Here at The Mongrel Punt, we often hear the term ‘Vic-Bias’ bandied about whenever there is an article that neglects to cover a non-Victorian team in the manner in which someone from *enter state here* finds acceptable.
It can be a cheap out, in my book – an argument-ender without much substance, meant to throw someone off balance and hopefully end the discussion without any serious debate. I relate it to someone calling another person a racist or sexist in an attempt to end a discussion not entirely based on the subject.
“My red car is fast.”
“My blue car is faster.”
“My white car is the fastest.”
“Yeah, well… that’s Vic-Bias!”
It’s often a cheap, nasty, and often poorly thought out argument, but once in a while, it’s completely justified.
Is there a Vic-Bias?
And is there a Vic-Bias here, at The Mongrel Punt?
I’ll answer the second question first – I can guarantee you there’s not – we have writers based all over Australia. We have Freo supporters, West Coast supporters, Sydney supporters, a bloody Gold Coast supporter, and probably too many Geelong supporters, to be honest. However, that does not stop people levelling the accusation of “Vic-Bias” our way depending on whether their team wins or loses. There’s only bias when they lose, you see? That’s how it works.
Despite my protestations of equity in our own footy coverage, in answer to the first question, there is a Vic-Bias. It is prevalent in the mainstream media, and the official coverage of the game. Furthermore, if you need evidence of it, you could have found it on Friday night..
The Showdown in Adelaide once again proved to be must-watch footy for die hard fans. Irrespective of where a team comes from, a game the magnitude of Adelaide versus Port Adelaide is like a gift from the Footy Gods. It is not a manufactured rivalry – far from it. It is a battle for football supremacy and a fight for respect in a state that loves its footy. It is a war without end, with the momentum swinging back and forth, and each team approaches these contests with a ferocity coaches wish they could bottle.
It’s not life and death… it’s much more important than that.
In any year, irrespective of ladder position, it is one of the most anticipated clashes of the season. Of all the crosstown rivalries, this has been the one to constantly deliver. Yes, there has been heat in the GWS v Sydney clashes over recent seasons, but their rivalry is still developing, as is the Brisbane v Gold Coast rivalry. The West Coast v Fremantle Derby has simply been too one-sided in recent seasons to compare to the South Australian version.
The Showdown… this is where it’s at. If you like your footy tough, your crowd rabid, and your players 100% committed to the cause, this is where your attention should fall. Port Adelaide fan, Adelaide fan, or a neutral fan, this contest is the game for you.
And yet, the AFL and it’s free-to-air broadcast partner seem to be shitscared of giving this fixture the respect it deserves. They finally relented and threw it on a Friday night, only to schedule a separate game at the same time, and beam that one into lounge rooms across the eastern states.
What are they thinking?
Ah yes… Vic Bias… I see, I see.
However, as often as I dismiss this cry as garbage, it actually holds a fair bit of weight in this regard.
If the AFL is meant to be a national competition, you simply cannot go on ignoring the fact that you have major rivalries outside Victorian borders that dwarf the ongoing local rivalries you love to hang your hat on.
Push Collingwood v Carlton all you like, harp on about Hawthorn and Geelong, and for whatever reason, continue programming Collingwood on as many Friday nights as you can, but at some stage, the AFL and their broadcast partners have to come to the realisation that people in Victoria, and New South Wales, Queensland and Western Australia actually care about a game with the passion and pride involved in the Port Adelaide v Adelaide clashes, regardless of where it is being played.
I know I do.
This season, we saw another glaring example of why this rivalry provides the best games of the season. Eight rounds into the season, there is only one contest that has the right to challenge this Showdown for game of the year, and that contest was afforded a standalone Easter Monday slot.
Yes, Hawthorn versus Geelong is a marquee game, but so is the Crows versus Port.
Every.
Bloody
Year!
I drew the short straw this season, and was scheduled to review the “other” game as the Showdown roared to life in South Australia. I had people texting me, calling me, and my phone ended up being turned off as the result of both contests went down to the wire.
Know which game all the messages were about?
It wasn’t the Dogs against the Dockers, as much as I enjoyed that clash.
No, it was all about the Showdown. Footy fans who know and love the product are all about the Showdown, and that was evidenced by the rave reviews that poured in as the night progressed.
Casual fans should be treated as casual fans. The league wants their eyeballs, but footy lovers know where the quality is, and the first Adelaide v Port Adelaide clash of every season is football of the highest order.
From next season, the AFL must schedule this fixture as a standalone game on a Friday night, so the entire footy population can look across the border and realise what they may have been missing out on for years.
After a week when the league drew headlines for all the wrong reasons (again), this clash was the perfect remedy, but the league opted to bury it on Foxtel. They also attempted to bury it by stumbling and bumbling their way into the action via their ARC “technology” to overturn a goal, but that is a tale for another time.
In witnessing the pressure, the emerging stars, the players standing up in big moments, the Shwodwon embodies everything that is great about the game – why do the AFL not have faith in their own on-field product? Particularly when this aspect of the product is close to the best you’re gonna get in any given season?
The AFL have the best opportunity to place the emphasis on a game that absolutely deserves the standalone Friday night game.
To you and I – footy lovers – it may seem like common sense, right?
It is just a pity that common sense is not all that common when it comes to AFL House, their broadcast partners, and the great game they have residing at Adelaide Oval every season.
Time to fix it.
2027 – standalone Showdown on a Friday night.
As always, massive thanks to those who support this work. You can see the amount of care that goes into it. I love footy, I love writing about it, and I hope you enjoy reading it. Without you, this whole thing falls over. Sincerely… thank you – HB
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