One of the great things about Football is that everyone has an opinion.
Our game is subjective, open to interpretation and has a complex composition of rules. These aspects have not changed in over 150 years.
However, negative perceptions of the current state of the game, as critiqued by Darren Jolly in his article in The Age on Wednesday, seem way off the mark. Is it more of a case of a player in the twilight of his career struggling to keep pace with the modern game?
Let’s look at some of the assertions made in the article:
– “popular sports such as soccer and basketball have remained largely untouched (rule changes)”. This may be true, however most sports involving significant physical contact have dramatically changed their rules in recent years (i.e. Rugby Union and League). These have all been made in the interests of player safety.
– “emotions boiling over are part of the game”. This may have once been tolerated, but not now. Players are there to play football – if they want to wrestle or box there are gyms for that. AFL players must realise is that everything they do on a football field is absorbed and replicated by the tens of thousands of kids that pull on a jumper every Sunday.
– “players dropping to their knees when getting tackled and staging for free kicks knowing they will get paid”. Who are the villains here – the players or the umpires? Umpires have a split second to assess whether it was high and whether the player ducked, dropped or contributed to the contact. If they pay them they are criticised by one side and if they call play on they are criticised by the other.
– “the umpiring is superb in grand final day, why can’t every game be umpired like that?” Simple – they are the best teams out there with the best umpires officiating.
– “I generally think the physical side of football is slowly diminishing”. In 2012, the number of concussions was nearly double the 10-year average and structural injuries such as shoulder and knee injuries were either on or above the 10-year average. The physical nature is increasing hence the need to maintain and enhance rules regarding player safety. I could go on and on in challenging some of the many other assertions made by Darren in his article.
Essentially, Darren is saying the game is over-umpired. In 1996 there was an average of 38 free kicks paid per match. In 2006 the number was 33 and so far in 2013 the average is 39. Not a dramatic change in 17 years of football.
The game has never been in better shape with membership and attendances up, broadcasters paying record sums for the rights and scoring averages significantly increasing.
We have seen recently players both past and present bemoan the current state of the game – we understand nostalgic connections to days gone by but we are in the present and the present looks good.
Jeremy Bourke – Chief Executive Officer
@JeremyBourkeNFL
