Kicking for Touch- Punching not Enough
April 24th 2008 05:08
True, many of the commentators who espouse this mantra have a point about the game’s evolving nature assisting its longevity and accessibility. The West Coast success derived by being a mid field clearance machine has been replaced by Geelong’s long kicking dominance, is a relevant example of the evolving game plans resulting in flags for their teams. There are many noted example of a evolutionary game plan resulting in a flag.
Let’s go back to the 1970 Grand Final, and look again at the rules that had not yet been changed. In1970, a “Footy Traditionalist” would have wanted to keep in place rules that would make it capable for an English National Rugby side to win a match of AFL with ease. A player of the time could literally pick up the ball and kick it seventy metres down the field into the grand stand, and be granted a throw in for his trouble. A “No Questions Asked” policy if you will.
Modern international Rugby Union can teach the AFL something about the validity of rule change. The purists of Rugby Union squirm at the kicking and possession dominated manner in which the games is played today. A perfect example of a sport whose negative attitude towards rule change has caused nothing but damage to the flow of the game.
A punch to the face of your opponent in their backline of the 1970 Grand Final also resulted in him being rewarded a free kick, on the spot in the backline, nothing more, nothing less. Behind play free kicks, after goal free kicks, and fifty meter penalties all did not exist. Presumably a traditionalist would not have wanted these new rules added either. However, it is difficult to argue about the merits these rules have in our current game.
I will never be a great fan of changing rules in the AFL, but the one thing I’ll never ever call myself is a “Footy Traditionalist”, someone who says no to all changes. The simple reality is that AFL, like all codes, needs rule changes from time to time. It is indeed the changes made to the rules that have keep the AFL in such healthy shape as a code in modern times. In some such examples the changes made by the AFL could be partly some of the reason why the game has remained in such the healthy shape it is today.
Let’s go back to the 1970 Grand Final, and look again at the rules that had not yet been changed. In1970, a “Footy Traditionalist” would have wanted to keep in place rules that would make it capable for an English National Rugby side to win a match of AFL with ease. A player of the time could literally pick up the ball and kick it seventy metres down the field into the grand stand, and be granted a throw in for his trouble. A “No Questions Asked” policy if you will.
Modern international Rugby Union can teach the AFL something about the validity of rule change. The purists of Rugby Union squirm at the kicking and possession dominated manner in which the games is played today. A perfect example of a sport whose negative attitude towards rule change has caused nothing but damage to the flow of the game.
A punch to the face of your opponent in their backline of the 1970 Grand Final also resulted in him being rewarded a free kick, on the spot in the backline, nothing more, nothing less. Behind play free kicks, after goal free kicks, and fifty meter penalties all did not exist. Presumably a traditionalist would not have wanted these new rules added either. However, it is difficult to argue about the merits these rules have in our current game.
I will never be a great fan of changing rules in the AFL, but the one thing I’ll never ever call myself is a “Footy Traditionalist”, someone who says no to all changes. The simple reality is that AFL, like all codes, needs rule changes from time to time. It is indeed the changes made to the rules that have keep the AFL in such healthy shape as a code in modern times. In some such examples the changes made by the AFL could be partly some of the reason why the game has remained in such the healthy shape it is today.
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