What Has Gone Wrong With Football?

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

You’re assuming that these players dreamt of playing AFL. Maybe for some its just a job or something they just happened to be good at. Wasn’t it Wingard who basically said he doesn’t really have a passion for the game? Maybe its what they thought they wanted before they got to actually see the reality of it. The demands of training might simply be more than some can handle & they think its easier to walk away.

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.

Knew football was stuffed when the league was pumping barrowloads into the Swans and Oakley started referring to the promotion of football in Sydney as "entertainment.

Maybe the reality did not live up to the dream. Good on them for recognising the reality early and moving on for a life that does put you under a microscope.

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.

Too good just to “like”. bomber_girl nailed it!

3 blokes out of 800 choose to change careers.

We need someone to make football great again.

A lot more than 3 lost their jobs and it wasn’t their choice, they wanted to stay. Quite a few had to change location to keep their job too and did so because they love doing it. Some changed location because they lost their love in the current location and want it back.

Football has changed from the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s but to be honest, having watched that era, I much prefer todays game to that mud-infested kick to kick game.

Professional sport is a pretty tough gig, and not for everyone. It actually surprises me that more people don’t get drafted to the top level and then decide ‘this is not for me’, and drop back to a lower, more casual level.

Football has changed from the 60's, 70's and 80's but to be honest, having watched that era, I much prefer todays game to that mud-infested kick to kick game.
But not the 90's, I take it?

For every three players who turn their back on the game, there are hundreds desperate to be a part of it.

Reality is the professionalism that crushes the heart out of the game, also keeps it alive. The sport doesn’t survive on fun. The professionalism is required because the club and the AFL demand that if you want to be at the top level, you have to be the best of yourself.

Western Bulldogs will probably get a massive boost with their Premiership win. And Premierships don’t just happen.

I’m not getting bent out of shape on Dane Swan’s views on “professionalism”. I could’ve guessed his position without a lot of forethought.

90s were the best footy years and start of 2000. Good wage, good money and could still have a beer. Felt like was after the wayne carey shenanigans media started looking for off field incidents more and interrupting private lives etc.

Separate to the growing demands of professionalism, it’s probably also true that there were guys who were deciding it wasn’t for them even 10 years ago and it just wasn’t reported. It wasn’t that long ago that there wasn’t an article for every single guy who got delisted, because that wasn’t how the news cycle worked. Who would know if one of those names in the list of players had decided he wasn’t interested any more?

McGrath and Marsh were both picks in the 70s, with less than 20 games between them. Without the scrutiny of modern media, 99% of people wouldn’t have batted an eyelid if they’d seen those names in an article buried in the sports section of the hun summarising list changes. Supporters of their clubs might have said “he looked pretty good when he played I thought” and only the most diehard of supporters or football nerds would have known they were contracted (because there wouldn’t have been an article in the paper about a second year player who’d barely played a game getting a one year contract extension) and been curious about what had happened.

Edit: my point being it’s difficult to know as an outsider whether anything has actually changed with regards to guys deciding to call it quits, or whether it’s just our awareness of it.

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.


This is one of my favourite posts of all-time. And the last bit is best of all.

This generation are just soft. They want everything given to them and wont work for it.

It will all be OK when we develop robots to takeover and play the game the way it should be played.

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.

Marry me

This generation are just soft. They want everything given to them and wont work for it.

It will all be OK when we develop robots to takeover and play the game the way it should be played.

booooo farking hooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

crusty old codger.

This generation are just soft. They want everything given to them and wont work for it.

It will all be OK when we develop robots to takeover and play the game the way it should be played.

This generation are just soft. They want everything given to them and wont work for it.

It will all be OK when we develop robots to takeover and play the game the way it should be played.

Hooked a couple.

A lot more than 3 lost their jobs and it wasn't their choice, they wanted to stay. Quite a few had to change location to keep their job too and did so because they love doing it. Some changed location because they lost their love in the current location and want it back.

Football has changed from the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s but to be honest, having watched that era, I much prefer todays game to that mud-infested kick to kick game.

Wow. So its just the mud. I do notice you left out the 90s.

Professional sport is a pretty tough gig, and not for everyone. It actually surprises me that more people don't get drafted to the top level and then decide 'this is not for me', and drop back to a lower, more casual level.

As much as it seems to be fun to make fun of guys like Reimers, there’s a reason that he didn’t take up Carlton’s offer - and it wasn’t just the obvious.