Would you still love footy if you were born in 2004

Football Discussion Dustin Fletcher Hangar
1

Sorry to sound like an old ■■■■■■■ but I've been thinking about this a bit lately - footy is no longer the game we grew up with (obviously).

 

It's soft, tough stuff isn't allowed, the bump is largely dead, there's no fights or even wrestling. The fact there's even a "wrestling" charge in the AFL disgusts me. "Melee" should not be a charge either. Charged with pushing and shoving? Come on. (Goddard's suspension this week has absolutely incensed me.)

 

In general play itself, the umpires don't pay frees when they should in my opinion. In the 1990s, over the shoulder, push in the back, shepherding off the marking contest were all common frees paid to forwards. Midfielders who were being held, scragged etc also got frees. Now it's like the umpires would rather swallow the whistle for fear of criticism and so backmen are allowed to wrap their arms around players like JD, drag them down, and generally ruin any chance that the competing players might all just run and jump into the air trying to win the ball. (Yes, I know Hooker gets pinged for scragging type frees, but that's just because he plays for Essendon.)

 

Now the "tagging" means heaps of the ball winners are being held as they run to receive the ball, or being tackled before they pick it up. No frees paid, and so the really quick exciting players (think Judd around 2006 when Crouch was just holding him all the time) don't do those amazing runs where they get it in traffic and sprint clear anywhere near as much. Ball winners are hugged all day.

 

The refusal to pay shepherding players off the marking contest means the big leapers rarely get a good run at the ball. This along with flooding the backline, never kicking to a contest etc mean we see very few genuine aerial pack contests or marks. The best marks we see now are generally third man up marking over two stationary wrestling players with their feet stuck to the ground.

 

Holding the ball is no longer a rule in some games now.

 

Then there's the evolution into scrums, every player on the ground packing into one corner of it during the press etc, the fact far fewer goals are being scored per game.

 

On top of all these frustrating things, the fact the AFL is a arrogant dictatorship which behaves in an unfair manner and cover their own ■■■■■ at all costs has also frustrated me.

 

I was born in the late 70s. The game I grew up loving is not the one that's played today. The game I grew up watching, the game I fell in love with, is gone. If I was born ten years ago, I doubt I'd be falling in love with this game. What ties me to it is the love of Essendon, which of course is stronger than logic. Many friends have told me this year they've gone to few or no games this year. I suspect some, like me, have made an effort to go to Essendon games because of the ASADA nonsense; to show support for the club. But other friends who don't barrack for Essendon are not enjoying or attending like they used to. 

 

In politics or marketing terms, I think what AFL footy is effectively doing (to an extent which we can discuss below) is alienating their base. This means the people who have supported the product for a long time because of certain characteristics it had are now leaving the product/brand because the things they liked are no longer there. My example would be genuine pack marking an aerial contests. (I don't actually seek to blame the AFL for that; the evolution was going away from taking any risks with the ball and so coaches instructed players to kick short to a non contest more, though umpires could do better by actually paying a free against a player who has no intention of going up for the mark who screens another player from getting a run at the ball.)

 

My second example is tough stuff; be it bumps or some push and shove. I don't give a stuff if you don't like it, I do. And it's all but dead.

 

I still like the game, but I don't love it.

 

So I ask you honestly, if you were born in 2004, do you think you'd fall in love with AFL footy?

2

I don’t think the game itself has dropped as much as most people’s nostalgia likes to claim.

But if I was born in 2004, it would be tough to be this passionate about the EFC. Certainly not as passionate as I was at the age of ten anyway.

I’ve always said there is a strong correlation between how much you love football, and how successful your team has been in recent years.

3

Wouldn't you be a 10 year old cult of Hird member?

4

The modern game all too often has the worst aspects of rugby and soccer - rolling mauls and ultra defence.  8 goal to 7 goal games may be gripping because they are close, but as a spectacle they are pure dross.

5

This is why I prefer watching the VFL, more classic style, more open, more space, the older style is just more fun to watch.

 

My favourite era was the late 90s into the early 2000s, for obvious reasons, more offensive then defensive game. Better commentators. Listening to Landy, etc. all those classic commentators that actually talked about the technicalities of the game.

 

Fingers crossed it returns to that style some day.

6

I had a VFL game on while I was home on the weekend (I think it was Williamstown versus someone) and even though it was a cold wet day, it was really good to watch.

 

More open, more long kicking to a contest, and tougher than AFL. Less staging. Also at that level, the umps seem more willing to say "you ducked into the tackle, play on". In the AFL, any player who falls or dives into high contact gets paid the free even though they instigated the contact, and in lots of cases the contact was minimal or non existent...

