#AFL Round 6 Weekly Discussion Thread

[Blood Fever]

Thanks Meg - excellent article.

The Essendon fans were booing because of the umpiring. Buckley very sanctimonious. That sort of feral behaviour has been going on for years. If the Swans are playing Essendon, Richmond or Collingwood at marvel stadium, I won't go. Only go if those games are at the MCG where you can spread out a bit and sit with red and white fans. Had a couple of ordinary experiences at marvel, mainly Bomber fans.

[KSAS]

+1 Great article. Thanks!

I'm chuckling listening to all the bomber supporters ringing up saying the post game booing during the ANZAC medal presentation, was due to a couple of bad late umpiring decisions which may've cost them the game. Boo Hoo!!! That was just a home and away game. Heaven help them if they ever make a GF and cop the level of one sided biased umpiring like we did in 2016!!!!! (Which will never happen to a Melb based team anyway). Yesterday's umpiring wasn't even nowhere near the spanking we got from the men in green in our home game against the Crows! The worst this year to date by a big margin as stated by one Dermot Brereton.

P.S. I also don't recall any booing from Swans supporters during the Dogs premiership medals / cup presentation.

[Sandridge]

Richard Hinds:

‘But if a ban on booers seems as unlikely as a balanced fixture, the AFL's overreaction did raise a couple of obvious questions.’

‘Where was this swift and firm-handed action when Adam Goodes was jeered for reasons that were, in my opinion, far more vile, premeditated and harmful than the pantomime villainy endured by Ablett?’

‘Actually, this is a rhetorical question because we now know that some of the AFL's most senior officials were tone-deaf to the racially motivated nature of Goodes' vilification and only realised their mistake in failing to defend one of the game's greatest servants and role models after he had been effectively booed out of the game.’]

Thanks for posting Meg. Absolutely spot on!

[Sandridge]

Damian Barrett often gets a bad rap on this forum - often deservedly so - but this is good.

Barrett: Many forms of booing but Essendon's was 'pathetic and selfish' - AFL.com.au

[dimelb]

And Greg Baum joins in:

https://www.theage.com.au/sport/afl/footy-gets-the-boos-20190426-p51hlr.html

[stevoswan]

Richard Hinds:

‘But if a ban on booers seems as unlikely as a balanced fixture, the AFL's overreaction did raise a couple of obvious questions.’

‘Where was this swift and firm-handed action when Adam Goodes was jeered for reasons that were, in my opinion, far more vile, premeditated and harmful than the pantomime villainy endured by Ablett?’

‘Actually, this is a rhetorical question because we now know that some of the AFL's most senior officials were tone-deaf to the racially motivated nature of Goodes' vilification and only realised their mistake in failing to defend one of the game's greatest servants and role models after he had been effectively booed out of the game.’

Scott Pendlebury, Gary Ablett jeers prompt possible AFL 'Boo Ban', but would it make a difference to fans? - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

Richard Hinds is one of the good guys in the footy media. Said it beautifully.....

[Matty10]

Had a couple of ordinary experiences at marvel, mainly Bomber fans.

That was my experience last year - turned me right off them. I did’t think the Tigers were so bad last year or this (in comparison). As a collective, I think the Bombers fans have a huge chip on their shoulder following their demise as an on-field powerhouse club (which in reality happened much earlier than the drugs scandal).

The Hawks were like that just prior to, and immediately after, the thwarted merger with Melbourne. Overtly and unnecessarily aggressive.

[liz]

The Hawks were like that just prior to, and immediately after, the thwarted merger with Melbourne. Overtly and unnecessarily aggressive.

Hawks fans remain my most despised. Not all of them - I used to work with three Hawthorn supporters and two of them were pretty nice (and one was especially gracious immediately after the 2012 GF). But as a group, they seem to contain a high proportion of smug, self-entitled . And miserable too. I don't understand a supporter base that expends more energy on jeering the opposition than cheering their own side.

They just marginally shade out North supporters, in my book (though it's a very close run thing).

[Mel_C]

I have the same view as Richard Hinds. All day I have been hearing about the outrage over the Pendlebury booing and the Ablett booing and I kept thinking where was this outrage when Goodes was being booed every single game, every time he touched the ball. I guess it's better late than never but it still makes me mad.

I don't buy the excuse that the booing was because of the umpires. The booing got louder when Pendlebury thanked the crowd.

[Melbourne_Blood]

I have the same view as Richard Hinds. All day I have been hearing about the outrage over the Pendlebury booing and the Ablett booing and I kept thinking where was this outrage when Goodes was being booed every single game, every time he touched the ball. I guess it's better late than never but it still makes me mad.

I don't buy the excuse that the booing was because of the umpires. The booing got louder when Pendlebury thanked the crowd.

Pendlebury was a recipient of a Pretty dubious free kick in the last. The bombers fans were irate at the ground, it was 100% to do with the umpiring from my perspective in the stands . They were expressing their fury at a perceived injustice. Pendlebury copped it as he received some of those dubious free’s that weren’t paid the other way. I’m not excusing it but this is my take of it being there amongst some pretty feral bombers fans. It had been building up all day and that was the ugly crescendo.


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[Markwebbos]

If the crowd were booing Ablett to express their dislike of his liking a homophobic tweet, I think that's fair enough. He has the right to like the tweet and they have the right to dislike his liking...

Ditto if the crowd were booing Pendlebury because they were unhappy with the umpiring decisions he got. I think they should be allowed to cheer stuff they like and boo stuff they don't, although cheering looks nicer.

If the AFL was a principled organisation it would defend fans right to boo under these circumstances, just as it should have stopped Adam Goodes being booed out of the game by a bunch of racists. But the AFL hasn't got a principled bone in its body ... all it cares about is the "image" of the game to the extent it impacts on "stakeholders" i.e. broadcasters, sponsors and fans.

[stevoswan]

If the crowd were booing Ablett to express their dislike of his liking a homophobic tweet, I think that's fair enough. He has the right to like the tweet and they have the right to dislike his liking...

Ditto if the crowd were booing Pendlebury because they were unhappy with the umpiring decisions he got. I think they should be allowed to cheer stuff they like and boo stuff they don't, although cheering looks nicer.

If the AFL was a principled organisation it would defend fans right to boo under these circumstances, just as it should have stopped Adam Goodes being booed out of the game by a bunch of racists. But the AFL hasn't got a principled bone in its body ... all it cares about is the "image" of the game to the extent it impacts on "stakeholders" i.e. broadcasters, sponsors and fans.

Good post MW....esp. the last bit about the 'stakeholders'.....of course, most of whom are in Victoria.

[stevoswan]

Tonight's game.....is their a yawn emoji?

If we don't beat North.....well, I can't even contemplate it.

[Blood Fever]

Tonight's game.....is their a yawn emoji?

If we don't beat North.....well, I can't even contemplate it.

Umpiring putrid and inconsistent. Holding the ball rule never been more confusing. Let it go and then pay one out of nowhere. Same with defenders wrestling.Never been worse.

[Legs Akimbo]

If I want to boo at the footy I will (although I don't)
Booing to express disgust with Gary Ablett's 'liking' of homophobic rants seems reasonable but i wouldn't
Booing a man because is a proud indigenous Australian is ugly and racist and what happened fills me with shame
Booing Collingwood players has been going on for literally a 100 years. Should be more of it.
Booing umpires the same, although I feel for them. How they can correctly officiate the constantly changing subjective rules on part time wages is beyond me
Where does it start and where does it still stop. Suggest the AFL leaves booing alone and instead addresses the reasons why people boo, including doing something about Collingwood.