Sports Banter

In a massive change of heart the AFL confirmed yesterday they will move a fixture to accommodate the equine wonder that is Black Caviar for Saturday week’s Group One race at Morphettville, The Goodwood. 

Why is it a change of heart? Only 2 years ago the AFL CEO Andrew Demetriou was at pains to point out to anyone that would listen that the AFL would not be changing its fixture to accommodate another sport, namely soccer for Australia’s proposal to host the 2022 FIFA World Cup. 

In fairness to the AFL they do not see the racing industry as a direct competitor to the behemoth that they have become. Soccer on the other hand, directly competes for the same hearts and minds of children and their families as the Australian football development programs and marketing teams do.

The move to shift the start of the Adelaide versus Geelong game forward half an hour will allow supporters of the Crows and Cats enough time to leave AAMI park and head to the track to see the mighty mare off on her last run in Australia before taking on the best of Europe at Royal Ascot in June. 

Should she win as expected, the crowd at Morphettville which would be expected to top 30,000 again will see her maintain a 100% record from an unprecedented 21 starts, 11 of those at Group 1 level. Black Caviar is simply amazing. 

It is worth considering the AFL owed racing leg up as well. The past two Turnbull Stakes days were moved to Sunday, to accommodate the grand final replay in 2010 and the extra bye 17 teams created in 2011 seeing a the grand final be played on the first Saturday in October. 

Congratulations to the Adelaide Football Club and South Australian Jockey Club for the initiative, further congratulations must go to the broadcasters, Channel 7 and Fox Footy and a final pat on the back to the AFL for having the flexibility to move the game as well. 

If you don’t like racing - take some advice from Molly Meldrum - do yourself a favour on Saturday week. Instead of mowing the lawns, hitting the shops, or getting the next shout in between football matches just stay focused on the screen for an extra 1m12s to watch a legend grow to stratospheric proportions. 

Hosting the FIFA world cup is a once in a lifetime event that we all would remember and treasure forever.  Right now though, Black Caviar is a once in a lifetime horse and if the might of the AFL, Channel 7 and Fox Sports can change their plans on Saturday week, then you should be able to too.

Lenny

At the start of the year Bids and I both had Collingwood finish on top of the ladder after 22 rounds. Tick. We also both had Hawthorn in the top 4. Tick. My tip for the Brownlow wasn’t as convincing although I did name the winner.

“The Brownlow medalist will come from the Premier although it won’t be Dane Swan.” At least I got the club correct picking Scott Pendlebury. Bids on the other hand was a long way off picking Brendan Goddard.

Both of us tipped Collingwood to be premiers in 2011, going back to back for the first time since 1935-36. On the eve of the Grand Final with Geelong chasing a third flag in five years its strange to think I am less certain about Collingwood’s chances now than I was 26 weeks ago.

The Grand Final we hear, so often is harder to get to than win. Which makes sense really as at least once you are there you have only one more match to play. For further proof on the degree of difficulty ask Western Bulldogs supporters on the three preliminary finals they played from 2008-10.

So why the skepticism about the Pies chances tomorrow? The obvious reasons are the injury question marks over key players Darren Jolly and Ben Reid. There are concerns over the form of players like Alan Didak and half a dozen others who led the way on the charge to the premiership last year.

Then there is the form of the team in recent weeks. Thrashed by Geelong in round 24, run close in the final quarter of their first final against the Eagles and came from behind in one of the memorable finals against the Hawks last week. Plus there is the matter of the Cats just being a ridiculously good side who are in form and finally have Tom Hawkins performing and providing a second key presence that he was recruited for.

However, we are overlooking things a little. Collingwood are also a very good side, and good sides win finals like they did against Hawthorn. As Mick Malthouse declared this week, Collngwood’s biggest hurdle has been now been cleared, the Magpies have got to another Grand Final.

Without the fear of losing and being out of the race, Collingwood can concentrate on doing what has been planning for in a 12 month campaign of winning another Premiership.

However Geelong still has that aura about them. They are the premier side of the past 5 years and a win today would hold them up as one of the great ‘era’ teams we have seen. They have beaten the Pies twice this year and a third win is likely if a majority of Collingwood’s players are as poor as they were last week.

This is the dream matchup, the two best teams of the year and all fans hope that both teams are on form for the biggest match of the year. Ultimately though Collingwood at their best are better than Geelong at their best. And for that reason I will stick with my pre-season prediction and tip the Pies to be premiers in 2011 by 27 points. 

Lenny

The AFL is often praised for how well it runs the game however they still have room for massive improvement when it comes to Grand Final ticket allocation. The allocation of 27,000 tickets will see only a quarter of the MCG filled with certified members of the competing clubs, this is now becoming the loudest beat of the drum of discontent with the sport’s governing body.

We know that 60% of the AFL Members allocation is reserved for club support members. There are also supporters of the competing clubs who go corporately and are MCC Members but it’s not enough.

