Try to answer this for you on the Night Grand Final question. The AFL floated an idea earlier this year for the Grand Final to be on either a Saturday Night or Sunday Night. From recall the response was pretty quiet. However for this year the GF is on Saturday Afternoon. Knowing the AFL of late nothing is set in concrete for 2006 onwards. Have to wait for the 2006 fixtures to check it out. Channel 10 do Saturday Games -incl Finals.
While in this same vein, how are Commonwealth Games going to affect the AFL schedule? Need to be sure that there's still a target of "last Saturday in September" so I plan my Grand Final trip accordingly.
The Commonwealth Games take place this coming March, and while the league is trying to spread around dates for games that would normally be at the MCG to other venues around the country, I can't see the Grand Final tradition at the MCG on "the last Saturday in September" being affected whatsoever.
What is the scheduling criteria in the AFL? By my C-level math, a home-and-away series against fifteen opponents would make for thirty matches. But they seem to play twenty two.
According to my understanding, it is some super-secret complicated formula which is programmed into only 1 guy's software, and resides on his laptop, so if his laptop were to be stolen, the AFL scheduling would go haywire. OK, so that is extreme hyperbole, but you get the idea. There is nothing symmetrical about AFL scheduling, and it is intentional.
Team always play their biggest rivals twice a year. So adelaide play port adelaide twice a year, west coast play freo twice a year, carlton play collingwood twice a year. Collingwood always play carlton, richmond and essendon twice a year.
How good is the level of play in the Super 14 compared with the top 3 Rugby Union leagues in Europe (Guinness Premiership, Celtic League, and Top 14)?
So I watched a few games on Setanta and was surprised by the lack of attendance...also, what are best leagues?
Which games, seeing that Setanta carries both NRL and AFL matches? A bit of clarification required, please.
I saw Wigan lose to Catalan, Sydney vs Melbourne (if I remember correctly) and a match from New Zealand (Auckland was playing).
I can only speak for the AFL match -- it was played in Canberra, as a Melbourne "home" game, which the Demons do have there a few times a season under their current contract, and it appeared very well attended, given the limited capacity at Manuka Oval.
Here's a question: In regards to the AFL trade system is it possible for the clubs to trade only players and draft picks, or are they able to pay a transfer fee like soccer clubs do? EG: Carlton pays West Coast a fee of $3m dollars for Judd.
Players for other players and/or picks, only. For instance, in the Chris Judd deal just completed today, Carlton had to swap Josh Kennedy and picks #3 and #20 overall to the West Coast Eagles in order to obtain Judd.
Thanks 4 that. It's a different system but it still works. It probaly evens out the competition by not having the richest clubs always getting the best players.
do players get much of a say in where they go? I'd have thought, given how badly Carlton did this year, that Judd might have hoped for a better team. Then again I've got little idea of how much teams can change from year to year, so maybe there's a good chance that Carlton will be decent.
Not really, although established players have a bit more clout than rookies. If Judd didn't want to go to Carlton, as he was out of contract he could have held out and nominated for the pre-season draft. In that case West Coast would have gotten nothing for him, but Judd would probably have had to go to whoever had first pick (most likely Richmond)
Why did the southern hemisphere decide to go with Super rugby (some new teams/identities) instead of an equivalent to the Heineken Cup with existing provincial unions?
Super rugby grew out of the old South Pacific Championship, which was an invitational tournament organised by the Queensland and NSW rugby unions. This tournament, and the early Super tournaments, did incorporate existing provincial teams. After the advent of professionalism the tournament was restructured, and SANZAR took over control of the game and the franchises.
i've read that new zeland don't call up players who are playing in europe to their national team. why is that and how do other nations handle this?
Rugby contracts work in the opposite direction to football contracts. A rugby player is contracted first and foremost to his country, then to his provincial team, then to his club (if he has a club). For the best players, national contracts are where the money is. Ergo, in rugby, the national associations hold all the power. It is in their best interests to dictate that these players therefore play domestically as this protects the strength of the domestic league. It also has other advantages such as players regularly playing together, ease of convening squads for training camps and domestic series, etc. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, it preserves the international aspect as the elite level of the game.
We have found a Youtube video which outlines the basics of Aussie Rules football utilising two AFL games in 2007. Rather than embed the 10 minute video on this thread do the following— Go to Google Type in - Australian Rules Football Explained A Youtube video link should be the first entry