Beware of icon artists
AS the AFL ploughs on with secret training sessions trialling new rules and zones and the like (isn’t that what the JLT and AFLX is for?), there is good reason for fans to be nervous about unnecessary changes to the annual-never-goes-away-eventhough-it’s-not-really-an-issue regarding perceptions about ‘the state of the game’.
Recently, The Payneful Truth polled several Richmond, West Coast, Sydney, Melbourne, Geelong, Collingwood, Port Adelaide and North Melbourne supporters about the state of the game.
Most responded that they thought it to be “fantastic’’, “wonderful’’ and “awesome’’. This reminds us, and should remind the AFL, that a bit of occasional success will keep most fans happy over a 20-year-supporter cycle provided the rules of the game are left well alone and Basil Zempilas isn’t allowed to commentate every single game on Channel 7.
Of more concern are the things the AFL is definitely NOT DOING IN SECRET regarding the state of the game which require urgent attention, such as:
BRINGING the start time from 3.20pm back to 2.10pm or 1.45pm when there is a solitary Sunday game scheduled in the bye rounds, especially when it is not broadcast on Channel 7, and therefore does not run into a news bulletin, creating a “ratings bonanza’’ for them. Ask the footy fans what they think about it (especially the ones travelling to the MCG from 50km+) and they will tell you that the ratings bonanza is of no consequence to them because you can’t watch the 6pm news in the train or car on the way home when you’d rather be having an in-depth discussion about the win or the loss instead.
CRACKING DOWN on football commentators and media scribes for their continual and downright annoying misuse of the word ‘icon’ every five bloody minutes because they wouldn’t know a dictionary unless they fell over it and are too lazy to substitute the words with options such as ‘famous’, ‘landmark’, ‘popular’ or ‘legend’. Have a watch/read/listen to them this weekend. If you put a gold coin in a jar each time it happens, you’ll have a fortune.
COMING up with a way to stop little kids from kicking the seat in front of them while waiting for the game to start because they are a bit bored on account of there not being curtain-raisers any more. OK that’s probably a bit ridiculous but if the powers that be watching the secret training sessions were forced to sit in a plastic seat while having the s--t kicked out of it from behind for more than 10 minutes, they’d be less worried about congestion zones and more about spectator comfort. So there.