Re: AFLW - General discussion thread
Reply #29 –
I won't try to claim they are equal, but I won't blame the differences for the spectacle.
They should not play the same game style, yet the AFLW seems hell bent on imitating the men.
When I watch the EPLW or the girls Rugby they are quite accomplished, but the trick seems to be having an emphasis on other aspects of the game to the brute power focus of the men. For example in the EPLW they move the ball with far higher cadence and agility than the men, they play a faster style in which there is little emphasis on controlling tempo or physical contests.
Politically incorrect as this may be there is potentially a difference, the AFLW is dominated by "other political interests" while the EPLW and girls Rugby are not in that they remain more neutral. It may take a while before AFLW finds it's balance, between females wanting to be elite female sports-people in a female sport equivalent of the men, and females wanting equality to male sports-people. In some respects I think the spectacle has been hijacked by one of these agendas. Some believe the ideals can coexist, I'm not so sure well see the best of the sport if that is the case. To be elite a female sport should be tactically tailored to use the skills and abilities of females, we cannot deny the physical and psychological differences.
Of course I expect some to accuse me of misogyny or sexism for stating this belief.