What Has Gone Wrong With Football?

Football Discussion Non Essendon Stuff
1

In the last few days, three talented young footballers have turned their back on the game that they grew up loving for what appear to be non-football related matters (eg injuries, lack of for, opportunities etc).

Jarrod Garlett (Gold Coast), Jonathon Marsh (Collingwood) and Jaden McGrath (Brisbane) have all chosen to “retire”

All three are returning to their home states and, seemingly, giving up on their boyhood dreams.

Dane Swan recently spoke about how the fun has gone out of the game with the high level of professionalism required now…monitoring sleep time, food intake, liquid intake, skin folds, having to be available virtually 24/7/365.

Is professionalism and big business (the chase for the mighty dollar) slowly killing our great game?

What do you think?

Just to clarify, I was asking the question from the perspective of these young guys leaving the AFL…not from our own perspectives.

I’m wondering what has gone wrong that has made them give up on their dreams

2

Grant Thomas has accused AFL chief executive Gillon McLachlan of treating public like ‘imbeciles’

FORMER St Kilda coach Grant Thomas has lashed out at AFL chief executive Gillon McLachlan, saying he treats the public like ‘imbeciles’.

Thomas was responding to McLachlan’s press conference on Thursday, where the AFL boss refused to answer questions regarding proposed sanctions for Greater Western Sydney following the Lachie Whitfield drugs saga.

Thomas said McLachlan owes supporters more.

“I turned the iPad on and out jumped Gil McLachlan trying to bumble his way through some very reasonable questions about information the general football fan would like to hear,” Thomas told EON Sports Radio.

“He snapped back at the reporters and they, as usual, went back into their hole and became very fearful of asking Gil about GWS and any sanctions.

“It drove me insane. I just thought ‘who do you think you are, Gil?’ You are the administrator for our competition, owned by the fans, so tell the people what’s going on.

“Don’t hide behind deals and the stuff you do with your former AFL staffer Dave Matthews at GWS. It’s just pathetic.

“They treat us like imbeciles. Tell the truth, it doesn’t hurt. If you’ve made a slight error in judgment, people forgive very quickly. We don’t care. But don’t pee down our back and tell us it’s raining. It drives me insane, why do we put up with that?”

A Giants statement said former football boss Graeme Allan and former welfare manager Craig Lambert “did not conform with the clearly established club protocols, thus in no way relating to a governance failure on behalf of the club”.

But Thomas also questioned the rationale behind that suggestion, asking whether Essendon could have used the same statement in relation to its drugs penalties.

“I’d ask him to tell me the truth,” Thomas said.

“How the hell can you accept that the CEO for one of your clubs can say these people acted outside their protocol, so it’s not their fault? How does that work?

“I can go through every incident over the last 10 years and say ‘of course it’s outside the protocol of the club’, but you manage the protocol of clubs. It’s just ridiculous.

“That automatically exonerates every Essendon player, doesn’t it? Because didn’t (Stephen) Dank and others act outside the protocol of the club?

“Where does it stop and where does it finish?”

Originally published as ‘Who do you think you are, Gil?’

Like the original headline better.

Onya Grant.

3

Yes.

4

100%, and a lot of those guys are jumping from amateur commitment levels to professional level with no intermediate stage
I think as well in AFL the culture is to baby talented guys a bit more and hope you end up showing the commitment, whereas other sports that I follow the commitment typically comes first

It would be interesting to hear from someone who follows some other sports very closely to find out if it is a similar situation

5

Good point, Swoodley.

The cynic in me wonders if all three breached three strikes on the AFL’s drugs policy and have been “managed” out of the game.

I think I prefer your scenario.

6

It should fold and become a museum for rude art exhibits therefore rationalising why a bunch of sheltered ■■■■■ can get so much overexposure and acclaim.

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Why did you feel the need to mention Swan, Swoodley? :*

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  1. The corruptfl using the media as a means of big brother in order to police the players, aka "role models (what a load of excrement). This is why there’s no more “fun” for them
  2. Big fat cash cow bosses who only think with their wallets
  3. Professionalism
  4. Supporters getting progressively dumber
  5. More brainwashing
  6. Clubs getting more gutless
  7. The corruptfl eating alive the vfl/vfa because they are a bunch of lazy tightarse c’s who didn’t want to start their own reserves, though happy to pump money into point number 9.
  8. Favourtism of teams, including bribery and collusion with umpires
  9. Souless expansion clubs with american nicknames and ■■■■■■ jumpers
  10. Moronic, lieing, ■■■■■■■■ commentators who are where they are because they are good at being wankers and jobz for da boyz.
  11. Rule changing
  12. Political tokenism crap to pretend they care

Best thing about football is this forum. Everything else can fark off.

