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Mon, Apr. 18th, 2016 12:06 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
annarti
WATCHED FOOTY.
WON FOOTY.
SO STOKED YOU CAN'T BELIEVE IT.
So in AFL, teams have what's called a salary cap. They're only allowed to pay their player list a total of a certain amount, which is the same across the board, with some exceptions we're about to get to. This means that even the super rich teams can still only pay their top players so much, because otherwise it'd leave nothing left for the rest of the team. Therefore, in terms of pay, reasonably even playing field so one team can't just throw money at the top players and win every year, so the competition stays reasonably even.
To the same end is draft picks. At the end of the year, various players who are either out of contract with their club and feel like not playing for the club, and also new blokes who haven't played for anyone yet, go into the draft. Depending on their skill they're ranked at number 1 through to idk however big the draft is, I guess. Pick number one--best player in the draft--goes to whoever was the bottom of the ladder at the end of the previous year. Pick number two goes to the team second from the bottom, all the way to the team who won the Grand Final getting the bottom picks. Idea here being that even the shit teams get to bolster their numbers with talented new blokes who will make them improve in the years to come.
Now we get to the exceptions where all this goes out the window in favour of the dollar. AFL's dollar, specifically.
AFL is pretty much only followed in Victoria (where the sport began), SA and WA. New South Wales and Queensland both have teams, but they're rugby states and tbh nobody there gives a rat's what's going on in AFL. The only reason Sydney and Brisbane have teams at all is because the AFL pumps money into them in the hopes of also getting money out of them. That salary cap? Theirs is higher than the AFL-traditional teams. The draft picks? Better than they really should get for their finishing position. So teams like Sydney, who we just played, can throw shedloads more money at the top players. They dominate, even though their home cities couldn't care less what goes on in AFL. Brisbane won three Grand Finals in a row* and nobody in Brisbane even knew about it, let alone cared, because they're not a traditional football town. Why the AFL keeps persisting over there I have no idea.
To give you an idea of traditional vs non-traditional cities, Adelaide has a population of a bit over a million, and the Crows and Power have a combined membership of a bit over 100,000--roughly 10% of the city. Sydney has a population of about 4.5 million, but their two AFL teams combined barely pull 40,000--less than 1% of the city. Why the AFL persists over there I have no idea, but whatever. Point is, Sydney doesn't give a shit.
Anyway. Four years back, one of the Crows ditched us. Initially the expectation was that he'd go home to the Gold Coast (near Brisbane, brand new team, even MORE money from the AFL but so hilariously bad they didn't win a single game the entire first season), so we were all thinking aww, poor homesick babby, can't hack it down here where it's cold and his friends aren't. The Crows, btw, had flown half his family over here to make him not homesick. And also we loved him and cheered him as we would any tall forward who's on the verge of pissing off home.
He went to Sydney, little dipshit, and left behind him a salary cap breach that cos the Crows some serious cash and draft picks for the next two years. So he was money-grabbing while he was here, and money-grabbing when he pissed off to Sydney.
Now, if you hadn't guessed already from my general demeanour, Adelaide is parochial like you wouldn't believe. City in general, not just the Crows. When it comes to our footy team, though? If you leave for money, we will boo the ever-living shit out of you when you have the balls to come back here. If you leave for money, and leave a scandal like that in your wake? We'll pack the Adelaide Oval with the express purpose OF booing you.
The next year, when Sydney came back to Adelaide, Tippet was still on suspension from those salary cap breaches, so he wasn't playing for Sydney. Year after that, Sydney didn't come to Adelaide to play the Crows. Nor the year after that*. Last year Sydney came, but Tippet had bunged his knee, so he didn't play. Weasel.
Last night, after four goddamn YEARS, playing for a team that just throws money around and still struggles to get half the membership of the Crows in a city four times its size, Tippet came back to play the Crows.
Oohhhhhh man, the boos when he went near the ball. It was glorious. We have been waiting FOUR YEARS to boo that money-grabbing little traitor. 51,000 strong, whenever he went near it. I was hoping we'd keep him goalless as well, but eh, keeping him to two isn't bad, especially when this is Sydney. I don't like Sydney, I hate how the AFL pampers them and just lets them buy the star players from whoever they feel like, and I hate how nobody gives a shit about them.
I love, LOVE, that my boys beat them. It was up and down all night, Crows never down by more than a goal, but never ahead by more than two. Those 51,000 may have booed Tippet with passion, but the ROARS when the Crows kicked vital goals. aksjdghas goosebumps 8D And Eddie Betts omfg you absolute STAR. We got him through some clever trading and idk what else the season after Tippet's salary cap screwed us over. He booted one from what's become known as Eddie's pocket, because it's so tight nobody can frigging kick it from there except by pure dumb luck, unless you're Eddie Betts, who I've never seen miss from said pocket. He kicked the sealer, the one that put us too far in front for Sydney to come back in the time remaining. For that one, the crowd was already cheering at its loudest when he got his hands on the ball and was running for goal, that it couldn't get any louder when the ball went through the goal. He was genius and class and just so grinning and stoked whenever he kicked one.
Tippet kicked two. Eddie kicked four. We won by less than two.
Sucked in, Sydney. With all your money and subsidies and exceptions, you can't to half of what Adelaide can do. I LOVE MY BOYS.
Oh my god I love my boys
*Brisbane is now shit and couldn't beat a team of under-9s. The system works!
