AFL know-nothings take free shot at league

[miguel de cervantes]

I find it sad that AD came out and specifically commented on the fight to go after brownie points from all the mothers out there. Would David Gallop or any other sporting CEO ever bother to comment on fights in AFL?

 

[El Diablo]

I find it sad that AD came out and specifically commented on the fight to go after brownie points from all the mothers out there. Would David Gallop or any other sporting CEO ever bother to comment on fights in AFL?

did you see any League officials comment on Barney Hill's punch?

nope

the AFL then defended it and used him to market their game

 

[Kiki]

While rugby league may sometimes give the appearance of being a caged gorilla, there's little doubt that AFL is hurriedly turning itself into a pet poodle, so determined are they to ensure their code can be patted in complete safety by young kiddies as their fearful mothers watch on.

BAHAHA...oh man i love this line.

awesome article. AFL journos are so pathetic. they are clearly threatened by league other wise they wouldn't write about us.

 

[miguel de cervantes]

Would it be fair to say that league journos behaved like this when AFL was making baby steps in Sydney?

I think that what we are witnessing now is just a reversal of what happened in Sydney a while back. Things should settle down as league becomes more accepted in Melbourne over the next decade.

 

[El Diablo]

it's to do with the AFL going into Western Sydney and the GC

the AFL have got the media trying to make them look superior to other codes

 

[Liam]

Which reporter said RL will never spread outside of NSW and QLD? We have over 20 ranked countries ffs.

 

[El Diablo]

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=6082841700

 

[MsStorm]

Would it be fair to say that league journos behaved like this when AFL was making baby steps in Sydney?

I think that what we are witnessing now is just a reversal of what happened in Sydney a while back. Things should settle down as league becomes more accepted in Melbourne over the next decade.

This is why its very important that a rugby league team in Melbourne is always retained. I have noticed a huge difference in people's attitudes towards rugby league since Storm's inception. Many people are warming to the code. It may not show so much in attendance atm, but just having a presence here makes such a huge difference to people's acceptance of the code.
The same principle applies to retaining the Warriors.
I personally can't wait for a team to be up and running in Perth so we can get more of an even spread of the game across Australia.

 

[Kiki]

Yep I think it's important to keep the storm too.

 

[rabbitohs]

The irony is that every AFL fan I know (I live in Adelaide so it's a lot )loved the biff at SOO.

They also deplore the softness that has crept into the game and long for the days of the odd punch up where being a hard man was one way of making it to the top level. Instead of metro sexual racing snakes!

 

[RL1908]

http://www.realfooty.com.au/news/rfnews/demetriou-wants-bad-barry-back/2009/07/19/1247941827652.html

Demetriou was asked about the much-publicised brawling in the third State of Origin rugby league game, and said he felt AFL football was "incredibly tough without those sorts of things". But while he is keen to bring back Hall, he doesn't want to bring back the biff.

"I don't think that anyone wants to see someone lying on the ground unconscious, a wife on the sidelines and concerned medics out there trying to make sure this fellow is OK, particularly when you see what's going on out in the real world with violence," he said of the Steve Price incident last Wednesday. "I don't think anyone derives any joy out of seeing people in pain and suffering and being unconscious … unless I missed something.

"I think we've [AFL] come a long way, and credit to the players and the clubs and the code, whether it's the melee rule or whether it's the match review panel or three umpires. The game has moved on now; there is outrage now if there is a headbutt. People will just say you can't have that. We've moved on and there's a big shift."

 

[RL1908]

Some observations from recent events....

1. Don't place the response from AFL/Victorians as some part of a plot re expansion - they are genuinely shocked by the sight of two footballers going toe-to-toe, one knocked out, and nothing happening to either protagonist. Sure, there are plenty of cheap/violent shots in AFL, but these are (apparently) under the cover of "playing the game" and rarely lead to an ongoing barney - there isn't the "in plain sight" outright/protracted fist fighting to the head/body between two men that sometimes arises in RL. To the RL community, there are plenty of tackles more likely to injure a player than a fist fight.

