Australia woke up to two pieces of news on Sunday morning. One was the Socceroos playing against Lionel Messi’s Argentina(!) in the World Cup’s round of 16(!). The other, dropped at exactly the same time, was the fixture for round one of the 2023 AFL season. This is not a crack at Australian rules football, the sport. Rather, a curious look at the AFL, the organisation. Caroline Wilson, one of the country’s most respected AFL journalists, derided as “lame” the perceived attempt to usurp football’s biggest moment and said it should have given the Socceroos some clear air.
Australia’s code wars do not need explanation. They have been bubbling away for decades, punctuated by the occasional boilover that sends #SokkahTwitter into the siege mentality to which it is always partial. It felt a bit different on Sunday, though. Almost as though the AFL was … nervous? Challenged, even? Had November’s draft not enjoyed the same cut-through because eyes were elsewhere?