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Also, I’d like to add that it is filtering down to local level with guys playing 4th divvy basically getting clubs to bid on them for their services

10

My sentiments exactly bomber_girl.

I love reading your posts…so succinct and eloquently put but most of all you really know how to hit the nail on the head, great work.

11

Yep sadly something that was once great is being progressively ruined

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Why did you feel the need to mention Swan, Swoodley? :*
He was one of the last of the old breed and he spoke about this when he retired (and it stuck in my mind)
13

Well said BG. I would add:

13: Sunday twighlight games
14: Peripheral “entertainment” (read short snippets of supposedly inspirational music*)
15: Being forced to pay for reserved seating when a stadium is half fkng empty

  • Even if the songs were to my taste, who wants to hear a few bars in isolation during the middle of a game?
14

Just to clarify, I was asking the question from the perspective of these young guys leaving the AFL…not from our own perspectives.

I’m wondering what has gone wrong that has made them give up on their dreams

15

Elite footballers of the 50’s, 60’s, 70’s and 80’s had a great life balance of playing at the top level, work and family life in those eras.

They would train 2-3 times a week, play on Saturdays and Sunday recovery sessions consisted of sitting around a keg of beer and choofing down a few durries (or an entire packet) and just shoot the breeze with one another about the previous day’s game or their high jinx of the night before.

The game for them wasn’t all consuming as it is today.

They still had a life outside of the game with their work or studies and were a lot better equipped to handle life after football when retirement from the game eventually came around.

They could relax with a beer or 27 after a match without any repercussions and having to stress about what it would do to their skinfolds or their behaviour or antics being filmed and/or reported back to the club on a Monday morning.

They got to play hard on and off the field and actually enjoy themselves whilst doing it without it being a high pressure job for them.

Also the media would find positive things to report on about a star player’s performance, and laud them for it, than to constantly deride or cut down them down and try and heap extra pressure or misery on a footballer like they try to these days, and that’s before they get to mentioning anything about their on field performances.

The constant, invasive scrutiny of a footballer’s life would be off putting and distressing for a number of these guys too I would feel.

Off course there would be people pointing to the fact that they earn a fucktonne load of money more than the average Australian worker does and that they should be thankful and priveleged for the opportunity that’s been afforded to them, but really most of these kids are on base wage, not having earned a hell of a lot more than that due to playing very few or no games at all( hence, very little in the way of match payments or bonuses for reaching certain goals).

I don’t blame these kids, and when you think about it, they still are only kids forced to make adult decisions about their futures in the short to mid term of their lives, wanting to get out of the system and possibly move back closer to home to play suburban or country footy with their mates in a more relaxed environment.

Some of these decisions are even for health or life threatening reasons, such as the case of the Crows player Sam Shaw, who has been forced out of the game due to concussion issues.

These guys are now realising that the game, as much as they love it and have a passion for it, just ain’t that important to them anymore and that there’s more to life than just being an elite sports person.

It’s interesting times ahead for the rulers of our great game because not only do they have to stave off competition from other sports, they may just be starting to see the beginning of an even bigger issue of just trying to retain the young players that are already in the game.

16
Also, I'd like to add that it is filtering down to local level with guys playing 4th divvy basically getting clubs to bid on them for their services

It’s been that way in ammos since the dawn of time.

17

What’s wrong with football? We haven’t won a flag for 16 years and we just got a wooden spoon.

I’m sure the Bulldogs supporters aren’t currently discussing this same topic.

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What's wrong with football? We haven't won a flag for 16 years and we just got a wooden spoon.

I’m sure the Bulldogs supporters aren’t currently discussing this same topic.

They may have the previous 60 odd years before though.
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Cadel Evans today on SEN discussed this issue in relation to cycling - Spoke about young gun riders who turn professional early ( around 20 which is a young for a cyclist ) who start off their career in a blaze of glory and have everything handed to them on a platter - Then when the results dry up, these cyclists lack the LIFE SKILLS, to turn around the situation - Think this also applies to footy.

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‘3’ is not a big sample size to support the argument.
Having said that, I’d like to throw in how much I hate the media.
Does that fit in here? Good.