The Festival of Footy must stay
Football in 2020 has taught us one thing – the players can handle the heat.
And it’s been an overwhelming success.
Sure, the “festival of football” has tested the players by cramming in 30 games in 20 days, but it has also sparked a TV Ratings bonanza.
It wasn't so long ago the league was scratching their heads as to how they’d land their next big TV broadcasting pay day.
Through footy’s bonanza, players have shown they’re more resilient, fans are tuning in to watch at record levels, while the host broadcasters have a live product to sell every night of the week.
That's why in 2021, provided the COVID crisis is behind us, the league should include a “festival of footy” that kicks off in the August school holidays.
It gives the league another valuable asset to sell off to their broadcasters in the years to come.
Right now, there is no greater test for the players than backing up and performing on shortened breaks between games.
And for the coaches, they’ve been forced to carefully manage the health and well-being of their players, so they remain in peak condition for the entire season.
Geelong premiership coach Chris Scott spoke openly about the new challenges facing players “Four days to recover, I’ve got to say shortened games are helping, but there’s nothing that I’m seeing that says this sort of model is impossible into the future”
However, crammed fixtures in professional sport are nothing new.
Big European soccer clubs are regularly scheduled to play on weekends in their domestic leagues whilst also having to squeeze in mid-week Cup or European fixtures.
Trophies are often won by the teams who perform the best whilst also being able manage their individual players fitness and form.
And who could forget legendary San Antonio Spurs NBA coach Gregg Popovich, who regularly rested his ageing stars Tim Duncan, Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili so they were at their peak come NBA finals time.
Implementing a mid-year school holidays football bonanza similar to what we are seeing now wouldn't deter families with school children from attending games, as they don't have to front up for school the next day – the same goes from country based fans.
It would also allow the AFL to extend the season by scrapping pre-season trial games that have lost appeal and relevance in recent years.
All clubs incorporate regular competitive match simulation into their training before the trial games kick off, so the need for a hit out isn’t as important as it once was.
By doing this, we could extend the fixture by an extra two rounds giving the league an extra 18 matches to sell off to hungry broadcasters, in turn slowly wiping away massive COVID related debts, whilst still being able to retain a mid-season bye for each club.
This small increase won’t affect the game like it did with Big Bash cricket, where Cricket Australia increased the season from 10 matches to 14 matches per team, forcing fans to tune out.
And as recent AFL TV rating prove, its effect will only be positive on the game.
While player injuries are starting to mount up in season 2020, I’d argue they have more to do with the players interrupted preparations in having to complete two pre-seasons either side of a 12-week COVID shutdown before returning to play.
We also can’t ignore the positive evolution of the game by fixturing 30 games in 20 days.
Coaches are forced to rotate their squads and expose inexperienced players or those on the fringe at the highest level enhancing their development, whilst also keeping their stars fresh for the big games.
The AFL must turn the 2021 season on its head by sending its season spinning with another mid-season festival of footy.
They won’t regret it.