Rep sides hit by injuries

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Authored by: Brett Northey
on Friday, May 09 2008 @ 06:44 pm ACST

So you'd like to see the AFL roll in $400k to the AAFC to run the IC. My first thought would be that it's a big call and not a reasonable ask, but as you say, some leagues do get AFL grants. Although on that subject I'm not sure of the exact details - I believe most of the SANFL funding comes from the profits of Adelaide and Port Power (the SANFL holds the licence for both). But there would be some extra money as well.

But what is wrong with how the AFL is running it? The 2 main issues that I'm aware of is cost and planning. The planning is nothing that wouldn't be encountered by any organisation (and would be worse for a smaller body), and the cost won't be helped by being run by an amateur organisation spending the same AFL money.

In terms of whether amateurs or pros should be allowed to play, the reality is the tournament will only rise in profile and quality if the best players possible can play. So anyone eligible and available should play in my opinion. So the only issue there is, again, will semi-pro and pro clubs release players? So will, maybe some won't. But it's better to have the best possible and accept some will miss, rather than deny all players the chance if they are paid at all, which is what the rules you suggest would do (and keeping it truly amateur is a can of worms, e.g. the South Australian amateur league is amateur in name only - many players are paid).

So if we agreed to go for the best possible, then sure it would be good if semi-pro and pro clubs released players, but do you really think someone like Brad Moran would wish to play in the tournament at the expense of trying to force his way into Adelaide's team? I could be wrong, but I doubt he would. It's his whole career we're talking about.

The only option to open up the event to such players is to stage it in the off-season of the Australian leagues and then hope players make themselves available. But most competing countries WANT it in-season, as it means their own leagues are in season and they get to visit Melbourne during the football season when AFL matches are on. Over time as the international leagues grow that may be less of an issue as the trip becomes less of a novelty and maybe a change will occur. I'd love to see it held in say March or October, but from what I've heard from some of these countries, that isn't what they want just yet. Happy to hear otherwise.

It just seems to me that a lot of things are moving forward but there's constant pressure to radically change them when most of the signs are good. Yes we'd like the AFL to throw more money at it, but giving it to another organisation to run won't achieve that. Excluding some of the best players from representing their country and thus weakening the tournament won't help the cause either. Let's not push for change just because say some people don't like Andrew Demetriou or they don't like the way the AFL is run etc. It has to be change that is good for the international game. Presumably we all agree on that but disagree on the logic of the arguments.

---
Brett Northey - Co-founder and Chief Editor of WFN

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