Significance And Evaluation Of The Inaugural Match Of AFL 2017: A Field Report

Background on the Competition

Question:

Write about the Australia Today for AFL.

The purpose of the following paper is to make a precise filed report on a particular event that has been attended recently. The objective is here to identify and evaluate the significance of the match in the contemporary society and life. For the aforementioned purpose, the present paper has chosen the inaugural match of AFL or the Australian Rules Football (AFL) match. The AFL match, which is having the 121^st season of the competition of the elite Australian Rules football has inaugurated with the much-awaited teams –Richmond and Carlton on 23^rd March, 2017 (theguardian.com 2017). In order to make the report profound and elaborative, the paper will immediately give a brief background about AFL to explain some of the chief details of the competition. Thereafter the report will concentrate on explaining and evaluating the experience of the viewer with the help of the observation and filed gathered in time of attending the match. Finally, the report will conclude by evaluating the significance about the chosen AFL match in the contemporary society and life.

Prior to document, the experience gathered in time of attending the inaugural match of Richmond vs. Carlton, it is necessary to note some of the chief facts related to the entire AFL series. The 2017 season of Australian Football League is considered to have its 121^st season in the country of the elite class Australian Rules football competition (theguardian.com 2017). It is to note in this context that, similarly like the previous seasons of AFL, total 18 football teams are competing in the match. It has been scheduled that the season will inaugurate on Thursday, 23 March 2017 and will conclude with the Grand final on Saturday, 30 September 2017 (australia.gov.au 2017). However, it is to mention that unlike the previous matches, in the 2017 season, the authority of AFL has considered some significant changes. The first amendment that has been made to the fundamental laws of AFL 2017 season is only the ruckman, who has been nominated from each team can participate in the contest. It has been understood that the law eliminates the option of “third man up” strategy giving chance to any other player in the contest. The rule has been made considering the importance to make each contest easy to adjudicate as well as to decrease the risk of injuring ruckman (afl.com.au 2017). The second modification that has taken place in the law of AFL is the introduction of a more strict interpretation of intentional rushed behind, which would allow each of the umpires to give utmost priority to make distance from the goal line and the degree of applying pressure.

On the other hand, in the premise of match review panel a more strict punch has been introduced, which would allow the imposition of suspension and fines for the jumper punches, which would have low influence (Hecimovich et al. 2016). However, it is required to mention here that the clubs, which are giving leadership to the 2017 AFL series, are found to be – Brisbane Lions, Adelaide, Carlton, Essendon, Fremantle, Collingwood, Geelong, Greater Western Sydney, Gold Coast, Hawthron, Melbourne, North Melbourne, Richmond, Port Adelaide, St Kilda, Sydney, West Coast and Western Bulldogs. The contest, which has been attained on 23 March, has been between two traditional rivals –Richmond and Carlton. The club Richmond while has come off an unfortunate and disappointing end as per their performance in the last season, club Carlton have gone through a huge turnover in the last off-season (Hrysomallis 2013). However, still the expectation of showing a heroic performance has been expected from club – Richmond too.

Evaluation of the Viewer's Experience

It has been one of the most thrilling inaugural matches of the season as the audience encountered a triumphant win of the club – Richmond who has been previously vindicated due to their aggressive recruiting style in the off-season. At the inaugural phase of the game, it has been anticipated that Carlton may win over Richmond as it has been expected that Carlton may have recovered their flaws from the year 2015 (afl.com.au 2017). However, it has been extremely exciting to experience the tiger like performance from the “Tigers” of Richmond. It can be said that the performance of the Richmond players roared the ground of MCG and has forced the minds of the audience to support them.

From the starting moment, the Tigers of Richmond club showed dominant performance over the Blues though in the third quarter Carlton boys overpowered the Richmond players. Nevertheless, as the game proceeded further, it seemed that the preparation of Carlton boys failed in front of the power of the Tigers. The Richmond boys entirely nailed down the efforts of the Blues and finally won over them by 43 points (afl.com.au 2017). It can be said after watching the performance of the Blues that they not only lacked experience against the Richmond but also proved that after the tremendous deterioration in the year 2015, the Blues have not care much to recover their flaws. On the other hand, considering the performance of the Richmond and specifically the performance of Dustin Martin, it should be contemplated that the Tigers have made metaphorical representation of their name. Dustin Martin’s performance at MCG on 23 March can be interpreted as Martin’s revenge on Carlton.

The game‘s one of the best defenders found out to be Alex Rance who unfortunately got beaten by one of the Blue boys - Weitering who took seven marks with three goals (theguardian.com 2017). Henceforth, it is to mention also that Carlton boys have not been reluctant upon their performance though in front of Dustin Martin, Weitering’s effort has been nothing in front of him. However, it is still a debatable fact that whether Carlton has been completely effortless or not. The Blues boys reassembled in a compact mode to cut the margin of 44 points to direct 25 points at the final phase though their efforts finally proved to be futile by the manipulative attitude of Dustin Martin.  

