In purely scoreboard terms, Saturday night's A-League derby between Melbourne Victory and Melbourne City was, in the finish, a bit of a rout. Yet the post-game talk universally was of a stunning night for local soccer. Why? It was the atmosphere.

I've been to something like 1500 AFL games in my lifetime and only a handful of A-League fixtures, but the different feel at Etihad Stadium on Saturday night was remarkable. The place simply buzzed.

The derby drew 43,729, more than for all but two of the 48 AFL games played at Etihad Stadium this year, but this was about more than numbers. It was about the noise, the colour and the excitement generated.

Which, heading towards 2015, and a season the AFL has unofficially dubbed "the year of the fan", is an example the indigenous code needs to study very carefully.

Soccer has always had it over the indigenous game for the quality of its crowd chants and singing, but this wasn't just about clever quips and taunts to opposition fans.

There were banners and waving flags aplenty, mass twirling of coloured scarves, and a constant wall of noise generated by the fans, not by ear-splitting and intrusive advertising booming across the PA system at the breaks, a staple of AFL on this occasion thankfully absent.

It was a salient reminder for us older football types of how AFL used to be as a live experience, and perhaps the extent to which the commercialisation and homogenisation of our own code has chipped away at it.

Watch any clips from the old VFL days and you're reminded again. For starters, there were up to eight or nine different venues, each with their own character and quirks, compared with just two in Melbourne now.

Have a look at any home-and-away game from the 1970s or '80s, let alone finals at the MCG or Waverley, and you'll see grounds decked out in club-coloured banners stretching around most of the stands.

They were works of art, slogans that borrowed from old verse or simpler rhymes, the lettering bold or in some memorable cases in Old English script.

Then there were the cheer squads, whose floggers stretched around the fence further than you'd ever see today. They threw copious amounts of crepe paper streamers and ripped up phone directories. Each week, the area behind each team's goals resembled a sea of colour and movement.

The reason you don't see these things any more is in most cases the same: overly draconian health and safety measures and corporatisation of the game to within an inch of its life.

First it was players tripping on streamers and a couple of silly escapades where floggers caught on fire, which led to restrictions on their size. Then came the complaints from sponsors about the streamers covering up the perimeter advertising that began to encase grounds. Good luck finding a square inch of an AFL ground these days not sold off to sponsorship.

There are a lot more AFL games per season than there were 30 years ago. But a lot less differentiation, too, as will happen when roughly 100 games are scheduled for just two multipurpose stadiums that a large contingent of clubs all call "home", though the term regarding Etihad and the MCG should be used loosely.

Social clubs remain anchored at the old suburban bases of those still retaining some connection with them. The grounds of today may have post-match function rooms for the clubs hosting games there, but there's a transient feel, the lack of club culture palpable.

Even beyond that, I hear consistent complaints from football fans about the "nanny state" intruding on their football-going experiences. Signs any more provocative than "Go Pies" being frowned upon or confiscated. And, believe it or not, supporters being warned by security staff for barracking too loudly.

The AFL has had enough trouble this year, amid confusing ticketing systems and unfriendly scheduling, convincing followers to actually turn up to games. The last thing it can afford is to make them feel like naughty schoolchildren when they do.

Which is why, for a hard-core AFL supporter, last Saturday night felt something like a trip back in time. Real passion and involvement, unstymied by over-officiousness. Loads of colour and movement. And lots of noise actually generated by fans rather than speaker stacks.

Of course soccer has its own cultural nuances, its own vibe. But occasions such as the Melbourne Victory-Melbourne City derby just serve to reinforce that, at this critical juncture in the AFL public's relationship with the game, it's a feel those running the show could do a lot worse than reacquaint themselves with.

What the actual fuck is a flogger? :lol:

was reading that just waiting for the "but but but the A-League has nothing to match the atmosphere and occasion of a grand final at the MCG in front of 100,000 fans"

but in never came

Amazing.

Ask anyone in Victoria and they will say they wish they had the VFL/ 70's and 80's Aussie rules back: as the article mentions its about the different grounds, the proper crowds, different player types

There's something annoying about the recent addiction of football articles that keep referring to the other codes. Let's focus on our game ffs, stop comparing and get on with it

Not just a lesson for AFL, even if it was written as such. Modern Sport has become so dull thanks to corporates getting involved and the working class being marginalised. People aren't kidding when they say Rugby League and AFL were better in the old days.

Not just a lesson for AFL, even if it was written as such. Modern Sport has become so dull thanks to corporates getting involved and the working class being marginalised. People aren't kidding when they say Rugby League and AFL were better in the old days.

There's something annoying about the recent addiction of football articles that keep referring to the other codes. Let's focus on our game ffs, stop comparing and get on with it

The main lesson here is for football. While we all want more money flowing into the game it can't come at the expense of certain aspects of the game.

Do you really want that extra few million on the TV deal if it means that Perth have to kick-off at 3pm so it doesn't unbalance the schedule or Brisbane have to have 7:30 Thursday kick offs because it rates better?

Do you really want a better stadium deal if it means both SFC and WSW have to share ANZ as a home ground all season long?

Do you really want a billionaire owner if they decide to re-locate the club and change its identity?

Do you really want bigger crowds if the majority of the fans are mostly indifferent and apathetic towards the team they are supporting?

What if that "extra few million" as you put it, is the difference between saving a club or having it die, or a new club starting up or not?

It'll be a long while yet before the game has money to burn like the other big codes.

I'm not saying the aim shouldn't be to find more revenue. But if the cost of that is giving power to stakeholders that are more interested in monetising the game than growing it then it isn't worth it.

Timeo Danaos et dona ferentes. -Andrew Dimetritard.

Maybe being a British expat I don't understand the full AFL propaganda machine, though it does seem to resemble an insecure high school girl.

What the actual fuck is a flogger? :lol: