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  • AFL Will Never Be As Popular As Football

    mack

    By mack

    If I tell you AFL will never, ever be the Number 1 sport in Australia will you inject me with horse peptides?

     

    Ok, that's a bit unfair, I'm not an AFL team looking to circumvent the notion of fair play and the sporting ethic this country is built on in order to win a competition viewed, played and populated largely from, by and in Victoria, but my sentiment doesn't change. Trust me, I haven't tried much at all to alter it.

     

    I haven't bothered watching a game of AFL in person, even with free tickets to pretty much any game in Sydney being available to anyone with even the slightest interest (or disinterest to be honest) in AFL. I have seen a few games on TV (where AFL doesn't measure up in any way as a television sport compared to Rugby League let alone Football), and once tried playing it in school (although I must admit that since everyone got bored after 10 minutes and switched to playing football or league it wasn't the best introduction).

     

    Yes, AFL is (probably) the most popular team sport in Victoria.

     

    Yes, AFL is played in over 2.5 states of Australia.

     

    But show me someone who hasn't found it dead boring at some stage and I'll show you someone who thinks the AFL was telling the truth about their dodgy Auskick numbers in NSW a few years back.

     

    There's a reason that out of the major sporting codes in Australia, it is the AFL with the lowest international reach. The reasons are clear to me.

     

    You might be guaranteed a score if you watch a game of AFL, but only because the goals are so wide and infinitely high. Anyone with even mediocre talent can score. However, even the supposed "elite" of the AFL can

    There is also the routine spectacle of watching teams deliberately throwing the ball through their own goal, gifting their opponents points!

     

    I understand suggesting the Victorian game will never beat Football anywhere in Australia but some areas of Melbourne will be upsetting to those who live in Melbourne, but let's look at the facts.

     

    AFL is a game built on people who if they want to be any good, must set their sights on leaving the outer suburbs of Melbourne to make their way to the big smoke of the inner suburbs of Melbourne. There is only one top flight professional level of AFL across the entire planet, which to me begs the following question: If the AFL is the only top flight league, is it actually a 'top flight' or just the equal worst professional league? Just what is the reward for this gruelling and epic journey along the Melbourne equivalent of the M4? An average yearly salary of $251,559.

     

    No matter the talent an AFL player has, they spend the majority of their time traipsing around Melbourne, with a handful of trips to AFL's far flung global outposts to play against GWS or the Brisbane Bears. Occasionally a 'big name' will make a move to Sydney or Brisbane, but this is generally so the player can live their life in complete and total obscurity to the general population of their new home. The level of athleticism required for AFL is so minor that people who haven't ever played AFL at a high level can switch from another sport and still make millions while being immediately deposited into the 'top flight' of AFL.

     

    Of course, Victorian white guy #1, Victorian white guy #2, Adam Goodes & Victorian white guy #3 show kids everywhere that they too can aspire to be an "All Australian" and lose to a team of amateur (unpaid) Irishmen in a mutant abomination of Gaelic Football and Modified Victorian Gaelic Handegg.

     

    Match attendance is the AFL fan's immediate counter to the notion their sport is unpopular, doomed to fail or simply boring, but crowd averages are on the wane, having fallen by 6,000 over the last few years. Even in the so called 'top flight' of the AFL, GWS, the newest team, launched with a $200 million warchest, have 8 official crowds of under 7000 in only three years. Considering the thousands of free tickets available, their actual paid attendance would be lucky to hit 2000.

     

    Football has grown massively according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics latest research, with participation rates for males aged 5-14 growing from 265,500 in 2006, to 277,800 in 2009 and all the way up to 309,700 in 2012. Compare this to AFL, which includes dodgy Auskick figures in their tallies, and still fell from 2009 with 223,700 down to 212,700 in 2012. Clearly the sports mad young men of Australia are choosing with their feet to play football. Participation among females aged 5-14 is an astounding success for Football, with 87,800 participators in 2012 compared to AFL's 13,800 (which once again includes dodgy Auskick figures).

     

    While the biggest AFL teams will always be the same teams, playing against the exact same other teams year in and year out, Football provides opportunities to see global superstars play in Australia as well as to see our best challenged by the best of countries like Japan, Korea, China & Saudi Arabia, and for Australia as a nation to play in global tournaments such as the Asian Cup & World Cup.

