Do you think the game is in a good state???

[Moi]

With all the drugs controversies and the media microscope that's on the game at the moment, do you think the brand is in good condition or gradually dying a slow death?
The constant rule changes to try and fix a game that wasn't broke - are they disenchanting you?
Do you look forward to going to the games as much as you might have previously?

Do you think all of the above will probably kill something that was pretty special?

Okay they're biased questions, because I've put my own personal slant in the way I've asked the questions, but I guess that's how I feel about it.
I think this latest farce with the players medical records being aired on television is probably about the lowest the media can get.
The drugs issue itself, I don't know how to look at it because I don't know how broad the issue is.  Be pretty naive to not think all clubs might have a problem.
Short of murder what's next?  How personal can the media get in each network's fight to out-scoop each other?
I don't care about players' personal lives.  Only want to see them play and win.  Nothing more, nothing less.

Footy IMO is suffering a great over-exposure at the moment and I think it will eventually implode!

[Hellenic Tiger]

Financially yes
Morally and ethically no
I think the media outlets need to take a step back in terms of issues
and actually go back to reporting on the footy
who is in who is out who will is injured issues actually that have to do
with the last weeks round of games or the upcoming week of games.
I really could not care less of some of the stories that are making headlines and print.
I understand players are heroes to kids but what they do in their private lives
is their own business. Just like our bosses they don't own us when we clock off  at 5pm and therefore not subject to a Spanish Inquisition about it.
It is all too much at times and very undignified.
Moi totally agree with you

[Ox]

The game is at it's peeiest,most softest,policed stage of all time.

I actually hate it now,no exaggeration!!!!

Pure crap.

IDGAF about the financial stability of it all.

I more liken it to an art form that once meant so much to so many for all the reasons we basically live for.

-to be inspired by true men of intestinal fortitude,to be and feel a part of a club that belongs to us,the people,


IMO-They(the knobs @ the AFL )
have stuffed it and can now go stuff themselves for an eternity.
I hope the choke on their xmas dinner simultaneously.
 

[Tigermonk]

yes its going down the tubes

The AFL has destroyed the once loved game

l love football but l get better enjoyment at local level where they have fights on the ground & in the crowds & in the bars after the game its all forgotten & you see big pack ridden marks more often & good solid bumps which the umpire calls play-on  & to top it off your close to the action & can go onto the grounds listen to coaches & thier styles & gameplans or have a kick with the kids

Thats family football at its best

AFL = prices of admission & food is outrages for the public - l'm a member most of my life ( buy 5 memberships every year huge cost again ) so admission dont effect my family on gameday but l do buy the food cause its part of the game but 5 pies & 5 chips + 4 cokes + beers + extras the kids want etc the result on a day out after filling the car & stopping at a restuarant on the way home l done $600+ for 1 game & we go to many each year thank eff l'm wealthy & the wife still works
to top it off the AFL say there are sellouts which turnout to be not true cause they make more on ticketmaster bookings this turns crowds away

with our work for the AFL each year (l will get canned for this but stuff it) - l give away loads of freebie tickets to MCG & Dome games, + yearly VFL admission cards etc cause l dont use them, they are useless to me cause l get benefits the AFL & from other companies etc

The AFL - VCFL give away so much that the high prices are being paid for by the struggling public & that peees me right off so every year l give out as much as l can

they stopped the supporters going for kick after game on the grounds & stop smoking in the arena ( l'm not a smoker ) the rules of the game have destroyed the game & cause more anger & the tribunal well its so stuffed up l cant understand them 

Drugs have always been around there was more back in the 70's there was just no detection & players turned up hungover to play

The game & the greedy AFL have stuffed the game & people are just gunna say oneday l cant afford this & dont enjoy it & will stay at home

l could add alot more but cant be stuffed  but l'm sure you know how l really feel

[ICecil]

Loyalty in any part of football is dead...from the top AFL to the bottom club supporters...think about it..like everything in sport its about MONEY!!! The assassination of players to the Assassination of a Clubs Management like the crap written by Caroline Wilson which has the moral writings of a frustrated man in a womans body! Some of the loyalty of supporters to Greg Miller and Co is pretty damning to say the least...sad but true..but when there are supporters paying MONEY for membership then those frustrated little Caroline Wilson lovers must find someones arse to kick...aka Greg Miller...just how many of you wrote to the Age outraged about the attack of one of your own from the Tiger Den...any...?? or just me!
Well Greg Miller had a heart attack last night...lucky to be alive from battling crap reporters to crap supporters...THINK ABOUT IT!
Tigermonk...should be Tigerwank! for his outrages reply to Caroline Wilsons articles assasinating Richmond cause Daddys little girl wants to be Daddy!

