North Melbourne’s Majak Daw, the AFL’s first Sudanese-born player, has been subjected to racial abuse from fans in his first few senior games.
AAP/Joe Castro
The more things change, the more they stay the same.
A young man playing for AFL club North Melbourne wows the majority of watchers with breathtaking football talent. But for a few observers, the colour…
‘Deeply sorry’: Essendon chairman David Evans announced the findings of the Switkowski report into governance issues at the AFL club.
AAP/David Crosling
From the outset, Ziggy Switkowski defined his report on Essendon’s supplements program as “constrained” because two parallel investigations could not be compromised.
What Swiztowski calls constrained…
Collision sports such as AFL have adopted concussion management policies because it’s an unavoidable feature of the games.
AAP Image/David Crosling
Athletes and officials in charge of collision sports (such as rugby league, AFL and American football) have an uneasy relationship with concussion; it’s an unavoidable feature of their games and there…
Former Hawthorn president Jeff Kennett has made himself the centre of attention after the Hawks' loss to Geelong last weekend.
AAP/David Crosling
Former Hawthorn president Jeff Kennett says Hawks’ coach Alastair Clarkson should leave or be sacked at the end of the year. Angry at the Hawks’ seven-point loss to Geelong at the MCG on Monday – their…
Victoria was a world leader in leisure … and that’s how we founded footy.
Australian Football Yarra Park – State Library of Victoria
Finally, the AFL home and away season is beginning. Once again our footy teams will make history.
But let us not forget that history made footy.
Australia, notes Geoffrey Blainey in his Shorter History…
There is a way to ensure poor performing teams such as Greater Western Sydney and Melbourne play to win.
AAP/Lukas Coch
The AFL’s recent decision on whether the Melbourne Football Club “tanked” to secure draft picks in 2009 has left many confused.
While ruling that the Demons “did not set out to deliberately lose in any…
Sports journalists don’t always have the resources to break major crime stories.
AAP/Joe Castro
The cheating scandal that has ostensibly bewildered those in command of Australia’s elite sports could end up being the biggest story involving sport in history.
Yet sport journalists, like the officials…
An ASADA investigation has been launched into the alleged use of supplements by Essendon players last year.
AAP/Ben Macmahon
By now you’ll have heard the Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority (ASADA) is investigating Essendon Football Club. At this stage, there has been speculation about the injection of “peptides” by players…
AFL CEO Andrew Demetriou (centre) has flagged a rise in positive test results, but changes to drug policies won’t necessarily help.
AAP/Joe Castro
The AFL’s approach to illicit drugs was championed as a world leader of drugs-in-sport policy when it was implemented in 2005. It was fair, humane and had been effective in reducing match day and out-of…
The finger has been pointed at Collingwood player Dane Swan in the latest drugs in sports ‘scandal’.
AAP
Here we go again. Another high profile sportsperson has been implicated in the latest drugs in sport “scandal”.
This time the finger is being pointed at Collingwood Brownlow medallist Dane Swan. The same…
Melbourne ruckman Mark Jamar pounces on a loose ball. The Demons stand accused of deliberately losing games to gain high draft picks.
AAP/Julian Smith
The Melbourne Demons AFL team stand accused of deliberately ensuring their team lost matches in order to secure talented players in the draft in a process known as “tanking”.
With the club facing a hearing…
Research shows sports sponsorship works to improve brand recall and positive attitudes among children and adolescents.
Over the weekend, Australian children and their parents witnessed some of the country’s finest sportsmen display feats of strength, skill and endurance in the Australian Football League (AFL) and National…
A couple of contentious decisions on Friday night have thrust NRL referees into the spotlight.
AAP Image/Action Photographics/Grant Trouville
Referees in need of coaching for “emotional intelligence”? Controversy over crucial line decisions in major matches? Criticism raining from the heavens? That’s right: it’s finals time in Australian sport…
Optus has exhausted its legal avenues to appeal against a decision finding it breached copyright on its TV Now service. But should the issue of technology neutrality be reviewed?
