KB goes whack

Football Discussion Non Essendon Stuff
1

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/afl/richmond-legend-kevin-bartlett-blasts-afl-commission-accusing-it-of-knowing-stuff-all-about-game/story-fni5f22o-1226878223109

 

<p></p><blockquote  class="ipsBlockquote">Richmond legend Kevin Bartlett blasts AFL Commission, accusing it of knowing “stuff all” about game
  • Mark Robinson
  • Herald Sun
  • April 08, 2014 10:00PM

AFL great Kevin Bartlett has launched a savage attack on the AFL Commission, accusing it of knowing “stuff all” about the game.

 

Pushing yet again for a reduction in interchange rotations, Bartlett warned that soccer “will kill‘‘ Australian Rules within 20 years unless the commission acted to rid the game of rolling mauls and the chip-chip, kicking backwards, possession style of football.

 

Bartlett said he wrote to the AFL Commission last year as part of the charter to determine what Australian Rules was as a sport, and what aspects of the sport should be protected, but says his letter was not acknowledged, nor does he know if it was read by anyone at the AFL.

 

“I don‘t have any faith in the AFL Commission, I don‘t think they have any idea about the game,‘‘ Bartlett said.

 

“They might be captains of industry, they might know how to run Woolworths or a Bunnings, tell you about finances and what to buy on the stock exchange, but I reckon they know stuff all about footy.

 

“I wrote to the AFL Commission, I said you must ask the philosophical question, what is Australian Rules?

 

“Soccer is going to grow and get bigger and bigger.

 

“Think 20, 25 years down the track, if you don‘t have a point of difference, if you have a rolling maul of players running around the ground, then soccer will kill Australian rules football.

 

“Soccer could destroy AFL within 25 years..

 

“And that‘s where the AFL commission must look at a game and say that‘s not Australian rules football?

 

The nine-person league commission comprises chairman Mike Fitzpatrick, chief executive Andrew Demetriou, Paul Bassat, Linda Dessau, Richard Goyder, Bill Kelty, Chris Langford, Sam Mostyn and Kim Williams, who was formerly chief executive of NewsCorp.

 

Bartlett stepped down from the AFL laws of the game committee last month, clearly disillusioned with the direction of the commission.

 

The laws of the game recommended a limitation of 80 rotations this season, but the commission dismissed the recommendation and set it at 120, with added rotations after each quarter, which amounted to be about 130 rotations anyway.

 

Bartlett accepts he will be criticised for his stance and will continue to argue to protect the “essence of the game‘‘.

 

Bartlett‘s outburst yesterday came after Fox Footy commentator Gerard Healy lamented on Monday night about the death of the full-forward, an argument Barltett supported totally.

 

He said the game was now based around keepings off.

 

“Melbourne lost to West Coast and at one stage it was 100 points to nine, but Melbourne had more possessions than West Coast,‘‘ he said.

 

“A contest within a contest doesn‘t exist in the AFL game.‘‘

 

As for full-forwards, Bartlett said Riewoldt would‘ve been an even greater superstar if he had played the 1980s or 1990s.

 

“Could you imagine. Riewoldt just running his opponent into the ground, finding space ... but now when he runs them into the ground, five fresh players run back with him.‘‘

 

Bartlett‘s letter, one of several written to the AFL by members of the laws of the game committee, talks of the importance of keeping AFL Rules a ‘‘unique Australian game‘‘.

“Who read it, where it went, I‘ve got no idea whatsoever,‘‘ Bartlett said.

 

Edited extract from Kevin Bartlett‘s letter to the AFL

Dear AFL

 

—We should be proud of the game‘s heritage. Its characteristics of 18 versus 18 was the cornerstone of the game. Player versus player within a team structure created contest between individuals.

 

--The true essence of the game is being destroyed by a cancer called interchange.

 

--Players now all form together in nooks and crannies of the vast ground, in rolling mauls of high player density. Position and positional play are lost in player density.

 

--Interchange has created a new game of Australian Rules, a hybrid game of soccer tactics, rugby union mauls, rugby league tackling counts, basketball presses and ice hockey high interchange rotations.

 

--Aesthetically, the game has become one mass of moving players.

Yours,

Kev

2

old man loses the last job he's ever going to get, shakes fist at sky


Maybe if he didn't just watch Richmond games...
3

I hate agreeing with that twat, but he's right.

4

If KB had his way, we’d still be amoeba living in primordial soup.

I’d be more concerned about the AFL off field to be honest.

5

Well while KB has a point, the chipping the ball around has more to do with skill levels of the team and coaches instructions than the interchange rules. Hawks and now Bombers play possession football but because of kicking and positional skills move it forward to create scoring opportunities. Melbourne kick it around with much less precision, have many possessions but rarely move forward and lose the ball when pressure is applied.