However this problem is bigger than the AFL. The previous Victorian government brought in anti-scalping laws to eliminate fans selling their Grand Final tickets at inflated prices. These laws are great in principle but as with many new laws that are supposed to make it fairer for all end up being poorly enforced and still allow for loopholes.

The loopholes are that the 15 non competing clubs still get access to 1000 tickets each for which they package up and sell including a breakfast and Grand Final ticket at a massive profit. These tickets generally can be obtained for $1200 or more each.  

This is glorified scalping of the highest order yet, the government and AFL conveniently overlook this. With the huge media rights deal the AFL secured and the new distributions that the AFL are planning to offer each club there should be provision for covering the cost of these Grand Final packages in future years.

In most cases it is supporters of the competing clubs that buy these packages, therefore the tickets could be made available to the competing club’s members. Breakfasts could still be hosted as there would still be a market for those who want a feed and entertainment on the morning of the big game.

Supporters who have Grand Final tickets this week and want to sell them at face value through various auction sites have been pulled up by Police is unfair. Of course not all are trying to sell them without making a bit of beer money on the side.

In a case opposite to the story in The Age (http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/well-do-the-scalping-around-here-afl-tells-footy-fan-20110926-1ktnz.html) on Tuesday, a friend of mine has been invited to go to the Grand Final corporately but had already purchased a ticket through his right as an AFL member. He would like nothing more than to sell his ticket for the face value he paid. However in light of the knowledge that the AFL has cancelled the tickets of people who are on selling, why take the risk.

The AFL by cancelling this seat means that one extra person will not get the chance to go to a game that is already very difficult to go to. There is an argument to say that if people are willing to pay the price then so be it, let there be an open market.

Ultimately the AFL and Police are targeting the wrong people. They should be targeting the clubs they give the tickets to, that do this on a yearly basis for their allotted batch of 1000 tickets all for a very handy amount of beer money.

Lenny

The A League is still two months away. Can you believe it? It feels like an eternity. However you wouldn’t know about it. As the European season gets ready to kick off in earnest in the next two weeks it is hard to believe that we will be waiting until 8^th October before we see top level football in Australia.

It will be 209 days from the last game of last season to the first of this year or 6 months, 25 days excluding the end date since the unbelievable scenes at Suncorp Stadium of the A League Grand Final on 13^th March. Agonisingly long for supporters of the game and long enough to slip from the consciousness of sports fans that follow soccer in the summer months.

The AFL’s gap is 173 days and the NRL’s gap is smaller again at 159 days. Both of course have high profile pre-season fixtures that make those gaps seem smaller still. We recognise a later start to the season avoiding a clash with the AFL and NRL’s finals could be a positive. We also acknowledge the benefits of giving our players matches for longer into the northern hemisphere’s season, enhancing the potential for players to represent the Socceroos in key matches however this is still a very long break.

Of course with the pre-season cup competition ending a couple of seasons ago the break feels even more extended.

Where is the hype of the season ahead? The recent friendlies against Celtic that three teams played seem a distant memory already. The momentum for the season is lost.

Is the A League waiting for Harry Kewell to sign and launch the season for them? It would be sad if it was. They should be promoting now, why not put a countdown clock in Martin Place, The Valley or Federation Square “Only 60 days to go until kick off”.

Whilst I understand the shift in the season launch to avoid a clash with AFL and NRL finals, the question must be; how will any publicity during September for the A League season launch get space ahead of St George and Collingwood’s attempts to go back-to-back?

Then there is the spine tingling thought for the FFA, what if there is a draw in the AFL grand final again? Id this occurred the season’s launch at Etihad Stadium between the league’s two most successful clubs would be better off applying to be the curtain raiser at the MCG. With only 3 drawn grand finals in 115 years hopefully this does not happen.

The V8’s are not for everyone but Bathurst tends to consume a large amount of forest each year and with the race around Mount Panorama that weekend, it’s just another big ticket item to compete with.

As a country with as many diverse sporting options to attend as we do, on any given weekend, the A League will always have competition in Australia.

Looking ahead to the fixture we can be thankful that we wait until week 9 before we see a midweek clash with Sydney hosting Perth in a yet to be confirmed regional venue. Whilst I liked the midweek fixtures it seems the public didn’t and restricting these to holiday times can only be good for school children. The FFA must earn a tick to this element of the fixture, but in from season to season, ultimately it’s a long wait between drinks.

The introduction of a national cup competition seems a while off, so there won’t be a season extension through fixtures there. As mentioned there are always going to be clashes with other sports and events, so let’s not be scared of these. The FFA should have the courage of its convictions to know that enough people love the game to come to a longer season. Play each team home and away twice rather than the unfair 3 times we have now. Start the season in line with Europe and may football grow from strength to strength. 

Lenny