Congratulations must go to that bastion of sportsmanship and fairness - the AFL. Today they announced that they had changed the rules without actually changing the rules. Here's the press release:
http://www.afl.com.au/news/newsarticle/tabid/208/newsid/135397/default.aspx
and the letter to clubs.
So umpires have been 'instructed' to jerk their knees in reaction to another media storm. Much like the 'head is sacrosanct' edict, this will no doubt create more confusion and lead to a rash of free kicks not paid in similar circumstances in earlier rounds of the season. For the players it must be like trying to get sense out of a professional on Friday afternoon after a wet lunch - you know the answer will be different Monday morning.
Free kicks decide games and no doubt this knee jerk reaction will have an impact this weekend. Nevermind fans, your hopes of seeing your team play in September might just get sunk this weekend. As opposed to last week when the rules were different!
If it wasn't bad enough that there is no integrity in the fixture or the player draft which both have ridiculous compromises for the sake of money, we can now add changing the rules mid-season.
I can't decide if the change itself is worse than the reactionary nature of administration that brought it about. Actually I can. The change is minor and will be a harsh enforcement of existing laws, but the fact of the change is a sign of weakness. It's a shame the press can't get the AFL to act the same way on Grand Final ticket prices or having the roof open at Etihad Stadium. This week we have seen the press baying for change, players and coaches really just seemed to want consistency. Fans? Well who cares so long as the keep paying. Can't say I enjoyed seeing David Swallow on a bad ankle or Gary Rohan's leg fracture, but if the AFL in its infinite wisdom, maintains a Laws of the Game committee that can't sort these things out during the six month off season, then too bad. Wait till the next season. Try not talking to the press about the subject.
Perhaps if the Laws of the Game committee worried about the things that most rules are for in any sport, we wouldn't have this problem. Most rules in any sport, especially contact sports, are for player safety. In the AFL, rules are for fiddling with. Quick kick-ins have resulted in the now never enforced deliberate rushed behind rule. Time-on for throw ins resulted in two new ruck rules. The list goes on over the past 20 years. Now we fiddle mid-season with the rules, so that players have to adapt again. Since players are contracted on a season-by-season basis, could a suspension for an infraction as a result of this sort of rule change be grounds for claiming lost earnings through the courts? Or the loss of a finals berth by a club?
Integrity - the AFL craps on about it, but ignores it as often as possible. The AFL worries about it image so much almost that one image seems to have caused this rule change, but the bigger picture is rotten. Un-explained team changes, a highly compromised fixture that leaves some
teams as perennial also-rans or poor or both, officials and associates
that bet on games, tanking for draft picks and now mid-season rule
changes. If you're so worried about your image as compared to competitors, how about running a league where the goals don't move during competition?