     

    Attendance and global reach isn't the only reason why Football is the better sport. AFL culture runs counter to the Australian ethos of fair play and this includes the private lives of AFL players, with the so called "God" of AFL, Gary Ablett Senior, being responsible for giving heroin, ecstasy & amphetamines to a 19 year old woman named Alicia Horan, who subsequently died of a drug overdose in his hotel room.

     

    The idea of taking dives, king hitting opponents, using performance enhancing peptides, match fixing, or giving starstruck teenagers illegal drugs is just too unpalatable for many bought up on the sense of fair play that Football provides, but that we see time and time again in AFL.

     

    While I'm not a parent, I completely understand those who avoid the disgraceful un-Australian ethos of the sport of AFL and those who play it and instead jump at the chance to play the World Game, the Beautiful Game, the true Australian game of Football.

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    luisenrique

    I just laugh at articles like that.

     

    It's so pointless. AFL fans are gonna love it, we're going to ignore it, what purpose is it serving?

     

    Except for highlighting how insecure they are. When was the last time you saw a football journalist write an article entirely about how **** they thought another code is? Nobody cares about AFL outside of AFL enough to write about it.

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    Lookers

    BRILLIANT

     

    There is only one top flight professional level of AFL across the entire planet, which to me begs the following question: If the AFL is the only top flight league, is it actually a 'top flight' or just the equal worst professional league?

    Actual laughing out loud ^

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    ColdRock

    Sydney Swans players from Sydney?

    Sydney Giants players from Sydney?

    Brisbane Lions players from Brisbane?

    Gold Coast Suns players from Gold Coast?

    A game played in the Southern half of a country of 25 million v a game played country wide. Australia has already chosen their sport, wether AFL wants to listen or not is their problem

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    matty

    I just laugh at articles like that.

     

    It's so pointless. AFL fans are gonna love it, we're going to ignore it, what purpose is it serving?

     

    Except for highlighting how insecure they are. When was the last time you saw a football journalist write an article entirely about how **** they thought another code is? Nobody cares about AFL outside of AFL enough to write about it.

    click bait

    =

    $

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    Jowel

    although Mack's points are valid, I'm suprised there haven't been many comments here in opposition to his article.

     

    It's important to be balanced - something the above article clearly isn't. Yes, it's fun to bring to light all the shortcomings of AFL, but be careful because Football/Soccer also has its problems and shortcomings.

     

    I happen to like AFL - I go to a game here and there and it's pretty decent. One of my best mates is a passionate Port Adelaide supporter and it's amazing the lengths he goes to to support his club - he's also a Wanderers fan and has been to countless games with me.

     

    AFL is also more appealing to watch on TV instead of rugby league - the crowds are bigger, it is more of a national game and it is more professional.

     

    Mack, you should get out to an AFL game some time and also read up on the history of the evolution of the various "football codes". Association Football (Soccer) is just one of many varieties of "football" that sprang up in the 19th century. Soccer won the evolutionary battle over the other varieties due to various reasons, notably the fact it was transported around the world by the British.

     

    Sport of any kind exists to be enjoyed - I don't get why there is a need to be hateful to a certain sport - there's bigger things in life to rage at, trust me.

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    blurbel

    although Mack's points are valid, I'm suprised there haven't been many comments here in opposition to his article.

     

    It's important to be balanced - something the above article clearly isn't. Yes, it's fun to bring to light all the shortcomings of AFL, but be careful because Football/Soccer also has its problems and shortcomings.

     

    For my part, I saw his article as a piss-take on the original one in the media highlighting why "Football will never be as popular as AFL". He was merely counteracting some of the points they brought up, and I saw no need to post any comments in opposition given the nature of mack's OP.

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    Carns

    although Mack's points are valid, I'm suprised there haven't been many comments here in opposition to his article.

     

    It's important to be balanced - something the above article clearly isn't. Yes, it's fun to bring to light all the shortcomings of AFL, but be careful because Football/Soccer also has its problems and shortcomings.

     

    I happen to like AFL - I go to a game here and there and it's pretty decent. One of my best mates is a passionate Port Adelaide supporter and it's amazing the lengths he goes to to support his club - he's also a Wanderers fan and has been to countless games with me.

     

    AFL is also more appealing to watch on TV instead of rugby league - the crowds are bigger, it is more of a national game and it is more professional.

     

    Mack, you should get out to an AFL game some time and also read up on the history of the evolution of the various "football codes". Association Football (Soccer) is just one of many varieties of "football" that sprang up in the 19th century. Soccer won the evolutionary battle over the other varieties due to various reasons, notably the fact it was transported around the world by the British.