2. We've had Aust rules in NSW/Qld since the 1880s - we all understand that code, and how it has a lower level open confrontation and body contact than in the rugby codes. The reverse isn't true. Most Victorians still really have no understanding of the rugby codes, other than they are violent when compared to Aust rules. In the Melb newspapers, until the Storm era, in the preceding 90 years the only RL stories were reports from NSW/Qld/NZ and England about (so called) on-field violent acts, brawls and crowd riots.

3. RL won't succeed at expanding beyond NSW/Qld in Aust if offers up the same on-field ethos as AFL. It needs to differentiate itself in the market, offer something different. The risk is that the NRL will respond to the misplaced media alarmists, and clamp down on all fighting. The 10m rule inadvertently got rid of a lot of intensity from RL, there's little opportunity to single out an opposition player in the run of the game. It's already ridiculous the extent to which players are penalised/punished for accidental head-high tackles that come from a tackler's arm bouncing off the ball, or when an attacker slips/stoops.

4. The influence of mothers on teenage boys is overstated (as any parent will confirm). As is the belief that mothers will be turned away from RL because of on-field fighting.

5. As for on-field acts leading to the public doing the same in the streets....well, let's ban boxing and V8s if that were true.

 

[Jason_(Is_our_King)_Smith]

Some observations from recent events....

1. Don't place the response from AFL/Victorians as some part of a plot re expansion - they are genuinely shocked by the sight of two footballers going toe-to-toe, one knocked out, and nothing happening to either protagonist. Sure, there are plenty of cheap/violent shots in AFL, but these are (apparently) under the cover of "playing the game" and rarely lead to an ongoing barney - there isn't the "in plain sight" outright/protracted fist fighting to the head/body between two men that sometimes arises in RL. To the RL community, there are plenty of tackles more likely to injure a player than a fist fight.

2. We've had Aust rules in NSW/Qld since the 1880s - we all understand that code, and how it has a lower level open confrontation and body contact than in the rugby codes. The reverse isn't true. Most Victorians still really have no understanding of the rugby codes, other than they are violent when compared to Aust rules. In the Melb newspapers, until the Storm era, in the preceding 90 years the only RL stories were reports from NSW/Qld/NZ and England about (so called) on-field violent acts, brawls and crowd riots.

3. RL won't succeed at expanding beyond NSW/Qld in Aust if offers up the same on-field ethos as AFL. It needs to differentiate itself in the market, offer something different. The risk is that the NRL will respond to the misplaced media alarmists, and clamp down on all fighting. The 10m rule inadvertently got rid of a lot of intensity from RL, there's little opportunity to single out an opposition player in the run of the game. It's already ridiculous the extent to which players are penalised/punished for accidental head-high tackles that come from a tackler's arm bouncing off the ball, or when an attacker slips/stoops.

4. The influence of mothers on teenage boys is overstated (as any parent will confirm). As is the belief that mothers will be turned away from RL because of on-field fighting.

5. As for on-field acts leading to the public doing the same in the streets....well, let's ban boxing and V8s if that were true.

Having been (and still am) involved in junior rugby league for many years I can verify the comment above about mums. They are some of the strongest supporters of our great game and do much of the behind the scenes work ( including coaching) that provides the environment that produces our future champions. They have far more commonsense than the media gives them credit for and do not equate events on the NRL field with junior football. The sorts of parents that shy away from rugby league because they think it is too violent do not tend to have the sort of kids that would naturally gravitate towards or enjoy any contact sport anyway. That's no criticism of their choices, that's just the way life is. On the other hand, the kids I've seen graduate through junior rugby league ranks are generally the most grounded, well adjusted and community minded young people I have ever come across.

The above point about not bowing to shrill and uninformed calls to emasculate our great game is also important. The AFL in its rush to be all things to all people have succumbed, they've failed to take a proper bearing on commonsense public feeling on these matters, and are now paying the consequences. A conversation with any longterm AFL supporter, if they're honest, will bear this out.

