TOPIC:

The AFL has deep-seated problems owing to the competition being compromissed by the draft, the fact that the draw is unfair, the insistence on playing some games under the air conditioner and some outside under the sun, to name just three of the main difficulties confrontting the league. In relation to the obsession the league has with engagging with the issues in society -- be it women's round, ANZAC Day,indigenous round -- and so on, wherever you sit in that debate, in favour of engagement, or the more traditional view, that the AFL is simply a football competition, my pet peeve is that the league makes money out of such political questions, from sponsorship, specially designed playing shirts and all the rest of it. In my opinion it is all in very bad taste indeed.