When Greg Swann was appointed as the AFL's executive general manager of football performance, many saw him as the solution to the sport's problems. Known by his nickname and for his affable, get-things-done attitude, Swann was expected to apply the "pub test" to pressing issues like the draft, rules, umpiring, and the AFL Review Centre (ARC). He was the man to make footy's trains run on time.
The Challenge of Technology in Australian Football
Swann's predecessor, Laura Kane, embarked on an overseas study tour and found that sports like tennis and baseball lent themselves to technological intervention due to their geometry. She fast-tracked the trial of ball-tracking technology but stressed that Australian football is incredibly difficult for proper technology use. The shape of the grounds, the oval ball, and the fine margins of scoring make definitive decisions tough.
Swann likely agrees after a contentious round seven marred by interminable delays, rewinds, inconsistencies, and hair-splitting. Combined with other issues under his remit—the tribunal, holding the ball interpretation, and changes to father-son and academy bidding—disillusionment with the sport's administration has reached a boiling point.
Threefold Frustration with the ARC
First, technology constantly interrupts us, rarely in an enriching way. During a game, I received a two-factor authentication request, a missed call from Romania, birthday wishes from a pilates studio, and a news alert about an assassination attempt. Technology's imposition on the game, especially when it's subpar and involves rewinding and nullifying play, adds layers of aggravation.
Second, the league constantly changes laws, interpretations, and parameters on the fly. This extends beyond millimetres to how homophobic slurs are prosecuted, how clubs bid on draftees, and how basic rules are explained and implemented. There is no clarity or consistency; they change from season to season, sometimes week to week. For the ARC, parameters in round eight will be completely different from round seven. Swann announced the ARC will no longer intervene unless the goal umpire requests a review, but will still review all goals while the ball is taken back to the middle. The scope to recall Ben Keays' goal for Adelaide against Sydney in 2023—a scenario where ARC intervention is warranted—has been rescinded.
Third, the sport's nature makes technological perfection futile. Football is inherently chaotic and fast-moving, operating in the grey zone, unsuited to rewinding and reviewing. TV producer David Barham argued in The Age that slavish devotion to technology undermines umpires and is subject to distortion. He noted that what can be solved is limited to balls ricocheting off the post or crossing the goalline.
In The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, the supercomputer Deep Thought calculates the meaning of life, confronted by philosophers demanding "rigidly defined areas of doubt and uncertainty." The growing deference to technology in all sports seems predicated on erasing doubt and uncertainty, but it only creates more of it.
This is an extract from Guardian Australia’s free weekly AFL email, From the Pocket.
