Geelong president Colin Carter wants VFA flags counted to premiership tally

Mike Sheahan From: Sunday Herald Sun June 12, 2011

GEELONG president Colin Carter has launched the opening salvo in the battle that could rejig the sacred AFL premiership table.

Speaking at the pre-match function before the Geelong-Hawthorn game at the MCG, Carter said it was time to reclaim 20 years of forgotten history in assessing the game's traditional order of merit.

The former AFL commissioner said premierships won in the Victorian Football Association from 1877 to 1896, when the breakaway Victorian Football League was formed, must be recognised by the AFL.

If the Carter campaign succeeds, Essendon would move two spots clear on the premiership table with 20 flags. Carlton, currently equal with Essendon with 16 VFL/AFL titles, would be second with 18, while Collingwood would remain third with 16, having won just one title in the original VFA.

Carter said his thesis had the backing of the game's most famous historian, Geoffrey Blainey, and would be put to the AFL if his club agreed.

"My intention would be to take it to the AFL," he told the Sunday Herald Sun.

He is likely to encounter stiff resistance from several quarters, including Collingwood.

It should be noted Geelong won seven of the 20 titles at issue. The Cats would jump from equal seventh on the current table to outright fourth.

Carter said in his address: "It is now time to set the record straight.

"There is a problem and it is a very big one - 20 important years of football history have been forgotten.

"The facts are straightforward. In 1877, a football competition was started and it was called the Victorian Football Association.

"Twenty years later, a large number of the teams (eight) broke away from the VFA to form the Victorian Football League. Relationships between the VFL and the VFA were poisonous for most of the next 100 years and it is easy to see why the founding clubs of the VFL were happy to start with a blank piece of paper. They started counting from 1897.

"The VFA was where our competition was born. It is the history of our clubs."

Of the eight breakaway clubs that started the VFL, all bar Fitzroy survive, with South Melbourne playing as the Sydney Swans.

Carter said if we continue to argue that football in its current form began in 1897 rather than 1877, "we lose our claim to be the oldest continuous competition in the world".

"There can be no argument that this (1877-96) isn't part of our history," he said.

"Ignoring those 20 years is really dumb if we think for a moment about what happened before 1897.

"Did our clubs sit round doing nothing for decades until the VFL was formed?

"Of course they didn't. There were matches as far back as the 1850s and an informal league. The formation of the VFA saw the formal beginning of the continuous competition we enjoy today."

Carter told the Sunday Herald Sun: "Geoffrey (Blainey) is completely supportive. He obviously sees a great wrong to be put right. In fact, he says that pushing back to 1877 is not only right, but that we need to better recover football's history before that time.

"The politics of yesteryear no longer matter. Our football records are based on old feuds between two football competitions. The VFA is now part of the AFL, past feuds are forgotten.

"Let's recognise that the competition between our clubs started before the VFL was formed and that those years are part of our history."

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/afl/geelong-president-colin-carter-wants-vfa-flags-counted/story-e6frf9jf-1226073590404

Cats fan strips down in MCG stands to celebrate win over Hawks

Grant McArthur From: Herald Sun June 13, 2011

MANY footy fans wear their heart on their sleeve, but one mystery Cats supporter's passion went much further when the final siren went after Saturday night's win over the Hawks.

Perhaps it was an homage to Tom Cruise's underwear dance in Risky Business, maybe taking too much notice of the old advice to dance as though nobody is watching - most definitely it was soaking in the joy of a tense win after soaking in too many beers.

But having sat through the first three quarters of the topsy-turvy clash without making a scene - despite regular trips to the bar to buy the maximum four beers even though he was sitting on his own - the sound of the final quarter siren led to a flash dance even Dancing Homer would be in awe of.

Geelong's first goal of the final term led to a dance in the aisle; the second started a longer dance the full length of the stairs of the southern stand's top tier and the offering of his Geelong cap to a fellow Cats supporter; the third led to the happy loss of his jacket.

But that was only a warm-up (or should that be a cooling down?) for when the final siren sounded and the real show began.

After removing his Cats shirt and waving it around his head, the unknown fan spent the first rendition of the Geelong theme song removing his shoes, socks and eventually pants before breaking into his patented celebration dance, clad only in his Geelong-blue jocks, without a care in the world.

Although he was surrounded by families with young children, not a soul seemed offended by the impassioned display, including passing Hawthorn supporters who managed to crack a smile after another heartbreaking loss.

A team of six mystified security guards arrived at the scene as the dance continued well into the third playing of the theme song, though none seemed prepared to venture too close to the fan as he was left to continue his routine and down his final beer.

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/afl/cats-fan-strips-down-in-mcg-stands-to-celebrate-win-over-hawks/story-e6frf9jf-1226074209841

WAFL club in new drug scandal

June 13, 2011 - 5:36PM

West Australian Football League club East Perth has been engulfed in another drug scandal after a senior player tested positive to drugs.

