Wednesday, December 24, 2008

Festive felicitations...

3 comments:
I thought I'd take the opportunity to wish all AussieRulesBlog readers all the best for the festive season and the New Year.
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Monday, December 22, 2008

Demons on life-support...

No comments:
I've outed myself a number of times as a traditionalist. As such, I would be saddened to see the demise of the Melbourne Football Club. Nevertheless, we must acknowledge that the Dees are on life support.

There must be some limit to the river of top-up funds that flow to the Demons.

The old argument that there are thousands of MCC members who support the Demons but don’t stump up their money for membership courtesy of their MCC access is starting to wear thin. Even in their relative heydays recently (was it the odd or even years under Neale Daniher where they were competitive?), they didn't exactly pack out the ’G. The MCC have now tipped another $2 million in, but must be wondering if they’re throwing good money after bad.

Likewise the AFL.

Considering the anecdotal connections to the big end of town, you'd have to say that the Demons’ management and Boards over the years haven’t exactly shone. The Demons’ captains of industry can’t ALL be off skiing or in the south of France.

This situation can't be adequately explained by lack of Premierships or on-field success over an extended period. The Geelong faithful didn't drop off. The feral Tiger army appears from the woodwork every time there are consecutive wins. The Saints supporters remain, sadly, both vocal and numerous. The Bulldogs’ fans have stayed the distance. Surely all that success in the late 1950s should have generated a significant following for the Demons — but where are they?

The spectre of the Gold Coast Demons or West Sydney Demons looms ever larger.
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Thursday, December 18, 2008

Role Models

No comments:
In a recent press conference, a certain recently-resurrected AFL player whom this blog will not name — see the previous post! — made a comment about role model status. Those few who have read this blog in its entirety may recall a previous posting discussing role model status.

In 2001, I wrote to The Age Letters page criticising a coronial finding censuring Gary Ablett Snr for, among other things, failing in his responsibility as a role model (see here). As I opined at the time, Ablett had not been chosen by football clubs, nor acclaimed by the football public, for his capacity to make fine moral judgements.

Late in the 2008 season, Alan Didak and sundry Shaw siblings found themselves at the ‘Poor’ end of the moral judgement continuum. I was very critical of the three Magpies. The unwritten implication was that they had entered the AFL system in full knowledge of the requirement to be a ‘role model’. Following the recent press conference aluded to above, I find myself reassessing my position on the matter of role model status. Notwithstanding that reassessment, my general criticism of the Magpie trio remains, however the implied role model criticism is withdrawn unreservedly.

In considering the issue anew following this week’s press conference, I have concluded that there cannot be blanket assumption that everyone entering the system is appropriate to the task of role model when the primary consideration is physical sporting prowess. I am inescapably drawn to the conclusion that those equipped for the task will willingly embrace it, perhaps even seek it out.

It is irrational to suppose that these 16 groups of nearly 50 males will not contain most shades of the wide spectrum of human personality. While celebrating the football and team skills of these 800-odd men and youths, we must be careful not to automatically assume fitness for moral leadership. Let those who are capable, and willing, grasp the baton themselves. Let us keep our expectations of the rest to their sporting performance.
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Wednesday, December 17, 2008

Cousins-free zone

4 comments:
I hereby declare Aussie Rules blog to be a Ben Cousins-free zone until the footy actually starts! I wish him luck and hope, and expect, that he will succeed.

PS: The possibility that the Tiges might become genuinely competitive with the arrival of Cousins is the only truly sad aspect of the saga.
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‘Bowden Manoeuvre’ officially endangered

1 comment:
This weeks’ announcement of rule changes for 2009 competitions by the AFL is a mixed bag.

The imminent death of the ‘Bowden Manoeuvre’ is to be welcomed almost without qualification. Unfortunately, in putting the strategy to the sword, the AFL has once again demonstrated its penchant for overkill.

Despite a number of comments here and elsewhere decrying the move, I wholeheartedly support the introduction of two additional boundary umpires. Having one man patrolling the line on each side has been a nonsense for decades. Readers will remember, I hope, that the official reason for additional field umpires was initially the speed of the game. The poor old ‘boundaries’ have been struggling to keep up with an increasingly speedy game for many years. Ruckmen will simply have to adapt.

Modifications to the penalties for interchange infringements have moved in the right direction, but the punishment remains absolutely out of proportion to the crime.

Lastly, allowing umpires to recall poor bounces is, finally, a commonsense response to an increasing problem. I think the inherent uncertainty of the bounce is an important aspect of Aussie Rules, but very poor bounces have the potential to deliver too much advantage to a team. Of course the difficulty now is to decide how bad the bounce must be before it is recalled. This is, almost inevitably, the beginning of the slippery slope for the bounce. Inexorably, we will move toward replacing it with a throw-up. It will be a sad day when we no longer see the umpires bounce the ball.
Read More

Festive felicitations...