[DallasCrane]

Well Greg Miller had a heart attack last night...lucky to be alive from battling crap reporters to crap supporters...THINK ABOUT IT!

If that is true, then Miller needs to look after himself better. Maybe reduce his workload.

As for battling reporters and supporters, I have no sympathy for him at all. It's his job, he gets very well paid to do it, if he doesn't want the job then he should get out. I know a lot of people who work a lot harder than he does, and cop a lot more crap than he does (shout out to my Centrelink buddies), for a lot less money...

[bluey_21]

Well Greg Miller had a heart attack last night...lucky to be alive from battling crap reporters to crap supporters...THINK ABOUT IT!

If that is true, then Miller needs to look after himself better. Maybe reduce his workload.

As for battling reporters and supporters, I have no sympathy for him at all. It's his job, he gets very well paid to do it, if he doesn't want the job then he should get out. I know a lot of people who work a lot harder than he does, and cop a lot more crap than he does (shout out to my Centrelink buddies), for a lot less money...

same, Miller had a heart attack?

what is your source

[mightytiges]

With all the drugs controversies and the media microscope that's on the game at the moment, do you think the brand is in good condition or gradually dying a slow death?
The constant rule changes to try and fix a game that wasn't broke - are they disenchanting you?
Do you look forward to going to the games as much as you might have previously?

Do you think all of the above will probably kill something that was pretty special?

Okay they're biased questions, because I've put my own personal slant in the way I've asked the questions, but I guess that's how I feel about it.
I think this latest farce with the players medical records being aired on television is probably about the lowest the media can get.
The drugs issue itself, I don't know how to look at it because I don't know how broad the issue is.  Be pretty naive to not think all clubs might have a problem.
Short of murder what's next?  How personal can the media get in each network's fight to out-scoop each other?
I don't care about players' personal lives.  Only want to see them play and win.  Nothing more, nothing less.

Footy IMO is suffering a great over-exposure at the moment and I think it will eventually implode!

The game is bigger than any of its parts so it'll survive IMHO. People and issues come and go but footy carries on.

Ch 7 have overcooked their goose now. First there was that story on Kosi which was crap, then Braun and now buying stolen medical records. It'll be very hard to believe any "breaking" story they report from now on.

As for the state of the game I think on-field it is better than it was. More direct attacking footy this year compared to all the flooding rubbish we saw in previous years.

The new rules still suck but they've gone soft on the hands in the back rule in the second half of the year.

AA is still the AFL's version of Bush. Dumb and Dumber. 

[Ox]

Did Greg really have a Heart attack?

I hope he's ok.

Brings many things into perspective,dont it?!

If this is true,my thoughts r with the Miller family.

signed,
a Miller supporter.

[Hellenic Tiger]

The corporatisation of the game has already begun to alienate the traditional hard core supporters. You could go to some games where there are 40000 people and you could hear a pin drop. The passion of the game to a certain extent has been taken away by these corporate types who 20 years ago were calling the sport Bogan ball but now feel compelled to support a team just so that they can sit by the watercooler in the office on a Monday morning and say they did something on the weekend. They clap their team off regardless of the result even when they are 10 or are 20 goals down and if you show a bit of passion and angst they tell you the club doesn't need supporters like you. That is the new market the AFL has catered for. The non plussed nuff nuffs  dressed in their tweed jackets and blue shirts who come with their tartan rugs and drink from their thermos of coffee who have no real traditional passionate affiliation to a footy club and would not know one ounce of history regarding this great game but are accepting of these new ideals and morals the game is heading towards, whilst the traditional passionate loud opinionated supporter is slowly being euthanased .  We will have a finish to a grand final like the last two years and there will be no passion in the crowd regarding the result no joy no pain no nothing.