The positive reading comes just a year after East Perth's Dean Cadwallader was handed a two-year ban for testing positive to anabolic steroid nandrolone.

The player to be caught up in the latest scandal won't be named until the B-sample test result has been conducted, which is expected from the Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority by the end of the month.

It has been reported he tested positive to cocaine and steroids.

Swan Districts premiership player Travis Casserly is currently serving a two-year ban for testing positive to pseudoephedrine after the 2010 grand final.

The WAFL, which follows the anti-doping policy for football set by the AFL, released a statement stating: "A state level competition must provide role model leadership for all young and aspiring players. It is therefore committed to a drug free football environment.

"To ensure player compliance, the WAFL has an education policy conducted in conjunction with Sports Medicine Australia and WAFL club staff.

"Further to this policy, a drug testing program has been adopted and administered in partnership with the state government, which involves random testing across the league.

"This is endorsed by all nine WAFL clubs with the specific aim of eliminating drug use in the competition and setting an example across all levels of football."

AAP


Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/sport/wafl-club-in-new-drug-scandal-20110613-1g05l.html#ixzz1P8lny7ww

AFL players to meet en masse over pay claim

Michael Warner and Jon Ralph From: Herald Sun June 16, 2011

EVERY AFL player has been called to a mass meeting as footy's wages standoff worsens.

The AFLPA expects hundreds of players to meet union delegates in Melbourne in the next two weeks.

Interstate players will participate via video link. They are expected to vote on the league's latest pay offer and endorse a course of action once the June 30 deadline for a deal to be struck has expired.

AFL chief Andrew Demetriou and AFLPA chief executive Matt Finnis conceded no deal would be done by then after talks broke down last month.

"It is not expected that the meeting will discuss any industrial action," Finnis said last night.

But the prospect of a player strike yesterday won qualified support from Collingwood star turned NFL punter Saverio Rocca.

"Striking is pretty drastic," Rocca told the Herald Sun. "I certainly think if they can get to an agreement without doing that . . . it is better for the sport and better for players.

"But if you're absolutely getting shafted and that's the only way that you might get what you deserve, well then they'll have to take it into consideration."

Fellow AFL-NFL convert Ben Graham called on the parties to wage their battle behind closed doors.

"I don't like it being played out in public. As far as a strike goes, I'm sure that's going to be a last resort," Graham said.

Rocca and Graham are in the middle of a bitter industrial stoush with NFL team owners that threatens to wipe the coming US season.

AFLPA president Luke Power yesterday warned the players remained united in their push for a fixed 25-27 per cent cut of the game's revenue.

"We don't apologise for pursuing an agenda which seeks to cement AFL as the nation's No.1 sporting career," Power said.

Demetriou said there was no chance the CBA would be settled by June 30.

"I just think everyone has an expectation we should finalise it soon and finalise the equalisation to the clubs soon," Demetriou said.

"Our preference is to do the deal with the players first but clubs have to start planning.

"We need to give them certainty about their distribution."

Demetriou said there were no planned meetings in coming weeks.

Rocca said 98 per cent of US fans supported NFL players in their fight against club owners.

"I don't know if it would be that high (in Australia), but I think the majority would be with the players," he said.

But he conceded any talk of a strike would put many fans offside.

The main challenge for AFL players, Rocca said, was to stay united.

Graham said a strike should be used as a negotiating tactic only after 100 per cent of players had signed a document agreeing to the move.

"But I'm sure they'll get a deal done (before then) in the best interests of the game," he said.

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/afl/afl-players-to-meet-en-mass-over-pay-claim/story-e6frf9jf-1226076004623

GEELONG

Geelong are scum

wrong Geelong are the best
who you go for?

I go for the Collingwood scum.
Geelong may be the best at the moment, but we won the flag last year ;)

how many teeth you got?

how many teeth you got?

That's rich coming from a kid from Brunswick.

I figured the only reason you would support Brunswick is that you're from there. Nobody has any other reason to be there.

AFL's declaration of independence sets new benchmark

Patrick Smith From: The Australian June 17, 2011

THE AFL's plan to take over the world is, according to its own assessment, going rather nicely. This week, the AFL bosses gave the media a campaign briefing which looked at progress on various fronts, including the number of troops on the ground and its recruiting strategies.

All of which are in a jolly way. Membership up, ratings growing and attendances predicted to rise some 3 per cent on last year. The AFL is yet to finalise a new CBA with its players and is not likely to do so abruptly. But the broadcast deal delivered enough money for all stakeholders to be comfortably looked after. Eventually.

The strength of the AFL is best understood in reviewing its forecasts for 2016, the final year of the new broadcast and media deal finalised in May. Those close to the camp might call the targets grand, the less infatuated might term them cocky.

In five years, the league commissioners envisage one million club or AFL members. Eight million people will go to its matches at first-class stadiums across and up and down the continent.