Flickr/IntelFreePress
A legal decision which forced Optus to shut down its time shifting service TV Now may eventually lead to reform of existing copyright law to cater for cloud technology.
On Friday, the High Court denied…
More than 30 years have passed since the AFL last looked at the specifications and standards for making Australian footballs.
puuikibeach
In the game of Australian Rules Football (as with other football codes), few pieces of equipment are more important than the football itself.
And yet the relative attention paid to the ball by the AFL…
Fair contest: should we tinker with the rules in a free market?
AAP
We all know the global economy is down the toilet. Even if we overlook the financial debacle in Greece, Spain, Iceland, Ireland – and that’s not easy – the big problem is Uncle Sam. Currently, the US Government…
Did the Melbourne Demons lose matches deliberately? Or are they simply just not very good at the game of Australian Rules football?
AAP/Julian Smith
Sometimes denial is understandable.
It’s no surprise that the Australian Football League maintained for so long the farcical position that “tanking’ (intentionally losing) by clubs was not a problem…
Should cannabis to be considered a “performance-enhancing” drug by the World Anti-Doping Agency?
pietroizzo
It has been widely reported that representatives from a group of Australian sporting codes – including athletics, cricket, rugby league and Australian Rules Football – met with the director-general of…
The Federal Court decision means Optus will not be able to broadcast AFL and NRL on its TV Now service.
AAP/Dan Peled
The significance of last Friday’s Federal Court decision to prevent Optus' “TV Now” service from broadcasting was made clear to me while waiting for a bus in Melbourne’s suburbs.
Earlier that day, I had…
Greater Western Sydney may be a new team, but Sydney and AFL have firm historical ties.
AAP Image/Paul Miller
The AFL season kicks off today and there’s a new team in town – Greater Western Sydney. Some don’t like it – the cynics claim Aussie Rules has no historical foothold in western Sydney.
I disagree.
While…
Where Collingwood lead, others seemingly follow.
AAP Image/Julian Smith
Tomorrow evening in Sydney, the ball will be bounced, marking the start of the first match in the 2012 AFL season. For the 18 clubs taking the field this year, it marks the culmination of months of gruelling…
Mick Malthouse and his wife celebrate after Collingwood won the 2010 AFL grand final.
AAP/David Croslingv
Michael “Mick” Malthouse is one of the most important figures in the history of Australian football.
A premiership player for Richmond in 1980 he subsequently coached the then Footscray Bulldogs to a…
Melbourne footballer Liam Jurrah returns to Melbourne after being charged with attacking a man in Alice Springs.
AAP/David Crosling
Imagine if the indigenous people of this country didn’t play Australian football, the only truly unique sport this continent country has ever created.
As a percentage of the population, indigenous people…
Liam Jurrah’s involvement in a violent incident in an Alice Springs court last week has captivated the Australian media for days.
The 23-year-old forward at the Melbourne Football Club recommenced training…
Optus may be offering a great service to customers, but is it right?
AAP Image/Dave Hunt
Telecommunications company Optus lost its bid to gag AFL boss, Andrew Demetriou from speaking out against its “TV Now” service, which allows customers to watch AFL or NRL broadcasts near live. Demetriou…
The AFL is throwing everything is has at Greater Western Sydney.
AAP/Paul Millar
The 2012 AFL debut of the GWS Giants is the culmination of efforts by the powerful, cashed up body that administers Aussie Rules to make inroads into the rugby league-obsessed, poor and predominantly refugee…
Broadcast rights have turned two giant telcos into sporting rivals.
Judy **
Telecommunications giant Optus managed to convince the Federal Court in Sydney this week that there’s a legal blindspot in relation to its download pay-per-view service.
Telstra – given its business relationship…
A court has found downloading live-streamed content on your iPad or mobiles doesn’t breach copyright.
