no subject
Sat, Sep. 3rd, 2016 11:09 pm
TREE GONE! Photos to come tomorrow :D
Tonight we watched the exhibition match of women's AFL! It was pretty awesome, even though it was Melbourne v Western Bulldogs and the players from both teams will be scattered across the country when they actually start playing women's AFL in earnest next year. But it was exciting! They tackled just as much and just as hard as the blokes, they kicked long bombs from 50m just like the blokes, the rules and uniforms were identical to the blokes... and I can't tell you how incredibly happy that makes me. So many women's sports are basically just a dumbed-down version of the men's game. In cricket, they bring the boundary in because the women can't bowl as fast or hit the ball as hard as the men. Even tennis, where the women are just as famous as the men, they only play three sets to the men's five.
The AFL's done a far better job of marketing this, though. They're just straight up marketing the game. Hey look, guys, MORE FOOTBALL! They still play four quarters of 20 minutes each. They're not trying to sex it up by putting them in skirts and low-cut tops, they are literally identical uniforms. Exhibit A: dudes, and Exhibit B: chicks. SO REFRESHING. They're not a curtain raiser for a men's match; this was the match. This weekend there's been no Premiership footy because they now have a bye before the finals start next weekend (long story. I blame Freo.) so this match was it. The AFL's making sure people watch it, because they want more footy, and that's brilliant. Right from the beginning, they're treating it as just more football. It's not a dumbed-down bloke's game, but a legit sport to go and watch.
Now of course, early days, the first season's only going to go for eight weeks and there are only eight teams (of whom the Crows are one WOOOOO), so presumably everyone plays each other once for the first seven weeks, then the top two face off in a grand final. The top players get $15k for the season, and the bottom get $5k, so as yet this is clearly not a career like it is for the guys. But if they get the support, if they get crowds and sell tickets and merch, give it a decade for all the little kiddies playing AusKick to start looking at it as a career, and we'll get some seriously awesome stuff happening.
Like goal-kicking. Srsly, ladies, you're going to have to learn to kick straight in front of goal. Again, dudes get paid enough that it's a full-time job for them so they have time to practice such things as goal-kicking, whereas the ladies have jobs outside AFL and significantly less time to train... but still. Kick straighter from set shots plzkthx :D
Tonight we watched the exhibition match of women's AFL! It was pretty awesome, even though it was Melbourne v Western Bulldogs and the players from both teams will be scattered across the country when they actually start playing women's AFL in earnest next year. But it was exciting! They tackled just as much and just as hard as the blokes, they kicked long bombs from 50m just like the blokes, the rules and uniforms were identical to the blokes... and I can't tell you how incredibly happy that makes me. So many women's sports are basically just a dumbed-down version of the men's game. In cricket, they bring the boundary in because the women can't bowl as fast or hit the ball as hard as the men. Even tennis, where the women are just as famous as the men, they only play three sets to the men's five.
The AFL's done a far better job of marketing this, though. They're just straight up marketing the game. Hey look, guys, MORE FOOTBALL! They still play four quarters of 20 minutes each. They're not trying to sex it up by putting them in skirts and low-cut tops, they are literally identical uniforms. Exhibit A: dudes, and Exhibit B: chicks. SO REFRESHING. They're not a curtain raiser for a men's match; this was the match. This weekend there's been no Premiership footy because they now have a bye before the finals start next weekend (long story. I blame Freo.) so this match was it. The AFL's making sure people watch it, because they want more footy, and that's brilliant. Right from the beginning, they're treating it as just more football. It's not a dumbed-down bloke's game, but a legit sport to go and watch.
Now of course, early days, the first season's only going to go for eight weeks and there are only eight teams (of whom the Crows are one WOOOOO), so presumably everyone plays each other once for the first seven weeks, then the top two face off in a grand final. The top players get $15k for the season, and the bottom get $5k, so as yet this is clearly not a career like it is for the guys. But if they get the support, if they get crowds and sell tickets and merch, give it a decade for all the little kiddies playing AusKick to start looking at it as a career, and we'll get some seriously awesome stuff happening.
Like goal-kicking. Srsly, ladies, you're going to have to learn to kick straight in front of goal. Again, dudes get paid enough that it's a full-time job for them so they have time to practice such things as goal-kicking, whereas the ladies have jobs outside AFL and significantly less time to train... but still. Kick straighter from set shots plzkthx :D