7

Even the VFL commentators, Donegan, Jones, Booth, Boyd, Cleary are like the classic style commentators.

8

I've always said there is a strong correlation between how much you love football, and how successful your team has been in recent years.

 

Had a Hawthorn mate admit to me how lucky he feels that his club has won 7 flags in his lifetime, He's 32, that's one every 4.5 years. If they keep up that rate he'll see 20 odd by the time he croaks it. ■■■■■■.

9

I started following footy in grades 1/2, which was 2002/3. It has mostly been ■■■■ being an essendon supporter, but I still fell in love with the game. 

 

When I go to non-efc games between the top teams, especially finals, it's fantastic. It'll be even better when we're there.

 

 

I think ye olde folks oversell what footy was like back in the day.

I'm glad we don't have thugs ironing out carnts every week and getting away with it. I'm glad tactics have moved on from 'get the ball and kick it long'. I don't think slugfests in the mud at crappy suburban grounds would be better than even a Ross Lyon v Paul Roos defence-a-thon.

But I wasn't there so who am I to judge.

 

Of course there's stuff that annoys me about footy as it is, but I still love it.

Maybe when I'm old and cranky I'll be disillusioned. 

10

This is why I prefer watching the VFL, more classic style, more open, more space, the older style is just more fun to watch.

 

My favourite era was the late 90s into the early 2000s, for obvious reasons, more offensive then defensive game. Better commentators. Listening to Landy, etc. all those classic commentators that actually talked about the technicalities of the game.

 

Fingers crossed it returns to that style some day.

 

Yes, I think the mid to late 90s was the heyday for footy. That was the time when you had the great full forwards (Lockett, Ablett, Modra, Lloyd, Dunstall, etc) pushing to kick centuries, no crowded ball-ups, and a lot more spectacular marks. Once the TV money really started rolling in the 2000s, the levels of profesionalism and fitness went up, and the philosophy changed from trying to kick a winning score to trying not to lose a game. Hence the defensive tactics we have now.

 

 

On top of that, the ■■■■■■ AFL executive is trying to control and sanitize the game too much and we have the mess that we have today.

11

My eldest child, born 2004, loves footy.

I hate it a lot of the time. Although a lot of that hate is hating the media, the AFL, Docklands and the stupid times they play games.

I also hate umpiring interpretations.

Mostly though I hate the stupid media and it’s 2 hour long attention span and overreactions to everything. And the way the whole AFL landscape is shaped by the ADHD media.

12

Love the game. Hate the league.

13

The game has gotten softer with penalties… Silvagni wouldn’t get a game based on his playing style nowadays…

14

If you‘re 10 you‘re not making any comparisons, and the AFL is going to have to lift its game to make it not the best sport in the world.
I agree VFL can be better to watch despite the skills being notably less, and that quite a few aspects of the game have declined since round 16 of 2001.

15

I disagree that VFL is tougher. Watch a couple of players all the time, up close, and the difference is stark in terms of speed of contests, number of contests, tackles laid and needing to be laid.

It might look tougher because the game’s slower and guys can line up hits, but that’s just something that’s marginalised (as a rule) in the AFL unfortunately. Rules have very little to do with it, IMHO.

16

I'd love Essendon. 

17

Heaps of good points, but the one always brought up is about the lack of fighting. If you want to see fighting, there are sports out there for that.

 

The sport itself just isn't entertaining the watch anymore. The rules are confusing because of the way it is officiated contest to contest.

 

The AFL has tried to control the game too much. First they wanted to speed the game up, so teams changed there tactics and used the interchange more. Then they try and slow the game down again.

 

The only thing keeping me around the sport is my passion for the club.

18

If I was born in 2004 my parents would have been ■■■■■ old buggers, they would have been 76 and 86 respectively. Honestly I would still love the Bombers, after all I watched them in the seventies and that wasn’t a crash hot decade for the wonderful wizards from windy hill.

19

The game is ■■■■ and has been for years. Rolling mauls, lousy rule changes, f**king god awful umpiring, overly defensive game plans. Love Essendon, don't love footy. Hate the AFL and media.

20

If you‘re 10 you‘re not making any comparisons, and the AFL is going to have to lift its game to make it not the best sport in the world.I agree VFL can be better to watch despite the skills being notably less, and that quite a few aspects of the game have declined since round 16 of 2001.


I was 8 and still remember being at that game, the roar when Caracella kicked the sealer was farking unreal.