Rules are Rules

Especially when they change and certainly when they don't

So often in June and July in Melbourne, football fans come up against the same phenomenon; the winter blues.

By now very often a portion of the competition’s season is finished. The glow of the early season optimism is a long-faded memory and intermittent wet weather can bring about some ordinary spectacles.

Suddenly, media pundits are saying the game is unwatchable. Recently retired players are asked to speculate about umpiring and fixturing. The mysterious and faceless men of the ‘AFL’ have a problem on their hands. It happens every year like clockwork.

Somehow in this sunlight devoid period, pundits get snappier, journos start to grate on audiences a little bit. This is the time that coaches are in the gun and list management speak kicks into gear.

Everyone in football is just a bit narky. We’ve all got to kill a bit of time till spring is sprung and the finals rise.

If a middle of the road footy fan like me has noticed this, I felt that I couldn’t be alone.

Major complaints in football tend to be around rules; the implementation of them (by the AFL) the judgement of them and their outcomes. Calls for sweeping changes in July are as predictable as cooler weather.

There will be adjustments, reviews and trials over the off season only to be dissected and critiqued in the new season. Rinse and repeat.

Arguing about the rules and the perception of their fairness is a cornerstone of Australian life. We love the idea of a fair go, sure, but we don’t mind a bit of a whinge when it doesn’t go our way.

The 1897 season is the first instance of Geelong grumbling about home finals. They were granted one after threatening not to play.

After a bit of rummaging for research on a new series of artworks I discovered a bit of rule tinkering is not new. The 1897 season saw the push in the back rule abolished for one week in an attempt to make the game more of a spectacle and assist the umpires having to adjudicate the many contests in a crowded game.

The players, of course, took full advantage and it did nothing to assist.

The umpires then were instructed;

'not to interfere unnecessarily in play and to overlook merely technical infringements when players contest the ball'

Sound familiar, AFL fans?