The Mystique of the AFL Flag - Dead?

[Lavender Bushranger]

Explains why you don't give a shit then.

Maybe.

But even clubs seem to move on really quickly. Guys have already gone to new clubs, players have been delisted already.
Draft talk seems to generate far more interest than talk of the Grand Final last season.
Coaches are already 100% focussed on next year.

I mean I'm sure that tragic fans of the premiership team are still basking in it, but it feels like no one else cares after about a week and everyone has moved on.

I don't remember it this way. I remember the glory of an AFL premiership lingering pretty much right up until the new season actually started. Often even a month or so into the season!

Maybe that was just my perception.

An AFL premiership almost feels transactional these days. If that makes sense?

 

[PetterdHoisted]

Granted, I'm pushing 50. So I obviously see the world differently to how I saw it 30-40 years ago, but....

Does anyone care that much about winning the flag these days?

I mean in the lead up - yes.

On the day - yes.

In the immediate aftermath - yes.


But beyond that, do supporters give a shit? Do they care like they used to?

It seems that the world moves on very quickly after the AFL Grand Final these days.

The NRL comes on the week after. Cup Week kicks off. The NBA starts. The World Series is on. The NBL starts. Then the cricket is on.

The AFL seems like a distant memory about 2 days after the final siren!

Not that long ago, winning the flag seemed like a glorious and momentous achievement in which the glory was basked in for months, even years afterwards.

Doesn't seem like that now.


Or maybe it's just me?

Interesting.

Certainly think the burn of the loss can be front of mind longer than the glory of winning.

Geelong post 2020 probably best example. Richmond celebrations muted due to covid, whereas Steve Hocking was poring over Cotchin videos to devise the STAND rule iin the months that followed.

 

[bradfisher14]

I wouldn't say it's dead, but there definitely isn't the same level of it as there used to be. From my observations, people seem to stop talking about it much more quickly. Whereas when I was younger, it's all anyone talked about until the new year. Maybe it's a sign of our attention span shortening as a society.

 

[PhatBoy]

Interesting.

Certainly think the burn of the loss can be front of mind longer than the glory of winning.

Geelong post 2020 probably best example. Richmond celebrations muted due to covid, whereas Steve Hocking was poring over Cotchin videos to devise the STAND rule iin the months that followed.

You realise Hocking had played in two losing grand finals himself, watched his brother play in two more, and watched Geelong play in another altogether as well before that, right? But no, that one, 25 years after he retired, when he wasn’t affiliated with the club, and did something that happens each year - ie. adjustments to the rules - that broke him

 

[Leeda]

Storm hole....worm
!schucke

You realise Hocking had played in two losing grand finals himself, watched his brother play in two more, and watched Geelong play in another altogether as well before that, right? But no, that one, 25 years after he retired, when he wasn’t affiliated with the club, and did something that happens each year - ie. adjustments to the rules - that broke him

We appreciate past legends...

 

[peetoo]

If Carlton or Essendon win one soon..... We will all hear about it for 5 years

I worked at pw in 95 and a partner had the carlton song played over the emergency PA

 

[Roobs321]

I sometimes get the sense that the next leadership spill or toppling of the PM will have less intense interest and be yesterday’s news much more quickly. 2018 was the last one and the society attention span has noticeably deteriorated since then.

This decade the sporting highs that come to mind for me were Ash winning Wimbledon and AO. I still think about them a fair bit. Ash bugging out when she did might actually help prevent diluting it. Pies 2023 finals campaign (could’ve easily lost all three) and the Demons going berserk in the latter of Q3 in 2021 were also memorable. I.e. compelling GFs. It is (part of) why we remember those Ash slams better than her French breakthrough. Both matches played out similarly, with Pliskova & Danimal coming back hard, and it took something stirring to grab the prize. That 2022 AO in general really, Rafa’s unlikely gruelling win over Medvedev was also unforgettably punishing and momentous. Let alone the whole Novak deportation affair.

 

[iameviljez]

Not that long ago, winning the flag seemed like a glorious and momentous achievement in which the glory was basked in for months, even years afterwards.

Doesn't seem like that now.


Or maybe it's just me?

It's just you, because you don't follow any single team. Same reason as to why you're so against the Father-Son rule and others are very much for it.

Look, some flags are worth more than others, when they are momentous drought-breakers. I have to admit, the 2022 flag wasn't as euphoric as the 2007 flag for that very reason. 2016 and 2005 will be very special to those fans for the same reasons.

 

[iameviljez]

The Rayner prelim goal is the loudest ive ever yelled in my 35 years of watching just about every sport, and the euphoria of grand final day and winning i can't even really put in words, conversely the year before and losing it, the final moments and hours after that is literally a blur and absolute devastation

As much as I also yelled very loudly, albeit a very different word, I can't deny you the pleasure of that moment. Great game won in a couple of moments.