Why are the games so long?

[Bay53]

Is it just me or have the games got noticeably longer over the past few years? I went to 5 games over the weekend and I don’t think there was a quarter that was under 30 mins.

I get that we now have a far tighter concussion protocol and the score review system but what else has changed?

I am pretty sure the move from 25 mins quarters to 20 mins, but far more time on came in around 1994 but quarters were much shorter in the 90s despite there being far more goals. You also can’t play for the boundary line any more.

Does anyone have any stats on this?

 

[brmi]

Sorry Patrick.

 

[Gavin Excell]

Is it just me or have the games got noticeably longer over the past few years? I went to 5 games over the weekend and I don’t think there was a quarter that was under 30 mins.

I get that we now have a far tighter concussion protocol and the score review system but what else has changed?

I am pretty sure the move from 25 mins quarters to 20 mins, but far more time on came in around 1994 but quarters were much shorter in the 90s despite there being far more goals. You also can’t play for the boundary line any more.

Does anyone have any stats on this?

You went to 5 games?

 

[Daka]

I think we found Patrick Dangerfield's BigFooty account.

 

[Bay53]

Sorry Patrick.

I get there has been some criticism of Dangerfield’s comments, but why has the game got longer in recent years?

 

[Bay53]

You went to 5 games?

Yes, the 4 MCG games and the Geelong game. I am an AFL member who lives in Brisbane so when I come down I pack in the games.

Planning on going to 5 1/2 games in 3 days in May too.

 

[Gavin Excell]

Yes, the 4 MCG games and the Geelong game. I am an AFL member who lives in Brisbane so when I come down I pack in the games.

Planning on going to 5 1/2 games in 3 days in May too.

Fair enough

 

[voorhees]

nothing to complain about and nothing wrong with more footy

 

[Blackhawk42]

I get there has been some criticism of Dangerfield’s comments, but why has the game got longer in recent years?

1. Score reviews
2. Ruck nominations
3. Umpires don't appear to be as skilled at bouncing the footy anymore, so repeat ball ups.
4. Players generally stand and wait the entire 30 seconds before having a set shot.

It all adds up, especially when you get a relatively high scoring game as well.

 

[BigVic]

Nothing wrong with it

 

[Lavender Bushranger]

It's so unnecessarily long.

 

[Bay53]

1. Score reviews
2. Ruck nominations
3. Umpires don't appear to be as skilled at bouncing the footy anymore, so repeat ball ups.
4. Players generally stand and wait the entire 30 seconds before having a set shot.

It all adds up, especially when you get a relatively high scoring game as well.

Thank you for your response, some comments from me.

1. Agree although in the games I saw there were probably 3-4 in the 5 games. (Unless they take longer before the centre bounce - is there more time between goals?)

2. Agree to an extent, the umpires are instructed to throw the ball up pretty quickly rather than get set for a bounce.

3. That is only at the centre bounce but yes it stops the clock.

4. Isn’t the game clock counting down in those 30 secs? Arguably that should make the games quicker because for that 30 seconds there is no time on.

Games are certainly lower scoring than the 90s even though they are far better than 10-15 years ago.

Some points the other way-

1. The boundary line can’t be your friend any more. The insufficient intent is hot.

2. Kick ins don’t require you to wait for the flag. You also don’t need to get the ball back from the crowd, there is someone there to give you another ball.

3. I don’t have stats on this but I imagine there are less stoppages because the umps call holding the ball far quicker.

It just seems to me the game is so quick but somehow we are getting to 40% of the time from siren to siren not being time where the clock is stopped.

 

[Area51]

CFL shill

 

[Bay53]

nothing to complain about and nothing wrong with more footy

But is it more footy? It is still 20 mins of playing time.

 

[Bay53]

There is another angle to this of course which is the game times are set to finish, allow the broadcasters a break before the next one starts. The 3:20 games are also set to finish right on 6 as a lead in to the news.

Perhaps the extra allowances for the hot weather can be blamed for this the last two weekends.

 

[hawkman]

It is the ruck nominations that is the main one. There are times that the umps wait for the rucks to run 30 metres to get to the ruck contest.

Waiting for injured players to come off is another reason. In the GWS game the umps waited for Daniels to come off with a hip injury despite him having a trainer by his side

Scoring was also up on the weekend

 

[Daka]

I get there has been some criticism of Dangerfield’s comments, but why has the game got longer in recent years?

In what way has the game got longer? the quarters are the same if the game has got longer, more score reviews prob to blame? stoppages from play? knowing the AFL they probably bring in more rules to help congestion it's always the same flipping shit.

 

[Bay53]

In what way has the game got longer? the quarters are the same if the game has got longer, more score reviews prob to blame? stoppages from play? knowing the AFL they probably bring in more rules to help congestion it's always the same flipping shit.

My observation is the quarters are longer than they were. There were games in the weekend where there was still 4-5 mins to go at the 28 min mark with no major stoppage in the quarter.

 

[Walshawk]

1. Score reviews
2. Ruck nominations
3. Umpires don't appear to be as skilled at bouncing the footy anymore, so repeat ball ups.
4. Players generally stand and wait the entire 30 seconds before having a set shot.

It all adds up, especially when you get a relatively high scoring game as well.

The clock keeps running for the set shot.
Unspoken are also now stopping the game for less serious injuries, not just the stretcher like previously.
Other reasons are that ads breaks are now slightly longer - 45 seconds.

The game is too long. Cut ruck nominations to start with.

 

[Daka]

My observation is the quarters are longer than they were. There were games in the weekend where there was still 4-5 mins to go at the 28 min mark with no major stoppage in the quarter.

Quarters are 20mins long, so if they going longer it's due to other factors.

 

[BigPond101]

It's a plan by the AFL. They want to shorten game time but they know it will make the public mad. So they are deliberately making the games longer and longer in order to declare a "crisis" and say there is no choice but to shorten quarters to 15 minutes.

This plan was put into action last year and will probably be completed for 2026 season

 

[smasha]

Whateley at it again forcing another rule change because his bf Dangerfield said to shorten quarters FFS.

 

[Corn Cobbers]

They held the game up when Daics had cramp

Ruck noms/3rd man up ban ruined the game, wastes time plus the main cause of congestion

On SM-A225F using BigFooty.com mobile app

 

[TheKanga]

I think the length of games is fine.

Why do people want less content after waiting 6 months for AFL to come back?

 

[Bay53]

I think the length of games is fine.

Why do people want less content after waiting 6 months for AFL to come back?

My point and the contention of Dangerfield are different. Danger wanted to reduce the length of the playing time to say 18 mins. His contention was this may allow more games or games to be played more frequently. I don’t agree with that, I see no desire to have more than one game per week per team. There is also an argument to say that 17 games or perhaps 18 games (2 derbies) is the fairest fixture but I do t think fans and broadcasters are willing to pay the same money for 5-6 less games.

My questions were about how long it is taking to play the games we have got. We have had 4 x 20 min quarters for over 30 years now but the time from first bounce to final siren seems to be longer than ever.