NAME GAME SHAME

THE AFL was yesterday forced into an embarrassing backdown after suggesting it was open to changing the name of the men’s competition.

League football boss Steve Hocking said on Saturday the AFL would be “all ears” to a switch to AFLM if a supporter groundswell emerged.

But at 1pm yesterday, after online backlash, the AFL released a statement declaring it had “no plans to change the name of the AFL competition”.

It followed a backflip last week on plans to reduce the length of the halftime break.

Asked on The Outer Sanctum podcast when the league would commit to “formally renaming the men’s competition AFLM”, Hocking said: “I don’t think we need to necessarily be looking over the fence at one another and saying whether we need to add another initial to something, but if in time it’s something that emerges, we’re all ears at the AFL.”

AFLW boss Nicole Livingstone added: “It’s actually a really interesting thought process because ... I do take the time to say AFL men’s competition when I speak and I say AFLW because I know that the AFL is the NSO or the national sporting organisation.”

Ninety-three per cent of 3111 fans in a Herald Sun online poll yesterday said they were opposed to the AFL being renamed the AFLM.

Women’s footy trailblazer Susan Alberti yesterday backed Hocking’s initial position, saying a change to AFLM to match the AFLW competition name was a “nobrainer”.

“We’ve got the men and the women. So why not?” Alberti said. “It’s important to distinguish between the two competitions.

“I would support it happening. There could be some confusion out there with AFL and AFLW.

“What I’m also noticing is that those clubs that have female teams, their memberships are going up.

“I knew that was going to happen.

“Having the men with their own title and the women with their title, I’ve got no problems with it.”