Comment: AFL Needs Reality Check
- Wednesday, 23 December 2009 03:15
If you haven't, you didn't miss out on much except a whole lot of vitriolic scaremongering from the AFL.
According to senior AFL officials, if the World Cup comes to Australia, the proposed eight week lease of a handful of stadiums will leave the AFL with no other choice but to abandon a whole season.
The repercussions of that hiatus, according to the AFL, would be so great that some football clubs could go bust.
Those claims, and others, were unequivocally parroted by some sections of the media.
Their cries may have been over the top but all the AFL and Aussie Rules supporters wanted was a fair go. They don't want to be dictated to by a competitor and suffer economically because of it.
That's fair enough.
So it's with this knowledge I'm struggling to come to terms with the AFL bullying Thoroughbred Racing SA (TRSA) and the South Australian Jockey Club (SAJC) into moving their signature meeting for the second time since 2006.
Due to the AFL's scheduling the Adelaide Crows vs. Port Adelaide match on Saturday afternoon, May 1st - months after the SAJC and TRSA finalised their calendar dates - the Goodwood and South Australian Derby will be held the following day on the Sunday.
Thoroughbred Racing SA Chief Executive Jim Watters was diplomatic about the situation in issuing a press release on Monday commenting "While we did give consideration to staying with the Saturday and competing with the AFL, that would have been to the detriment of all the work we have been doing with SA Tourism to position it as a major event, both interstate and statewide."
He goes onto add, "We believe this decision is the right one for racing in South Australia and for the good of the event into the future."
There is simply no doubt the SAJC and TRSA would have preferred to have stayed on the Saturday afternoon.
Turnover figures from the first two Super Sunday's in 2006 and 2007 demonstrate a reduction in turnover as it was scheduled away from racing's ‘prime-time'.
In 2007, Uni-Tab ‘Win Pools' totaled $1.5 million for all eight races however a year later and a return to its Saturday timeslot meant that figure rose by just under 25%.
Interestingly in 2009, despite having less starters compared to 2007, the win-pool on Uni-Tab for all eight races still totaled over $1.8 million.
It's a no-brainer from any racing perspective you view the situation from, the ideal date and time of the meeting is Saturday afternoon.
I'd be staggered if TRSA and the SAJC didn't explore other strategies in order to reach a compromise and keep the meeting in its rightful spot.
It'd be negligent on their behalf if they didn't at least try.
So it must be questioned why didn't the AFL answer the pleas of the South Australian thoroughbred racing community to move the football match to another timeslot?
You could play the ‘Showdown' at midnight on Christmas Day and still get a capacity crowd at AAMI Stadium such is the popularity of the two teams in their home state.
Last year, the Adelaide Crows played Port Adelaide on Saturday Night and didn't seem to detract from either event too severely.
But there was no compassion from the AFL - no compromise was achieved and TRSA and SAJC had no other viable financial option but to cut their losses and reluctantly delay the raceday by 24 hours.
If they kept it on the Saturday afternoon against the AFL, the meeting would have been asphyxiated by the popularity of the local Derby.
But the AFL should be warned. What goes around comes around and let's hope something as big on a global stage such as the FIFA World Cup comes to Australia in order to knock their overburdening ego back into shape for everyone's benefit.
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Goodwood, SA Derby Meeting Shifted To Sunday