Enjoy going to the footy now whilst time is on our side as at some point in time in the future the dempgraphic of people that will be attending footy games will be totally different to what it is now and we will learn to become armchair experts when it comes to the AFL as that is where we will be watching the game from our armchair and our footy fix will also be supplemented by watching the local metropolitan club.

[Tigermonk]

Loyalty in any part of football is dead...from the top AFL to the bottom club supporters...think about it..like everything in sport its about MONEY!!! The assassination of players to the Assassination of a Clubs Management like the crap written by Caroline Wilson which has the moral writings of a frustrated man in a womans body! Some of the loyalty of supporters to Greg Miller and Co is pretty damning to say the least...sad but true..but when there are supporters paying MONEY for membership then those frustrated little Caroline Wilson lovers must find someones behind to kick...aka Greg Miller...just how many of you wrote to the Age outraged about the attack of one of your own from the Tiger Den...any...?? or just me!
Well Greg Miller had a heart attack last night...lucky to be alive from battling crap reporters to crap supporters...THINK ABOUT IT!
Tigermonk...should be Tigerwank! for his outrages reply to Caroline Wilsons articles assasinating Richmond cause Daddys little girl wants to be Daddy!

#1 ICecil you -stuff--wit- l dont read anything of Caroline Wilson writes
& l dont reply to articles & l have never read the age tosser
your the wanker here first poster attacking go back to your other forum tossa

[one-eyed]

Patrick Smith's view of the state of the AFL.....

The code that nobody can break
Patrick Smith | August 29, 2007
The Australian

WHEN the AFL assessed likely crowd totals before the season, it considered Essendon against Richmond last Sunday would draw about 40,000 people.

Of course, the game drew more than 88,000 as the Essendon community farewelled James Hird and Kevin Sheedy.

It was a crowd that, in part, will help set an all-time attendance record for a season. The eight matches of round 22 this week need to pull only a few more people than 97,000 to beat the record of 6,283,788 set in 2005.

It says a lot about the strength of the AFL brand, for it should have taken a belting this year. Name a scandal and the AFL has had it. From the West Coast drug dramas, betting scandals, footballers cruising with members of bikie gangs, assault convictions, unsubstantiated claims of performance enhancing drugs, charges of vilification of women, coaches sacked, club relocation speculation, publication of player medical records and the constant chatter that clubs might deliberately drop matches to secure the best draft picks possible.
...
If Essendon is vulnerable, the AFL surely isn't. The league has been torched by regular and significant issues all season. It began with four players breaching gambling rules and now fights on two more fronts.

AFL chief executive Andrew Demetriou must fend off claims that teams are losing matches to win better draft options as well as rightly defend the rights of the playing group after information in private medical files was broadcast by Channel Seven.

None of this controversy has dented crowd figures. In fact, this season is the first time the crowd aggregate has topped six million by round 21. The standard of football this season has been more exciting and positive than recent seasons, so that has helped.

The AFL figures the competition has withstood a winter of trouble because it has a considerable amount of goodwill that acts as a buffer. Not like in the mid-1990s when the football family was split by the AFL push for mergers.

Now the AFL openly supports 16 clubs and props up those that would otherwise struggle to generate the turnover to survive in the competition. It has acted to clean up the game and its recent crackdown on head-high hits has been appreciated. Prices have been kept down. The game is more accessible.

It is for these reasons that Demetriou defends priority draft picks given to chronically under achieving teams. Yesterday Carlton great Anthony Koutoufides hoped the Blues would lose the final game of the season so the club qualified for the first and third picks in this year's draft. Carlton supporters rang radio stations to agree with him.

Demetriou's point is that the priority pick is essential to help fast-track recovery among weak clubs and the AFL brand is strong enough not to be damaged by the perception that teams are deliberately losing matches. Given the record crowds, it is hard to argue against Demetriou's position.

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,22324095-12270,00.html

[Rodgerramjet]

If we can get

1 Flooding

2. Tempo Football

and

3. abusive interchange

out of the game then we might get back to the sort of footy we want to watch.

[DallasCrane]

If we can get

1 Flooding

2. Tempo Football

and

3. abusive interchange

out of the game then we might get back to the sort of footy we want to watch.

Is that abusive interchange or abuse OF interchange RR?

[Rodgerramjet]

Abuse OF Interchange.

Dallas my man