Footy supporter ground ban in back-to-play guidelines

The stirring sight of the huddle would be banned from local footy games under controversial new AFL Victoria return-to-play guidelines.

Port Melbourne supporters gather at the huddle to listen to coach Gary Ayres.

It’s one of the distinctive sights and sounds of local football.

The siren goes to end the quarter, and supporters make their way on to the ground to hear the coaches instruct their charges at the huddle.

The addresses can range from thunderous to humorous, from studious to even dubious.

Years ago in a semi-final at Keysborough a coach casually walked to the huddle, held up the board to show how the side would start the final quarter and asked his players to listen up.

They were three goals behind.

“Do you think you can win?’’ he asked.

Enthusiastically, they responded in the affirmative.

“Bet you 10 bucks you can’t,’’ the coach replied, walking back to the bench and leaving many bemused faces.

His team got up to win, and people still talk about his talk. It’s not known if the coach paid up on the bet.

At Port Melbourne in the VFL, coach Gary Ayres’ addresses at three-quarter-time have become legendary and almost compulsory for Borough supporters.

They jockey for the best vantage point to hear Ayres deliver his directions and wrap up his address with the question, “Who are we?”

“Borough!’’ the players and fans shout in unison.

As community football stalwart Daryl Pitman sees it, the huddle is an indispensable element of the game.

Clint Wilson at the Doveton Eagles huddle in 2019.

But it will be missing this year if AFL Victoria’s COVID-19 return-to-play guidelines carry through to the start of the season.

Last updated on February 5, the guidelines detailing “strategies to manage training and games’’ state that only players and officials will be allowed on the ground.

“No spectators on grounds during breaks or after the match,’’ they state.

Pitman, the long-time host of The Local Footy Show, said the huddle was an “essential part of the football experience, especially at local level’’.

“That’s what people want to hear,’’ he said.

“Everyone gathers around – the fathers put the kids up on their shoulders so the kids can see what’s going on – to listen to what the coach has got to say and how he says it.

“There have been some great addresses over the years to inspire the players, and the big hurrah at the end is always fantastic.’’

Pitman laughed as he recalled the old days of supporters slipping players a cigarette or a bottle of green ginger wine.

He said he was unsure how clubs would police the ban and questioned if it was necessary.

“If you’re going to ban huddles, ban everything. Ban going out your door, ban going to the pictures, ban going to shops. It’s just ridiculous,’’ Pitman said.

Daryl Pitman.

Southern league life member and former coach Steve Barnes said there was no reason supporters should be barred from the huddle if they were wearing face masks.

“I’m staggered. If people have got masks on and they’re allowed to shop at Bunnings or have a drink at the pub, you’d think they’d be allowed on to the ground at a local footy game,’’ he said.

“You’re taking the pulse away from local footy if you remove the huddle.’’

Barnes said he believed authorities were adopting a cautious approach to restart the game after COVID-19 wiped out the 2020 season.

An AFL Victoria spokesman said the football authority was working with the State Government on the protocols for the resumption of local football.

He said AFL Vic was “advocating on behalf of the game to make it as easy as possible for football to return’’.

The health and safety of all participants was the number one priority, he said.

Southern league CEO Lee Hartman said he hoped restrictions would ease before the start of the season and make it easier for the volunteers running clubs.