A review of old-time games might offer the greatest lesson for those wanting to save Australian football
AUSTRALIAN football has talked itself into a self-fulfilling prophecy with concern on how the “world’s greatest game” looks. Perhaps its would-be saviours should do a refresher course to learn congestion was part of the game even in the grand old days
MELBOURNE captain Nathan Jones cannot watch an AFL match on television beyond half-time.
Crows midfielder Curtly Hampton has lost his passion to play the game that once drove him with ambition.
And the most entertaining match-up in Australian football today is not on the field, but any clash between Collingwood coach Nathan Buckley and Hall of Fame Legend Malcolm Blight.
What has happened to the greatest game in the world? And - as there always has to be a scapegoat - who is to blame?
This will be the winter that is remembered for everyone getting down on Australia’s biggest domestic sport. And there is a self-fulfilling prophecy in how Australian football has talked itself into a problem.
The consequences are clear, despite - as was made so clear last weekend - the AFL having significant twists and turns on how the top-eight final series will play out in September. The AFL has that “even competition” (bar Carlton) - and still everyone is grumpy.
Television ratings have fallen (a major concern for a league that is a junkie to the money from its broadcasting deals).
And 10 of the 18 clubs have had falls in the average attendance at their home games this season. Without the significant rise with the WA-based clubs - West Coast has jumped from 36,751 to 53,212 and Fremantle from 32,375 to 42,026 with the move from Subiaco Oval to the greater capacity at the new Perth Stadium - the AFL would not have a marginal increase in crowds this season (34,694 after an average of 34,010 last year).
LEGEND’S VIEW: DON’T LIKE IT? THEN QUIT SAYS BLIGHT
Are the fans reacting to the “look of the game” - or all the talk about the game that, unlike in any other era of its 160 years, has far too much said. Far too much.
Every sport will go through this moment. Baseball, as it lost its No. 1 ranking in the US to NFL football, has long debated if its games go too long - and whether the ball should favour the pitcher or the batter. Soccer has been challenged to deliver more goals - and, by evolution, achieved a memorable World Cup in Russia where speed broke the tedious possession game.
WIN AFL GRAND FINAL TICKETS BY COMPLETING THE FOOTY FANS SURVEY BELOW
The unanswered question in every debate - and from AFL football boss Steve Hocking’s two committees resolving new rules - is: Where do we want to take Australian football?
If it is to some long-lost era, particularly in the supposed golden era in the 1960s and 1970s, it would pay to look back at games from those decades that were blessed by the work of television pioneers.
The first lesson that comes from a review of the black-and-white footage is to dismiss the notion that congestion is a modern AFL curse. In the 1960s, the centre bounce could play out with 12 players around the competing ruckmen - rather than the regulated six of today with the centre square that was introduced in 1974.
There is just one basic tactic in this football - get the ball and kick it long. No sideway movement. Minimal handball. Very little tackling.
And the most significant note - players keep their feet rather than dive onto the ball creating a stoppage. Perhaps that is the first rule Mr Hocking needs to contemplate.
michelangelo.rucci@news.com.au