The majority of clubs support the move and the AFL claim the majority of players do too so I can't see the AFL changing its mind although with Andy D who knows. Nothing legally can stop them.
For me, the issue is who decides these things and why. What grips me the most is that everybody seems to be getting a say in this, except Club members. What I don’t understand is why.
Administrators and players go from club to club and have limited stints in the AFL. Supporters are generally with the one club for life. Yet people, who come and go, make decisions to suit themselves, line their pockets, do what’s good for them and then go. Stuff members/supporters, history and tradition. We should just accept whatever decision others make on our behalf, because that’s just the way it is? Well, I don’t accept that.
So pardon me while I continue to rant, until there’s no reason to.
When Carlton copped a $1m fine and lost their draft picks was there any fallout? Yep for Carlton but not for the AFL.
Just because the AFL has the power and authority to punish, doesn’t make them right. Yet Clubs and their members/supporters are expected to sit back and just take whatever they dish out. Carlton copped their punishment for rorting the system, but who seems to be doing nearly all of the suffering? That’s right, the Carlton members and supporters. Don’t know what happened to those who were responsible for actually rorting the system, but it seems that they simply resigned and hey presto their problem was solved. Bad luck about Carlton and their supporters though.
If other Clubs were to receive similar punishments, for whatever reason, what good would that do for the health of the competition? In hindsight, would the AFL equally punish others Clubs for the same thing, seeing how it’s almost crippled Carlton for who knows how long to come?
Regardless, if clubs joined forces on the jumper issue, how stupid would the AFL be if it took points off Ess, Car, Coll and Richmond, all at the same time? The impact of something like that would be different, compared to only one club receiving penalties. I just think if the clubs were proactive about this then it wouldn’t need to be enforced by the AFL. But they obviously don’t care about it and too bad if the members do.
As for joining forces - after listening to Eddie on 3aw today he is again only concerned about what is good the Pies. He suggested all Pie interstate games be played at Carrara as a "favour" to the AFL and the Gold Coast. Sorry TS but past history doesn't make me trust the other big clubs any more than the AFL. What happened with the allocation of recruiting zones and how we got screwed because the other clubs who got the best zones decided to not rotate the zones as was agreed leaves a sour taste.
I understand what you’re saying MT, but good on Ed for pushing his Club. Wish someone would push ours. If we had some people with a bit of nous, I’d rather take my chances with other clubs than the AFL, any day. But to me this is much more far reaching than the issue of an alternative jumper, because it seems that most Clubs don’t care enough about anything any more and have found their place in the scheme of things. That’s what worries me the most. The majority of them are just sheep. There are issues that the AFL needs to be challenged on but hardly any of them ever seem to, that we know about, unless Eddie’s involved.
Not legally. The clubs are part of the AFL and being part of the AFL means you abide by the rules set by the AFL.
I agree TS the AFL sees it all as a business but so do club presidents and boards. It seems some only bleat tradition when it suits them.
To me the name Richmond, our moniker the Tigers, the colours yellow and black and our home base at Punt Road oval are off-limits. They are distinctively RFC. The guernsey has changed over time even if we have only known one jumper. We wore for almost 30 years a different jumper and won 2 VFA flags with it. We joined the VFL with it. For 10 years we removed the sash off the back. Did that make us any less Richmond? IMHO no. It's all part of the history of our Club. That's why I'm not totally against an alternative yellow and black strip for a couple of games a year and for the vast majority of the rest we wear the traditional black with full yellow sash. I'm not saying you or anyone else who is stauntly against a change is wrong TS but that's my opinion.
All those things are equally important to me as well MT. But as far as I’m concerned, the jumper is sacred too, because there’s only one jumper Richmond has won 10 premierships in.
And sometimes I’m just really really stubborn.
I once heard someone say that we don’t have any traditions in this country. Well, how can we have traditions when we tear them down as soon as someone criticises anything that closely resembles tradition? We bend over backwards to accommodate and please everybody, new or old, so how can we develop any real traditions that way? Why don’t we ever stand our ground, instead of needing to copy other countries, codes of football, or whatever, just so we can feel good about ourselves? This game is unlike any other yet in so many ways we try to make it the same as something else. None of that has ever made any sense to me.
Anyway, now that I’ve got that out of my system… Given the AFL’s record with rule changes and so on, I’d be challenging them at any opportunity, but not Clubs; it seems that they couldn’t be bothered, even if they know the AFL is wrong on certain issues.
If the AFL is the Grand Poobah then what meaningful decision are Club Administrators and Boards involved in? Other than generating money for the AFL, what purpose do they serve? If they are incapable of making fair and rational decisions for the good of the competition then why have them? Aren’t they practically redundant? But seeing as they do exist, what happens to the individual personality and character of a club if administrators are not prepared to challenge the AFL on any important issue, especially to do with their identity?
In any democratic system, people should be allowed to have their say. If the AFL isn’t prepared to listen to those who care the most then shouldn’t we be worried? Some of us already are, because this is just one issue clubs seem prepared to fold on, but there will be others too.
I get upset over the internet rights because the service provided is crap for a major sporting organisation. Compared to what other leagues and codes around the world offer, the AFL website and what it offers is pathetic. It's unreliable and is designed for the benefit of Telstra; not the clubs nor their members. As far as footy and the RFC goes we're missing out because of a shoddy website. It's a different issue IMO.
The only similarity it would have with the clash strip strip issue is if the alternative guernsey the Club eventually chooses looks crap. This alternative guernsey is an opportunity for the RFC as we have the best colours but we need to get it right.
The reason I brought it up was because I’m sure the AFL and Clubs would have received heaps of complaints about the service, yet nothing gets done about it.
But if people expect Clubs to adhere to AFL regulations, when it comes to jumpers and so on, then there shouldn’t be any challenge to the AFL on the internet issue either, because they no doubt have a legally binding contract with whatsername.
And as long as whatsername provides that service, then they would be seen to be fulfilling their part of the bargain. Obviously, the AFL doesn’t really care whether the system is user friendly or not. And if they have taken it up with whatsername you reckon something might’ve been done about it by now. But the two parties have what they want so why should either care if the system does or doesn’t work properly?
In the future, if nobody liked a newly designed alternative jumper then what gives anyone the impression that the AFL would listen to people regarding that either, when they don’t listen to them about issues like the internet now?
As far as the AFL’s concerned ‘crowds are up’. That seems to be their really aggravating response to everything. And no correspondence will be entered into.
