Last week I questioned the AFLPA and whether they were doing their job regarding the fiasco of the slippery slope Dome. While it did not raise many comments or remarks from the general public it did with the AFLPA and below is some of what Ben Hart the Public Affairs Manager had to say regarding my questions and original email.
We got an email from the AFLPA in response to last weeks Fat Couch Potatoe's Rant
The AFLPA has been lobbying both publicly and behind the scenes long before the events of last Friday night.
Some examples of this are:
June 25: Successfully lobbied the AFL to move under 18 games to Etihad (AFLPA’s role acknowledged by the Age in the second link below):
- http://www.afl.com.au/news/newsarticle/tabid/208/newsid/96927/default.aspx
- http://www.theage.com.au/afl/afl-news/judd-collins-afl-meet-on-etihad-20100628-zf4n.html
July 13: Pushed publicly to have concerts banned during the season (a suggestion accepted by the AFL yesterday):
Also ongoing push to have inspections moved from Friday to earlier in the week (mentioned in article below).
And this is all in addition to the comments on Monday.
It is also important to remember that it was the AFLPA who requested a meeting with the AFL and Etihad on Saturday morning and that meeting is widely seen as a turning point in getting the AFL and Etihad to acknowledge there is a problem.
On the issue of Jason Akermanis, the AFLPA made a clear public statement following his sacking, expressing disappointment about the events.
I did question them more regarding if they had talks publicly or privately with the AFL before June and the Higgins ankle. I got a mixed response:
We did actually “open our mouths” when Higgins did his ankle:
- http://www.theage.com.au/afl/afl-news/players-afl-met-last-week-over-surface-concerns-20100608-xtni.html
As for AC/DC, we did make it clear to the AFL and Etihad directly at the time that the concerts were announced that we were concerned about the potential impact.
What do you Think of the AFLPA’s Response?
I love the fact that a small handful of AFL fanatics who get together and write their opinion can have someone from the AFLPA personally email the couch potato. However it did seem scripted and it was hard to get a response regarding my question about what they did before the Higgins ankle injury.
What do you think? Does their response ease your questions about the AFLPA?
Loading ...
August 4th, 2010 at 10:57 am
With respect, what this response really says is that you should have done some research before making the comments you did about the AFLPA.
aussierulesblog´s last [type]: Will a quick game of kick-to-kick suffice
August 4th, 2010 at 12:17 pm
@aussierulesblog, Yeh maybe…. However while I respect them taking the time to respond to my original article I think they dodged my question about whether they talked to the AFL about the surface before Higgins ankle.
Jermayn´s last [type]: The AFLPA’s Response to my Fat Couch Potatoes Rant
August 4th, 2010 at 6:29 pm
@Jermayn,
Did you look at any of the links AFLPA sent you? Here’s the FIRST para of the one concerning Higgins:
Exactly how is it that they “dodged” the question? You’re not an investigative reporter — largely because you didn’t do any investigation — to have any credibility in casting doubt upon those responses.
aussierulesblog´s last [type]: Will a quick game of kick-to-kick suffice
August 4th, 2010 at 5:30 pm
Well done Fat Couch Spud on getting comment from AFLPA.
On a different note, anyone got an opinion on the discussion about shorter quarters for the expanded competition.
Bit rich i reckon if its more money all round for less and less game time, price increases for entry ect. Is the game better all round being faster and faster, lots of rotations, can’t touch anyone, 50 metre penalties ect . ? In some ways maybe yes,but you can always learn from the past.
I hope our game does not Morph into some basketball type game.
Hows that for a rant folks ?
August 4th, 2010 at 8:59 pm
@Sean, pretty good for a rant imo. If you want to expand on it and do up your own Rant (regular or once off) please email me germ17[at]gmail[dot]com.
Back to your rant. Its becoming more like soccer every day. What I find interesting is that the AFL on purposed tried to speed up the game and now they want to slow it down…. Just does not make sense.
Limited time to kick for goals
Limit the time before they have to play on
Penalise the person at the bottom of the pack
Increased the distance of a kick (10m to 15m)
Not having to wait for the flags to be waved after a behind
Brought in the on purpose rushed behind rule
August 8th, 2010 at 6:25 pm
@Jermayn, Thanks for your reply Jermaynm. Might do the occassional one off rant.
You’ve made some very valid points there. Especially 2, 3 and 4.
August 19th, 2010 at 10:27 pm
Cheers for this article, It was a fantastic read which was very helpful.