There will be a robust free agency in place giving all players a chance to engage in a successful career. And those footballers will be just a blob in some eight million participants in the sport. The AFL also anticipates that football will draw the best athletes in the land.

The league also predicts a lasting consolidation of all 18 clubs, while protecting the sport from counter-insurgencies from other codes. It will also have little debt and a big future fund.

It is a pretty picture.

The AFL is deservedly bullish, but it must be wary because hubris can rot away at the strongest of foundations. The league has not been able to blow away rival codes in its very heartland, Melbourne. Nor has the northern exposure delivered knockout punches. Light jabs, enthusiastic and well-funded, but just jabs nonetheless.

Tonight will be an interesting test in Melbourne. At Etihad Stadium, the Western Bulldogs confront Adelaide. Across town rugby's latest franchise, the Melbourne Rebels, will battle with Western Force. Amazingly for the AFL, the Bulldogs game is no certainty to draw a bigger crowd than the all-Australian rugby fixture.

The Rebels, in their first year in Super Rugby, have averaged just under 18,000 spectators at home games. That is despite a challenging year where the club has won just three matches and sits on the bottom of the standings. Consider, too, that for some reason the rugby union chiefs lacked the foresight to give the Rebels the swag of concessions that the AFL ensured will make the introductions of new franchises Gold Coast and the Greater Western Sydney Giants less painful than it would otherwise have been.

Presumably, that would remain inexplicable to Rebels chief executive Ross Oakley who, as AFL boss, saw the introduction of new teams in West Coast, Brisbane, Adelaide and Fremantle. Note that West Coast, Brisbane and Adelaide have won eight premierships between them.

The Rebels could draw a bigger crowd than the Bulldogs without surprise. The Bulldogs have had a horrid season, winning just three of 11 matches. Adelaide is only watched by ghouls. When the Bulldogs played the Gold Coast earlier in the season in Melbourne barely 21,000 people attended. And that's when the Suns were still a curiosity and the Bulldogs considered a finals threat.

Then there is Melbourne Storm, second on the NRL ladder, but sharing the same number of wins as top side St George Illawarra. At home it draws as well as the Rebels. The surprise is not that Storm is playing so well but that it is playing at all. For a frontier club to withstand the salary cap scandal that last year swamped Storm and then post record membership this year is testimony to the strength both of the club and of the code brand.

Melbourne won premierships in 2007 and 2009 only to lose them because of systematic and substantial salary cap-rorting. Oakley can take some quiet pleasure knowing that concessions -- even if taken illegally -- can hasten the arrival of frontier clubs. His point is proven.

Storm's penetration into Melbourne has been praiseworthy but the crunching, numbing State of Origin collision between NSW and Queensland on Wednesday night is an element of sport that the AFL can never replicate. NSW's series-levelling win was on Victorians' news lists yesterday. The AFL suffers for a lack of a similar fixture.

Of course, it is of little long-term account if the Rebels draw more spectators than the AFL on Friday night. Momentary bragging rights perhaps. League and union rule up north and the AFL from east to west. But it does underline the advantage the AFL was able to multiply out when it came under the control of an independent commission.

The decision in 1984 for the Victorian clubs, as well as Sydney, to hand over power and effectively their future to a board that would act independently of club interests, but be driven to secure the future of the competition stands as the major difference between all winter codes in Australia.

League was just about permanently crippled, emotionally and strategically, by the super league wars. It has recently rebounded and will be a very different opponent for the AFL when the new independent commission is settled, functional and vigorously supported. That will change the dynamics of the AFL's northern dreams.

Rugby union seems to be making no move of any consequence to refine its administration and free it from parochial paralysis. It should take note that the Rebels are run by the AFL's first commission chairman, Oakley. It is inescapable that the AFL is eyeing the future so grandly because it acted with vision in the past.

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/sport/afls-declaration-of-independence-sets-new-benchmark/story-e6frg7mf-1226076668143

Which would make you local. Why would you play for a team from across the other side of town? You're from the inner northern suburbs. You have no teeth. Absolute BEST case scenario, you're from Pascoe Vale.

Which would make you local. Why would you play for a team from across the other side of town? You're from the inner northern suburbs. You have no teeth. Absolute BEST case scenario, you're from Pascoe Vale.

I lol at the AFL for thinking they can get out of Australia successfully. Football is the world game for a reason, everyone can play it unlike Aussie Rules

what if im from North Fitzroy?

:lol: getting out of australia. They can't even get out of victoria.

Then you have teeth...but they're some poor Korean lady's.

if ur from north fitzroy then you'll be a douche bag!

whats that meant to mean?

where do you guys live then?

and have you ever even been to North Fizroy or know where it is?

Bulldogs 100 to 70

I live out South-east, were you can walk down the street without fear of being raped or stabbed.

Yeah, I've been to North Fitzroy. I've got a mate who used to live around there.

Fuckin use spoilers, the game is still on tv!