Macc wrote:
The rules have been around longer than any of the current players have been alive. If they don't like it they are free to take up another career. If the fans don't like it they are free to follow another sport.
That's a surprisingly conservative statement, coming from you, Macc.
Whilst I am not fussed either way, I can appreciate the reasons why people would want only one Grand Final per season.
The rules were indeed inherited from long ago, but from a time when you didn't have this many people flying in from all over Australia to get a seat (as it was only the VFL).
If this game had involved an interstate team, the furore about a replay would be enormous.
Football today is much more of a "business" rather than a sport and we should be open to adapt the code to be truly representative of the wishes of the fans (i.e. market forces).
Not only that, but we should be mindful of the disruption caused by re-staging the Grand Final at the MCG. Many other codes of sport will be affected, not just the AFL.
Admittedly though, this whole thing is a financial bonanza for the city of Melbourne (Mexican Central
), and personally I am not put out at all by watching the two teams play again next weekend.
However, I do think the rematch favours Collingwood, as the momentum was with the Saints at the end of the game. As Nick Maxwell said after the match, "I think we dodged a bullet".
Edit: I have updated the poll: Now a draw is an option, and you can change you vote.