AAP
Yesterday’s Federal Court ruling that Optus customers are able to view sporting matches minutes after they are streamed live without breaching copyright is a landmark decision that alters our understanding…
Players don’t realise it, but the finals bring out the best in them.
AAP Image/Joe Castro
Anyone with a passing interest in Australian football will know the AFL Grand Final is unlike any other game of the season.
There’s more hype, more expectation, more emotional investment from players…
AFL and NRL clubs say they face financial losses if punters like this are forced into a pre-commitment scheme.
AAP
The Federal Government’s plan to introduce pre-commitment systems on pokie machines in order to reduce problem gambling has become a major political headache.
A campaign by Clubs Australia targeting Labor…
NRL player Craig Wing has a sister with Down Syndrome.
AAP
“Fuck you, Wing, your sister has Down syndrome!”
These words were once hurled at NSW rugby league star Craig Wing while he was playing for the Sydney Roosters against the Canterbury Bulldogs at the Sydney…
West Coast Eagles player Patrick McGinnity has been suspended after making comments about another player’s mother.
AAP
AFL CEO Andrew Demetriou constantly reminds us that women love Aussie Rules and that the AFL returns that respect and allegiance. The key expression of this regard, the AFL’s Respect and Responsibility…
The AFL may bypass broadcasters altogether and stream games live to fans.
AAP
Interesting to read AFL CEO Andrew Demetriou’s thoughts on the next broadcasting rights deal, given that the league has yet to work out how to divvy up the money from the deal it recently negotiated with…
Welcome to our “In Conversation” with AFL chief executive Andrew Demetriou and Stuart Macintyre, Professor of History at Melbourne University (and a lifelong Hawthorn supporter).
The Australian Football…
AFL chief executive Andrew Demetriou announces the league’s record TV rights deal.
AAP
The lucrative broadcast rights deal signed earlier this year by the AFL demonstrates the pulling power of “live” sport in a TV market which is increasingly becoming fragmented by more choice on more platforms…
Foxtel’s broadcasting deal with the AFL will boost News Ltd’s revenue from live sport.
AAP
Almost 15 years have passed since Rupert Murdoch declared that “sport absolutely overpowers film and everything else in the entertainment genre,” yet the media mogul’s words still capture the reality of…
A combination of revenue sharing and fixed salaries offers a good compromise for players and the AFL.
Flickr/lensfodder
To share or not to share – that is the question of moment in the AFL.
The AFL Players’ Association (AFLPA) appears determined that player payments should be a percentage of league revenue.
The AFL administration…
Majak Daw has been praised for his measured reaction to racist abuse.
www.kangaroos.com.au
This week the media in AFL states have been discussing racist comments made by members of crowds at Australian Rules games.
Sudanese-born North Melbourne rookie Majak Daw was racially abused while playing…
The AFL set-shot is as much about consistency as it is about the right technique.
AAP/Martin Philbey
When the AFL has a weekend of inaccurate goal-kicking, media attention invariably turns to why set-shot goal-kicking hasn’t improved while other areas of footy have.
As a footy fan, I have an interest…
Competition enables twins like Brad and Chris Scott to forge separate identities.
kangaroos.com.au
Competition between twins hit the headlines this week as, for the first time in AFL history, identical twins Brad and Chris Scott will coach different teams against each other on Saturday.
Both twins…
The same teams alway get the good games, such as Anzac Day.
AAP
The Anzac Day clash between Essendon and Collingwood has come and gone yet again, as well as the inevitable publicity surrounding the most hyped home-and-away match of the season.
You could be forgiven…
The professional Australian Rules football season is underway and the better part of the nation is now transfixed until early October by its myriad machinations.
At this early point in the season, it…
Brisbane Lions' Jonathan Brown sustains a head injury against Fremantle.
AAP
The intense public interest in protective headgear following recent cases of high-profile AFL players sustaining concussion and other head or face injuries, is understandable.
Unfortunately we have limited…
