Calls for the AFL to fix the fixtureJason Dowling
August 27, 2011THE AFL faces a revolt over its handling of the annual fixture, with clubs, commentators and supporters calling for an urgent overhaul of the draw to dramatically improve the fairness of the competition and the quality of games
The fixture - designed unashamedly by the league to maximise attendances - is damaging the AFL brand and the public's confidence in the game because it is too focused on commercial outcomes, football experts and academics say.
North Melbourne, for example, this season travelled to Perth twice in the first four rounds, faced Geelong at Skilled Stadium and had only one match at the MCG.
''The draw certainly doesn't add to the fairness of the competition,'' former Sydney coach Paul Roos said.
He said the draw was probably the ''biggest impediment to calling it a fair and equitable and even competition'' and said it was a ''contradictory notion to have something as strong as the draft and the salary cap'' and then have a compromised draw.
Anger over the draw, which has simmered for years, is reaching a tipping point, with Dr Matthew Klugman, lecturer in football studies at Victoria University, warning it was sapping hope from many AFL supporters.
''If fans believe that there is a systematic bias [in the fixture] which hinders their club, it becomes that much harder to hope and therefore that much harder to invest their passions, dreams and money in following their teams,'' he said.
The AFL is currently arranging next season's draw and calls are growing for an overhaul of the fixture process.
Hawthorn president Jeff Kennett is calling for the AFL to have a stated goal of each team playing each other an equal number of times - which Leigh Matthews has previously described as the only time the VFL/AFL draw has been absolutely fair.
''Until the competition can either have each team playing each other once or, preferably, each team playing each other twice on their own home grounds once a year, it will not be a fair and equitable competition,'' Kennett said.
Concerns from supporters include a lack of equality in how often teams travel, which teams play each other twice and disparities in the location and timing of games for different clubs.
Clubs say the draw is also having a big impact on memberships and sponsorships and thereby affecting a club's ability to spend more on its team.
Bulldogs president David Smorgon said this year's draw did nothing to encourage new members to the club.
Few AFL clubs will go on the record and publicly criticise the AFL over the draw - but privately many are seething.
North Melbourne chief executive Eugene Arocca said the club realised it would not get a better draw until its on-field performance demanded it.
Melbourne chief executive Cameron Schwab said the draw was ''central to the equalisation of the competition'' and added ''the question needs to be always asked is it doing it [improving equality of teams] or isn't it doing it?''
Not all clubs are unhappy.
Collingwood chief executive Gary Pert said while he could understand why supporters from various clubs were frustrated with the fixture, ''I think the way the AFL does it now is totally appropriate''.
''Respectfully to supporters of all clubs, the reason why they get frustrated is because they don't understand the contracts and the bigger picture obligations to be running a healthy AFL competition,'' he said.
The AFL's Patrick Keane, a member of the AFL's fixture team, told The Saturday Age the AFL's ''primary goal in the fixture production was attendance at matches, and around that we try to best fit the requests and needs of clubs, players, venues, broadcasters, supporters, governments and other key groups''.
The AFL played down the impact that bonus payments to AFL executives for reaching performance targets, including attendances, had on the fixture.
''If our senior staff linked all their bonuses to crowds, I'm not sure why we would play games at Metricon [Stadium, Carrara], Darwin, Manuka, Cairns, Launceston etc, which all have capacities considerably below our average match attendance,'' Keane said.
But former St Kilda coach Grant Thomas said the current AFL fixture lacked ''integrity and fairness''.
''Fixture is a capital FIX - it's a fix, that is what it is,'' he said.
''Supporters want to know who the premier team is and it can't be a team that gets a gifted run at the MCG every week or a team that rarely travels interstate or a team that has the rough end of the pineapple with six-day breaks,'' he said.
The 2012 AFL fixture will be released in the last week of October after clubs have had the opportunity to comment on several drafts.
Keane said the AFL's approach to the fixture for next year would be the same ''as it has been for a considerable period''.
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