AFL chief Andrew Demetriou is in charge of a very wealthy competition, writes Michelangelo Rucci. Source: adelaidenow
AFL FOOTBALL is awash in money. The league last week announced it ran a record $425 million through its books to farm out between its 18 clubs, the state leagues, game development and those wonderful under-18 tours of Europe.
But the gap between the rich and poor AFL clubs has never been greater.
Former Hawthorn president Jeff Kennett's read of the financial charts around the national competition has half the clubs surviving on money from AFL House.
Port Adelaide president David Koch at the weekend told The Advertiser his board has approved a $17.2 million spend in the Power's football department this year - a club record.
"And that is still the third-least or second-lowest spend in the AFL,'' he says.
Collingwood, West Coast and Sydney will spend close to $24 million - and they can afford such riches.
The villains in this "equalisation'' debate that consumed the AFL and its clubs last week are well tagged.
There is the fixture with the AFL's deliberate policy of maximising crowds and television ratings by having the new super clubs - such as Collingwood, Carlton and Essendon - dominate the lucrative Friday night schedule.
This helps the big sponsorship deals for these clubs - and denies the minnows such as the Power, Western Bulldogs and Friday night pioneers North Melbourne significant commercial backers.
There is the inflationary ways of the clubs - as evidenced last year when Richmond, Adelaide and the Power went into an auction frenzy to lure fitness guru Darren Burgess from English Premier League club Liverpool.
And there is the ogre of stadium deals, in particular at Etihad Stadium where the Western Bulldogs, St Kilda and North Melbourne are paying to open the gates under the roof.
But not to be excused are the players.
When they rejected the last commercial bargaining agreement (CBA) - that decides how much the players are paid - it cost the AFL Commission up to $54 million to appease the AFL Players' Association.
That money was being set aside for the AFL to buy back control of Etihad Stadium.
This would have allowed the AFL to rewrite reasonable stadium deals for Etihad's home clubs, in particular the Saints, Bulldogs and Kangaroos that - like the Power - spend the least on their football programs because they have the least money in the bank.
So the next time the AFLPA executive meets, the players should ask did their greed in the last CBA condemn 196 players at four AFL clubs based at Etihad Stadium from having the chance to play finals?
The brotherhood clearly lost sight of the big picture to reward the top echelon of players who were already millionaires.
RIP AWAY
1. COLLINGWOOD president EDDIE McGUIRE.
EDDIE and his Victorian colleagues - in particular at Geelong and Carlton - are engaged in a dirty campaign to strip AFL premier Sydney, more so than Greater Western Sydney, of the $900,000 salary cap allowance handed to the NSW-based clubs to cover the higher cost of living in the Harbour City.
On Friday one club chief - who demanded anonymity while speaking to the Herald Sun - "revealed'' the allowance is being paid by the AFL (which, by the way, is paying for many extras across the competition, even at Port Adelaide).
What this club chief - and McGuire - did not say is, as AFL chief Andrew Demetriou made very clear, the AFL clubs voted for the Swans and Giants' cost-of-living allowance. Bad memories ... or are Eddie and his mates falling asleep at league meetings?
2. ADELAIDE captain NATHAN van BERLO.
NO criticism of van Berlo for being frank and forthright last week when he put every raw emotion on the table about how the Crows players felt after Kurt Tippett's defection to Sydney.
He went further after his press conference at West Lakes to say on FIVEaa that Tippett had been "dishonest" in his presentation to his Crows team-mates last year.
Was he alone, Nathan? Didn't the whole Tippett saga begin with the Adelaide Football Club being dishonest when it wrote his contract with secret clauses in 2009?
3. CHANNEL SEVEN.
THERE is little love between the AFL's telecasters, Channel Seven and Foxtel. But the presentation of the game must surely over-ride all the petty and professional jealousies that exist between the commercial and Pay-TV networks.
On Friday night, Seven had the production rights at AAMI Stadium. It also had commercial breaks after goals were scored while Foxtel was commercial free. The old problem of the Seven commentators going silent leaving Foxtel with "dead air'' resurfaced - and leave the AFL with more reason to argue for taking over production when the television deal expires.
"It wasn't deliberate, or policy or any change from last year,'' said a Seven spokesman at the weekend. "The commentators just weren't talking in a couple of breaks.''
So many men silent at the same time.
4. ADELAIDE defender BRENT REILLY.
MUCH is to be made of Reilly rolling - more so than sliding - into Essendon forward Alwyn Davey at AAMI Stadium on Friday night to concede the first free kick that led to a goal with the AFL's new crackdown on forceful contact below the knees.
But it should not draw attention away from how Reilly also offered the Bombers another free shot on goal when he eagerly carried the ball over the boundary line, also at the southern end.
5. AFL MATCH STEWARDS.
HOW can a billion-dollar league such as the AFL reach the start of its premiership-season with no coin on offer for the choice of ends at AAMI Stadium on Friday night?
Thankfully, the umpires were inventive enough to have Essendon captain Jobe Watson and his Crows counterpart Nathan van Berlo call for ends. They had the girl chosen for the honour of tossing the coin hide an umpire's whistle behind her back and Watson and van Berlo called left or right rather than head or tails.
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
"A LOT of tens and twenties. He only deals in hundreds now.''
CROWS players on what they found in the No. 4 locker at West Lakes after KURT TIPPETT cleared the decks for Sydney.
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