 

[RL1908]

Having been (and still am) involved in junior rugby league for many years I can verify the comment above about mums. They are some of the strongest supporters of our great game and do much of the behind the scenes work ( including coaching) that provides the environment that produces our future champions. They have far more commonsense than the media gives them credit for and do not equate events on the NRL field with junior football. The sorts of parents that shy away from rugby league because they think it is too violent do not tend to have the sort of kids that would naturally gravitate towards or enjoy any contact sport anyway. That's no criticism of their choices, that's just the way life is. On the other hand, the kids I've seen graduate through junior rugby league ranks are generally the most grounded, well adjusted and community minded young people I have ever come across.

The above point about not bowing to shrill and uninformed calls to emasculate our great game is also important. The AFL in its rush to be all things to all people have succumbed, they've failed to take a proper bearing on commonsense public feeling on these matters, and are now paying the consequences. A conversation with any longterm AFL supporter, if they're honest, will bear this out.

That's interesting. The AFL makes noises as if it is speaking to the mothers of potential junior players, but in reality its actions (rules, judiciary, media comments) are all about building a game that is foremost about increasing spectators/sponsors/tv, rather than the players and traditionalists.

To be fair, RL too (misguidedly in my view) is building a game that only a full-time athlete can play.

 

[Tex_21]

I'm a AR fan through and through, but I hate the way our game is being turned soft as butter at AFL level-its bullsh*t. Seriously, if you don't want body contact, play some other sport like tennis. Their is body contact in football-get used to it. Individual tackles in AR are (IMO) generally on the same level as in teh rugby codes, but smaller in number, meaning the toughness required to play both rugby games is to do with continually dragging yourself up after being tackled. This is less of a requirement in AR (although you do need to be able to take a hit, or back into a pack), whihc has a greater need for distance running-can be as much as 15km+ at the highest level.

Vlad-if you keep turning our game into netball, all you will do is piss off the traditional supporters across Vic/SA/WA/Tas/NT.

 

[RufusRex]

as bad as league gets .. we still havent sunk to the depths of biting each others testicles.

 

[El Diablo]

http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,25808161-661,00.html

Off-field brawl halts junior footy at Diggers Rest oval
Article from: Herald Sun

Brendan Roberts

July 20, 2009 02:20pm

A SUBURBAN football league is investigating an ugly off-field brawl that forced two junior matches to be cancelled at the weekend.
An under-12s match between Rockbank and Diggers Rest in the Riddell Junior Football League was called off after the umpire was alerted to a brawl taking place at the Diggers Rest oval.

There is speculation the fight involved some junior players and also parents.

Police were called to the ground to disperse the brawlers and the two remaining junior games scheduled for the afternoon were cancelled.

RDFL General Manager Scott McCartney said a league investigator was looking into the incident.

"We've asked both clubs to come up with a list of witnesses and a statement of what happened,'' Mr McCartney said.

"The league investigator will interview everyone involved and work out what has happened and make some recommendations to the league.''

Mr McCartney said the umpire adjudicating the match had called off the game after consultation with representatives from each club.

"The umpire reported hearing noise and screaming from the mound between the grounds and he (the umpire) was approached by representatives from either club, police were called and the remainder of the day's games were called off,'' Mr McCartney said.

"The two clubs decided they would cancel the games for the rest of the day.

"Police were called after the incident and they came down and sorted it out and dispersed the crowd and sorted the situation out.''

surely this must be Rugby League's fault just like the bashing in Melbourne before Origin

 

[sass]

They also don't mind a bit of violence.

why do you think they make them cut their nails? bitches are FIERCE.

 

[macavity]

http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,25808161-661,00.html



surely this must be Rugby League's fault just like the bashing in Melbourne before Origin

they used the word "league" a hell of a lot.....

 

[El Diablo]

in fairness it is what the L stands for