The Real State of the game.

[BoBo 2,402]

3 minutes ago, beelzebub said:

Agree...

There's but one caveat; the AFL would have to care.  I really don't think they do.

An amazing number of"occurrences" have go  in favour of a small notorious cabal of clubs. Ones with large membershios....and clout.

I really need say no more  

Yes absolutely they don’t care. This is like, THE basic facet of sport:

Apply the written rules of the game consistently. 
 

And yet, here we are. 

[BoBo 2,402]

21 minutes ago, beelzebub said:

 

I truly think the change has to be instigated by the Umps.  They must be sick to death of being the brunt of criticisms regarding refereeing rules that are near impossible currently.

 

I personally don’t put much blame on umpires at all. 
 

They are instructed to umpire in a particular way. And it’s inarguable that the way they umpire is allowed to drift away from initial set standards. 
 

Umpires change the way they call things as soon as the AFL tells them to do it. The question is: why does the AFL allow umpires to slowly divert away from rules that are clear as day written down? 

[DeeZone 8,156]

20 hours ago, WalkingCivilWar said:

Another journo calling it out

Sorry didn’t realise it’s behind a paywall. 

WCW I noticed that there hasn’t been any Training Reports on the MFC website and I just heard on Ch7 that MFC are not attending the AFL Hall Of Fame tonight!! Have you heard anything on the grapevine, strange that we would boycott an AFL function.

[WalkingCivilWar 34,958]

15 minutes ago, DeeZone said:

WCW I noticed that there hasn’t been any Training Reports on the MFC website and I just heard on Ch7 that MFC are not attending the AFL Hall Of Fame tonight!! Have you heard anything on the grapevine, strange that we would boycott an AFL function.

They’re scheduled to train tomorrow at Casey and this Friday at Gosch’s (captain’s run). As always, that’s subject to change. I’ve not heard anything about the no-show at the Hall of Fame. I reckon there’s a very good reason though and I’m sure we’ll know the reason soon enough.

[DeeZone 8,156]

9 minutes ago, WalkingCivilWar said:

They’re scheduled to train tomorrow at Casey and this Friday at Gosch’s (captain’s run). As always, that’s subject to change. I’ve not heard anything about the no-show at the Hall of Fame. I reckon there’s a very good reason though and I’m sure we’ll know the reason soon enough.

Thanks WCW things are just a bit strange.

[WalkingCivilWar 34,958]

6 minutes ago, DeeZone said:

Thanks WCW things are just a bit strange.

They sure are. 

[picket fence 15,754]

On 17/06/2024 at 18:22, WalkingCivilWar said:

Why doesn’t this apply to Cornes, though? Why can he come out and say what we’re all thinking but other journos can’t/won’t?

I like Volcano, very very good footy person!

[layzie 30,392]

Make the game easier to umpire or let it die. It's that simple.

The way I see it right now the game may not even be around in 30 years with all the head trauma issues, but they can really run it into the ground and burn it down quicker if they continue like this.

[Ethan Tremblay 28,828]

The rule changes for this year’s draft are a huge mistake. The Father/Son rule should be left alone. The rules and interpretations of those rules are in complete disarray. I’m sure Laura Kane is a decent human, but she’s out of her depth. 

[Monbon 1,629]

8 hours ago, Ethan Tremblay said:

The rule changes for this year’s draft are a huge mistake. The Father/Son rule should be left alone. The rules and interpretations of those rules are in complete disarray. I’m sure Laura Kane is a decent human, but she’s out of her depth. 

And she has a Scott for a mentor...

[von 1,350]

Just stop watching. It’s the only way the afl will change. Now that we aren’t going anywhere this year doing so has been made much easier. 

[Brownie 5,500]

17 minutes ago, von said:

Just stop watching. It’s the only way the afl will change. Now that we aren’t going anywhere this year doing so has been made much easier. 

That's the tricky bit.

It's all about leveraging exposure for their partners 

Totally agree we shouldn't watch it.

However, we want to support our club and attend or watch games where we can.

Maybe it's less Kayo and attending more local footy matches. 

It's still a wonderful game to watch, it's just becoming a complete dog's brekkie at the highest level.

[MaccaR 17]

Long time lurker. Been a member since 2008 (I know because I was in Afghanistan at the time when I 'donated' some of my war pay to sign up, who knew I would be lucky enough to get more PTSD from my football club than a warzone).

My son quit playng in 2020, somewhat because of covid but mostly as he was a ok player in a really really good side and got relegated to the 2nd team where he was an ok player in a bottom of the ladder side. Didn't want him sitting around all weekend so signed him up to boundary umpire and he has loved it ever since. He gets paid over $100 to run for 2 hours.

Bottom line, I got sick of hanging out at games in the cold and watching him run so this year I joined him.  For context we live in Hobart Tasmania.

Now, Tassie is different from Victoria but some observations. I have been critical of umpiring, but I have a new perspective. The state of umpiring here in Hobart is dire. Even in 2020 my son didn't need to train to get a weekend gig. I know I am reasonabley fit in my middle age, which is a big tick for running the boundary, but with zero experience I waltzed into running the boundary for Seniors in the TSL with my son. Field umpires are mostly my age or older and most have to do 2-3 games a weekend due to the low number of umpires. They are desperate for field and boundary umpires. 80% of the boundary umpires are under 14 years of age or younger. My son and I umpired a game where the 3rd boundary ump was 11.

The money is good for a 16 year old, but for me....it's ok, beer money at best. Certiantly at my age I ain't motivated to do any more than I currently am doing. As for my son, it is not even factored as a career choice and he loves it.

We need better pathways to recruit, mentor and guide young umpires to the top level. (Yes, for a start stop mucking around with the rules). But bottom line, any young kid that loves footy most likely plays. My son go a fair bit of stick for umpiring instead of playing from his mother's (Ex-Wife) family (Cough surname Wade, cough). Having said that, it is a position that attracts certain types that love authority but have no natural personal authority attributes in the real world.

As a sign off, umpires are definately bias (don't get on their bad side), and they have bad days, but the responsibillty of the current state of the game rests squarely on the AFL, and we all know they care about only one thing $$$

 

Edited June 19 by MaccaR

[whatwhat say what 20,343]

welcome aboard @MaccaR, great post