'A tie is like kissing your sister...'
Eddie Eedelatz, Navy football coach 1953
Eddie Eedelatz, Navy football coach 1953
I wish the rest of that quote was known as it probably would make Eddie's place in history a little different. Scrolling through the post match interview's and press conferences of the Swans/Dockers and Storm/Sea Eagles game I didn't stumble across Eddie's famous phrase, but the crowd outside certainly knew it.
I attended my token Dockers game of the season when they visited Sydney on Saturday night, quietly confident of a win even given the injury list at the club. The game was an opportunity to go the SCG for the first time, to tick it off the sporting bucket list. The ground was everything I imagined minus to confusing arrangement of one exit after the game. From the Members Pavilion and Ladies Stand with the flags flying and the moon rising above them; to the famous names adorning the stands, the likes of Churchill, O'Reilly, Trumper and Brewongle (only non sportsman's name) proudly standing tall; to the list of Bloods members in the concourse. If you block out the construction work at one end you can appreciate what a ground this is, a perfect blend of old and new.
Saturday night marked a historic night for the Fremantle Football Club as they secured their first ever draw. Did it feel like a historic night? No! It felt like despair, hope, excitement, disappointment and relief all rolled into one. No sooner had the game finished than the 'what ifs' began (the biggest being what if the two old Fremantle supporters hadn't left when we were 27 points down to catch an early flight). What if Michael Walters hadn't been injured forcing Lyon to put Johnson down forward? What if Sam Reid, who couldn't catch a cold all year hadn't taken that mark? What if I hadn't convinced myself we would win the game with 12 seconds left?
It is a strange phenomenon the old draw. We live in a society that feels the need to force a result or create a winner. Yet here we are with neither. The AFL has never had the pressure that the NRL faced to implement extra time. Not even the 2010 Grand Final could change that sentiment (sorry Dad). On Saturday night as the siren sounded the crowd didn't know how to react. For the 22,546 in attendance it wasn't a win but it wasn't a loss. There was no song to sing, no high fives to be given and everyone would have left happier if there team had won.
Yet as I left the ground my own thoughts were echoed by those around me. Dockers and Swans fans alike weren't complaining about the draw. Most were simply relieved their team hadn't lost, not that they didn't win. They were talking about what could have been, what might of happened, what didn't happen and of course what should of happened.
On the way home as the bus wound down Oxford Street I realised how fortunate I was to witness a draw. Before Saturday night Fremantle's win loss record was 170 wins and 233 loses. It had taken them 404 games to get a draw. On top of that there is only a draw every 95 games in the AFL.
Then before I could finish my story the Storm and Manly followed suit. At 8-8 the likelihood of a draw was slim given they still had golden point. Even heading into golden point at 10-10 I was still confident of a result, given that in the 72 games that have ever gone to golden point 61 have had a result and only 11 have ended in a draw. Of the 61 games 14 have been decided by a try, 7 by a penalty and 40 by a field goal. Even starker is the fact that the last 21 matches that have gone to golden point have been decided off the boot and not through a try.
The worst thing with golden point is that you spend the whole time worrying about your team not losing than you are about them winning the game. This goes against everything we should be doing as a sports fan. As Gus Gould points out, it doesn't seem fair that a team that looses in golden point gets the same points as a team that gets beaten by 50.
On this night at least I didn't have to worry the win or loss, as the 15% roughie came through and we got a draw. I don't know what Tom Waterhouse's odds would have been, but I would have loved to of seen the odds for both games ending in a draw. Given that 0% of Fremantle games had previously ended in a draw and 1.2% of Storm games had, I'd say they were longer than a those for a truthful statement in the More Joyous saga.
All of this raises the long discussed over the water cooler question of whether a draw or extra time is the right choice. In the NBA they play till they pass out or someone wins, likewise in ice hockey and baseball. In soccer a draw is a draw (however the sport can have a 0-0 scoreline). The NRL is based on the NFL model, where if extra time doesn't work its a draw.
So has the weekend changed my view on draws? Yes. Now, even more so than last week, I support the idea of a draw. You play the game to the end. As a player you know when time is winding down. You throw your body on the line and go the extra mile to ensure your team wins.
For both of these games no team deserved to lose. Who deserved to win? Well that's up to the fans and the commentators. For once we have to accept that there isn't a result, and as the Storm proved, some times no amount of extra time can change that.
Yet as I left the ground my own thoughts were echoed by those around me. Dockers and Swans fans alike weren't complaining about the draw. Most were simply relieved their team hadn't lost, not that they didn't win. They were talking about what could have been, what might of happened, what didn't happen and of course what should of happened.
On the way home as the bus wound down Oxford Street I realised how fortunate I was to witness a draw. Before Saturday night Fremantle's win loss record was 170 wins and 233 loses. It had taken them 404 games to get a draw. On top of that there is only a draw every 95 games in the AFL.
Then before I could finish my story the Storm and Manly followed suit. At 8-8 the likelihood of a draw was slim given they still had golden point. Even heading into golden point at 10-10 I was still confident of a result, given that in the 72 games that have ever gone to golden point 61 have had a result and only 11 have ended in a draw. Of the 61 games 14 have been decided by a try, 7 by a penalty and 40 by a field goal. Even starker is the fact that the last 21 matches that have gone to golden point have been decided off the boot and not through a try.
The worst thing with golden point is that you spend the whole time worrying about your team not losing than you are about them winning the game. This goes against everything we should be doing as a sports fan. As Gus Gould points out, it doesn't seem fair that a team that looses in golden point gets the same points as a team that gets beaten by 50.
On this night at least I didn't have to worry the win or loss, as the 15% roughie came through and we got a draw. I don't know what Tom Waterhouse's odds would have been, but I would have loved to of seen the odds for both games ending in a draw. Given that 0% of Fremantle games had previously ended in a draw and 1.2% of Storm games had, I'd say they were longer than a those for a truthful statement in the More Joyous saga.
So has the weekend changed my view on draws? Yes. Now, even more so than last week, I support the idea of a draw. You play the game to the end. As a player you know when time is winding down. You throw your body on the line and go the extra mile to ensure your team wins.
For both of these games no team deserved to lose. Who deserved to win? Well that's up to the fans and the commentators. For once we have to accept that there isn't a result, and as the Storm proved, some times no amount of extra time can change that.
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