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IMPORTANT // Please look after your loved ones, yourself and be kind to others. If you are feeling that the world is too hard to handle there is always help - I implore you not to hesitate in contacting one of these wonderful organisations Lifeline and Beyond Blue ... and I'm sure reaching out to our PRE community we will find a way to help. T.
AFLW season
- Thread starter graystar1
- Start date
Tails said:
I'm sorry Tails ......... this is simply wishful thinking.
$2 Billion broadcast deal - bwaaaa ha ha - you are joking aren't you?
As the huge majority of Pre'enders have already indicated - this bandwagon is losing it's momentum already.
The AFL (and proxy media) have over-extended so much it's embarrassing and laughable.
Indeed - one of the biggest problems is that we can't actually speak freely about this topic (AFLW) without being branded "phobic this phobic that"
My perception (.....vice reality .... as we can only express perceptions) is:
a. The skill levels will only improve marginally because the talent pool is not deep and won't expand much further. It is simply not within the 'average/normal/majority' socio-reality for girls to want to train and run around smashing into other girls. It's simply not endearing for the huge majority of girls/women to front up to work/social interaction on any given day with black eyes, bruises and missing teeth. If it were then female boxing and UFC would be de rigeur - female rugby (either code) would be soaring in the northern states - and wow - female soccer would already have their own EPL! But they don't and they won't and they never will.
b. Actually they might - because PC central (insert AFL, EPL, NRL) live in the fantasy land where chardonnay sipping prats with man buns laugh behind closed doors at how they can control the way the world thinks with a sweep of a pen, a catchy song, video clips and unlimited marketing. The US election has got them salivating at their own power (except the other team actually won!!!) It's like a sad scene from that great movie Trading Places where two old men bet one dollar on a meaningless experiment to prove anyone can make millions. Likewise the AFL and their minions (journalists that believe they should dictate social change) are riding a sycophantic wave of group think. I'm curious - has anyone seen a mainstream article criticise the AFLW??
c. It's like that other religion - climate change! How we laughed in school when we learnt about the English King who thought he could turn back the tide. Only years later we now deem that 'man' controls the earths climate!!! Wow!!! Ha ha - when did that happen? (oh that's right - the last 50yrs conveniently!). The Emperor's New Clothes has taken on a contemporary example - and it's called AFLW! Yes the crowds are okay (to date) but it's free and the minute they start charging money the crowds will drop off remarkably. To be honest (and I am wary here) but I think the crowds will already start dropping off now that the first round has shown the 'gap' is simply too large. The only thing keeping this alive is the "father want's to take his daughters to something that encourages them to follow AFL as badly as he does" syndrome. Oh - that - and a whole lot of XYZ but I can't say that because I would be branded a 'phobia-person' to be marched away into the "why didn't you vote YES gulag!"
AFLW has only two things in it's favour:
a. see point C - Dads can take their girls to the footy under the veil of father/daughter bonding"
b. it takes valuable media space from the other codes (particularly Soccer/A League). Even the wonderfully unbiased social engineering ABC give it some coverage and hence might fail to lead with the Bundesleague or coco coco what what - or lead their news bulletin with some story about some EPL Coach and his injured player from a random club outside London (fair dinkum ABC - shame on you!!!)
I saw an ad for the women's soccer tonight (on beloved Foxtel) and the huge roar of the soccer crowd was evident with every goal that was kicked, every tackle that was made and every celebration held. The only problem is that the camera angle occasionally crept toward the grandstand - and you guessed it - not a single person was visible!! The Foxtel AFL ad that puts AFLW alongside the footage of the Tigers celebrating the GF is simply insulting!
The real AFL pre-season will start soon. The Autumn Carnival - the Formula One - and all the other sports where stupid fools (e.g mostly men) will part with their hard earned dollars to attend sports and fulfill long held, deep seeded culturally induced dreams. They will buy newspapers and read magazines. They will sit up late watching On The Couch, AFL360. listen to MMM and SEN and talk endlessly with friends debating as if life itself depended on it.
Whereas ................. most girls won't give a damn.
AFLW is simply the snake oil salesman - and we're all expected to fall for it.
........ but the Emperor has no clothes!
I have coached Womens Footy in Sydney for 5 years and I can tell you you are wrong, I have a number of ex players playing in Melb at Darebin and elsewhere and the Talent pool is not thin as you say. The participation numbers are through the roof in NSW and GWS will be very good this year and I should know because I am involved to a small degree. You make generalised comments about something you have no involvement in, we are in year 2 and the level of athleticism & professionalism has increased markedly already. It's a national sport with a massive appeal and the opportunity to play that was not afforded to women in the past is gone. It's all very well to judge the game off the back of Coll v Carl but they are 2 of the lower teams and 2 of the worst coaches. I laugh at you Victorians who live in the bubble of AFL being the number one sport I wonder how you would cope with living in Sydney as I do and dealing with the conditions on the ground that we do.Sir said:
By the way how else would you have the AFL market it's product, like the ARL, the NRL or the FFA? The FFA had a full scale strike on their hands over pay for their Womens program and they get no one to their games you lot have to get your head around the fact that the broadcast deal for the AFL will only be big if we are a national sport and if we have a national womens comp to add to it. Myopic navel gazing won't cut it.