     

    Sport of any kind exists to be enjoyed - I don't get why there is a need to be hateful to a certain sport - there's bigger things in life to rage at, trust me.

    I think you either missed the point or didn't see the original article in which this satirises.
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    Carns

    Where's the link to the actual article Mack is mocking?

     

    IF I tell you soccer will never, ever be the No. 1 sport in Australia will you throw a flare at me?

    OK, that’s a bit unfair, but my sentiment doesn’t change and trust me, I’ve tried everything to alter it.

    I’ve been to games, I’ve watched it on TV, I’ve even played (although being 183cm and only slightly faster than a panda meant being stuck as goal keeper for a season, so granted, that probably wasn’t the best introduction).

    Yes, soccer is the most popular team sport in the world.

    Yes, it’s played in over 200 countries.

    But show me someone who hasn’t found it dead boring at some stage and I’ll show you someone whose pants may actually catch fire.

    There’s a reason soccer is the lowest-attended football code in this country.

     

    For sure you can get a dreary AFL match but, at least you’re still guaranteed a score.

    I understand suggesting the world game will never beat Aussie Rules in and around the suburbs of Australia is likely to upset some, but let’s look at the facts.

    Soccer is game built on people who, if they want to be any good when they grow up, must set their sights on disappearing overseas to play in the top flight competitions.

    Once anyone has the talent you would pay big money to see regularly, they ironically disappear to go and make even bigger money elsewhere.

    Granted, Tim Cahill, Harry Kewell and co have shown enormous pride in wearing the green and gold, and Aloisiiiiiiiiiiii should be added to the Oxford Dictionary under “moments that stopped the nation†but, let’s face it, actually getting the best on our shores to play once in a World Cup moon is not enough.

    When Adelaide United hosted La Liga side Malaga at Adelaide Oval last Friday, 23,254 turned up.

    While many said it was a triumph let’s not forget, Liverpool loanee Luis Alberto and ex-Manchester City and Bayern Munich star Roque Santa Cruz were part of soccer’s debut at the Adelaide Oval on a Friday night.

    I say only 23,254 turned up.

    Last season Adelaide United averaged just 11,225 at their games which put them around the middle of the A-league pack.

    Even taking away the novelty of the Power’s and Crows’ new playpen, there’s still vast discrepancies.

    Participation rate is normally a soccer fan’s immediate foil to these arguments and granted more people are playing the game at a recreational level, however, in an excellent article by Bonita Mersiades for Sports Business Insider, she shows that all is not necessarily what it seems.

    While yes more are still playing soccer than football, when comparing data between 2003 and 2009 it becomes clear the number of boys playing has resisted the national trend and actually decreased over time with the figures propped up by a 50.9 per cent increase of girls playing the sport.

    Meanwhile, Aussie Rules participation increased by 21.9 per cent and has the highest participation rate in five of the eight states and territories, including South Australia.

    But most of all, while soccer is a wonderful celebration of multiculturalism, it also applauds and perpetuates the antithesis of Australian sport’s culture.

    The idea of taking a dive is just too unpalatable for many brought up on a sense of fair dinkum play, yet time and time again we see it used as a tactic by the very best.

    As a parent protective of my kids’ bodies and brains I’m supposed to jump at the chance to get them chasing the round ball, but frankly I’d rather they engage in a bit more rough and tumble than take inspiration from those who manufacture such an embarrassing way to win.

    Edited by Carns
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    dmixtaaa

    Well done Mack. I also like to add though the AFL people do try hard...They even get a point for nearly getting a goal as if to say, nice try....Just like their administration and brain dead rednecks who write this tripe for the lemmings south of the border. Shhesh and they say the US is blinded by grand delusions of a non existent outside world.

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    Jukes01

    Believe it or not people when I was a youngster which was a long long time ago this was the usually **** the media would trot out on a regular basis. Thank goodness these articles are very rare these days. There must be a reason why they write them. Why that is I have no idea.

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    mowse

    yeah i'm with you gazmon. I'm guessing it's the timing?

    World cup just ended with lots of positives about socceroos, Asian cup coming up, FFA cup in full swing etc etc.

    A few of the bubble heads are just feeling insecure (despite having a bigger comp, more members and bigger crowds). weird.

     

    PS. top stuff mack.

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