all else to do right now, its good to have something to watch thats not THe Bachelor or Farmer wants a wife or whatever other gutter trash is on.

I live alone, so theres noone to organise to get ready for the 6.30 start, but I like it being over by 9pm on a school night. Cant imagine getting kids and stuff fed and cleaned up in time to watch tho... Surely not possible.

Post Covid (hopefully next year!) id be more than happy to just revert straight back to normal programming, but with somewhat of a floating fixture to allow for better games to be moved to prime time. Of course this may impact club profits, so may not be feasible. But in a 22 game season, we all know theres an inherant lack of fairness in the draw.

 

[10571z]

Love in at the moment but once things are back to normal no thanks.

The footy signals the weekend for me. I prefer Thursdays every now and then though. Also a sunday night victoria fixture would be good.

Saturdays should have a 5 oclock game into a 8 oclock. I hate 2 games at once.

 

[pablo disco bar]

I'm lucky my work phone is with telstra and I can watch all the games I want.

However I only really look forward to Collingwood games .

All the rest is meh and it's hard to keep up what round it is .

I hate the big bash cause on every nte

Look forward to a normal fixture

 

[JezzasOnTheAsphalt]

Love in at the moment but once things are back to normal no thanks.

The footy signals the weekend for me. I prefer Thursdays every now and then though. Also a sunday night victoria fixture would be good.

Saturdays should have a 5 oclock game into a 8 oclock. I hate 2 games at once.

Don’t think Sunday night fixtures will be back in a hurry.
But if it’s to ensure that there’s never 2 games at once again in the future, and the AFL would prefer to have later games rather than start earlier in the day, then I can potentially warm to the idea.

 

[Captain Embubry]

I love it, between AFL and the NBA restart its keeping me entertained and sane.

However, its just not sustainable in a non-covid season, and i think the novelty would wear off.

 

[76woodenspooners]

About the footy being a weekend thing ...

What is a weekend anyway?

Once upon a time Sundays were a day of rest and going to church having dinner with the family. In some places not even petrol stations were allowed to open on a Sunday!

And supermarkets closed at mid-day on a Saturday. And when they introduced extended trading hours on Saturday to 5pm it was super contentious and you still couldn’t buy meat after 1pm ... the meat fridges had covers put over them to stop you buying meat after a certain time.

All this was not so long ago.

The world has changed a lot over the decades, but this pandemic thing has the ability to be the most disruptive thing to happen in all our lives. Whole industries will be destroyed and new ones will be created. People are now working from home who never thought it would be possible. People are shopping from home more than ever before.

I’m sure many folks in Victoria stuck at home during the quarantine are losing track of what day it is, because days don’t have so much meaning any more.

Many folks have lost their jobs / will lose their jobs. Many folks are / will work part time. Many folks will work flexible hours. In that context it doesn’t really make so much difference what day / time the footy is on.

By having it played on a rolling basis that could fall on any day of the week, it’ll be bad for people who want a routine, but it’ll be good for people who want to go to the footy once in a while and have it on at some times that don’t clash with their other life activities.

 

[SnakePlisskin]

Thursday to Sunday I’d prefer , they could have replays on during the week and they’d rate for sure.

 

[cleomenes]

The daily dose of football that has been a response to the virus carries some lessons for the future of the game.
1. Football on TV every night deadens interest. It is on all of the time, so it doesn't matter whether you see a game or not.
2. The physical demands of Australian football are too great for players to operate in the manner of the impact free games liker soccer. A week is needed for players to recover from a game. Greatly expanded lists would be needed to have adequate reserves.
3. Timing of matches to fit some TV schedule is a disincentive to watch. Matches that run across the evening meal time seem designed to cause family conflict. The end loser in those conflicts will be the game. I am unable to understand what gains Fox executives see in this scheduling.
4. The structure of the roster, at least in my mind, is lost in the daily games. I have no idea where we are up to, and what the ladder means at any given time, and so I take less interest.
5. Shortened games with longer breaks between quarters are deadly. Comebacks are more unlikely, and dour games tightly controlled by coaches are the norm.
6. The modification to holding the ball, controversial and inconsistent as it is, has still provided a little bit of relief from congestion. Umpires need to hold their nerve on this one, and make the return to the old interpretation work. Much more needs to be done about congestion, but daily games isn't it.

Before this enforced experiment, I had thought that since soccer did it, a scheduling that allowed midweek games might be a good idea. I have been disabused of this notion