Roast We've got the season wrong and it needs to change now

[The Nostradamus]

To think we had the women’s game all throughout peak summer in recent years

not smart

 

[btdg]

Seems to me an anthropomorphic cartoon seagull with a speech impediment had the answer 30 years ago. Maybe we should heed his advice instead of completely changing the season around, or spending $500 million quid on a roof for the MCG.

When you say changing the season around... we HAVE changed the season drastically though.

When the league began, it started the season in May, with an 18 round season that ran until August, then finals in September. For a long, long time the league was a winter league running May-August. Around WWII it started creeping into the last weekend in April, but it was very much a winter competition.

Then, when the league expanded to 22 games in 1970 it pushed 4 weeks earlier, to the first weekend in April, with a gradual shift to it being right on the cusp of March/April (ie: the weekend closest to April 1).

That's where it stayed until we added a 15th team (and consequence bye week) in 1990. The first year they stretched into October, the second year started a week earlier, then in year 3 they decided to just play 20 matches and start at the 'normal' time. All resolved when Freo came in, though, and we got back to the 'last weekend in March'.

As recently as 2016, the start date for Carlton vs Richmond was Thursday 24th March. The following year, they introduced the pre-finals bye and went a week earlier again. Then Gather Round last year for another week earlier. Now we're layering in Round Zero and going even earlier.

So what used to be a May start is now instead as early as Thursday 7th March.

We've got a bye coming in a couple of years. Will that push the start even earlier, into February? At some point, it gets a bit silly, and the obvious solution is to negotiate with cricket to get them to use other grounds for First Class matches in October, so that footy (which actually has crowds) can be played then, and get back to an April start

 

[boncer34]

Bunk Moreland the opening round wasn't the disaster you predicted so you've rolled onto your next outrage?

 

[Art Vandelay_]

"I'm so tough for getting sunburnt and probably melanoma"

It was a crap thread premise. It's 29 degrees FFS.
Tradies work in that all summer.

Hat and sunscreen and you're set

 

[Bunk Moreland]

Bunk Moreland the opening round wasn't the disaster you predicted so you've rolled onto your next outrage?

when did I predict opening round would be a disaster?

 

[boncer34]

when did I predict opening round would be a disaster?

I don't read all your posts in full. You sure do seem to like roasting though.

 

[Bunk Moreland]

I don't read all your posts in full.

Well that’s obvious.

The “roast” tag here was a play on the fact it’s hot. Clearly not an obvious enough play.

 

[Carringbush2010]

Pies like October premierships

 

[Defabs]

Interesting day at the MCG today. 74k baked in the sun in 29deg weather. If you're unfortunate enough to be on the southern side of the ground, it's certainly not comfortable in direct sunlight. In fact, it's downright unhealthy given what medical science now knows.

Out on the field, the last quarter was marked by player, after player, after player going down with cramp. It certainly affected the contest. Player fatigue was obviously greater as well, and the capping of interchange in recent years means they get less rest.

Elsewhere across the country, tens and tens of thousands of footballers were engaged in full-scale practice matches. State and community level seasons start in April, which means the full dress rehearsals must be held in March. Plenty of heatstroke and sunburn for the masses as they were cooked in the oven-like temperatures.

I actually don't quite know why it started... it'll be way back in the annals of history somewhere. But footy was always April to September, and cricket was October to March. That's simply how ground tenancies were split.

And over the decades and centuries, for whatever reason, footy has (with a few minor exceptions) remained absolutely glued to vacating on the last Saturday in September.

The AFL has grown into a bigger and bigger beast in that time. in 2024 it's reached another peak. With a four-week finals series, a pre-finals bye for all clubs, the addition of Gather Round, and now the addition of Opening Round, this year's AFL season takes place across 30 weeks.

As we're stubbornly stuck to the last Saturday in September, things just keep getting earlier.

We started on the 7th of March. The AFL are very lucky that Opening Round didn't include Melbourne, where it was 38deg on every day of the long weekend.

It's simple... it's too hot.

Footy was not meant to be played in this heat. It impacts the game and the athletes. Moreso in this era of non-stop running for all positions.

It's terrible for the fans. Moreso in this era of huge, concrete bowl stadiums with little shade and reserved seats. In the flexibility of yesteryear, you might seek shade. Not now. You're crammed in, in direct sunlight with nowhere to go. Absolutely perfect for discomfort, dehydration, sunburn and skin cancer.

People will simply stay home.

Across the bush and the suburbs, footy is increasingly professionalised in the way it's played, but without the medical technology and on-hand care that they have at the elite level. Players swelter in the conditions.

The bottom line...

We really have to stop playing footy in March.

Here's the BOM monthly median temperatures by capital cities for the 1991-2020 dataset.

