Joe_Fox
Well-Known Member
Last night's semi final between Carlton and Melbourne was something else. Played in front of a rapturous crowd of over 96 thousand, Carlton scored a goal in the last minute and held on to win.
The previous week, Carlton beat Sydney in front of 92 thousand fans.
AFL is becoming my preference over soccer (and I use that term as a point of differential only). Here's why.
1. It's played in such a good spirit. Players play hard but mostly fair.
2. It's more of a contest. No one team has significantly more funds to "buy" success.
3. The players respect the officials (umpires). If there is a whiff of dissent, the get penalised heavily.
4. There's no crowd segregation. It can get a bit rough but generally the crowd is self policing. The no dick head policy is enforced by the vast majority of fans.
5. The tickets and match day experience are affordable. Last week in what's called an elimination final (roughly a last 16 match in soccer terms), I paid about 20 quid for a decent seat, a fiver for a beer, and two quid for some chips.
I've said it a lot on here. Soccer is broken. It could learn a lot from other sports such as AFL but won't because it's high and mighty and is all about the money.
The previous week, Carlton beat Sydney in front of 92 thousand fans.
AFL is becoming my preference over soccer (and I use that term as a point of differential only). Here's why.
1. It's played in such a good spirit. Players play hard but mostly fair.
2. It's more of a contest. No one team has significantly more funds to "buy" success.
3. The players respect the officials (umpires). If there is a whiff of dissent, the get penalised heavily.
4. There's no crowd segregation. It can get a bit rough but generally the crowd is self policing. The no dick head policy is enforced by the vast majority of fans.
5. The tickets and match day experience are affordable. Last week in what's called an elimination final (roughly a last 16 match in soccer terms), I paid about 20 quid for a decent seat, a fiver for a beer, and two quid for some chips.
I've said it a lot on here. Soccer is broken. It could learn a lot from other sports such as AFL but won't because it's high and mighty and is all about the money.