Now if you want to say well everyone is entitled to opinion etc etc thats well and good but address the issues and don't give un educated guesses as opinion.
Tails said:
which I find sad because the W-League is of pretty good quality. Sam Kerr is my favourite sports star right now (and young Australian of the year).
But I'll let you in on a little known fact. As things stand right now, W-League player pay is higher than AWFL (although I am sure that will change in future years if/when the AWFL starts bringing in its own) revenue).
Sir said:
Fantastic well presented post, you could have left out the political rhetoric and it still would have been a fantastic post.
The HS had an article yesterday suggesting the AFL head honcho's were worried that the ratings were dropping and the product that the women were presenting was very poor.
The standard of the women's football is not high as most of our local u'18 teams would easily account for any of the AFLW teams. ( the brand of football these u18's play is entertaining)
E
easy_tiger
Guest
whether you enjoy watching women's footy or not is kind of irrelevant isnt it? Theres a couple of million people where I live who dont like watching mens AFL. Who gives a sh!t?
I coached junior footy for about 10 years, and the only girl I ever coached is in her draft year this year and a good chance to go to The Suns or Brisbane. A funny thing happened, when there wasnt a girls pathway and the AFLQ blokes wouldnt let her play u16's 'for her own protection'. I was arguing her case during a game, and the girl knocked this boy out cold with a stunningly timed hip and shoulder. The unconscious boy was stretchered right past me and the AFLQ blokes, and I just go 'maybe you need to protect him as well?'
I'll be stoked if I can claim that 100% of all girls I ever coached made it to the AFLW ;D
I think its a great thing.
I coached junior footy for about 10 years, and the only girl I ever coached is in her draft year this year and a good chance to go to The Suns or Brisbane. A funny thing happened, when there wasnt a girls pathway and the AFLQ blokes wouldnt let her play u16's 'for her own protection'. I was arguing her case during a game, and the girl knocked this boy out cold with a stunningly timed hip and shoulder. The unconscious boy was stretchered right past me and the AFLQ blokes, and I just go 'maybe you need to protect him as well?'
I'll be stoked if I can claim that 100% of all girls I ever coached made it to the AFLW ;D
I think its a great thing.
easy said:
Fair dinkum? That's great.
I'm still angry and struggle to understand why we didn't get a side. The league has their brains in their arse, or an entrenched bias against us. Or probably both. If we had a side, I'd be watching every game, simple.
True, but there's 16 a side n heaps of special rules in place to make the game all fancy attacking and high scoring. Fifteen shots for three goals in any game is bog ordinary, even worse when the other mob can't get near it and only kick one goal from an inept four shots.Tigers of Old said:
tigertim said:
Seriously who cares if the games are low scoring. The obsession with high or increasing scoring is weird and annoys the crap out of me. I am not surprised the girl doesn't want to go with the constant negativity you display about AFLW.
Good etuff ET. Hope she makes it (despite her junior coaches ;D )easy said:
jb03 said:
jb03 said:
I haven’t talked about it to her. I’ll let her make her own opinion. But I’m happy to attend and give it a go.
And why can’t I have a negative opinion about something? Surely I don’t have to be positive just because it’s women playing?
I just hope that sooner rather than later the AFL fix up the format of their website because I am sick of trying to find what it is that I'm looking for.
Was so much simpler when it was just the AFL. Now we have the AFLW thrown into the same space (with AFLX still to come!)
It's a jumbled mess with two competitions fighting for the same space. eg: half the time you're not sure whether it's the Lions male team you're reading about or the women's Lions team in competition.
It's not just men complaining about it either. I've read a heap of comments from AFLW fans who also aren't happy. Especially that they are in competition currently.
It's not hard. Have an AFL frontpage with buttons to split the men's & women's competitions. That way people can go to the area that they're interested in & clean up the whole site's format. Easy.
Was so much simpler when it was just the AFL. Now we have the AFLW thrown into the same space (with AFLX still to come!)
It's a jumbled mess with two competitions fighting for the same space. eg: half the time you're not sure whether it's the Lions male team you're reading about or the women's Lions team in competition.
It's not just men complaining about it either. I've read a heap of comments from AFLW fans who also aren't happy. Especially that they are in competition currently.
It's not hard. Have an AFL frontpage with buttons to split the men's & women's competitions. That way people can go to the area that they're interested in & clean up the whole site's format. Easy.