	Melb	Syd	Bris	Adel	Perth
Jan	27​	27​	30.4​	30​	31.4​
Feb	26.9​	26.8​	30.2​	29.7​	31.7​
Mar	24.6​	25.7​	29.2​	26.6​	29.6​
Apr	21.1​	23.6​	27.2​	23​	25.9​
May	17.6​	20.9​	24.5​	19​	22.3​
Jun	15.1​	18.3​	22.1​	16.2​	19.4​
Jul	14.5​	17.9​	22​	15.6​	18.5​
Aug	15.9​	19.3​	23.4​	16.7​	19.1​
Sep	18.1​	21.6​	25.7​	19.3​	20.6​
Oct	20.5​	23.2​	27.1​	22.5​	23.4​
Nov	22.9​	24.2​	28.3​	25.4​	26.8​
Dec	24.8​	25.7​	29.6​	27​	29.5​

The solution? Pretty simple really... we have to just push everything back by a month.

In Melbourne, where most games are played, the Oct median temp is 4.1deg lower in October than it is in March. That's a huge difference.

In Adelaide it's also 4.1deg. In Sydney it's 2.5deg. Brisbane 2.1deg.

It Perth it's 6.2deg!

The median temp in Perth in March is 29.6deg! In Brisbane it's 29.2.

You cannot play good football in these temperatures. The players suffer, the spectacle suffers, the fans suffer.

It all needs to go back by a month. Finish at the end of October. Start a month later. Better footy, bigger and happier crowds, healthier fans, healthier players.

A far more enjoyable game to play and watch - and it has to be enjoyable for the future of the game.

It makes no difference to cricket - they lose a month at the start and gain one at the end. International cricket tours don't start until late November anyway, and they're increasingly focused on the Big Bash which is in January.

At state and local levels, it just goes back by a month too. Footy is May to October, Cricket is November to April. Same six months each.

You know it makes sense.

It was 30 degrees on GF day…

In conditions that should have seen the Lions finish over the top of the Pies, instead you get a 33 year old kicking the match winner with only minutes remaining from 55m, a distance he has barely reached in his career….

It might be another 20 years before Essendon win a final with that attitude.

 

[jdBombers3598]

Been saying for ages that the season starts too early. In 2000 the season began on March 8 as a one off to accommodate the Olympics, now they're trying to normalize starting around that time.

The H&A season should be from March 21 (Round 1) - September 1 (Round 24). Get rid of this opening round s**t and the pre finals bye so the finals can go from the 5th or 6th - September 28.

 

[master bate]

First fix is getting rid of round 0 and gather round, there's 2 weeks gone right there. Suddenly it's footy kicking off in the last week of March. Honestly that feels about right to me.

 

[Demonic Ascent]

OP is right about the heat but wrong about the solution.

The problem is not when the season starts/finishes the problem is the season is too long. 25 rounds plus 4 weeks of finald is ridiculous (and unnecessary).

Reduce the season to 17 games plus a bye plus finals and you can play April-September. Season becomes fairer as well.

Of course AFL won't do it because $$$.

 

[hawkman]

First fix is getting rid of round 0 and gather round, there's 2 weeks gone right there. Suddenly it's footy kicking off in the last week of March. Honestly that feels about right to me.

All about competing with the NRL. But if you let the NRL have the early rounds by starting in April you could put the final round on NRL GF weekend and then you can get all your finals in October in clear space.

 

[Demonic Ascent]

I dunno how we got so fixed on finishing in September

Blame Mike Brady

 

[LordLucifer]

Start it later, and make it shorter. Every team plays each-other once.
I understand this means a reduction of revenue and the players will get played less but idgaf to be honest.

Grow the competition to 22 teams, play each other once per sesson (21 rounds) and then follow it with a Final 10 playoff series.

In 2024, there are 26 weekends in April-September meaning that the finals could be played over 5 weekends (two teams get eliiminated each week) under this proposal.

It's a no-brainer !!

 

[taurus]

Went to the round 1 Giants-Crows game at Olympic Park last year in near-40 degree heat. Most extraordinary conditions I’ve ever seen at a footy game. It was basically impossible to sit in the direct sunlight (thankfully the ground staff saw sense and turned a blind eye to people sneaking up into more expensive grandstand seating in the shade) so to this day I still have no idea how the players were able to run out a game of football in it.

The existing heat policy probably needs to be reviewed because it really isn’t adequate for matches starting as early as March. Measures like extra time during breaks and extra water carriers are nothing compared to some of the extreme heat measures other sports have put in place.

I had a free ticket to attend but didn't bother getting out of the house. It was boiling hot!

 

[Andyy]

The seasons are changing very slowly - all of them are moving marginally later in the year.

I don't see any reason why the season couldn't start in April instead of March at least.

And yes I agree re: roof on the MCG. It should be closed for rain or severe heat, but not specifically for sunlight.