I thought I'd take the opportunity to wish all AussieRulesBlog readers all the best for the festive season and the New Year.

Demons on life-support...

I've outed myself a number of times as a traditionalist. As such, I would be saddened to see the demise of the Melbourne Football Club. Nevertheless, we must acknowledge that the Dees are on life support.

There must be some limit to the river of top-up funds that flow to the Demons.

The old argument that there are thousands of MCC members who support the Demons but don’t stump up their money for membership courtesy of their MCC access is starting to wear thin. Even in their relative heydays recently (was it the odd or even years under Neale Daniher where they were competitive?), they didn't exactly pack out the ’G. The MCC have now tipped another $2 million in, but must be wondering if they’re throwing good money after bad.

Likewise the AFL.

Considering the anecdotal connections to the big end of town, you'd have to say that the Demons’ management and Boards over the years haven’t exactly shone. The Demons’ captains of industry can’t ALL be off skiing or in the south of France.

This situation can't be adequately explained by lack of Premierships or on-field success over an extended period. The Geelong faithful didn't drop off. The feral Tiger army appears from the woodwork every time there are consecutive wins. The Saints supporters remain, sadly, both vocal and numerous. The Bulldogs’ fans have stayed the distance. Surely all that success in the late 1950s should have generated a significant following for the Demons — but where are they?

The spectre of the Gold Coast Demons or West Sydney Demons looms ever larger.

Role Models

In a recent press conference, a certain recently-resurrected AFL player whom this blog will not name — see the previous post! — made a comment about role model status. Those few who have read this blog in its entirety may recall a previous posting discussing role model status.

In 2001, I wrote to The Age Letters page criticising a coronial finding censuring Gary Ablett Snr for, among other things, failing in his responsibility as a role model (see here). As I opined at the time, Ablett had not been chosen by football clubs, nor acclaimed by the football public, for his capacity to make fine moral judgements.

Late in the 2008 season, Alan Didak and sundry Shaw siblings found themselves at the ‘Poor’ end of the moral judgement continuum. I was very critical of the three Magpies. The unwritten implication was that they had entered the AFL system in full knowledge of the requirement to be a ‘role model’. Following the recent press conference aluded to above, I find myself reassessing my position on the matter of role model status. Notwithstanding that reassessment, my general criticism of the Magpie trio remains, however the implied role model criticism is withdrawn unreservedly.

In considering the issue anew following this week’s press conference, I have concluded that there cannot be blanket assumption that everyone entering the system is appropriate to the task of role model when the primary consideration is physical sporting prowess. I am inescapably drawn to the conclusion that those equipped for the task will willingly embrace it, perhaps even seek it out.

It is irrational to suppose that these 16 groups of nearly 50 males will not contain most shades of the wide spectrum of human personality. While celebrating the football and team skills of these 800-odd men and youths, we must be careful not to automatically assume fitness for moral leadership. Let those who are capable, and willing, grasp the baton themselves. Let us keep our expectations of the rest to their sporting performance.

Cousins-free zone

I hereby declare Aussie Rules blog to be a Ben Cousins-free zone until the footy actually starts! I wish him luck and hope, and expect, that he will succeed.

PS: The possibility that the Tiges might become genuinely competitive with the arrival of Cousins is the only truly sad aspect of the saga.

‘Bowden Manoeuvre’ officially endangered

This weeks’ announcement of rule changes for 2009 competitions by the AFL is a mixed bag.

The imminent death of the ‘Bowden Manoeuvre’ is to be welcomed almost without qualification. Unfortunately, in putting the strategy to the sword, the AFL has once again demonstrated its penchant for overkill.

Despite a number of comments here and elsewhere decrying the move, I wholeheartedly support the introduction of two additional boundary umpires. Having one man patrolling the line on each side has been a nonsense for decades. Readers will remember, I hope, that the official reason for additional field umpires was initially the speed of the game. The poor old ‘boundaries’ have been struggling to keep up with an increasingly speedy game for many years. Ruckmen will simply have to adapt.

Modifications to the penalties for interchange infringements have moved in the right direction, but the punishment remains absolutely out of proportion to the crime.

Lastly, allowing umpires to recall poor bounces is, finally, a commonsense response to an increasing problem. I think the inherent uncertainty of the bounce is an important aspect of Aussie Rules, but very poor bounces have the potential to deliver too much advantage to a team. Of course the difficulty now is to decide how bad the bounce must be before it is recalled. This is, almost inevitably, the beginning of the slippery slope for the bounce. Inexorably, we will move toward replacing it with a throw-up. It will be a sad day when we no longer see the umpires bounce the ball.