In the distinct context, it is essential to remark that the Australian Rules football has a potential impact on the contemporary culture and life of the Australian society. Earlier, the considered football league has been considered for making impact on Australian literature, music, television and even on Australian art (Robertson et al. 2015). In the contemporary society of Australia, the impact of AFL can be seen particularly on the young generation and it should be contemplated that the AFL is responsible for shaping dreams of the majority of the young generation of Australia. It is a universally known fact that the society and people of Australia has a serious relationship with football and watching the matches on yearly basis has become a ritual for the society (Pitchford et al. 2017). In terms of “professional football codes”, one of the most loyal and most dedicated fans can be seen for the teams of AFL. AFL is also culturally referred as the “Aussie rules” because it is a proof that AFL dominates the minds of the youngsters of the contemporary generation (Hay 2014). The most significant point to consider in this respect is that, the level of popularity of AFL in the contemporary society is relatively high than the other professional leagues like ARU, NRL and FFA. It is because, the code of AFL is considered as a potential national part of national sport and AFL is even taught across the country (Pascoe and Papalia 2015).

Analysis of the Match's Significance in Contemporary Society and Life

It should be also granted in this section that according to a huge number of Australians, no other aspect of the society has much more appeal than AFL. Moreover, according to most of the Australians, AFL is a ritual and not only a game league (Evans et al. 2015). AFL has not only captured the young minds, as the league is responsible for bringing audience from a varied age group, which is a potential reason for income of the stadium owners. Most significant contribution of AFL on the present society is, in recent few years, it has been for the effort of AFL, which has bravely stamped out racial, religious, gender and sexual discrimination, outburst and crowd spitting (abc.net.au 2017). On the other hand, it is also to mention that the league has single handedly contributed on the employment aspect of the country by employing more than ten thousand individuals across the nation.  

Conclusion

From the above report, it can be deduced that on the inaugural match of AFL that has been organized on 23 March of 2017 has encountered the triumphant victory of the club – Richmond against Carlton. According to the report, Weitering’s performance is the proof of the fact that Carlton’s boys have showed their complete effort though in front of the power and preparation of the Richmond players, the effort became futile. According to the report above, Richmond players has won over Carlton by 43 points. The report has finally indicated the fact that the AFL holds a significant place in the minds of the Australians of the contemporary society. The report has mentioned that AFL is responsible for employing more than ten thousand employees across the country and has single-handedly decreased the volume of racial outburst and discrimination.

References

ABC News. 2017. Where would we be without AFL?. [online] Available at: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-09-27/green---afl/4282868 [Accessed 2 May 2017].

afl.com.au. 2017. Carlton Vs Richmond - Match Centre - AFL.com.au. [online] Available at: https://www.afl.com.au/match-centre/2017/1/carl-v-rich [Accessed 2 May 2017].

afl.com.au. 2017. Match preview: Carlton v Richmond - AFL.com.au. [online] Available at: https://www.afl.com.au/news/2017-03-20/match-preview-carlton-v-richmond [Accessed 2 May 2017].

Australia.gov.au. 2017. Football in Australia | australia.gov.au. [online] Available at: https://www.australia.gov.au/about-australia/australian-story/football-in-australia [Accessed 2 May 2017].

Evans, J.R., Wilson, R., Dalton, B. and Georgakis, S., 2015. Indigenous Participation in Australian Sport: The Perils of the ‘Panacea’Proposition. Cosmopolitan Civil Societies: An Interdisciplinary Journal, 7(1), pp.53-77.

Hay, R., 2014. Football in Australia before Codification, 1820–1860. The International Journal of the History of Sport, 31(9), pp.1047-1061.

Hecimovich, M., King, D. and Marais, I., 2016. Player and parent concussion knowledge and awareness in youth Australian Rules Football. The Sport Journal.

Hrysomallis, C., 2013. Injury incidence, risk factors and prevention in Australian rules football. Sports medicine, 43(5), pp.339-354.

Jackson, R. 2017. Richmond defeat Carlton by 43 points in AFL season opener - as it happened. [online] the Guardian. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/sport/live/2017/mar/23/carlton-v-richmond-afl-2017-season-opener-live [Accessed 2 May 2017].

Pascoe, R. and Papalia, G., 2015. Australian football as a construct of the frontier contact zone. Sporting Traditions, 32(1), p.1.

Pitchford, N.W., Robertson, S.J., Sargent, C., Cordy, J., Bishop, D.J. and Bartlett, J.D., 2017. Sleep Quality but Not Quantity Altered With a Change in Training Environment in Elite Australian Rules Football Players. International Journal of Sports Physiology & Performance, 12(1).

Robertson, S., Woods, C. and Gastin, P., 2015. Predicting higher selection in elite junior Australian Rules football: The influence of physical performance and anthropometric attributes. Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport, 18(5), pp.601-606.