 

[Carn The Berries]

The problem with the "simple" answer like, start later/finish later, is that football doesn't exist in a vacuum. Why would cricket have any interest in changing their schedules and ground bookings around because the AFL has all of a sudden decided it needs 30 weeks of the year for it's main product? They would/should (quite rightly) tell footy to GAGF.

IF (and it's a big if) the AFL are concerned about the heat in the opening part of the season (noting that clubs have already been doing match sim/intra-club matches/practice matches for about a month) then the most practical thing to do would be to reduce the length of the season.

The other thing is... games aren't just played in Victoria... I played in a Grand Final in Perth a few years ago in the second week of September... The max temperature was 36 degrees!!!! Would be a great spectacle at the pointy end of the season if the Eagles or Dockers have a home preliminary final in the third week of October and the mercury is approaching 40 degrees!

 

[big_e]

The problem with the "simple" answer like, start later/finish later, is that football doesn't exist in a vacuum. Why would cricket have any interest in changing their schedules and ground bookings around because the AFL has all of a sudden decided it needs 30 weeks of the year for it's main product? They would/should (quite rightly) tell footy to GAGF.

IF (and it's a big if) the AFL are concerned about the heat in the opening part of the season (noting that clubs have already been doing match sim/intra-club matches/practice matches for about a month) then the most practical thing to do would be to reduce the length of the season.

The other thing is... games aren't just played in Victoria... I played in a Grand Final in Perth a few years ago in the second week of September... The max temperature was 36 degrees!!!! Would be a great spectacle at the pointy end of the season if the Eagles or Dockers have a home preliminary final in the third week of October and the mercury is approaching 40 degrees!

Cricket doesn't need the MCG as much as it used to. Victoria plays most (all?) of their Shield games at the Junction Oval, and Victorians have shown they don't turn up for international cricket in November unless it's a World Cup. And although it's notionally known as a cricket ground, its main purpose now is for football.

The only real challenge for access to the ground will come with the 150th anniversary of test cricket, which will played at the MCG starting on 15 March 2027. The AFL will struggle to get access to the MCG before Easter - Good Friday being 26 March that year.

 

[Carn The Berries]

Cricket doesn't need the MCG as much as it used to. Victoria plays most (all?) of their Shield games at the Junction Oval, and Victorians have shown they don't turn up for international cricket in November unless it's a World Cup. And although it's notionally known as a cricket ground, its main purpose now is for football.

The only real challenge for access to the ground will come with the 150th anniversary of test cricket, which will played at the MCG starting on 15 March 2027. The AFL will struggle to get access to the MCG before Easter - Good Friday being 26 March that year.

Again, games aren't just played in Melbourne... One of the Gabba or Perth Stadium would usually be hosting a test match in the third or fourth week of April. How does getting a pitch prepared (in the case of Perth Stadium, dropped into the playing surface) tie in with home finals in those states?

The "main" use of a ground is totally irrelevant, one tenant can't just expect another tenant to bend over backwards for it because it's decided it's more important.

 

[sobrave]

29 deg 'too hot'?

Yeah it is, 29 degrees sitting in full sun is *en gross

 

[Jim Prideaux]

The seasons are changing very slowly - all of them are moving marginally later in the year.

I don't see any reason why the season couldn't start in April instead of March at least.

And yes I agree re: roof on the MCG. It should be closed for rain or severe heat, but not specifically for sunlight.

Agree with seasons changing, harvest windows are earlier and shorter. Dunno about the roof on the G though

 

[hawkman]

The problem with the "simple" answer like, start later/finish later, is that football doesn't exist in a vacuum. Why would cricket have any interest in changing their schedules and ground bookings around because the AFL has all of a sudden decided it needs 30 weeks of the year for it's main product? They would/should (quite rightly) tell footy to GAGF.

IF (and it's a big if) the AFL are concerned about the heat in the opening part of the season (noting that clubs have already been doing match sim/intra-club matches/practice matches for about a month) then the most practical thing to do would be to reduce the length of the season.

The other thing is... games aren't just played in Victoria... I played in a Grand Final in Perth a few years ago in the second week of September... The max temperature was 36 degrees!!!! Would be a great spectacle at the pointy end of the season if the Eagles or Dockers have a home preliminary final in the third week of October and the mercury is approaching 40 degrees!

At least in finals every game can be a night game. Late October GF you could even move the GF time 4.30pm as it isn't dark until 8

 

[Bunk Moreland]

The seasons are changing very slowly - all of them are moving marginally later in the year.

I don't see any reason why the season couldn't start in April instead of March at least.

And yes I agree re: roof on the MCG. It should be closed for rain or severe heat, but not specifically for sunlight.

Correct, this is the other factor - the seasons are slowly drifting back.

So we have a problem anyway, but the AFL is actually going forward. It’s nuts.

 

[Demonic Ascent]

At this rate we'll be starting in February