** Seriously AFL screw you and your anti-SA bias.
WON FOOTY.
SO STOKED YOU CAN'T BELIEVE IT.
So in AFL, teams have what's called a salary cap. They're only allowed to pay their player list a total of a certain amount, which is the same across the board, with some exceptions we're about to get to. This means that even the super rich teams can still only pay their top players so much, because otherwise it'd leave nothing left for the rest of the team. Therefore, in terms of pay, reasonably even playing field so one team can't just throw money at the top players and win every year, so the competition stays reasonably even.
To the same end is draft picks. At the end of the year, various players who are either out of contract with their club and feel like not playing for the club, and also new blokes who haven't played for anyone yet, go into the draft. Depending on their skill they're ranked at number 1 through to idk however big the draft is, I guess. Pick number one--best player in the draft--goes to whoever was the bottom of the ladder at the end of the previous year. Pick number two goes to the team second from the bottom, all the way to the team who won the Grand Final getting the bottom picks. Idea here being that even the shit teams get to bolster their numbers with talented new blokes who will make them improve in the years to come.
Now we get to the exceptions where all this goes out the window in favour of the dollar. AFL's dollar, specifically.
AFL is pretty much only followed in Victoria (where the sport began), SA and WA. New South Wales and Queensland both have teams, but they're rugby states and tbh nobody there gives a rat's what's going on in AFL. The only reason Sydney and Brisbane have teams at all is because the AFL pumps money into them in the hopes of also getting money out of them. That salary cap? Theirs is higher than the AFL-traditional teams. The draft picks? Better than they really should get for their finishing position. So teams like Sydney, who we just played, can throw shedloads more money at the top players. They dominate, even though their home cities couldn't care less what goes on in AFL. Brisbane won three Grand Finals in a row* and nobody in Brisbane even knew about it, let alone cared, because they're not a traditional football town. Why the AFL keeps persisting over there I have no idea.
To give you an idea of traditional vs non-traditional cities, Adelaide has a population of a bit over a million, and the Crows and Power have a combined membership of a bit over 100,000--roughly 10% of the city. Sydney has a population of about 4.5 million, but their two AFL teams combined barely pull 40,000--less than 1% of the city. Why the AFL persists over there I have no idea, but whatever. Point is, Sydney doesn't give a shit.
Anyway. Four years back, one of the Crows ditched us. Initially the expectation was that he'd go home to the Gold Coast (near Brisbane, brand new team, even MORE money from the AFL but so hilariously bad they didn't win a single game the entire first season), so we were all thinking aww, poor homesick babby, can't hack it down here where it's cold and his friends aren't. The Crows, btw, had flown half his family over here to make him not homesick. And also we loved him and cheered him as we would any tall forward who's on the verge of pissing off home.
He went to Sydney, little dipshit, and left behind him a salary cap breach that cos the Crows some serious cash and draft picks for the next two years. So he was money-grabbing while he was here, and money-grabbing when he pissed off to Sydney.
Now, if you hadn't guessed already from my general demeanour, Adelaide is parochial like you wouldn't believe. City in general, not just the Crows. When it comes to our footy team, though? If you leave for money, we will boo the ever-living shit out of you when you have the balls to come back here. If you leave for money, and leave a scandal like that in your wake? We'll pack the Adelaide Oval with the express purpose OF booing you.
The next year, when Sydney came back to Adelaide, Tippet was still on suspension from those salary cap breaches, so he wasn't playing for Sydney. Year after that, Sydney didn't come to Adelaide to play the Crows. Nor the year after that*. Last year Sydney came, but Tippet had bunged his knee, so he didn't play. Weasel.
Last night, after four goddamn YEARS, playing for a team that just throws money around and still struggles to get half the membership of the Crows in a city four times its size, Tippet came back to play the Crows.
Oohhhhhh man, the boos when he went near the ball. It was glorious. We have been waiting FOUR YEARS to boo that money-grabbing little traitor. 51,000 strong, whenever he went near it. I was hoping we'd keep him goalless as well, but eh, keeping him to two isn't bad, especially when this is Sydney. I don't like Sydney, I hate how the AFL pampers them and just lets them buy the star players from whoever they feel like, and I hate how nobody gives a shit about them.
I love, LOVE, that my boys beat them. It was up and down all night, Crows never down by more than a goal, but never ahead by more than two. Those 51,000 may have booed Tippet with passion, but the ROARS when the Crows kicked vital goals. aksjdghas goosebumps 8D And Eddie Betts omfg you absolute STAR. We got him through some clever trading and idk what else the season after Tippet's salary cap screwed us over. He booted one from what's become known as Eddie's pocket, because it's so tight nobody can frigging kick it from there except by pure dumb luck, unless you're Eddie Betts, who I've never seen miss from said pocket. He kicked the sealer, the one that put us too far in front for Sydney to come back in the time remaining. For that one, the crowd was already cheering at its loudest when he got his hands on the ball and was running for goal, that it couldn't get any louder when the ball went through the goal. He was genius and class and just so grinning and stoked whenever he kicked one.
Tippet kicked two. Eddie kicked four. We won by less than two.
Sucked in, Sydney. With all your money and subsidies and exceptions, you can't to half of what Adelaide can do. I LOVE MY BOYS.
Oh my god I love my boys
*Brisbane is now shit and couldn't beat a team of under-9s. The system works!
** Seriously AFL screw you and your anti-SA bias.