I reckon you stop it all by manning up, but it doesn’t get you goals or win games.

6

KB.

7

Bartlett can get ■■■■■■

8

BANG

 

Here we go, look out ASADA!

 

...wait

9

What a hysterical over reaction. 25 years ago, people were saying basketball would be the most popular sport by now. I do enjoy soccer, but there are some significant barriers for it becoming a more popular sport than Aussie Rules, namely:
- You can not watch soccer played live at the highest level in Australia - not even close
- There is SFA scoring
- Australians enjoy full contact sport

10

I believe he expresses a very valid point.

The game is not as attractive as it once was when positional play and individual contests were a corner stone.

The packs and scrimmages sap the game of its beauty.

Soccer is a threat to our game and will become more so if we continue to lose itsuniqueness.

11

Part of the problem has been of KB's own making. Teams have had to react to the constant, annual and infernal tinkering . tweaking of the game by the rules committee. He is right though the AFL Commission suck, but for the wrong reason. They know very little about the game, as the events at EFC have shown over the last 14 months.

12

someone should call his "famous" talkback number. 

13

what's next KB? should the players have to smoke and have day jobs so they can't get 3 times fitter than they were in your day? that'll show soccer. Take the game back to a semi-professinoal comp only followed by 3 states.

14

I hate that ■■■■.

 

He's complaining about aussie rules losing it's uniqueness but isn't the fact that the game is ever-changing, and I don't mean in a rules sense, what makes our game unique. Supporters go into every season wondering what tactics their team is going to apply each game. Is it going to be attack, attack, attack or defend heavily and really think through things or maybe there might actually be a pretty one on one contest.

 

Uniqueness to me isn't having one on one contests from here to eternity though. I can't think of anything more boring.

15

When KB and the rules commitee are farked off and the rules are left alone, the game will find its own its own evolution, and will remain a bigger game in this country than soccer will ever be!

16

Well he was part of the problem by bringing in ■■■■ rules to first quicken the game up then slow it down. Reducing the interchange from 4 to 3 and now capping the rotations will slow the game down and turn it into rolling mauls.

 

And BTW, it isn't the AFL commission to know everything, that is why there is a CEO, CFO, COO, Football Operations whatever etc etc.

 

The Commissions is (meant to be) an independant arm of the AFL to ratify any changes or hand down any penalties.

17

KB and his cronies on the rules commitee are the dumb ****s the farked the game to start with. Don't create a monster and complain when he destory's afew buildings KB.

18

The coaches ruin the game more than the rules committee.

They (coaches) will introduce any tactic to get an advantage or increase their advantage.  They don't worry about the state of the 'game' or the impact their tactics have on the game in the broader sense. Their tactics have made it uglier. Their responsibility is to their win / loss ratio, not the broader game itself.

Look at Wallace and that flooding tactic.  Roos and his tactic of continual stoppages etc.  Incessant use of the interchange. Sheedy and his time wasting by holding up the opponent with the ball. Coaches instructing backmen to concede a point so they can reset or to waste time (eg Bowden against Ess).

The game now, at times, resembles rugby. 

19

The coaches ruin the game more than the rules committee.

They (coaches) will introduce any tactic to get an advantage or increase their advantage.  They don't worry about the state of the 'game' or the impact their tactics have on the game in the broader sense. Their tactics have made it uglier. Their responsibility is to their win / loss ratio, not the broader game itself.

Look at Wallace and that flooding tactic.  Roos and his tactic of continual stoppages etc.  Incessant use of the interchange. Sheedy and his time wasting by holding up the opponent with the ball. Coaches instructing backmen to concede a point so they can reset or to waste time (eg Bowden against Ess).

The game now, at times, resembles rugby. 

But its the rules committe who have knee jerk reactions to those tactics.

 

The only reason the deliberate rushed rule came in was geelong sooked about it after they lost a grand final when hawthorn rushed it to reset the play about 70 times.

20

Shock news - KB calls for rules changes.

 

Seriously, every time Patrick Smith farts in his studio in the mornings, the bloke reckons it's a disaster that needs to be addressed by the rules of the game committee.  Senile old ■■■■■■■. 

 

And frankly, I disagree with the old dufflecoated cliche of 'the game was a better spectacle in the 80s!'  Bull.  Low skilled, plodding, hack it forward and hope maybe someone'll take a mark, interminable rolling mauls played in mudpits, haunted by skill-less thugs on the team purely for their ability to break the jaw of a better and braver ball player.  The 'classic footy' replays that we see now are only the best games, remember - it shouldn't blind everyone to what your average early 80s St Kilda vs Fitzroy shitfest was really like. 

 

The game as it is now has some issues, but jeez it's a lot better than it used to be.