The women's game doesn't need fixing
AFL Female have tonight announced three rule changes ahead of Round 2 of the Exhibition Series; and basically what one reads into it is that females aren’t good enough to play Aussie Rules footy in all its glory.
The AFL Female have advised of three rules to be implemented: firstly, 20 minute quarters with no time on, secondly a ‘last touch’ rule and finally, a so called ‘Density Philosophy’ that requires two players to be in the forward 50 at all times, with a further five to be set up in the forward half following a stoppage.
The 20 minute quarters is nothing new; and while it means it is hard for a side to create a roll on, it is something female footy has seen a lot- and doesn’t inherently tarnish the game itself.
However, the AFL claims to have introduced the last touch rule (where a free kick is awarded to the opposition of the last player to touch the ball) because it was “successfully implemented in South Australia.”
The truth is, the reviews of this change (designed to arrest congestion) are mixed at very best; and SANFL coaches themselves have been vocal critics of it- in particular 7-time premiership winning Centrals coach, Roy Laird who has been scathing of the idea, calling the rule ‘garbage.’
‘Density Philosophy,’ possibly the most conceited and pretentious term in the history of our great game, may well happen accidentally a lot of the time, but one must be worried it needs to be specifically pointed out; what message is this saying?
Do stakeholders need to be assured the game is being modified, in order for females to play it and put out an engaging product?
We here at girlsplayfooty.com are so excited to see the Bulldogs play the Lions- there are some mouth-watering matchups and superstars like Tayla Harris and Katie Brennan are just beautiful exponents of everything that makes Aussie Rules great.
Why does the AFL need to take the focus of the game, the superstars and the incredible strides that have been made in skills, conditioning and tactics?
These theories may well pan out or they might not be noticed- but essentially what AFL Female is saying is that the product of female footy isn’t good enough at the moment; and that females are unfit to carry out the traditional values.
Innovation has pushed our sporting world to incredible heights, but the game of Aussie Rules is far from broke, and it doesn’t need fixing.
