AGENDA | INTERACTIVE

State of the game

Phil Murton EFL CEO

What is the current state of our great game? Turn on SEN116, watch The Footy Show, chat to friends socially, it’s seems to be one topic that has got everyone talking.

Is it as big of an issue as is being made out or do we need all need to take a Bex and have a lie down and stop trying to artificially change things? And how does what is happening on the TV at AFL games relate to us in local footy? Do we just wait to see what measures the AFL tries and follow suit, or do we need to be proactive in protecting what is great about local footy.

At a time when many talk of their preference of watching local footy over the AFL, do we need to ensure we monitor our own trends and consider changes?

While we adopt most rules and procedural changes the AFL does, we don’t adopt all. And our decision not to in some areas has been vindicated.

We kept 25 metres penalties and introduced yellow and red cards, both used well by umpires as measures to control the game and players.

When the AFL introduced two runners, it went against our philosophy that there is already too many officials on the ground so we resisted the change despite pressure from clubs. We’d already put drink carriers in fluoro vests so we could see if they were on the ground too long as we knew some clubs were using them for competitive advantage.

We got rid of the bounce around the ground and introduced ball ups to get the play moving more quickly and later in the centre bounce to ensure consistency.

We removed automatic time on at ball ups, leaving it to the discretion of the umpire, so that combined with balling it up as quick as possible, knowing on our smaller grounds we have quite a few stoppages, it reduced the average quarter length from 31.5 minutes to just over 28 minutes, without negatively impacting the game.

And while interchange rotations in our higher division have been climbing to near 100 in some cases, we thought the sub rule might over complicate things so kept all players on the bench being able to be involved.

There’s presently lots of discussion around potential zones, paying more free kicks and capping rotations to enhance the game. While we still see lots of stay at home forwards, in division one in particular, the move to full ground zones and presses is becoming all the more common. Are some, or all of these measures needed in EFL footy?

A point we have raised before which I think is still worth debating is that of player numbers, and whether we should keep EFL footy at 18-a-side.

With the increasing professionalism and subsequent increase in the speed of EFL senior competitions, the size of most of our grounds has more of an impact on the game than ever before. With increasing the size of grounds near on impossible, the other option is to reduce the number of participants on the field.

The basic numbers show that on our smaller grounds (of which there are plenty), EFL players have only about 60-65% of the space per player than an AFL player on the MCG does. It would be the same as if we were offered the MCG to play this week’s Balwyn v Rowville game, but on the proviso we put temporary goals at the back of the square to use as the goals at one end.

Below is a table of the length, width, area and area per player of a number of EFL grounds in comparison with the home of football, the MCG.

Note: Area measurements are based on basic oval area formula calculations. *Soccer calculated on 20 field players, does not include goalkeepers.

If the AFL is considered too congested, what hope do the players at our level have? A change to 16-a-said at Balwyn changes the per player area to 356- increasing the area per player by 12%, but still only 74% of the equivalent space at the MCG. And while I appreciate we have some grounds of bigger size, would giving players on these grounds a bit more space be such a bad thing?

I think it’s worth having a conversation on the positives and negatives that may come from a reduction in playing numbers to 16-a-side. What are your thoughts? And are there any changes we should consider?

Have your say below in this week’s EFL Agenda: